Dirty air filters are far and wide the number one reason for furnace and air filter problems. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t think about changing them until something happens to cause them to have no heat or no cooling. By then, the damage has more than likely already been done. You think that changing the filter will solve everything only to find out that you are wrong.
Now, what do you do?
If it is your heat that stopped, more than likely your hi-limit switch has tripped and if your filter looks like this customers’, (photo above) you may have the same outcome which was a bad limit that needed to be replaced (photo above) as well as a blower motor that had the windings damaged.
We were able to save this furnace but others aren’t so lucky. The extreme heat and age of the unit can cause the heat exchanger to crack and leave the unit unsafe to operate. (photo of a crack in a heat exchanger shown above) Filters need to change every 30 to 90 days on average. Do yourself a favor and order a box of filters and store them next to the furnace. You can also date them before you install them so you remember when you changed them last.
If you are experiencing any issues that you need help figuring out, give our Virtual Diagnostic feature a try before you call an HVAC company!
