If you’re listening to your furnace for odd sounds, you’re already off to a good start when it comes to ensuring you have a heating system that runs safely and effectively. Gas furnaces have numerous safety features and aren’t normally dangerous for a household. (Let’s be honest: if they were, they would never be permitted into homes in the first place!) But malfunctions can happen, and the best way to prevent them from turning into potential safety issues for your household is to pick up early on warning signs and call for heating repair in Frederick, MD.
So we’re glad you noticed this boom noise from your furnace and want to know more about it. We’ll get into details about this below, but remember that if you’re ever in doubt about anything regarding your furnace, it’s always safest to look to professionals for assistance.
The Cause of the Startling Noise
Nobody wants to hear a gas-burning appliance go “boom!” Just writing that sounds scary. If you’re near your furnace when it makes this sound, it can make you jump with alarm.
What you’re hearing is the sudden combustion of a large amount of natural gas within the furnace’s combustion chamber. If you listen to the furnace coming on during normal operation, you’ll hear a small whoosh sound as it starts up: this is the same sound but on a smaller scale. The ignition system in the furnace ignites the gas from the burners, and as the flames consume oxygen to light, there’s a sound of air displacement.
When this noise becomes louder to the point you worry about it, what’s occurring is a delay with igniting the burners. When the furnace is running normally, the igniter lights the burners soon after the gas valve opens to allow natural gas to flow into the burner assembly. If the igniter delays lighting the gas, a large amount of unburned gas will build up in the combustion chamber, and when it does ignite, the oxygen displacement is large enough to create a startling boom sound.
Is This Something to Concern You?
Yes. It may not pose an immediate danger, but it means a malfunction in the furnace’s start-up. Several different issues could cause this.
A common one is a failing electronic ignition system. These igniters often fail years before the furnace does and will need a replacement—this is a simple job for technicians. It could also be a failure in the control board, a more serious problem that can start to affect other parts of the furnace. A more serious possibility is a failing flame sensor. This device registers if the burners have ignited; if they don’t, it will shut off gas flow to prevent the build-up of unburned gas in the combustion chamber.
You don’t need to worry about finding out the cause yourself. Leave that to our team. We recommend you shut off the gas to the furnace, then call us to come check on the heating system and find out what parts need to be repaired or replaced.
At Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing, we pledge to exceed expectations at every turn. Call us when you need fast and effective heating repairs.