You never want to be caught with a failed heater in the middle of a Pennsylvania winter. Thankfully, most heating systems won’t die abruptly with no warning whatsoever, so if you know what to look and listen for, you can call in time for heating repair in Bensalem, PA. This prevents an emergency breakdown situation and all the stress and discomfort that comes along with it.
Heating systems that are beginning to fail or starting to lose their capacity can provide several signals. Below are the most common early warnings, the ones you’ll see during the first weeks when your heating system starts regular work.
Uneven heating
The center of your house and the master bedroom are warm as they should be. But other rooms feel too cool and people are complaining about it. Turning the thermostat higher ends up making the rest of the house too hot. This uneven heating often means the heating system is losing its overall heating capacity: it’s getting to the main rooms but not the ones more distant along the ventilation system.
Constant thermostat adjustments
A quality heating system is designed so it can run at a steady temperature for most of the day. You should be able to set the thermostat to a single comfortable temperature and leave it there until the evening or when you leave the house. If you need to continually adjust the thermostat up and down to find comfort, it often means something is either wrong with the thermostat or the heater.
The heater keeps shutting down early
A heating cycle for the standard heating system (such as a furnace or heat pump) will last 15 minutes or more. If you notice your heater is shutting down earlier than this, it can indicate a range of problems, such as a faulty flame sensor, overheating, gas flow problems, motor troubles, issues with the control board, etc. If the heater is rapidly turning on and off, the situation is called short-cycling and not only warns of a problem, it also creates a massive drain on energy.
The first set of heating bills seems abnormally high
When you get the first utility bill since you started routinely using your heater, was it far higher than you anticipated based on previous winters? If it isn’t due to an increase in energy costs, it’s a red flag that something is wrong with the heater that is forcing it to work harder than normal—and this is usually a repair need.
The heater is noisy or making strange sounds
If you’ve had your heater for at least one season before, you know the sounds it makes while it runs. When some new, odd sound interrupts this (such as clanging, rattling, grinding, hissing, or clicking), call for a technician to see what’s wrong. If the heater has just become louder than before, it also warrants getting an expert to examine it.
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