Diagnosing Electrical Issues with your Furnace
Furnaces use a significant amount of electrical energy to give you the right temperature conditions in your home. Sometimes, your furnace can trip your circuit breaker due to electrical issues. At first, it can be a slight inconvenience to start up your heating again. However, repeated instances are bothersome and could indicate a potential symptom of a deeper problem with your electrical or heating systems.
Dealing with a problematic furnace
If you’re not familiar with electrical work, you may underestimate how your furnace keeps on tripping your circuit breaker. However, you should avoid looking at small incidents as one-time events. These occurrences can put your furnace at risk of breaking down or requiring major repairs. For this reason, it’s best to understand the real cause of your furnace’s malfunctions to identify the right way to fix it.
If your furnace continues to trip your circuit breaker, here are four potential reasons why:
- Overloading Shared Circuit
Your home’s electrical wiring can get messy and complicated to discuss. In simple terms, your home needs to have enough power supply to account for all the electrical appliances that you plug in and use, even simultaneously. If you have too many machines hooked up in the same circuit, it can overload and trip the breaker. This shuts power in the entire circuit, requiring you to reset your breaker. Each circuit has a limited load capacity, which is why it’s best to keep appliances that consume a large amount of electricity to have their own circuit without any additional appliances. - Overloaded Furnace
Furnaces have a limited range of heating a specific area in your home, depending on their model. This is why some homeowners in Western MA have issues with their furnaces when dealing with home extensions. They think that amping up their furnace is enough to account for the extra area needed for heating. However, it can lead to long periods of overloading your furnace. It’s similar to running a furnace during harsh weather conditions, which causes it to overwork and experience wear and tear rapidly. - Loose Furnace Wiring
Your furnace can have loose wiring or naturally wear out over time, which causes an improper delivery of electricity in the circuit. Sometimes, the cause of a circuit breaker trip can be as simple as a buildup of dust. You can perform a basic inspection to see if there are burned or loose wiring, but it’s best to avoid handling it yourself. Although loose wires aren’t lethal, electrical shocks can do more than burn and shock you. If you want to avoid feeling nausea or risking a seizure, call a reliable electrician to handle the more thorough diagnosis for you. - Compromised Electrical Connections
Similarly, your electrical systems could be at fault and not your furnace itself. Over time, electrical wirings can come loose from various factors. Although this means you won’t have to replace the unit, you will have to call an electrician to diagnose the full extent of your home’s wiring problems. It’s best to let an electrician perform the handling of your wiring. It’s to ensure that you won’t put yourself at risk of carelessly touching live wires.
If your home furnace is facing these issues, it's time to contact an electrical contractor near you
Sometimes, your furnace can manifest other symptoms that will be difficult to determine by yourself. It’s an even more compelling reason to seek out a professional electrician to diagnose your furnace and electrical systems. Getting expert help immediately will prevent further deterioration of your home to keep you safe from harm.
About B Town Electric
At B Town Electric, we provide our clients with
reliable residential, commercial and industrial electrical services throughout Hampden County, MA, Hampshire County, MA and Franklin County, MA.
Contact us today, and our professional electricians will remedy your furnace-related concerns.
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