How do you know it’s time to call an HVAC pro about your home’s heating? In the winter months, time is of the essence once you realize that your system is struggling. The last thing you want is to be stuck with frozen pipes or a heatless home when temperatures dip! This simple guide will help you determine when it’s time to call a local HVAC company about your heat.
What to Know If Your Heat Isn’t Being Evenly Distributed
Are you noticing hot and cold spots throughout your home? If you’re pulling a blanket over your shoulders in the living room while sweating in the kitchen, this indicates a blockage of some kind. Typically, it points to a blocked vent or leaking duct. Your blower fan could also be struggling. Your instinct may be to simply readjust your thermostat. However, this is a mistake. In addition to raising your heating bill without actually improving the comfort level in your home, constantly adjusting your thermostat can put stress on your HVAC system which leads to premature wear and tear.
Search for Closed Air Vents
It’s possible that uneven heating throughout your home could be due to closed air vents. If the return registers that your hot air passes through are closed, this restricts the airflow that leads to those telltale hot and cold spots. Check that all of your vents are open before calling an HVAC pro. There’s a chance that someone accidentally closed a vent while cleaning. If you’ve recently had guests, it’s also possible that they shut the vent in the room they were staying in because they felt hot.
Check Ducts
If your home feels cold, leaking ducts could be to blame. When ductwork is leaky, warm air never gets a chance to travel to all of the rooms in your home. If your ducts aren’t easily accessible, call in an HVAC professional to perform a ductwork inspection. If the leak is minor, a pro will likely be able to simply seal it with some metallic tape or special sealant. However, serious tearing may require a duct replacement.
Look for a Clogged Filter
The good news about your furnace’s air filter is that it’s hard at working trapping dust, pollen, and other harmful air particles. The bad news is that it can get dirty pretty quickly. When this happens, the blower fan can’t work properly to get hot air circulating through your home. When was the last time your filter was changed? Use the instructions that came with your furnace to change your filter. If you’re unsure about how to do this, a local HVAC company can perform this service. In fact, you can enroll for ongoing furnace maintenance to ensure that your filter is being changed on schedule.
Look for a Broken Blower Motor
Cleaning a clogged air filter isn’t always enough to fix an issue with your blower fan. The blower motor sometimes simply wears out over time. If your blower motor has malfunctioned or failed, you may notice that your home no longer heats up properly. Getting your blower motor changed out with help from a trusted local heating and cooling company will take care of the issue.
