Power Problems: Did Something Happen To Your Electric Furnace?
If your home recently experienced multiple power brownouts, outages, or surges, you might check every electronic device and electrical appliance in your house for damage. If all of your devices and appliances seem okay, you may breathe a sigh of relief that nothing serious happened to them. However, you should also check your electric furnace to see if it encountered any problems during the power fluctuations. Learn how power problems affect furnaces below.
Can Power Outages Harm Electrical Furnaces?
Although power problems are common occurrences in homes today, they can still wreak havoc on electrical devices and appliances. When power problems affect HVAC appliances, such as air conditioners and furnaces, the aftermath can be stressful. Power outages, such as brownouts and surges, can inadvertently damage the circuitry and electronic components inside your electric furnace.
If your furnace has electrical problems, it might not power on successfully. The excess energy created by the power problems may burn or warp the sensors, contacts, and wires inside the appliance's motor and fan. The motor and heating elements may also have issues you may not know about.
If you turn on your furnace and smell a burnt odor or see smoke, switch the appliance off immediately. Your furnace could have one or more of the dangerous problems above.
How Do You Fix a Furnace Damaged By Power Problems?
For safety reasons, you want to avoid troubleshooting or performing any do-it-yourself repairs on your furnace. Instead, call an HVAC contractor and allow them to examine your furnace's electrical components for you.
A contractor will need to check each area of your furnace for electrical damage, including the heating elements and heat sequencer. These parts distribute energy, or electrical power, through the furnace after it comes on. If heating components or a motor sustained damage, a contractor may recommend you repair or replace them right away.
A heating repair technician may also examine, troubleshoot, and test the electrical wiring, contacts, and connection points inside your blower motor and fan. If the motor or fan quits working, the furnace will build up with heat during operation. Your appliance could potentially overheat.
After a service technician repairs your electric furnace, they may suggest you install a surge protector on the appliance. A surge protector can prevent excess electricity from reaching and entering your furnace during outages and other power problems. If you have any questions about surge protectors and how they work, consult an HVAC repair technician right away.
If your furnace sustained damage during a power problem, call a technician for help now.
For more information, reach out to a company like Powder River Heating & Air Conditioning Inc.
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