Do you have a gas furnace in this video? We're going to go through some of the top three issues that I see with gas furnaces today. if you've never seen one of my videos before my name is Josh and I share tips and secrets with homeowners that a lot of. HVAC Pros don't want you to know and stay tuned to the end of this video. I'm going to go over a setting that I think should be turned on on all thermostats if possible if it's an option to help you get more energy out of your furnace when that setting is turned on, so let's get to it.

Top three issues we see with gas furnaces: Number one: gas pressures Not set correctly and so this is goes all the way back to the installation and a lot of heating and air techs, especially if they are working on the unit or installing the unit. They don't check gas pressures and it's a huge deal. If the gas pressures are too high, it can obviously crack the heat exchanger or even blow pull through it. I've seen that happen years ago where one was just set so high that it literally blew a hole through it eventually.

but if the gas pressures are set too low then you can have issues with efficiency. You can have issues with soot build up and things like that and then of course issues with limit switches being tripped by roll out flames and things like that. The main issue is I see Heating and Airtex all the time who do heating and air? They repair things, They install things, and they don't even own a manometer. They don't check the gas pressures when they're installing and they create these issues on their own.

I Would even go so far as to say if you have a gas Appliance in your home, this has nothing to do with the Heating and Air Tech checking the pressures or any of that, but because of some of the issues that setting the gas pressures create. I Would say if you have that gas Appliance Do not go to sleep tonight without getting a carbon monoxide detector installed in your home. and I'll put a link Down Below in the description section of my favorite carbon monoxide detector, but you don't have to buy that one. I Would even say go to your local hardware store, maybe a Walmart or Target somewhere and get a carbon monoxide detector installed in your home before you go to sleep tonight.

It's that urgent, so make sure you get that taken care of. Aside from that, make sure your gas pressures are being set correctly, Make sure that heating and air technician is taking the time to, you know, connect that manometer, make sure that those gas pressures are set right, and that way you don't have issues you know, cracked heat exchangers, or even worse safety issues because those gas pressures are not being set correctly. Number two: maintenance. We see furnaces every day that are not being maintained properly and we're talking.

there are small things like it creates dust and dirt buildup and things like that just as life goes by. But other things need to be maintained on a furnace, like checking that heat exchanger from time to time once a year minimum. Make sure you have a pro checking that heat exchanger so that you don't have any of those safety issues that gets back to that carbon monoxide detector, but also just cleaning that furnace up, making sure everything's on the up and up, making sure you don't have a breakdown on a really cold day. We just had the craziest cold snap here in Virginia I think we've ever experienced where I'm living.

We've never experienced temperatures like that for such an extended amount of time and we had folks calling us saying and I have no heat and I would say a percentage of those calls that we were going out on would have been remedied had they been having their furnace maintained properly. So make sure you know you have a pro at least once a year. who's you know, taking the time to check everything, over replacing anything that's going bad and obviously cleaning that system up, making it new again as much as possible so it's as efficient as it can be, checking the gas pressures when they're doing their maintenance and so on. So that way you don't have any issues on those extremely cold days when you're really counting on that furnace.

And then finally, number three is poor installation. We see things all the time. on furnaces. We see things like float switches not wired in or not wired in properly.

We've seen condensate pumps you know, not have the float switch wired in and then they wonder why they have water coming through their ceiling or some sort of other water damages. We'll see float switches on the drain. I Saw one just a couple days ago on Christmas day they had. literally they had one of those float switches that sits down in the drain and that way if the drain backs up it kills the furnace and someone had literally pulled it out of the drain and it was just hanging beside the furnace.

but just having those float switches installed having them installed correctly. another one would be the drains and the flue pipes. We see those all kinds of things done. I Saw another one over this cold spell where they had ran the drain out of the house.

It came out of the foundation and it kind of went underground just just a little bit under their mulch bed and then it was out in the yard and it just ran so far it was basically whoever installed it. Did not think about that. It's going to be extremely cold temperatures at some point that there's a chance that these things could freeze that they could back up. and then you're going to have even more issues.

So just thinking ahead having that installation, you know they need to think ahead a little bit. Think about. Okay, well, you know, as I'm installing this, what's something that could happen? What's something that could go wrong and have it installed correctly? So that way you don't have those issues. And of course the flue pipes are another one.

