Heating Public Service Announcement
When the weather is and stays sub-zero, the concern of your home heating reliability becomes top of mind. Here are some simple steps to help keep it that way. If there are any questions, please call American Weathermakers 847-509-7777.
Check Your Furnace Filter
Check your furnace filter, if questionable change it anyways. For further information on this point watch our video.
Watch VideoSet Your Thermostat
Do you have a programmable thermostat? We recommend in severe weather to set thermostat to hold a temperature inside. Continue this until the temperatures outside are back to normal winter weather. Wonder why we say this? Watch our video to explain.
Watch VideoClear Outside Vents
If your furnace vents outside of your house - These furnaces are high efficient units, and in extremely low temperatures, the furnace runs longer. Two items to look at outside the house are:
- Make sure that snow drifts do not block the one or two pipes your furnace uses to breathe.
- If there is a large icicle on one of the pipes, try and break it off (just to keep things unobstructed).
- Watch the video to see what we're referring to.
Know Your Safety Switch
Know where the furnace safety switch is located by the furnace. Review the video to see what we are referring to and why it is important.
Watch VideoSet Furnace Fan
Change the furnace fan setting from auto to on or low. This keeps the airflow consistent in your house, helping to keep the temperature even in lower and upper areas.
Watch VideoBONUS ITEMS
- Set the humidistat to 20 % Relative humidity. (Because it is so cold outside, typically your windows can not handle normal humidity inside).
- If your furnace stops working - check all items listed above, but also check batteries have been replaced recently at your thermostat.
- When the weather is not as severe and your furnace stops working, we usually recommend leaving the furnace alone until we arrive so we can see why it is off based on the furnace fault codes. But in extreme temperatures, the only thing that matters is turning the heat back on. Once all other things have been checked, turn off the furnace at the service switch. Wait 2 minutes, and then turn the switch back on. This does two things: 1. Overrides why the furnace was off. 2. The furnace will do a pre-check. If the condition still is present the furnace will not work, but if the furnace was off on a soft lock out the furnace will come back on. (If the soft lock out conditions re-occur, the furnace may lock itself out again.)
