With proper care and maintenance, your furnace can easily last a couple of decades. Even with the best preventative care, however, there will come a time when you’ll need to replace your furnace with a new one. The following are some of the signs that it may be time to replace your furnace.
Age
The simplest indicator that you may need to replace your furnace is its age. Generally, once a furnace gets past 15 years old it begins to decline more and more rapidly. If your furnace is older than 15 years, you should definitely get it checked by a professional to see if it needs replacing.
Increase in Repair Frequency
All furnaces need repairs sometimes, but there is a big difference between the odd part breaking down and needing to replace something every few months. As a furnace gets older, the cumulative wear and tear on its individual parts begins to cause them to break. This tends to manifest in a much higher frequency of breakdowns and malfunctioning parts. If it seems like every time you turn around your furnace is acting up, it may be time to replace it.
Short-cycling
Short cycling is what happens when your furnace keeps rapidly turning itself on and off without stopping. This is caused by the system thinking it’s overheating. The furnace will turn on to heat the home, reach an internal temperature level above the safety standard, and shut itself off as a safety precaution. Later, after it has cooled off a little, the furnace will start up again and repeat the cycle endlessly.
Unlike the previous two signs, this one is not normally associated with the age of your furnace. There are a few possible causes for short-cycling. One of these causes is that your furnace is simply too big for your home. The other possibility is that of a clogged air filter, exhaust flue, or even a gas imbalance. No matter what, though, you should call your HVAC technician if you notice your furnace doing this.
If you think you may need to replace your furnace, call Design Comfort. Our HVAC technicians provide heating services all of Salt Lake City.
