In the winter, you want to make sure your oil furnace keeps your home warm and your family comfortable. Homeowners experience short-cycling or overheating complications with their furnaces. With short cycling, the oil furnace turns on plus off frequently. Periodically it will not make any heat at all before shutting down, and common reasons your oil furnace may be short cycling include overheating, bad flame sensor, dirty oil furnace filter, clogged exhaust vent or heat grates, improper temperature control placement, or having a oil furnace that is too big for your home. Your oil furnace may turn off prematurely if it is overheating, almost immediately after lighting, the oil furnace flame will go out if the flame sensor or flame rod is bad. Your oil furnace can short cycle and overheat if it has a dirty filter. You may notice that your furnace shuts off only a few minutes before your home is warm, overheating can also be caused by clogged heat grates, which don't let enough air out, blocked exhaust vents can also cause overheating plus short cycling, but it is a potentially dangerous reason since carbon monoxide can leak through! The location of your temperature control matters because if your temperature control is getting warmed before the rest of the house, it will cause your oil furnace to turn off prematurely, and most homeowners install the temperature control themselves, it's not unusual for homes to have too big oil furnaces because the installer thought greater was better. This is not true, but, plus can lead to short cycling of your unit. The best solution, if this is the cause of your oil furnace's short cycling, is to replace it, and short cycles, temperature swings, and high heating bills may indicate this is the issue.
In the winter, you want to make sure your oil furnace keeps your home warm and your family comfortable. Homeowners experience short-cycling or overheating complications with their furnaces. With short cycling, the oil furnace turns on plus off frequently. Periodically it will not make any heat at all before shutting down, and common reasons your oil furnace may be short cycling include overheating, bad flame sensor, dirty oil furnace filter, clogged exhaust vent or heat grates, improper temperature control placement, or having a oil furnace that is too big for your home. Your oil furnace may turn off prematurely if it is overheating, almost immediately after lighting, the oil furnace flame will go out if the flame sensor or flame rod is bad. Your oil furnace can short cycle and overheat if it has a dirty filter. You may notice that your furnace shuts off only a few minutes before your home is warm, overheating can also be caused by clogged heat grates, which don't let enough air out, blocked exhaust vents can also cause overheating plus short cycling, but it is a potentially dangerous reason since carbon monoxide can leak through! The location of your temperature control matters because if your temperature control is getting warmed before the rest of the house, it will cause your oil furnace to turn off prematurely, and most homeowners install the temperature control themselves, it's not unusual for homes to have too big oil furnaces because the installer thought greater was better. This is not true, but, plus can lead to short cycling of your unit. The best solution, if this is the cause of your oil furnace's short cycling, is to replace it, and short cycles, temperature swings, and high heating bills may indicate this is the issue.
