How to stop my furnace from running all the time?

[princessmorgan]

I don't know if you're talking about your furnace running, shutting off and starting again, and it sounding wrong, or just running because your house isn't weatherproof and leaks air. If it's the second, you just got a lot of good suggestions; but if it's the first, that's a problem. We just had that -- and we have an excellent HVAC guy (who works for a company, but comes out to people he knows as a side job) who saved us tons of money by telling us how to try fixing it ourselves. I'll give you this info, do as you wish with it

Thanks for the info! I think it's just a weatherproofing issue right now, but you never know, it could be something else.

I agree about the cheap filters. When we had our new system installed, they looked at our very expensive allergen filters and they said to get rid of them. The cheaper ones work more efficiently with the forced air systems.

One more comment. I don't think lowering the temp is going to address the problem. If the furnace takes a very long time to reach the 70 temp, something is wrong. 70 is not that high.

Yeah, I didn't think 70 was that high either. Dh is going to try some of the suggestions here tonight and see if that helps. The furnace didn't run as much last night when we lowered the temp, but it still runs quite a bit for 68!

 

[HM]

Check your attic and crawl space insulation as well. See if there are gaps that could be filled in. We added a new layer of attic insulation last year and it's made a significant difference to how the rooms upstairs feel, esp in my bedroom. Turns out some spots over our room had been missed. We're going to do the area under our house next. I'm tired of cold feeling floors in the winter (tile kitchen and hardwood).

 

[cornflake]

Thanks for the suggestion! I called our electric company today and they only provide the service for low income families.

Sorry bout that then! Ours does it for anyone, they run ads and everything, and I know that's the case for a company in another state as well so I thought it was likely.

 

[seashoreCM]

Does it heat using air ducts or (water filled) radiators?

A force hot air furnace should draw heating air from return air vents inside the house and not from the outside. Yours may have dampers to select outside air versus recirculated air and in winter these should be set to recirculated or mostly recirculated. Check for splits in the air ducts allowing outside or attic air to be drawn in and these openings need to be taped over. (That's the original purpose of duck tape.)

(A gas or oil furnace must vent exhaust gases up a chimney or wall vent and can be equipped with a combustion air intake from the outside.)

 

[jenm2878]

Are there any rooms you don't use or don't use very often? We close or nearly close the vents in the rooms we don't use often so that more air is directed into the rooms we do use. It feels warmer without turning the heat up. Also, we had a similar problem a few years ago and it ended up being a problem with the furnace blower. It wasn't blowing strongly enough so the rooms never warmed up and the furnace kept kicking on. Once the blower was repaired/replaced it stopped turning on so often.

ETA: I just noticed I got my first tag - Thanks Tag Fairy!!!

 

[i*heart*minniemouse]

Where in VA are you? There are several local companies here that I would trust 100% and others (have used them in the past) that I would never use again. Just as an example...they came to clean the furnace for the winter and then in the summer when it came time to switch to AC, we had a water leak from the furnace. Turns out there were two small sections of tubing that had been sliced with what looked like a razor. It was not rot or 'just a coincidence' that 2 different tubes were sliced. Never will have that company back to do anything with our heat/ac system. Since then we have found one we really like and trust.
You can always check www.angieslist.com to see if you can find one on a recommendation from others in your area. Thank goodness it has warmed up some today!!!

 

[princessmorgan]

Does it heat using air ducts or (water filled) radiators?

A force hot air furnace should draw heating air from return air vents inside the house and not from the outside. Yours may have dampers to select outside air versus recirculated air and in winter these should be set to recirculated or mostly recirculated. Check for splits in the air ducts allowing outside or attic air to be drawn in and these openings need to be taped over. (That's the original purpose of duck tape.)

(A gas or oil furnace must vent exhaust gases up a chimney or wall vent and can be equipped with a combustion air intake from the outside.)

Honestly, I don't know. I should probably make more an effort to know things about my home. I'll have to ask DH.

Are there any rooms you don't use or don't use very often? We close or nearly close the vents in the rooms we don't use often so that more air is directed into the rooms we do use. It feels warmer without turning the heat up. Also, we had a similar problem a few years ago and it ended up being a problem with the furnace blower. It wasn't blowing strongly enough so the rooms never warmed up and the furnace kept kicking on. Once the blower was repaired/replaced it stopped turning on so often.

ETA: I just noticed I got my first tag - Thanks Tag Fairy!!!

