Reasons Why Your Home Heater Won’t Start

Even in the Palm Beach Gardens area’s mild winters, when your home’s heater won’t start, it could leave you chilly and uncomfortable. Many of the reasons heat won’t turn on are issues you can correct yourself. Before you contact a technician, run through these troubleshooting steps.

• Check the setting — Make sure your thermostat is on and switched to heat. Your heating and cooling system thermostat must be set above the room’s current temperature. Try raising the thermostat 5 degrees.

• Check the power supply — A blown fuse or tripped breaker in your main electrical panel could be the reason your furnace won’t ignite. If you see a breaker positioned between off and on, turn it all the way off, then back on.

• Make sure there’s fuel — If you have a gas furnace, the gas valve should be fully open. If you have an oil or propane furnace, check that you haven’t run out of fuel.

• Let the motor cool — Your heater motor may have overloaded. Keep it off for half and hour, then press the reset button. You may need to repeat this process more than once.

• Consider the ignitor —  If you have a furnace with a hot surface ignitor, look for a blinking indicator light, which could mean the ignitor is in lockout mode. Reset it by turning the power switch off then on. If the heater still won’t ignite, the ignitor may be damaged and require replacement. An intermittent pilot system that fails to ignite could have a loose component, damaged spark electrode or a problem with the control module.

Whether your heater  won’t start or another problem is making your home less comfortable, contact us at Preferred Air Conditioning & Mechanical, Inc. Our experienced technicians cover Palm Beach Gardens, Delray, Wellington, and elsewhere around Southeast Florida.