My Furnace Keeps Kicking On and Off: What Should I Do?
Ever notice your home starting to get uncomfortably hot or extremely cold out of nowhere throughout the day? You may notice a clicking sound every so often or the sound of air travelling through your vents and then coming to a stop. All these things just repeating over and over. Well, you may be dealing with a furnace that is constantly kicking on and off. While this may seem like just an annoying problem to deal with, it can actually cause deeper problems with your unit as a whole.
Why Is Your Home’s Furnace Kicking On and Off?
There could be many reasons why your furnace is kicking on and off constantly. For one, the system could be short cycling. What is short cycling? It is a system issue that can arise leading to higher-than-normal amounts of heating cycles over the course of an hour. How do you know when a heating cycle starts and stops? That faint clicking sound is your indicator. Typically, you can find your furnace to run three to eight heating cycles in an hour, so if you notice more, your furnace may be short cycling.
Another reason your furnace may kick on and off is reduced air flow. Low air flow can arise from dirty air filters, a dirty blower wheel, or even closed and blocked air vents. You may also notice these problems when you have a faulty thermostat, and with a corroded or dirty flame sensor. If any of these are the problem, there are different steps you can take to fix them, or you may need to call in an HVAC repair or replacement.
What Can You Do To Fix The Problem?
There are many DIY steps you can take to ensure your system is running properly. To begin with the easy ones, check to see if your filter needs changed or cleaned. You can also check to see if your thermostat batteries need to be replaced or if there is anything blocking your air vents. All of these can be done on your own and can be an easy fix to the problem at hand. If those are all clear or the problems still seem to persist you may need to call in an HVAC professional to take a look at the problem.
While at your home, the HVAC professional may do any of the following:
- Check to make sure your blower motor is running properly
- Replace an oversized furnace
- Rewire a faulty thermostat
- Relocate your thermostat out of direct sunlight which can skew temperature readings
- And/or fix other problems that may arise
While this problem can cause discomfort in your home, it also can be a sign of damage to your system. If you are unsure what the problem is and have tried the DIY steps above, you should call in an HVAC repair person to come take a look at your unit. Luckily, Same Day Heating, Cooling, Plumbing offers furnace tune-ups, repairs, and replacements! No matter what problem is causing your furnace to kick on and off, Same Day is there!
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