When the colder winter air comes back around, it’s time to turn your heating system back on. Unfortunately, if you’re like some homeowners, your heating system doesn’t seem to provide the same amount of heat to every room in your home. This can be a result of one or more factors at play.
Lack of Insulation
One key factor that may be causing uneven heating in your home is a lack of insulation in specific areas. Insulation is necessary to provide a barrier between the cold weather outside and the warmth that your heating system has created inside. Take a moment to assess the R-value of the insulation in the cold spots of your home and to compare it to the recommended R-value for your area. If your insulation is not up to the recommended level, then it’s time to add some insulation to those areas.
Poor Home Design
Sometimes, the uneven heating issue you’re dealing with can simply be a result of poor home design. If your home has special features, like a vaulted ceiling or a wall made of windows, these structures can make it more difficult to heat the room properly. Even a multi-level home can be a challenge for your furnace. Due to the natural rising of heat, you’ll always notice that your upstairs will be warmer than your downstairs. Fortunately, these poor home design features can be dealt with by one of our service technicians with strategies like zone heating control.
Clogged Air Filter
Your heating system has a filter that helps to trap unwanted airborne debris so that it stays out of your furnace and boosts your indoor air quality. As your filter reaches the end of its lifespan, it will become physically clogged with debris. This clog will restrict the amount of air that can flow through it, which can result in a reduction of your furnace’s heating capacity.
You’ll notice that you’re just not getting heat throughout your home like you used to. Fortunately, all you have to do to fix this issue is to replace the air filter. It’s a good rule of thumb to check your air filter every couple of weeks during the winter months to see if it needs to be replaced.
Leaky Ductwork
As warm air flows out of the heat exchanger on your furnace, it’s directed into your ducting. This metal venting is intended to carry the warm air to the various supply vents throughout your home. Over time, the constant expansion and contraction of the metal material can cause gaps between the joints.
As your ducting develops gaps, it will allow the warm air from your furnace to seep out into your floor and wall cavities. You’ll notice that hot air simply isn’t making it all the way to the rooms in your home that are most distant from your furnace. To fix this issue, you’ll need to call in a professional to perform a duct-sealing service. This will close up all of the unwanted gaps and will ensure that the warm air from your furnace makes it to all of the rooms throughout your home.
Undersized HVAC System
If this is your first year in a new home, then it’s completely possible that your HVAC system is undersized. When your heating system struggles to produce enough warm air to properly heat your home to a comfortable temperature, you’ll notice that the rooms farthest from your furnace don’t adequately heat up.
If you suspect that your furnace may be undersized, you can do some quick math to confirm your suspicions. Take the total square footage, and multiply it by 50 BTUs. This will give you the heating output that your furnace needs to meet or to exceed. Compare this number to the actual heating output of your furnace, which is typically written on the access panel door. If your furnace’s heating output is less than what you’ve determined your home’s heating demands are, it’s time to upgrade to a larger HVAC system.
Aging HVAC System
Most modern furnaces are designed to last anywhere between 15 and 20 years. As your furnace reaches the later years of its life, its internal components won’t perform like they used to. Your furnace will have a lower heat output that can cause it to struggle to properly heat all the rooms throughout your home. If your existing furnace is over 15 years old, it’s likely the cause of your uneven heating issue. The solution to this issue is to upgrade your existing furnace to a newer model.
Blocked Vents
Throughout your home, there are various vents that work to deliver warm air to each room and to remove cold air. Whenever these vents become blocked, the heat is no longer able to penetrate those rooms. This can lead to some rooms feeling ice cold while other rooms are adequately heated. Remove any items that are blocking your vents, like plants or even furniture. You’ll be able to notice a significant change in a particular room’s temperature when you unblock its supply vent.
Neglected HVAC System
As a homeowner, it’s your job to ensure that your furnace is serviced by a professional each year. This helps to keep all of its internal components in good working order. If you’ve neglected this annual maintenance, it could be the cause of your heating system’s poor performance. You should contact one of our experienced heating professionals to come to service your HVAC system to get it back to working at its optimal level.
Pesky Air Drafts
Air drafts are one of the leading causes of uneven heating in houses. Rooms that have air drafts will consistently be colder as your furnace is in a never-ending battle with the cold outside air. These air drafts commonly develop near windows and doors.
Take a few moments to feel around the frames of your doors and windows. If you feel cold air seeping in, you have an air draft. It’s best to cover up these drafts with door sweeps, weather-stripping, foam stripping, and similar materials that will block the cold air from coming into the room. When the cold air is blocked out, your heating system will be able to easily heat the room without competing with the cold air.
Short Cycling
Sometimes, when your furnace experiences a malfunction, it will go into a short-cycling mode. This will cause it to constantly turn on and off. Your furnace won’t run long enough to produce enough hot air to completely heat your home. To remedy this issue, you’ll need to consult one of our service technicians. They can fix the culprit of your short-cycling problem so that your furnace goes back to running complete heating cycles.
Professional Heating Services
Bel-Aire Heating & Cooling provides professional heating services for the Portage, MI area. You can also rely on us for all of your cooling, air quality, mini-split, geothermal, commercial HVAC, and energy audit needs. Contact us today to get professional assistance that you can trust.
