We’re about a month away here in Florida from the time of the year when we need to turn the heaters on. If you want to make sure you’re not going into the winter with an unpredictable heating system, you might want to fire it up a bit earlier and check it for malfunctions that should be fixed before the heating season begins.

Gas Leaks

We’ll try to cover problems that appear across different heating systems, but before we get to that, a word of caution: if you, for any reason, suspect your heating furnace has a gas leak, do not turn your furnace on, do not light any matches, do not do anything except closing the gas valve, opening the windows, and leaving your home to call the fire department or the gas utility from a safe distance. Gas leaks are very serious malfunctions that could result in loss of life or damage to property.

There’s no Heating

If you turned your heating system on and there’s nothing happening, there are a couple of things that could have gone wrong. For one, your thermostat could be set to a temperature that’s lower than the room temperature. It’s also possible there’s a blown fuse or a tripped circuit breaker. You can try to fix these problems on your own – set the thermostat to a correct temperature, change the fuse. or flipping the circuit breaker all the way off and then back on. If these steps don’t help, or if the fuse blows again or the circuit breaker trips again – you need to call a professional to deal with it.

Heating Starts and Stops too Often

It’s completely normal for your heater to do a bit of work, and then rest for a while. When your home reaches the desired temperature your heater can turn off for a while before the temperature drops a bit and it turns back on. However, if your heater repeats this cycle constantly and very often, something might be wrong with the thermostat, or your might have clogged air filters. You can check the filters on your own, but if they are looking okay and the thermostat looks like it’s properly set, you should call a professional to give your system a look.

Heater Works, but it also Smells

We’ve already mentioned what you should be doing if you suspect a gas leak. But there are other smells that can come from your heating system, and none of them is good. If you smell a burning or an electrical odor, something’s overheating in the system, or there’s some debris that’s burning up. These are the problems you shouldn’t try fixing on your own, because you probably don’t have the equipment for a thorough cleaning of the system, and you might night know how to deal with burning wires. You can give your filters a look and see whether they’re clogged, but apart from that, the only thing you should do is call a repair person.

Poor Airflow

There are many things that can cause poor airflow. The ductwork might be poorly insulated and leaky, the filters might be completely clogged, the blower fan might not be working as it should. You might be getting good airflow but your home can be poorly insulated, resulting in a loss of heat. Apart from giving the blower fan a check, maybe replacing the air filters if need be, there’s not much you can do here, except call someone to check your ductwork and insulation. At One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® of Clearwater, we’ve seen our fair share of bad insulation and leaky ductwork, and we know how to make your heating system perform as good as new. Or, if that’s not an option, set you up with a new one.