There’s nothing worse than your furnace not working when it’s the dead of Winter and it’s literally freezing outside. Before you call a service technician and incur some emergency service bills, make sure you check these first!
- Make sure your furnace is on. You might be surprised but this step is often overlooked and the such a simple fix. Sometimes the burner switch can accidentally get turned to the off position. Your burner switch is usually located near the top of your cellar stairs. Make sure it’s set to the ON position.
- Check your thermostat. Like your burner switch, your thermostat can easily be bumped or adjusted without you realizing it. Make sure the thermostat is set above room temperature ( turn it to at least 80 degrees) and see if the furnace kicks in. You may want to make sure you have power to the thermostat as well. If you have a digital or smart thermostat see if they have power. Consult the owner’s manual on how to troubleshoot if the thermostat is not working to rule out if it needs to be replaced or if it’s the furnace not functioning properly. Many digital thermostats are run on batteries, so if you don’t see anything on the screen it probably means you need to simply change the battery! Without the thermostat working, your furnace will not “kick on”.
- Check your fuel. It seems silly, but this happens a lot. People are busy and often forget to schedule a delivery before it’s too late. Did you run out of fuel? Check the gauge and make sure there is fuel in your tank. Also make sure that the valve for the fuel line is in the open position. Consider signing up for automated delivery to add extra peace of mind.
- Check the fuses. Access your electrical panel and look for any loose or blown fuses or any breakers that may be in the off position. Check all the breakers for the furnace as well as the thermostat. Try resetting any breakers by turning them off and back on to see if that restarts the furnace.
- Try the reset button. Seems easy, right? But this should be your last step for a reason. Your furnace should have a reset button on the unit. Press the reset button only once to see if the unit fires up. There’s a reason your unit shut down originally. If it shuts down again after pressing the reset button once, then you need a service call. If it runs without shutting down again, and with no issues, it could have just been a glitch in its normal cycle that caused it to shut down. If it starts back up, make sure you set your thermostat back to a normal comfortable level.
- No luck? If none of the above has resulted in your furnace restarting, then it’s time to call in the professionals.
Baribault’s maintenance plans help minimize emergencies. Whether you need a tune-up, maintenance or an emergency repair, you can count on Baribault’s expert and dependable in-house technicians to be there for you. We also offer routine maintenance plans that help to keep your equipment running at peak efficiency.
