As a leader in furnace sales and service around the Salem and Woodburn area, we spend a lot of time helping people keep their home furnaces working correctly.
With furnaces, preventative maintenance is always better than waiting for something serious to go wrong. If you detect any malfunction signs in your heater, it’s a good idea to call for heater repairs ASAP. The problem will only get more expensive to fix if you wait.
So how do you know if your furnace is starting to develop problems? Here are some of the big warning signs.
Four Signs of A Malfunctioning Furnace
1. Unusual smells
When you first fire up your furnace in the fall or winter, you’ll probably get some strange smells coming out of the ducts. Odd smells are expected; the furnace is burning off several months’ worth of dust and other accumulated material. However, the burning odors should disperse within an hour or two, and after that, your furnace should be odorless.
So, if you ever start smelling strange things from your ducts afterward, such as burning or metallic odors, it’s a sign that something has gone wrong.
2. Noises from the heater
Modern furnaces should also run very quietly; at most, you should hear a slight hum from the motor or maybe a quiet whoosh of the pilot light. Any loud or metallic sounds, such as banging or scraping, are a bad sign. If you start hearing such things, your best bet will be to shut down the heater and call immediately for furnace repairs.
3. Dirt and debris coming from the ducts
You should be getting relatively clean, pure air from the ducts whenever your furnace is running. If you ever notice dust or other particles coming out of the vents – such as dust building up beneath the vent – there’s something wrong. The filter on your furnace may not be working properly, or you may have dirty ducts in need of cleaning.
4. Not enough heat coming from the ducts
Finally, of course, there’s the question of whether your furnace is producing enough heat. If your ducts’ airflow doesn’t feel very hot, or if the flow of air is lower than normal, these are also signs that your furnace isn’t doing its job correctly.
Furnace Installation, Repairs, & Services in Woodburn & Salem
When you have furnace problems in the Salem or Woodburn area, Melton’s Heating & Air Conditioning is here to help. From furnace sales to service and maintenance, just contact our team when you need us.
Heat pump sales are booming across Salem and Woodburn, and it’s easy to see why. For many homeowners, heat pumps are the perfect option for home temperature control, with substantial benefits over all the alternatives. Whether you choose a traditional single-unit central air heat pump or small ductless heat pump units for individual rooms, a heat pump is an investment that pays off!
If you’re looking to upgrade your heater or air conditioner, or you’re building a new home, you should be looking into heat pumps for sale.
How Heat Pumps Work
Heat pumps function almost exactly like traditional air conditioners, using a refrigerant to trap heat energy and move it around. However, they have one key difference: Heat pumps can reverse the refrigerant flow to cool for one direction and heat for the other! They don’t need to use electricity to generate heat within the home; they can capture heat energy from the outside air and pull it inside.
They can accomplish this even if it feels cold outside to us. The heat pump’s efficiency is reduced somewhat when the temperatures are well below zero. However, a heat pump can still keep you comfortably warm even in harsh winters, as well as bringing several other benefits.
Three Big Benefits to Heat Pumps
1. Reduced heating and cooling costs
THEreason to buy a heat pump is that it is by far the most cost-effective way to heat and cool your home. There isn’t even any real competition. A heat pump will cut anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 off your heating bills in the winter, and their cooling is somewhat less costly than traditional A/C units as well.
A heat pump can quickly pay for itself, just from cost savings alone.
2. Only one unit to manage
Another significant benefit to heat pumps is that they’re an all-in-one unit. Rather than having separate heating and A/C units, you only have one piece of equipment. This reduces initial installation costs, as well as reducing maintenance needs in the long term. Having only one unit adds up to more savings!
3. Better humidity control
On top of being more efficient, heat pumps are also excellent at controlling humidity since they can move moisture in and out of the house. You might even find you don’t need a separate de-humidifier when you have a heat pump!
If you’re experiencing problems with your heat pump, you should be able to troubleshoot minor issues yourself before contacting a heat pump repair company. To help you determine why hot air isn’t blowing from your heating system, our team of experienced technicians at Melton’s Heating & Air Conditioning has created a brief guide for inspecting heat pumps for potential issues.
4 Reasons Your Heat Pump Isn’t Blowing Hot Air
1. Blocked Airflow
Heat pumps rely on both an outside and inside the unit to absorb and convert cold air into heat. Over the course of the year, it’s possible that the intake vent on the outdoor component can become blocked. Blocked vents prevent fresh air from entering your home. One of the first steps of DIY heat pump repair is to carefully inspect the exterior unit for anything obstructing Airflow, such as leaves or grass.
2. Ice or Snow
While yard waste may prevent your heat pump from working properly during the spring and summer, ice or snow can prevent your outdoor unit from converting cold winter air into heat as well. If you’ve noticed that your heating system isn’t blowing hot air, check your heat pump’s exterior component for ice and snow. Make sure to have a snow shovel on hand to fix the problem quickly.
3. Lack of Electricity
Sometimes, a heat pump will stop blowing hot air because the circuit breaker was tripped, thus cutting off the outdoor unit’s power. To convert cold air into heat, the system relies on the combination of a fan and hot coils; however, without electricity, the fan blows cold air over cold coils, which would explain why your heat pump isn’t blowing hot air.
4. Malfunction or Leaks
Since heating systems are composed of many moving parts, it may not be surprising to read that internal components sometimes malfunction. Before contacting a heat pump repair company, you can check to see if your auxiliary heat system is working properly and then carefully inspect your unit for a refrigerant leak or the return ductwork for lost air. If it’s the latter problem, you may want to consider installing a ductless heat pump system.
Get Expert Heat Pump Repair
Contact the heat pump repair team at Melton’s Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. in Salem, Oregon today to learn more about their products and services.
