Furnace Repair by Professionals in High River & Okotoks

You should take care of the following things:

• Change your furnace filters regularly. Some filters are required to be changed only once a year whereas the standard 1” filter should be changed monthly.  
• Make sure to remove or chip off the icicle formed by the vent termination on the outside of the house. If the icicle grows and covers the vent, the furnace will not work properly.
• Schedule regular maintenance calls. The modern furnaces have a lot more sensitive parts that need regular maintenance to work effectively. Most warranty contracts for furnaces require that the furnace be maintained at a minimum of once a year by a qualified technician.

G.M. Mechanical offers a maintenance contract so that you never miss an annual maintenance call. The contract also lists out the prices that you will be charged. A maintenance call is necessary as the agents may be able to identify any potential issue that may cost you a huge sum of money later. 

If you feel that a particular room in your house feels colder than the rest of the house, there might be an issue in the ductwork layout. Replacing the ductwork is a costly affair, but that doesn't mean you have to stay cold. You can follow the following measures to stay warm this winter:

• Check for return air. Locate the return air vent in the room and make sure that it is not blocked by any furniture.  
• You can keep the room warm by running your furnace fan continuously. This will help circulate the warm air throughout the house to help reduce temperature variances.

If the noise produced by running the furnace fan continuously bothers you, upgrade to a furnace with a variable speed blower. These DC drive blowers use approximately 1/8 of the electricity and are quieter than the regular furnaces.

Seasonal cold has more to do with the quality of air inside your house than the temperature outside. 

A possible reason for this could be the bacteria thriving in the ductwork. When the furnace has not been operational for a few months, it leaves a place in your ductwork for bacteria to thrive which then circulates throughout the house when the furnace is turned on. This problem can be resolved by adding a hi-efficient air cleaner/filter. The Lennox PureAir system helps remove any bacteria or even viruses. Something as simple as having regular maintenance done to your furnace can also help.  

For more information, please call G.M. Mechanical or visit us.

Gas bills often shoot up as the winter season arrives. One easy way to reduce your gas bills is to turn down the temperature at night or when you are not at home. You can do this very easily with a programmable thermostat. A programmable thermostat can be set as per your schedule and all you have to do is change batteries on time so that it functions effectively. This will help ensure that your house is toasty warm every time you come home. You should also check the exhaust and intake (if applicable) vents on the outside of the house to ensure that your thermostat effectively warms up your house. Make sure to remove any icicle forming around the vent. 

Your furnace also needs to breathe to be effective. Obstruction around the vents or dirty filters can adversely affect this “breathing”. Change the filters regularly to ensure cozy temperatures inside. 

Also, keep checking the humidifier pad. A scaled-up humidifier pad will cause wastage of water by passing it through to the drain. It can also create a situation for mould to grow. We advise regular servicing of the heating equipment by a qualified technician to avoid costly repairs or being stuck “inside” in the cold! 

Does your house have a room that is significantly colder than the rest? This is often caused by an ineffective ductwork layout. To replace the ductwork would be quite costly, but there are more inexpensive measures you can take to help alleviate the problem. The first is to check for return air. Make sure there is a return air vent in the room and that it is not blocked by furniture. Another measure would be to run your furnace fan continuously. This will help circulate the warm air throughout the house to help reduce temperature variances. You may need a return air vent added to the room, an extra heat run or even just have your furnace wired to run on a continuous fan. If you are worried about the noise produced or electricity used by running your furnace fan, you can upgrade to a furnace with a variable-speed blower. These DC drive blowers use approximately 1/8 of the electricity and are far quieter.  

Are you experiencing your seasonal cold? Does it happen every year when the temperature drops? This often has less to do with the outdoor temperature and more to do with the quality of air in your home. Your furnace likely hasn’t run for months, leaving a place in your ductwork for bacteria to thrive, waiting for the furnace to turn on and circulate this “bad” air throughout the house. Adding a hi-efficient air cleaner/filter can remove harmful bacteria or, in the case of the Lennox PureAir system, even viruses. Something as simple as having regular maintenance done to your furnace can also help. For more information, please call GM Mechanical at 403-652-1282 or visit www.gmmech.net.

Every year, when the temperature drops, our phone lines get jammed with calls from customers whose furnaces have to work more often than normal. In some cases, these calls could be avoided along with the repair bill. The first thing to check if you have no heat is your thermostat. Newer thermostats require a dedicated power line (common) or batteries to operate. The batteries in your thermostat should be changed yearly to avoid coming home to a cold house.  Another thing to check is your filter. A plugged filter can cause your furnace to “hi-limit”. This means that there is not enough air getting through the furnace to remove the heat from the heat exchanger. The third most common issue is the flame sensor. This is for those of you that don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty. The flame sensor becomes coated in carbon over time. This can be cleaned with emery cloth and work as well as new.  Be sure to turn the power off to the furnace before removing the cover! Sometimes turning the power off for 10-30 seconds can re-start your furnace. This will not fix the problem of why it quit in the first place, but it may buy you some time so you don’t have to call a technician out on overtime hours. As always, if you have any questions or need our help, please call G.M. Mechanical at 403-652-1282 or visit www.gmmech.net.

This is referred to as short-cycling. There are a few ways your furnace will do this, but by far the most common is due to a clogged filter. With a clogged filter, your furnace cannot get enough airflow to move the heat away from the heat exchanger and into the rest of the house. This causes your furnace to trip on hi-limit. Your furnace will not come back on until it cools down to a safe temperature. Please feel free to call G.M. Mechanical for more information at 403-652-1282.

With almost all digital thermostats, when the batteries run out of power, they stay in whatever position they were in when the batteries ran out. So if your furnace is in heating mode when the batteries run out, it will stay in heating mode until you change the batteries. Please feel free to call G.M. Mechanical for more information at 403-652-1282.