House and Home at Craft Village
How to Troubleshoot your Furnace
When you come across a problem with your gas furnace try troubleshooting the problem before calling a costly repairman to your home. Follow these steps to troubleshoot your gas furnace.
Gas Furnace –
1. Look at your thermostat. Make sure the selector switch is on "Heat." Set the temperature higher than the actual room temperature. This will kick start your gas furnace on and will begin to warm your warm. Check the emergency switch to make sure that it's on.
2. Go to your fuse or circuit breaker panel. If you find that you have a blown fuse or tripped circuit breaker, then fix the problem. Remember this shouldn't happen that often.
3. Check the gas. In standing pilot furnaces, if the pilot has blown out, then the burner will not light. You simply solve this problem by relighting the pilot light. If you don't know how to light a pilot, get a family member or friend to help you. Electric ignition furnaces go through a sequence of safety steps to light the burner. If the burner does not light, then follow the guidelines by the manufacture of your gas furnace. The instructions are usually located on the gas furnace. Follow the directions carefully to avoid any gas leaks or fires.
4. Examine the ends of pipes. Blockage of your pipes can cause your gas furnace to not work properly. Look for wears and tears in the pipes. They may need to be fixed or replaced.
5. Replace the filter. A gas furnace takes the cold air from your home, cleans it with a filter, heats it up, and sends it back into your home. An air filter is important in the maintenance of a gas furnace. Change a dirty air filter. This will keep your gas furnace working properly.
6. Reset your gas furnace. By hitting the reset button this may fix any problem that you are having with your gas furnace. If your unit continues to not work properly after resetting it, then you will need to call a service technician.
Electric Furnace -
It's important to troubleshoot your electric furnace as soon as you detect problems so that you can find a quick fix or call a repairman. Follow these steps to troubleshoot an electric furnace.
1. Turn the electric furnace off. This may seem like an obvious step, but many people either neglect its importance or forget to do it. You have to flip the on-off switch on the furnace itself, and not just turn the thermostat down, in order to safely troubleshoot the machine.
2. Check for burnt-out wires and parts. Electric furnaces, and the wires that keep them running, handle huge loads of electricity. Often, the wires burn out and sever the connection. Check for burned or loose wires to make sure that your problem is not simply a matter of wiring.
3. Test furnace elements with a clamp-on ammeter. A clamp-on ammeter is a simple device that lets you troubleshoot an electric furnace by seeing exactly which wires are drawing current. Test each of the wires to see which, if any, is not drawing current properly. Replace any wires that you find to be defective.
4. Check breakers and fuses inside the heat handler. Another common problem with electric heating is that the fuses have simply gone bad. The fuses are shotgun shell-sized cylinders with metal on either end. You can use an electrical test multimeter to test each of the fuses. You also can simply buy new ones to replace the old ones.
How to restart an oil furnace after running out of oil –
If you're lucky, the furnace or boiler will restart on its own after your oil tank is filled. But, if it doesn't, here's how to get it going again.
Try pressing the 'reset button' (usually red), on the furnace itself. If there are two copper lines coming from your oil tank the pump should bleed itself.
If it still doesn't start, you will need to bleed the fuel line as described below.
- Gather the right tools: See 'Things You'll Need' below.
- Shut off the furnace. There should be a toggle switch on the furnace for this. If the reset button is keeping the furnace off already (e.g. a red light "on" near reset button) turning the furnace off again is not necessary.
- Locate the bleeder valve. It is on the side of the fuel pump, maybe at 4 or 8 o'clock position. The fuel pump, which the fuel lines leads to, is probably on the left side of the burner unit. The bleeder looks sort of like a grease fitting with hex shoulder on it, like a nut, and a 3/8 inch wrench might fit it.
- Attach a short section of 1/4" nylon tubing to the bleeder. The tubing should be long enough to extend into the oil catch bucket/can. While the tubing is attached to the bleeder, prepare the bleeder by loosening it with a wrench, and then lightly re-tighten. During this process you might hear a light air gurgle from the tubing and that is okay.
