Fort Worth, Texas, is a big city with humble beginnings first as a fort and then as a ranching town. Just outside the city, you can still see lots of open farmland and ranches with longhorn cattle roaming the fields. From tumbleweeds to cowboy boots, Texas represents good, old-fashioned American values and roots.
Fort Worth can also get incredibly hot in the summertime, and in the winter time, it sees its fair share of cold nights and chilly days — days that make us Texans who are used to the summer heat just want to go home to our nice warm homes and curl up in blankets with our cat, dog, and a good book. Thus, for those days when you don’t want to leave your home cause of the wind and cold, you need a top-notch furnace to keep you warm. And when your furnace is not working, it can make for a not-so-happy start to your day.
Arthur Hagar has been serving the people of Fort Worth with the best HVAC services, including furnace repair services, for over 60 years. Our top-notch HVAC specialists can help you with all of your heating and cooling needs. We have partnered with Trane to bring you energy-efficient air conditioning and heating units that will last you decades with proper maintenance and care. In addition, we also offer new construction HVAC services, as well as financing options *subject to credit approval. Below, we’ll take a look at some common furnace repairs that we see here in Fort Worth. Call our HVAC company today for all your furnace repair needs!
Believe it or not, there’s a reason you need to regularly change your furnace filters — so your furnace will continue to operate. The problem that dirty air filters cause furnaces is that they slow down airflow. This makes your furnace work harder than it normally would have to. It also can cause the limit switch to not function properly, which is what controls the fan that blows the hot air into your home.
If your thermostat decides to not cooperate, your furnace won’t work properly. There are a variety of problems with your thermostat that can affect your furnace. The battery could be low or dead. The fan setting could be perpetually in the “on” mode, which would drain your battery. Or, the thermostat could be near the end of its life, which would cause it to not operate properly.
The purpose of a pilot light is to ignite the gas when your furnace turns on that will then power the gas burner. The pilot light is perpetually lit by allowing a small amount of gas to come up through a gas pipe into a tube. However, the safety problem comes from the fact that if your pilot light ever blew out, gas would keep coming through, filling your home. This gas could ignite and cause an explosion.
Luckily, a very small pilot light sensor, called the “thermocouple,” was invented and installed on furnaces. This thermocouple generates electricity from the heat of the pilot light. When the pilot light goes out, the thermocouple, which is attached to a valve, loses heat and shuts the valve it is attached to. To relight the pilot light, you have to manually do so. You have to light the pilot and then wait for the thermocouple to heat up and then you can let go of the button.
Because a constantly running pilot light wastes gas, modern furnaces use something called a piezoelectric spark to light the burner instead. This is how push-button igniters work. Certain natural crystals like quartz can create a voltage when hit. Similar to a spark plug, this pressure generates a spark that then ignites the gas.
A faulty pilot light could be a broken or loose thermocouple or a clogging around the pilot light, such as a piece of wiring in the way. The setting could be off as well. Either way, a professional furnace repair technician in Fort Worth will need to take a look, such as Arthur Hagar.
Sometimes the blower is not delivering heat to your home. Sometimes a fix is as simple as ensuring the door is shut. Most likely, the blower belt is off, either it’s worn and needs to be replaced, or it’s cracked and broken. Replacing a belt to your furnace is not as simple as it seems, and blower motors can get really hot. If your blower motor is really hot, it could be a sign of an overload, which would require the blower motor to be replaced, which is a job for a professional HVAC specialist.
