Winters in and around Lillian, AL, are pretty mild, and your heat may only run hard during a few cold snaps each year. That’s exactly why heating trouble catches people off guard. The system sits quiet for months. Then the first real cold front rolls across Perdido Bay, and you find out something’s wrong at 6 a.m. in a chilly house.
Your heater usually drops hints before it quits, though. Catch them early, and you’ll often be looking at a minor heating repair rather than a no-heat emergency. Here’s what to watch for, what’s usually behind each sign, and what you can safely check yourself.
Plenty of homes around here are heated with a heat pump, and in the condos we work on, it’s almost always one. Other homes use a gas or electric furnace.
A heat pump pulls double duty. It cools your house most of the year, then reverses in winter to pull heat from the outdoor air. All those cooling hours wear on the same parts your heat depends on, like the compressor, outdoor fan motor, reversing valve, and electrical components.
Furnaces have the opposite problem. They sit idle through our long, humid summers, so dust and moisture can build up unnoticed until you switch the thermostat over to heat.
Some sounds are perfectly normal. A soft click when the thermostat calls for heat is fine. On a cold, damp morning, a heat pump might let out a loud whoosh and a little steam from the outdoor unit. That’s usually just the defrost cycle melting frost off the coil.
Other noises deserve a closer look:
Cold bedrooms and a toasty living room? Start with the easy stuff. Make sure supply vents are open and clear of furniture, and check your air filter. Standard 1-inch filters usually need to be changed every one to three months. Thicker media filters can go longer, so check the manufacturer’s label. A clogged filter chokes airflow faster than most people expect.
While you’re at those vents, resist the urge to close several of them to push heat into other rooms. Your system’s built to move a set amount of air, and shutting off too many vents can cut airflow and put extra strain on the blower.
If those basics don’t fix it, the cause is often hiding in your ductwork. Ducts in many local homes run through unconditioned attics or crawl spaces. Over time, they can sag, tear, or pull apart at the joints, and every leak sends warm air somewhere you’ll never feel it. A weak blower motor or a thermostat that reads the wrong temperature can cause the same symptoms.
Got a heat pump? Here’s a heads-up. Heat pump air often comes out in the 90s. Since that’s not much warmer than your skin, it can feel lukewarm on your hand even when everything’s working fine. Gas furnaces blow noticeably warmer air. If your vents feel truly cool, or the house never reaches the set temperature, something’s wrong.
When your bill climbs and nothing has changed at home, your system is probably working harder than it should. Dirty coils, a packed filter, and leaky ducts all make the equipment run longer to keep you comfortable.
Low refrigerant in a heat pump causes the same problem. Refrigerant runs in a sealed loop, so your system doesn’t burn through it. Low levels almost always indicate a leak, and a good technician finds and fixes it rather than just topping off the system.
There’s a sneakier cause, too. Most heat pumps include backup electric heat strips for really cold days. When your thermostat shows “aux heat,” the system has automatically turned on the auxiliary heat strips to help out. That’s normal during defrost and on frigid mornings. On mild days, though, if aux heat keeps showing up, your heat pump may not be pulling its weight, and a heating repair service visit makes sense.
“Emergency heat” works differently. It’s a manual setting that skips the heat pump entirely. On an all-electric system, it runs only the heat strips. On a dual-fuel system, it runs the gas furnace. Unless a technician tells you to use it, keep your thermostat off “em heat,” because an all-electric system running on strips alone will show up on your power bill fast.
Short cycling means your system turns on, runs for a few minutes, shuts off, and starts over again. Much of the wear on heating equipment happens at startup, so all that stopping and starting adds up.
Common causes include:
Swap the filter first. If the cycling keeps up, a technician should diagnose it. Oversizing, in particular, only shows up with a proper load calculation.
A dusty, slightly burnt smell the first time you run the heat each year is usually dust burning off the heat strips or heat exchanger. It should fade pretty quickly.
A lingering smell, or one that reminds you of burning plastic or hot wiring, points to an electrical or overheating problem. Switch the system off at the thermostat and give us a call.
Musty odors usually mean moisture got into the ducts or around the indoor coil during our humid summer. Left alone, it can lead to mold, making it an indoor air quality concern worth addressing.
Rotten eggs are a whole other matter. Gas suppliers add that scent to natural gas and propane so you’ll notice a leak. If you smell it, don’t flip any switches, use your phone inside, or go hunting for the source. Get everyone out of the house, move a safe distance away, and then call your gas supplier or 911.
One more safety note: any home with a fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage should have working carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. A cracked furnace heat exchanger can let CO into your air, and you can’t see or smell it.
Before you pick up the phone, run through this quick checklist when your heating system fails:
Still nothing? Time to call in help. Repeatedly resetting breakers or pulling covers off equipment isn’t worth the risk.
When you call, a few details help the technician arrive prepared: your system’s approximate age, when the problem started, any sounds or smells you noticed, and what your thermostat is displaying.
Many furnaces also have a small blinking light on the control board, often visible through a little window in the panel. If you see one, jot down the blink pattern. It’s a fault code that can point straight to the problem. Don’t pull the panel off to get a better look, since that can cut power and clear the code.
Age plays a big role here. ENERGY STAR suggests considering replacement once a heat pump or air conditioner is more than 10 years old, or a furnace is more than 15 years old. That’s especially true if it needs frequent repairs or struggles to keep up. Homes close to the water face extra wear, since salt air can corrode outdoor equipment over time. If your system is getting up there, keeps needing repairs, or loses a major part like the compressor, replacement may make more sense than another fix.
That’s where heating installation comes in. AirMax is a Tempstar Elite Dealer, and we offer free estimates for new installations so you can see the numbers before deciding.
Here’s what to look for in an HVAC contractor:
In Alabama, heating and air conditioning work must be performed by a contractor certified by the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors, and you can verify any contractor’s license on the board’s website.
Regular HVAC maintenance heads off most of the problems on this list. A performance tune-up covers your system’s voltage and compressor contactor, the defrost controls and auxiliary heat, and the condensate drain. Your technician also keeps an eye out for loose or burnt wires and refrigerant leaks, since those small problems are much cheaper to fix before they cause something bigger, like a motor, to fail.
If you’re noticing any of these signs, give us a call. We’ll take a look, walk you through what we find, and have your house warm again.
1905 S McKenzie St, Foley, AL 36535
Mon - Sun 6am- 10pm
24/7 Emergency Service