Three reasons your heater could be blowing cold air (and how to fix them easily)

So you’ve turned your furnace on for the year. Fall and chilly weather have arrived in Knightdale and Wendell, North Carolina. But as you’re preparing for your cozy evening, disaster strikes and you notice cold air coming out of your vents. 

What do you do? What could be causing your furnace to malfunction? Do you need to call a pro out ASAP? Does your unit need to be replaced?

We’re here to reassure you that if your furnace is blowing cold air, there’s a good chance it’s a simple fix that you can do on your own (or a pro can do fairly cheaply). Here are the top three reasons furnaces will start blowing cold a

Igniter is out

If you have a gas or oil furnace (especially an older unit), you need to have a functioning igniter (or pilot light) to get things burning. No burning, no heat.

Fortunately, many times ignitor problems are fixable with a simple reset. If you have the instruction kit that came with your furnace, it’ll tell you exactly how to access and reset the ignitor. If you don’t, Google or YouTube can probably walk you through the process. If you’re still having trouble, give us a call!

Dirty flame detector

Flame detectors help your unit know when there is burning in your furnace. If it’s dirty or grimy, your unit might not know what's happening and if the unit is properly burning and heating, which, as you might guess, can create a whole range of issues. This is one component that gets cleaned every time All Hours does HVAC maintenance. Our pros can do it quickly, or you might be able to do it yourself if you know what you’re doing.

Air filter is blocking airflow

This seems to make it onto every troubleshooting list we post because it’s just that important. So many of our calls are avoidable. If your unit is having problems, check your air filter. If you want to avoid HVAC problems, change your air filter regularly. It’s that simple. When air stops flowing, systems tend to overheat. When that happens to a furnace, it’ll stop pumping hot air (perhaps a little counterintuitive, but we don’t make the rules. 

Call All Hours to get your unit ready for winter and assess your heater health

Another way to prevent these problems altogether is to prepare ahead of time with a seasonal maintenance call. We can’t prevent every problem, but we can improve your chances of making it through the winter without incident. Give us a call!