Congratulations on your tag! I thought the Tag Fairy was an old wives' tale

 

[princessmorgan]

Where in VA are you? There are several local companies here that I would trust 100% and others (have used them in the past) that I would never use again. Just as an example...they came to clean the furnace for the winter and then in the summer when it came time to switch to AC, we had a water leak from the furnace. Turns out there were two small sections of tubing that had been sliced with what looked like a razor. It was not rot or 'just a coincidence' that 2 different tubes were sliced. Never will have that company back to do anything with our heat/ac system. Since then we have found one we really like and trust.
You can always check www.angieslist.com to see if you can find one on a recommendation from others in your area. Thank goodness it has warmed up some today!!!

I'm in Northern Virginia in Loudoun County.

 

[i*heart*minniemouse]

I'm in Northern Virginia in Loudoun County.

I am in Fauquier County....sent you a PM.

 

[arthuruscg]

Beeing that you are in NOVA, I am guessing you have a heat pump. Heat pumps work by pumping heat eather into a building (winter) or out of a building (summer). To do this efficently, the outside condenser (the box looking thing with a bog fan) needs to beable to move air through the coils. So, make sure you don't have stuff with in 3ft of the condenser and you can also take a hose and rinse the coils off. The coils can get a buildup of dust from the air or dirt splashing up from when it rains.

A heat pump will run a long time when the temps are below 30 unless you have a heat strip to help boost the temp output. The same is also true in the summer time when the temps are above 90.

It doesn't matter what airfilter you are using, if it isn't changed offten enough then the fan can not suck enough air for the system to work effecently.

If you have someone come and clean the vents, they should also be able to do a system check up. (freon levels, airflow)

 

[momoftwins]

on our thermostat there is an Auto and an Fan setting. It must be set on Auto. One time I set it to Fan and the darn thing fan ran constantly. Not sure if the actual furnace was heating or not, but the running fan made it sound like it was.

Good luck.

 

[teCh0010]

It's probably air infiltration.

There is a ton you can do to stop air infiltration and make your home more efficient. Little things like outlet cover gaskets and caulking around windows add up. There is a guy named Doug Rye that has a dvd out that goes over a ton of ways to stop air infiltration on an existing home.

You could start with the DVD, and then if you still have a problem have a blower door energy audit done. They will make your home go negative air pressure and us thermal cameras to show you where air is coming into your house.

 

[camlace]

on our thermostat there is an Auto and an Fan setting. It must be set on Auto. One time I set it to Fan and the darn thing fan ran constantly. Not sure if the actual furnace was heating or not, but the running fan made it sound like it was.

Good luck.

I was wondering why no one had mentioned this yet. Double check the setting on your thermostat to make sure it isn't set to Fan (or circulate on some models). This will cause the fan to blow even when the furnace isn't heating air to circulate the air in the house.

 

[Muushka]

I feel like our electrical furnace is running constantly all day and night. Occasionally it shuts off, because I think it needs a break. We set the temp at 70. I don't feel like our house is super warm either. Do I need to weatherproof our house or something, add some insulation, caulk around windows? Does anyone have any suggestions? The air is so dry in here, too, from all that air blowing around. Thanks!

I was wondering why no one had mentioned this yet. Double check the setting on your thermostat to make sure it isn't set to Fan (or circulate on some models). This will cause the fan to blow even when the furnace isn't heating air to circulate the air in the house.

I didn't think that it being set to fan was the problem because she said that it would occasionally shut off.

 

[starwood]

Not sure if these suggestions have been made but:

1. Install a programmable thermostat. Have it set to drop the heat when you aren't home or asleep.

2. If you can shut off heat registers in rooms not being used do so. We have radiators so I can't do that (I wish I could).

 

[princessmorgan]

Thanks for all the suggestions! We tried weather stripping and caulking and that seems to have helped. Plus now that the weather has warmed up some the heat doesn't come on as much. We'll have to do more before the next cold front hits again!

 

[cole6179]

You might have it looked it. Last year, dh realized our furnace was running all time and realized that the 'relay' had went bad.

Also, if it is below 30 degrees, we were told to run our heat pump on emergency heat as the heat pump can't keep up when it's super cold outside.

 

[Muushka]

I bought one of those temperature detection thingies, ah, this is it

Black & Decker TLD100 Thermal Leak Detector

It is pretty interesting seeing how air leaks in. My fireplace is one area that needs more addressing. And I found a few areas that do not seem to have the wall insulation that is throughout the house. For the most part, I think our house is pretty tight, but I need to go into the basement while the heat is on and see if there are any leaks there.

Good luck OP!

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Check your thermostat. We had that problem and the thermostat needed to be adjusted and cleaned. When you have the burner cleaned they can do the thermostat as well.