Making sure that they're following instructions, making sure that you know that flue pipe is not going to get blocked by anything. Make sure that flue pipe is. You know, if it's got an intake there, it's not going to be able to pull in anything that it's not supposed to, including the exhaust fumes from the other flue pipe. Of course we're talking about condensing furnaces, but that goes for non-condensing furnaces as well.

Just you know across the board, making sure that everything is installed correctly from the get-go and I just kind of touched on it a second ago. but you wouldn't believe how many technicians don't even read the instructions. I've told homeowners even if they know nothing about heating and air, even if they're not necessarily A Handy person to you know, get your hands on those instructions. see if that, Heating and Air Tech is willing to let you hold those instructions and read them, maybe even read them overnight if they didn't finish the install the first day and they're going to be coming back the next day.

See if they'll let you look that over and see if there's anything that jumps out at you. Even if you're not the handiest person in the world, you would not believe how many heating and air technicians don't take the time to read the instructions. I've had service calls where I've gone out and whether it's maybe something to do with the wiring or the dip switches or you know, the way the furnace was installed, the flue pipe. Whatever that, if they would have just taken a second take, take a couple minutes while they're out there installing that unit.

just take a a quick second flip through the page. Pages look everything over. I've literally been reading instructions on a service call and the instructions will say something in big bold text that if that installation technician had done the same, had they read those instructions, they would have seen it. There's no way they would have missed it because of where it's positioned or how big and bold it's written in the instructions.

There's no way they read the instructions when they installed that furnace. and I hear guys say all the time. Well, I've been sold. So many furnaces that you know I don't need to I already know what's going on I don't need to read the instructions and I promise you that a lot of those guys are the reason that homeowners are having the problems that they have, that they think they know everything And they aren't taking the just simple, basic task of just taking a moment and reading those instructions.

Another one is checking static pressures. I Kind of talked about a manometer a minute ago for checking gas pressures, but you wouldn't believe how many heating and air technicians out there don't even check static pressures. They don't even own the tool, they don't have them. or the static pressure.

Meter Whatever they have, they don't have some sort of tool to check those static pressures to make sure that they're getting a proper amount of airflow across that heat exchanger. and guess who gets to pay for it? It's in the end, the homeowner, and unfortunately, a lot of times you know the technician that did the installation is long gone when it comes time to get some of these things remedied. Bottom line: if you're a homeowner, I Would definitely say you should have a pro when they're installing your stuff to have one that's taking the time to do all of these things such as reading the instructions, checking gas pressures, checking static pressures, just making sure everything is on the up and up instead of just slapping a box in there and moving on. I Tell folks all the time you kind of get what you pay for.

Maybe you went with the cheap guy and maybe you got what you paid for, but sometimes you went with not the cheap guy. you you paid extra money, You got you know someone with a good reputation only to find out that they didn't do something simple like read the instructions and had they done that you would not be having the Callback back or the problems that you have now. Don't get me wrong, all Pros will have a call back or two here and there. They'll tell you they don't.

You know one of them might catch this video and say I've never had a call back but they'd be lying. Even the best technicians in the world may have something they need to go back and take care of. Maybe it's not even something that was their fault, maybe it was something out of their control, but obviously if they're good, they would have read the instructions and it's not going to be something that as simple as something they would have caught had they read the instructions right. But finally I said at the beginning of the video a setting that I think should be turned on on all thermostats if it's an option and that is if you have a gas furnace.

I think you should turn on your extended fan run time at least in the heating mode. and I'll tell you why a lot of gas furnaces when they turn on, they've heated up this heat exchanger. You've now got all this energy, this warm heat exchanger that's sitting there and when it reaches temperature, a lot of these furnaces will just simply turn off. it reaches temperature, it stops steaming, voltage or call from the thermostat, and the furnace will simply turn off.

And I Think that if you have a thermostat that you can turn the extended fan run time on, then you should do that. Get the last little bit of that energy out of there, even if it's an extra 30 seconds. it stopped heating, the flame has gone out. But you've got this hot heat exchanger, continue to blow air across that hand exchanger and get a little bit more energy out of that.

You might save energy costs. get a little more heat out of that gas you've already burned, and keep your house warmer without burning as much gas anyway. I Hope that helps. That's my big three.

Have you had any problems with your gas furnace in the past? I'd love to hear about that down below. Hit that like button. it helps so much and hit that subscribe button. We'll see you next time.