Your furnace is going to make a few sounds from time to time during normal operation. However, the sounds that you hear from your heater should never be particularly loud or alarming. Any sounds that are not a part of everyday operation should be cause for concern.
In fact, unusual furnace sounds are an indication that you need to schedule furnace repair in Campbell County, WY. You can keep reading to learn more about some of the common furnace sounds that can mean trouble for your heater. Then give our team a call to schedule service and stay ahead of a heater breakdown.
Hissing
If you hear a hissing sound coming from your furnace, there’s a chance that you have a gas leak. If you have a gas heater, the gas runs through lines in your furnace to provide heat during a combustion process. A leak in the line can cause fire hazards and make your family very sick.
Sometimes a gas leak doesn’t produce any sound at all, so we encourage you to install carbon monoxide detectors if you have a gas heater as a safety precaution. Gas doesn’t have an odor or a color so if the leak doesn’t make a sound then you may not even know it’s there.
Clicking
First we want to address a sound that can be normal sometimes and unusual at other times. Your furnace may click when it turns on for a heating cycle and again when it turns off for a heating cycle. Hearing clicking a few times is completely normal at the beginning and end of a cycle.
However, if your furnace turns on for a heating cycle and the clicking continues, that is a red flag. It is better to schedule an appointment and get ahead of this issue rather than wait to see if it will go away. Instead of going away, the problem is likely to worsen instead.
Rattling
You may hear rattling once in a while coming from your ductwork. If the sound only happens occasionally, it’s really not a big deal. However, if you hear a persistent rattling from your ductwork, it can indicate that the pieces of ductwork are not secure.
As air blows through, it causes the ductwork to move around and tap against each other, resulting in a rattling sound. You may be losing heated air to holes in your ductwork that need to be repaired. Plus, the rattling is only making holes bigger and problems worse.
If rattling comes from within your furnace instead of your ductwork it can indicate that a component is loose and rattling during operation. For example, a screw may be loose and tapping against the surface as the operation produces vibrations on the inside of the unit. If the problem continues, the loose part may break free completely and knock around inside your system.
Banging
Banging can be very difficult to ignore since it is usually a very loud and abrupt sound. You may hear banging one time or persistently. Either way, the sound is a big problem for your furnace. Banging can indicate that a large component inside of the system is loose and moving around. We see it most commonly inside of the air compressor when a connector rod or piston pin comes loose.
When you hear banging, turn off your furnace immediately to prevent additional damage. If we catch the problem early, we can usually repair or replace a single component. But if the problem worsens then you may have to replace your entire compressor, which can be a very expensive service appointment.
Grinding
Your furnace has a variety of gears and components that have to work smoothly together to produce efficient heating operation. To aid in this process, all of the components are well-lubricated so that they can work together with ease. However, over time dust and dirt can get into these gears and components, drying up the lubrication.
Once the problem is bad enough, you may begin to hear grinding sounds as components struggle against the lack of lubrication. Luckily, this is an easy fix if you catch the problem early. Our team can clean out the gears and relubricate them so they can work together smoothly once again. But keep in mind that if you wait too long, the grinding could cause damage to these parts and they will need to be repaired or replaced in addition to being relubricated.
Schedule an appointment with the team at Climate Solutions, Inc. The trusted source for all your heating and cooling needs.