Noises that Your Heater Makes & What They Mean

It is definitely winter now, as you can probably tell by the snow covering our area and the heaters in our house have been humming along for a couple of months now with a couple to go. As with all things we are around often when something doesn’t sound the same, it can be alarming. Just like our spouse with a hoarse voice or our car with a new noise, our heating systems can begin to make noises that we’re not accustomed to hearing and may raise concerns. We’ll cover some of the most popular noises that your heating system will make in its lifetime.

Sidenote: If your heating system is making noises that aren’t typical to it, call a professional. The issues we describe can lead to damage to the unit, your home, and possibly your family. Poor maintenance can result in failure of the unit or possibly fires. We recommend pre-season maintenance to prevent these issues.

The dreaded scraping noise that your heater makes

Is your heater making a scraping noise? That metal on metal noise that keeps you up at night is almost always the blower inside of your heater. Here are the reasons for this metal on metal noise in your home:

• Loose Blower Wheel Nut
• Broken Blower Wheel
• Blower Wheel Mount is Hitting Casing

At any rate, it’s best for a professional to diagnose and repair this issue. Properly mounted Blower Wheels not only reduce sounds coming from the unit but improve the efficiency of the unit.

Squeaaaaaaaaling in the middle of the night from your heater

This one typically makes you pick up the phone right away. It sounds like a rubbery noise that makes your eye twitch when you hear it. This issue is usually the belt that runs the blower fan. It fails due to a lack of maintenance and causes the awful squealing that you’re hearing right now. The simple fix of replacing the belt will take care of this issue in a hurry and you’ll be back to harmony in no time.

Is your furnace popping?

If you’re hearing a popping or banging noise, consider giving us a call. This is the worst noise that your unit can make and is often a cause of your burners being too dirty to light, causing a buildup of gas before it can fully light that results in a pop or bang. It’s not a fun noise to hear and should be dealt with immediately.

If you have a boiler, it typically means the same thing as it does on a furnace, except, instead of a dirty burner it is scaling on the burner.

Prevent Heater Noises

Heater noises are preventable! Simple pre-season maintenance will help you keep peace of mind as you go into the winter season and endure it until Spring comes back around. We recommend hiring a professional to come in and do the typical winter prep pre-season work required to keep a heating unit running strong so that you’re not without heat or worse, dealing with house fires.

It’s not too late to get maintenance on your unit, take a look at our HVAC Maintenance Plan & Contact Us Today.