- Now you're ready for the final step: Turn on the furnace and then loosen the bleeder promptly. The tubing should spit fuel and air, then a constant stream of fuel. Let the fuel stream run a few seconds to ensure all the air is out of the line. It may be necessary to manually trigger the start mechanism with the reset button.(See Tips.)
- Tighten the bleeder, and the burner (furnace) should start. If not, repeat Step 7. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries.
- Once you are sure it is running, tighten the bleeder firmly with a wrench.
- If multiple attempts at restarting the burner fail, the burner may "lock out" the reset button. To reset the reset button, press the button for 35 seconds, then release.
- If the furnace still doesn't start, the oil filter may need to be bled. It is usually a black canister with a red top. Loosen the 1/4 inch bolt on the top (not the big one in the middle) until you hear air seeping out. Tighten it back up when oil starts bubbling out.
Tips
When bleeding the line, let the liquid fuel come out for a short time to make sure all the sludge and/or air is out of the line. The amount depends on how long your fuel line is. Filling a 16oz cup works for a 6 foot fuel line.
Consider contacting an oil burner service company to replace the filter and nozzle, since running out of oil probably caused sludge from the bottom of your oil tank to get into the works.
The bled out oil can be poured back into the tank that stores the fuel oil.
If you use a plastic container to catch the bled out fuel, you should remove it as soon as possible. Oil dissolves plastic, and the container will lose its integrity in anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
When it's running, the typical furnace will 'roar.' When it's not running, you'll hear nothing, or just an electronic whine.
To ensure the furnace is operating you should be able to view an orange glow or fire through the inspection port, located on the front of the furnace.
Depending on your furnace, #2 diesel fuel can work in a pinch if you need oil now and can't get a delivery. Depending on your usage about 5 gallons of diesel fuel will give you 5 running hours (about 1 day of use).
In some states heating oil is dyed red. No cause for alarm.
The process may seem daunting, but it can proceed relatively smoothly and without fuss.
Gloves recommended.
Diesel fuel sold at the gas station can substitute for heating oil until your delivery is made. They are nearly identical, but fuel exempt from road taxes is dyed red to identify it for legal purposes. You can also use off-road diesel, which is usually dyed red. If you use automotive diesel for home heating, the fuel tax can be listed on federal and state taxes as an itemized deduction.
Warnings
You are playing with fire and fuel here, so be careful.
Not all furnaces are alike. This process only relates to single oil line applications. If you are at all unsure please call a qualified Burner Service Technician.
Make sure the wrench fits the bleeder properly. Don't use excessive force when loosening or tightening the bleeder. If you strip the bleeder, it could be quite expensive to have it drilled out!
If you aren't careful, it is possible to make a BIG mess. At a minimum, you WILL get oil on your hands.
Don't go wild on the reset button. Try it once or twice. If the furnace doesn't start, it probably won't start until you bleed the line. By resetting the furnace multiple times you run the risk of flooding the combustion chamber with fuel.
If you decide to temporarily use diesel fuel be aware that some grades of diesel are more easily ignitable than standard #2 heating oil/#2 diesel and could create a fire hazard.
If you decide to temporarily use diesel fuel be sure you put in enough to hold you over until the heating oil can be delivered. Repeatedly running out of fuel will pull more sludge into the burner and increase the possibility of the filters and nozzles to be replaced and/or cleaned.
Things You'll Need
A wide-mouth container to catch some waste oil in. A metal coffee can with some sand or cat litter in the bottom to prevent splashing works well.
1/4" flexible tubing fit over the bleeder valve to direct smelly fuel to catch container. This will make the process tidy and keep fuel from splattering all around the furnace. Strongly recommended but fuel line can be bled without it.
A wrench of the appropriate size, usually 3/8ths. A short handled fixed size wrench is best. You may be able to use an adjustable, but often there isn't enough room around the bleeder for all the excess metal.
Something to wipe your hands and tools with when you are done (you WILL get oil on your hands IF you don't use tubing on the bleeder valve).
A small bag of clay cat litter (not the clumping stuff). This is optional, but can be used to absorb any oil that may spill on the floor.