Is Your Furnace Blowing Cold Air?

While Florida is known for warm summer weather, the last thing anyone needs in the winter is a furnace blowing cold air. Before calling in the professionals, consider these points to see if your furnace has a deeper problem.

Why Is My Furnace Blowing Cold Air?

• It could be perfectly normal. When you come home at the end of a cold day, the furnace has to start up and first push all the cold air out of the ductwork and start producing and circulating heat itself. Depending on the model, it can a few minutes for a furnace to heat up.
• Your fan should be switched to “auto” so that it only kicks in when you need to heat your home. If you’re getting cold air blowing from your furnace only, you might have your fan set to “on” which will blow air continuously, whether the furnace is on or not.
• The pilot light is out. If this is the case, the pilot light needs to be turned back on or the underlying problem repaired before the furnace will work again.
• If your furnace is still blowing cold air, or it heats up only to start blowing cold air again, the flame sensor might be dirty and not be interpreting the heat and height of the pilot correctly. This isn’t as much of a problem if an individual keeps up with the yearly furnace maintenance and cleaning.

If you’ve cleaned the flame sensor, your pilot is working, your vents are clean and you still experience cold blasts or continuous cool air from your heating system, it’s an indication of a possible deeper problem. There are a variety of problems that could be the explanation, from sensors malfunctioning to electrical driving components shorting out due to time or excessive wear and tear.

For more information about what to do with a furnace blowing cold air, or for other home comfort and AC maintenance concerns, contact the pros at Gulf Coast Air Systems. We proudly service homes throughout the Sun City Center area.