heating repair service in Irvine, CA

Specialty Air Heating and Cooling provides heating repair service in Irvine, CA when a simple fix doesn’t work.

In the age of the Do-It-Yourself channel and YouTube tutorials, many savvy homeowners are checking for small fixes first before paying for repairs from heating and cooling technicians. While a more complex issue is best left to the professionals, you too could save some time and money by checking if a small fix could save the day. Here at Specialty Air, we feel it’s important to provide our customers with the tools to make an informed decision and we want to earn your trust and repeat business. We would rather help you with these small tips than charge you if you can take care of an issue yourself! See if one of these strategies will work for your home heating system before you call.

Air Filter Clog

Clogged air filters are usually the first place heating and AC problems begin. If your furnace turns on and off quickly, blowing air for a short while before shut-off, you probably have a filter that’s too clogged for it to run. Waiting too long to change a filter can cause soot to build up in your heat exchanger, so you might want to schedule a non-emergency maintenance cleaning after if this was the problem.

Thermostat Issues

If your thermostat isn’t set correctly, your furnace will malfunction. Programmable thermostats are usually the culprit, you might have settings from last spring up and forgotten to change them for the cooler months. Check the temperature settings and make sure the thermostat is set to “heat”, not “off” or “air”.

 A Circuit Breaker Trip

It’s not unheard of for something random to cause the circuit breaker providing power to your furnace to shut off or trip. Check the switch near your furnace to see if someone accidentally turned it off thinking it was a light switch.

heating repair service in Irvine CA

Ignition Issues

Newer gas furnaces use an intermittent pilot or hot surface ignition to start the furnace rather than the old standing blue pilot light. These more efficient ignitions work when the thermostat signals them to heat up via electricity. The igniter is a thin piece of metal much like the delicate filament inside a light bulb and it won’t last forever. If your furnace ignition isn’t working, you’ve at least narrowed down the problem but this is a bigger repair that needs a technician with specialized training and tools to fix it.

If you have an older furnace with a standing pilot light, you might be able to fix it yourself by just relighting it, but please be careful! If your furnace is this old, you are paying more than you have to on heating your home and should look into the energy savings offered by newer models.