What the pros look for when evaluating heating repair in Forney, TX?

Even highly trained and experienced heating repair technicians make mistakes, especially when they are inexperienced. It’s a fact of life that you can’t expect to get everything right the first time you do it. When repairing a furnace or boiler, even professionals—including HVAC technicians—need three attempts in order to learn from their mistakes and ensure that the system is running at peak performance. 

There are many things that cause poor performance in heating systems, but some issues indicate more serious problems than others while allowing for some degree of error on the part of the technician. Here are some things that have to be checked during heating repair in Forney, TX.

#1 Wrong fuel type

No matter how long it takes to go through all of your equipment manuals and product specifications, you’re still bound to miss something—and sometimes, that something is something you’re already familiar with. One of the most common mistakes of novices—and even at least one veteran HVAC technician—is placing the wrong fuel type into a heating system. 

Natural gas will not support combustion in an oil furnace, for instance, and vice versa. Even if there are no adverse effects of using one fuel versus another, it’s still embarrassing to have your customer return to find out you used the wrong type of fuel. 

#2 Too much or too little pressure on operating pressures

The first thing to measure when looking at operational pressures is the boiler differential. This is the difference between the steam generated by a boiler and how far it can be pushed through pipes before becoming condensate. 

For example, a typical residential steam boiler might use 1psi of pressure to push steam through the piping—but that same steam will become condensate at around 15 psi. If you run into problems where there’s no consistent flow coming out of the system for an extended period, chances are good that your equipment is either undersized or has low differential pressures.

#3 Temperature inconsistency

The first thing an HVAC repair technician should do when he starts making repairs to a steam heating system inspects the burners and valves at the machine level. Testing for temperature variability should always be done first because it can save time later on if you have inconsistent temperatures throughout the entire building before any other tests are done. A digital infrared thermometer can be purchased at any box store, and it will quickly tell you what the problem is. If there are holes in the flues or poorly adjusted valves, for example, the burner won’t be able to maintain an even temperature throughout the building.

#4 Dirty burners

If your heating system has not been cleaned recently (and especially if it hasn’t had any maintenance performed on it—including filter changes), then it’s likely that dirty burners nozzles are causing issues. The best way to test this is by looking at each nozzle under a microscope, which should reveal deposits that indicate clogs; if they’re present, try using compressed air to clear them out before disassembling anything else. 

This is a good time to remind new and experienced technicians alike that it’s often more efficient to figure out why something is broken rather than fix the symptoms of the problem.

#5 Missing parts

Another common mistake that novice HVAC technicians make is not checking certain equipment before installation or checklists (just like thoroughly reading through your manuals). It only takes a few minutes, but checking for missing parts on an oil system—or even part numbers for gas-fired systems—can save hours of frustration in searching for replacement items. 

It might seem like an obvious point, but if you don’t have what you need already in hand before beginning your work, then there’s no reason to expect things will go smoothly just because they’re supposed to.

#6 Wrong size condensate drain line

The only time this is obvious to anyone besides you and the plumber who installed it (and he’s not going to admit it) is after the steam boiler has been turned off or if someone tries using individual baseboard units that were included with a particular building. Every collector tank and condensate drain line has a maximum capacity—if you exceed it, then your condensate pump will likely clog and fail, leaving behind a mess of mineral-encrusted corrosion in all directions.

Imagine what would happen if we didn’t check for things like missing parts, clogged burners or valves that are out of adjustment during our HVAC repair service calls. 

If you need the best heating repair services near me in Forney, TX, you should call Cyclone Heating & Air at 469-771-1483.