Furnace and Heating Repair in Swarthmore, PA
A no-heat call around Swarthmore can be any of three quite different machines. In the older borough houses it is usually a boiler feeding radiators. Out toward Moylan, Woodlyn and Wallingford it is more often a forced air furnace. In newer work it is increasingly a heat pump. Getting the first hour right means working out where in the machine's own sequence it stopped.
We repair all three, on all major residential brands, including Lennox, Carrier, Trane and Goodman, dispatched from 630 Fairview Rd #110 in Swarthmore.
Reading the sequence instead of guessing
A modern gas furnace starts in a fixed order. The thermostat calls, the inducer proves draft through a pressure switch, the ignitor glows, the gas valve opens, a flame sensor confirms something is actually burning, and only then does the blower start. Each step has to be satisfied before the next is allowed, so the point at which the machine gives up tells you a great deal. A furnace that lights and drops out seconds later is nearly always a flame sensor coated in an oxide film that can no longer carry the current proving flame.
The faults that are really airflow faults
A furnace that heats, runs a while, cuts out hot and restarts a few minutes later has not failed electrically. It is overheating, because not enough air is crossing the heat exchanger to carry the heat away. A collapsed flexible return, a filter chosen for filtration rating rather than airflow, or registers closed in unused rooms will all produce it. Replacing the limit switch that is correctly doing its job fixes none of that, and removes the protection the heat exchanger relies on.
Oil equipment still in service
Oil heat has not gone away here, and a good share of oil no-heat calls begin in the tank rather than at the burner. Water condenses inside a partly full tank over a winter and settles beneath the fuel, sludge gathers with it, and the first hard cold snap is when all of that reaches the filter. A burner that ran perfectly through autumn and quits in January is telling you about its fuel supply, not itself.
Two findings that stop the visit
A cracked heat exchanger and a flue that is not carrying combustion products out of the building are both carbon monoxide problems, and neither gives you a smell to go on. If we find either, the appliance is shut down and locked out and you are shown exactly what we found, whatever the forecast says. We will not pretend it is a judgement call when it is not.
Worth checking before you call
- ✓Thermostat batteries, and that it is genuinely calling for heat
- ✓The service switch near the equipment, which looks like a light switch and gets knocked off
- ✓The breaker for the heating equipment, and whether it has tripped
- ✓The filter, since one that has closed up trips a furnace on high limit
- ✓On oil, what the tank gauge reads and whether the reset has already been pressed
- ✓Any smell of burning, water pooling around the equipment, or clicking with no ignition
Heat pumps in the newer work
A heat pump wearing a coat of frost is not necessarily broken. These systems reverse themselves periodically to melt the outdoor coil, and frost that clears within a quarter of an hour is correct behaviour. Solid ice that never clears is not, and neither is backup heat running continuously in mild weather.
Swarthmore Heating & Furnace Repair — Questions We Get
The furnace lights and then shuts down a few seconds later.
That is the classic flame sensor symptom. A thin oxide film builds on the rod, the control can no longer read the current that proves flame, and it closes the gas valve as a safety response. Cleaning the sensor restores it, but if it returns quickly the real cause is usually combustion or a grounding issue, and that is worth chasing rather than cleaning again.
It keeps cutting out and restarting every few minutes.
That is short cycling on the high limit, and it is almost always an airflow restriction rather than a control fault. Start with the filter and any closed registers, then look at the return side. The limit tripping is the system protecting its heat exchanger, so replacing it without fixing the airflow makes things considerably worse.
My oil burner locked out. Can I just press reset?
Once, and only once. Every reset gives the burner another chance to pump oil into a chamber that may not be lighting it, and repeated resets flood the chamber, which is genuinely dangerous. If it locks out again, leave it and call, and check what the tank gauge is reading while you wait.
Is a cracked heat exchanger really as serious as people say?
Yes. A crack lets combustion products into the air the blower is circulating through the house, and carbon monoxide gives you no warning by smell. It is the one finding where we shut the appliance down on the spot rather than leaving the decision with the homeowner, and we will show you what we saw.
My heat pump is covered in frost. Is it broken?
Probably not. Heat pumps build frost on the outdoor coil in cold damp weather and run a defrost cycle to clear it, which is why they sometimes steam. Frost that clears in ten or fifteen minutes is normal. A block of ice that never goes, or backup heat running constantly in mild weather, is not.
Is it worth repairing a furnace that is twenty years old?
It depends entirely on which part failed and on the condition of the things that cannot be replaced, particularly the heat exchanger. A control or a motor on an otherwise sound furnace is usually worth doing. We quote the repair, tell you what we found, and let you weigh it up. Replacement estimates are free and are a separate visit.
Who serves Swarthmore
Swarthmore calls are handled out of our Swarthmore office at 630 Fairview Rd #110, Swarthmore, PA 19081. Call (610) 424-6275 — we answer 24 hours a day.