Heating a room in the winter is beautiful. You can sit back and enjoy the snowfall and silence that comes with it!
However, if you do not have a working heater in your room, you are left cold and hungry. Luckily, there are ways to stay warm if you have no working heater.
Stocking up on blankets, keeping a heavy coat or jacket around to lay upon, and/or by itself; these practices can help combat the bitter weather.
By opening yourself up to these things, you will soon discover what makes you feel most comfortable and enjoyable to live with. You will also learn some of your basic winter skills such as how to manage the weather, how to stay warm, and how to care for yourself in case of an emergency.
Contents:
Check the thermostat
When your heater is working, it’s probably because of your thermostat. Your home heater needs a steady stream of power to keep running!
You can manually check the thermostat by turning it in either direction. If it goes in and out with a bit of heat, then it’s working. If it doesn’t, then you need to replace the thermostat.
If your home heater is not checking hot enough or complaining of too much heat, then these may be problems with your thermostat. Try changing out the old one with a new one to see if that fixes the issue.
If none of those work, then we must look at the home heater itself.
Call a repairman
If the heaters are five years or older, it is time for a repairman call. newer models have newer parts that need to be used in order for the heater to work.
Heating systems are designed to break down heat into a distributed format. When one component of the system fails, another maintains its temperature.
If your home heater has been gathering water and nothing else, then you may not need a repairman. If there is insulation on top of the panel, then it may need removed and new material put on top of it.
If any components fail completely, a repairman can come out and replace those for you. Although cost effective, this may damage your heating system over time so you must have a service call with him if! is going to be doing that.
Look for signs of a gas leak
If your thermostat indicates a leak, you should look for signs such as a smoke or smell coming from your home heater. These may be seen using an intercom or heard with a audio monitor.
When one of these devices indicate a leak, you should call your local plumber to investigate. A trained eye can tell whether the heat is working or not. A working home heater will produce heat that spreads out and reaches all parts of the house, including vulnerable areas.
A not functioning home heater may only show up as cold spots in your homes wall cavities and no other parts of the house. This is due to no heat reaching the rest of the house. You need to watch for this as it may be noticing only one of these signs.
Turn the gas valve on and off
If your heater has a valve to turn the gas tank on or off, you can either remove the valve or simply turn the gas tank on and off.
When the gas tank is on, it prevents water from entering the heater. If you have it turned off, you can still have water enter but not stay.
This is important to know when making a decision on whether or not to buy a this unit. Many cost about $50-$60 and last about 12-24 months. You would pay more if it last longer.
Reset the thermostat
If your heater does not work after a certain time has passed, check the thermostat. If it is broken, it may be sticking, turning off the heat when the temperature is low.
To reset the thermostat you must remove it from the wall and then slide it back into place. Once in place, push down firmly until you hear a tic-tic-tic sound and then release. This will take about a minute to do.
After resetting the thermostat, try turning on your heat again and seeing if that works! If not, goto step two where we talk about buying a new heater. If that does not help either talk to someone at your local home improvement store or heater company to see if they can help fix it.
Check the filter
If your heater has a filter, you should check it every year. The filter prevents dust and dirt from getting into your home. This is also a way to keep your system working properly.
Did it work the last time? Did it seem like it was working then, but not now? The filter ensures that water and air are being exchanged effectively. If something isn’t passing through the filter, then it wont heat your home properly.
This can be difficult to do when the house is hot and we need heat! But we must do this yearly to make sure our system is functioning well! Plus, if we forget to do this annually, then our home will lose efficiency over time.
To check your filter, you need to take out the water and air vents. Then you need to look underneath them to see if there is a screen or piece of plastic that passes water and air.
Make sure the gas line is not leaking
If the heater is working, it could be that the gas line is not leaking. If the heater is not working, this may be that the gas line is not leaking.
To test if the gas line is working, check the temperature of water it heats. If it’s hot, chances are it works. To test if the heat source is working, check if you can heat water. If you can, then it works!
To check if the heating source is a furnace or a ground-source heat unit (GSU), look for insulation around it. An attic heating source would have little insulation around it. An excavation site might have some evidence of a heater.
Talk to your neighbors about any gas smell
My heatER was not working so I called my neighbor to check on it. She had the same heater and the same trouble with it. It seemed to be happening more often as she used it more often to keep the temperature warm.
She told me that she had it for about six years, so it must have needed to be replaced sooner than you might think.
During that time, she said that her previous heater broke several times and took a long time to fix. This one appeared to last just as long as she did!
Something must be wearing away at the housing or metal part of the heatER, because it is having problems keeping up its temperature. Maybe there is something wrong with the thermostat or something is rodding at the insulation, causing coolness and/or heat loss?
Just keep an eye out for any signs of wear and tear on your heater and call your neighbor if you see anything wrong with their unit.