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Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing Blog

What Would Cause a Furnace to Not Kick On?

technician-fixing-a-furnace-vent

It’s chilly out, you walk down your hallway to finally bring your thermostat out of seasonal retirement, and spin the dial until it lands on the perfect temperature. After an hour passes, you notice that the house hasn’t gotten any warmer. Wait, did the furnace even roar to life like it usually does?

It’s a big dud. Your furnace isn’t working. If your furnace simply won’t turn on no matter what you do, there’s a chance that you’ll need furnace service in Frederick, MD. Below are some of the most common reasons that your furnace doesn’t turn on in the first place.

Start With Your Circuit Breaker

Did you recently have an issue with your power? Whether it’s a brief power outage or something shorting in your home, your circuit breaker might have done its job and tripped the circuit for your home heating.

Your furnace isn’t receiving a signal to turn on because there’s no electricity to supply the signal in the first place. Your furnace is waiting for you to turn it on, and you think that you sent the message. If your circuit breaker is tripped, that’s the ideal situation. Reset the breaker and that should remedy the issue.

Double-Check Thermostat Settings

This is especially important for all-digital thermostats. You can set scheduling systems for your furnace and air conditioner. With these enabled, your furnace is only told to turn on or off when the schedule allows it. Even if you change the temperature preset, it may not actually communicate that to your furnace.

Make sure you don’t have a schedule enabled. If you do, disable it, manually change the temperature, and see if that does the trick. There’s also a chance that your thermostat thinks it’s warmer in the room than it is.

If that’s the case, you can either take a crack at recalibrating it yourself, or you can call for a professional to help you. If your room thinks it’s 5° hotter than it is, it’s not going to enable the furnace when you actually need it.

Inspect Your Furnace Ignition Switch

If your furnace isn’t turning on, it might not be thermostat or circuit breaker-related at all. It could be your ignition switch.

The ignition switch handles functions such as your blower motor turning on, and your furnace turning on in the first place. When it goes out, you’ll know that there’s a problem immediately.

Thankfully, furnace ignition switches aren’t among the highest-priced furnace repairs even though they are essential components for your furnace to operate. This is something that can only be diagnosed and repaired by a technician.

Your Furnace Needs a Helping Hand

It didn’t turn on at first, but now that you know what the potential problems are, you can help your furnace and let warmth flow through your home once again. It’s time to reclaim your home’s heat and make sure your furnace is all set to go for another full year.

Contact us today to schedule furnace maintenance and service and restore your home’s comfort for you and for your family.

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