If you ever hear strange noises coming from your furnace, do not ignore them! They may seem like harmless quirks, but they actually often indicate an issue with the system that needs to be addressed. If you ignore odd furnace noises, you may be opening yourself up to much bigger problems down the road. Let’s take a look at some odd furnace noises, and the problems they might indicate.
Short Cycling
Short cycling is when your furnace keeps turning itself on and off every couple of minutes. It is caused by the furnace overheating, which causes the limit switch to activate and shut it down as a safety measure. The limit switch does not address whatever caused the overheating in the first place, though, which means that as soon as the furnace starts up it will overheat again and be shut down again. This cycle continues until the furnace breaks down from the strain. Call for repairs as soon as you hear this happening.
Booming
If the furnace is making a loud booming sound when it starts up, it is likely because of a dirty burner assembly. Carbon buildup can cause one or more of the jets on the burner assembly to fire later than it should. When the jet eventually ignites, it burns through a lot of gas at once and creates that loud booming sound. As frightening as it may sound, don’t worry. Your furnace isn’t going to blow up. You should still make sure that the burner assembly gets cleaned off as soon as possible, though. Otherwise, it can eventually get dirty enough that it will refuse to fire at all.
