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W.C. Butler Heating and Air Conditioning Blog

These Furnace Repairs Should Never Wait

When your furnace has repair needs, it is important to address them sooner rather than later. Furnace problems that are left alone can worsen quickly and have negative impacts that last long-term. Plus, you run the risk that your furnace will break down because of the repair needs. 

Instead of ignoring the signs of something being wrong with your furnace, give our team a call to schedule an appointment for furnace repair in Blue Ridge, VA. Even if you don’t know exactly what’s wrong, our team can get down to the root of the problem and fix it so that your furnace can work at its best. Keep reading to learn more about common furnace repairs and why it is important to address them right away. 

Burning Smell

Even though your furnace gets hot, it should never produce a burning smell during operation. If it smells like something inside of your furnace is burning, that’s probably because it is. Whether there is an electrical problem, dust buildup, or something else creating the burning smell, you need to turn your furnace off right away. 

Then schedule a repair appointment for our team to check your furnace out and figure out why it is burning. You don’t want to continue operating your furnace until you know it is safe to do so. This is a best practice for keeping your family safe and reducing additional damage to your furnace. 

Discolored Pilot Light

If your furnace has a pilot light, it should always burn bright blue during operation. If the flame is faded or any other color besides blue, that’s a red flag that your furnace needs repair. Usually, this means there is not enough oxygen in the chamber for adequate operation. As a result, the flame begins to burn bigger, in an attempt to find more oxygen. This is one reason that adequate airflow inside your furnace is so important.

Unusual Operation

You should also pay close attention to how your furnace operates. If it begins to run for unusually long, heating cycles, or turns on and off every few minutes, something is impacting normal operation. Your furnace turning on and off frequently could mean that a safety sensor is triggering. 

Your furnace staying on for too long can mean that it is struggling to heat your home effectively. Even though your furnace is still operating, it isn’t cycling the way it was meant to. This strain can lead to a heater breakdown when left unaddressed.

Lack of Heat

If your heater is not producing heat during operation, that is a red flag. The problem with this is that your heater may still be producing lukewarm air and operating as normal. But when you hold your hand up to an air vent in your home, you should feel hot air streaming out. If the air is only slightly warm or cool, something is wrong inside of your heating unit. You may not know what it is, but our team can troubleshoot to figure it out and then fix it.

We can help you make the best choice for furnace service. Rely on the experts at W.C. Butler Heating and Air Conditioning and schedule an appointment today.

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