The end of the winter season is when a heating system is most likely to run into problems. After all, it’s gone through a few steady months of regular work keeping a house warm against extreme cold. If a heater had proper maintenance done in fall, it has a strong chance of making it through to the warmer weather of spring without incident. But nothing can be guaranteed, and one common trouble a house may encounter with its heating at the end of the season is uneven comfort.
When heating is uneven, parts of the house will feel colder than normal, while others may feel hotter. Yes, stuffy rooms are as much a warning as cold rooms! Something is wrong with the forced-air heating system that has created this imbalance. It may be a simple error, but in many cases you will need a professional Georgetown, DE, HVAC contractor to locate the problem and fix it.
Reasons This May Be Happening
Let’s examine potential causes of uneven heating in a house. These aren’t substitutes for a professional diagnosis of the system, but they’ll help you understand what you may be up against.
- Broken zone controls: If your house has zone controls that permit you to provide conditioned air to some rooms and not others, the system may have failed. This could be broken connections from the thermostats or dampers that have stuck shut or open inside the ductwork.
- Faulty thermostat(s): A thermostat picking up the wrong temperatures can cause the heater to turn on and off at the wrong times, either leaving the house to hot or too cool. Satellite thermostats for a zone control system that are mis-reading temperatures will cause individual rooms to be improperly heated. Professionals can recalibrate the thermostats, or they may replace them.
- Leaky air ducts: This is a common problem, and it often causes people to mistake it for trouble with the heater. When the air ducts begin to allow air to escape, air pressure all around the ventilation system drops, lowering comfort. The rooms connected to the leaking ducts will have the worst problem. You can’t solve duct leaks with duct tape, which isn’t useful for this job (no matter the name). Call our technicians for duct testing followed by duct sealing.
- Blower assembly problems: For forced-air heaters like furnaces and heat pumps, the blower is the part responsible for pushing air into the ducts. When the blower fan runs into trouble from a failing motors or mechanical problem, air pressure will decline and comfort around the house start to plunge. If you hear any odd sounds from the blower, shut off the heating system and call us for repair work.
- Dying heater: The failure to evenly heat and cool your house may be the heating system telling you it is at the end of its service life. Furnaces can last around 15 years, sometimes more, and heat pumps are often finished between 10 to 15 years. If you have a heater in that range, please have us take a look at it. We’ll give you an honest assessment about whether repairs are best or a replacement is better.
At Atlantic Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, Inc. “We Take Pride in Your Comfort”! Call us for heating repair 24/7.