During the winter months, problems with your home's furnace can represent an emergency situation that will necessitate prompt repairs to keep the home from becoming too cold to be safely occupied.

Gaps In The Ducting Connection

In order to be able to distribute the heat through the home, the furnace will need to be able to move the warmed air into the ducting system. Unfortunately, it can be possible for gaps to form where the ducting and the furnace connect. This gap could allow much of the warmed air from the furnace to escape before it is able to enter the ducting. This could lead to the furnace having to work much longer while struggling to warm the interior of the home. Luckily, this can be a relatively inexpensive problem to repair. However, it is important to make sure that the furnace has been off for a while before attempting it as this connection could be extremely hot otherwise, which could lead to significant burns to your hands.

Problems With The Fuel Control Valve

If you have a gas or oil-burning furnace, the fuel control valve is a critical component that will be needed to regulate the rate at which the furnace is receiving fuel. If this component starts to malfunction, the furnace may receive far too little or entirely too much fuel. Both of these issues could contribute to the furnace being more expensive to operate as well as leading to it being more prone to suffering a major mechanical failure due to residue accumulating. When a fuel control valve starts to degrade or malfunction, replacing it is often the most economical and fastest repair option for getting the furnace running again as quickly as possible.

Faulty Pressure Switch

Modern furnaces will also have a pressure switch in them. This can measure the pressure that the unit's combustion chamber is experiencing. Unfortunately, it can be possible for malfunctions or other issues to cause this pressure to rise above a safe level. If this were to occur, there could be a risk of a catastrophic failure occurring with the furnace. To avoid this problem, a pressure switch can detect when this is occurring and shut off the furnace. Furthermore, many modern furnaces are designed so that a faulty pressure switch will cause the unit to shut down. Repairing this problem can be reasonably affordable, but it will require a professional heating system service provider to effectively complete.

For more information on heating systems, contact a company near you.