If you find that your home's furnace is no longer effectively warming your house, it can be necessary to conduct a series of assessments to help you determine the scope of the problems as well as the potential repairs that might be necessary.

Check If The Furnace Is Starting

One of the first steps that you should take when your furnace is no longer producing heat is to check it to make sure that it is actually at least attempting to start. If you find that the furnace is not starting, this can indicate that there may be a problem with the thermostat, which could lead to the furnace failing to be activated. Additionally, a furnace that is not activating may also be suffering from significant burner problems. If the burner is unable to ignite, it may result in the furnace stopping after a few seconds to prevent releasing too much oil or gas.

Determine Whether It Is Producing Any Warmth

If the furnace is activating, you will still need to assess whether it is actively generating heat. For gas and oil furnaces, it can be easier to tell if heat is being generated by looking at the unit. This is due to the fact that you can check to see if the burner is producing flames. Unfortunately, electric furnaces can make this harder as the heating elements will be on the interior of the furnace where they can be difficult to see. Fortunately, most electric furnaces will have a thermometer on the exterior that you can consult to check the current temperature of the interior of the system. In some cases, you may find that the system is still producing some heat, but it may be far less than what the furnace produces when it is operating at peak efficiency.

Assess If The Air Vents Are Dirty Or Worn

A furnace will have a series of vents on the exterior of the unit, and these vents can be critical for allowing enough air to enter the unit. For those with forced air furnace systems, these vents can allow the air that will be warming the home to enter the unit. Additionally, it can be possible for these vents to actually prevent the furnace from overheating, which can damage electronic systems that may be needed to regulate the performance of the furnace. If the vents to your system are extremely dirty, you may be able to alleviate these performance problems by thoroughly cleaning them. This will remove the dust and dirt that could have gathered and that may be restricting the movement of air into and out of the furnace.

Contact a furnace repair contractor to learn more.