It’s not often that we experience negative-degree weather in Indiana! This weekend sure has been fun with all the snow and new temperature experiences! Well, fun unless your furnace goes out! Here are a few quick tips to make sure that you and your family are warm and cozy inside:
- Change the filter: In Indiana, furnaces are made to effectively run down to about 3 degrees outside. In temperatures below that, you may see that your furnace falls behind a little. To help the furnace out, make sure there is a clean filter inside. If the furnace is running on a dirty filter, it will have an even harder time keeping up.
- Don’t change the temperature on the thermostat: Leave your thermostat at one temperature. For example, maybe you usually keep the temperature at 70 degrees during the day but 65 degrees at night. In this weather, it’s going to be hard for your furnace to make up that 5 degree difference. Turn your thermostat to a temperature setting and leave it there. If you have a programmable thermostat, put a “hold” on the desired temperature so it’s not fluctuating.
- Turn the thermostat to “Emergency Heat”: If you have a heat pump and electric furnace, you’ll see “auxiliary” heat show on your thermostat. This is because heat pumps are inefficient in extremely cold weather so the electric furnace also runs to supplement the heat pump. With temperatures below zero, the heat pump is not helping at all, so turn the thermostat to “emergency” heat. This will manually lock out the heat pump. The electric furnace will run by itself to heat your home. Just remember to turn the thermostat back to regular heat mode when outdoor temperatures warm up a bit. You don’t want the electric furnace running by itself all of the time because of the cost to run it.
- Clear snow away from the heat pump: Clear away any snow drifts from the heat pump. The snow will restrict air flow and prevent the heat pump from operating properly. It may also prevent the heat pump from going into defrost mode, meaning the heat pump could ice up.
- If your furnace does quit, call right away: It will take no time at all for the temperature inside to drastically drop if your furnace happens to quit working. Call for HVAC help right away! There are a lot of homes without heat so it may be a few hours before a technician will be at your door anyway. A delay in calling will only increase that wait time.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding your HVAC equipment! Keep an eye on our Facebook page as well for other tips and posts.
