You have a central heating system in your house for a reason: to provide heat to all of the living space so your whole family stays warm. It’s much better than using a half dozen space heaters, right? Not to mention it’s much safer and energy efficient.
But you may run into a problem where your heater, which was once doing fine at its job, isn’t performing as well when it comes to heating the whole house. Some members of your family are complaining about their rooms getting too cold, and you’ve started to notice cool spots while the heater is running, even though other places in the house are plenty warm. For some reason, your heating system isn’t providing an even spread of heat.
So what’s the reason? Let’s look at several possibilities.
The blower filter is dirty
This is a common problem for any forced-air heating system. The filter protects the interior of the HVAC cabinet from dust and dirt infiltration, but after 1-3 months of operation, it will collect enough debris that it will start to choke off airflow. This means a lower volume of air receives heat and less heat gets into the ventilation system. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix: take out the filter and put in a clean one. Stay on top of regular filter changes throughout the heating season.
The thermostat is miscalibrated
The thermostat registers the temperatures in your home to determine when to turn the heating system on and off. If the thermostat begins to read the house as warmer than it is, it will shut down the heater too early. Warmth may get to the central rooms, but the heater won’t run long enough to send it to all the rooms. You can call HVAC technicians to recalibrate the thermostat and fix this problem.
The heater is short-cycling
This is when the heating system keeps shutting off before completing a full heating cycle, then turning back on soon after and repeating the process. Not only does this rapid “start-stop” process put too much strain on the heater and raise energy costs, it prevents the heater from running long enough to evenly warm the house. There are many causes of short-cycling, and you’ll need professionals to find out what’s wrong and remedy it.
The air ducts have leaks
The issue may not be in the heating system but in the ductworks. If leaks develop in the ducts, hot air will escape from them and not reach the rooms. Uneven heating is often an early warning of air leaks, so we recommend calling technicians to test the ductwork and discover if it needs sealing.
The heater is too old
When a heater is nearing the end of its service life, it will start to struggle to do its standard workload. If your heating system is close to, at, or over its estimated service life, uneven heating is often a sign that it’s time to have the unit replaced.
If you need heating repair in Charleston, SC of any kind, you can trust our team to find the best solutions.
