“Help! My furnace is not working!”
“This simple tip could help you save some money for the holidays!”
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Thanksgiving has passed and its officially time to pull out those Christmas decorations from the attic! However, did you happen to notice your HVAC system was not working properly after you finished decorating?? Believe it or not, this is very common call we get this time of the year! But why is this happening?! Don’t worry, the solution could be very simple!
Furnaces are installed in the interior of homes either in the attic or a small utility closet. In each space there is a “furnace switch” or more accurately known as a furnace disconnect switch. Its purpose is to disconnect the power to the furnace allowing service technicians the ability to shut off the power without having to go to the main service panel and switch off the circuit breaker.
This switch very commonly looks like a normal light switch and is often unlabeled. It could easily be mistaken for a light switch. As a result, it’s not hard to believe that when we are up in our attics pulling down Christmas decorations this switch could mistakenly be bumped or flipped off instead of the light switch. Once the switch is flipped the furnace will turn off and the unit will no longer heat your home.
I know what you are thinking... but I am not using my heater. This is Texas after all and I’m using my AC. If the furnace switch is off shouldn’t my AC still work?
Short answer is… no!
The furnace switch powers the entire HVAC system. If the switch is off the entire system is off, including the cooling components. So, before calling your favorite HVAC company (Optimal Air Solutions of course ?) first check that your furnace switch is on. This could easily solve your problem and save you the service fee an HVAC company would charge to simply flip a switch on! Of course, if this is not the issue or the unit continues to power off, give us a call and we can help diagnose why the failure is taking place!