When It’s Time For a Heating Repair and When It’s Not

When winter comes, your heater will be the highlight of your home once again. It will determine whether you have a warm and cozy holiday season or if you have to endure the cold. Unfortunately, the heater may malfunction right when you need it the most. And to make things worse, the holidays are a busy season, so you may have to wait a while before heating services can get to you. To prevent this from happening, it’s best to address the issue before it happens. Here, we’ll share all the signs you need to look for to let you know when it’s time to repair your heating.

You Have Ridiculously High Power Bills

If you’ve noticed that your electricity bills are higher than normal, your heater could be the culprit. Similarly, if your gas bills are off the charts, then it could indicate a malfunction in your heating system. As time passes, your heating system will inevitably become less efficient. This means that your heater might take longer to produce the right temperature for your home. So when your heating bills skyrocket, be sure to call a professional heating repair service like Stack. 

It’s also good to remember that utility companies raise their rates from time to time. If you can see that your bills are slightly higher than usual, this is normal and shouldn’t be a cause of panic. However, if the bills are significantly higher, you may have a problem. 

Your Burner Flame is Yellow

We are all familiar with the blue flame we see on our furnace burners. But if the flame is yellow rather than blue, then it could signal something wrong with the heating system. Yellow flames usually mean that there’s carbon monoxide inside your home. And because it’s both odorless and colorless, it can be hard to detect. Inhaling large quantities of carbon monoxide is dangerous for our health, so it’s important to address such issues by calling on heater repair services immediately.

Another common cause of a yellow flame is dirt, as it can prevent the gas from mixing with the air properly. While this isn’t as big of a problem as the one above, it’s still best to get it addressed immediately.

Your Furnace Makes Strange Noises

The older your heating system is, the more likely it will make weird noises. Noises such as creaking, rattling, banging, or squealing might indicate problems with the system’s motor or blower. As a result, you might hear a loud rattling when your fan gets started. This can be very annoying and is never going to sit well with guests. So it’s important to have a professional check out your system immediately if it makes noises, since they may also lead to more severe problems over time.

Of course, it’s a different story if the noises you hear are coming from rats or other pests inside the system. That will require a different set of professionals to call on, but it can be just as important to get them out of there. 

You Constantly Need to Adjust the Thermostat

If you’re always getting up to adjust your thermostat, this may be a sign that something is wrong with your heating system. If you can’t get the right temperature after trying many times, then there could be an issue. This could mean that the furnace isn’t distributing the heat evenly across all the rooms of your home, leading to cold spots. If some of the rooms in your home are warmer than others, you may need to call a heating repair service. 

On the other hand, if you find that your thermostat is broken, you can either do simple troubleshooting or you can perform a DIY fix to save yourself some money. If all else fails, you might be better off replacing the whole thing. 

You Have an Old, Outdated Heating System 

If you have an older heating system at home, it will have been exposed to wear and tear over the years. Keep in mind that the typical heating system lasts 15-20 years. An old system will be more likely to break down, will be less efficient, and may lead to higher bills than usual. If it’s a heater that has served you for over 20 years, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start thinking about replacing it. 

In times like this, it’s best not to wait until it breaks before upgrading. When you have a system in dire need of a replacement, it’s better to do it today rather than tomorrow.

Is It Time For a Heating Repair?

Call Stack Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electric in Cleveland, Ohio! We are Cleveland’s experts on all types of heating systems and can perform all kinds of HVAC inspections and repairs, as well as replacements. We want you to know that your family’s safety and comfort is our number one priority, as it always has been. We are taking all necessary precautions and following CDC guidelines to keep our customers and employees healthy. We’ve been serving the Cleveland area for over 40 years, and we’re not going anywhere. Give us a call at (440) 577-4417 or visit us on our website today and find out what we can do for you!