{"id":1396,"date":"2021-01-18T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2025-09-12T13:45:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:45:21","slug":"5-signs-furnace-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/heating-service\/5-signs-furnace-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Signs Your Furnace Is Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/furnace-old-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"furnace-old\" class=\"wp-image-1397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/furnace-old-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/furnace-old.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t want to have a dead <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"\/heating\/furnaces\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">furnace in a Maryland<\/a> winter\u2014that\u2019s something you\u2019ll know if you\u2019ve spent even one cold day here. If you\u2019ve had your current furnaces for over ten years, it is beginning to move into the territory where it could fail on you. Keeping up with routine maintenance each spring will make this less likely, but as the furnace continues to age, it will eventually reach a point where it won\u2019t go on any further and repairs will be too costly to keep it running.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>What are the warning signs your furnace needs maintenance or replacement?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Loud or unusual noises such as rattling, grinding, or booming<\/li><li>Uneven heating with hot and cold spots throughout your home<\/li><li>Frequent short cycling where the furnace turns on and off rapidly<\/li><li>Rising energy bills despite no change in usage<\/li><li>Difficulty reaching or maintaining the desired temperature<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Fortunately, furnaces rarely burn their last without giving out several warnings of their imminent demise. If you pay attention to the furnace\u2019s operation, you can catch some of these omens of a dying furnace and call for HVAC technicians in time. Our team of experts can tell if the furnace can be rescued with repairs or if<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/heating-service\/the-50-rule-of-thumb-for-furnace-replacement\/\"> replacement is the smarter choice<\/a>. Below are five of the major signs to call us for assistance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>1. Loud operation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Furnaces make some noise when they run, but the sound of the burners and the fans isn\u2019t distracting and you\u2019re used to it as part of the sound of winter. But if your furnace starts to make more of a racket, one that has you occasionally looking up and thinking, \u201cWhat was <em>that<\/em>?\u201d, then something is probably wrong. These noises can include rattling, clicking, booming, and grinding. If it sounds off, have it looked into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>2. Uneven heating<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The furnace is running, hot air is flowing out of the room vents, and it would seem as if everything is okay. Except some rooms are not as warm as they usually are. If you can\u2019t find a reason for this in the rooms themselves (such as cracks around windows or other drafts), then the furnace is probably losing its heating capacity\u2014and it will continue to get worse until the furnace runs itself down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>3. Short-cycling<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is when the furnace gets caught in a start-stop pattern that repeats multiple times over an hour. A furnace should run in heating cycles of at least 15 minutes before cycling down. Short-cycling can indicate several different problems, or possible multiple ones coming together if you have an older furnace.\u00a0In some cases,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/heating-service\/4-ways-can-make-heating-repairs-less-expensive\/\"> preventing short-cycling early on<\/a> can help avoid major breakdowns and reduce long-term repair costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>4. High heating bills<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A furnace, if maintained annually, should keep around 95% of its original energy efficiency up to the last two years of its service life. When you see that you are paying much more to run the furnace than you ever have before, it probably means the furnace is now in those final years. Repairs may only stall this: a technician can help determine if repairs are worthwhile, or if<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/heating-service\/benefits-furnaces-vs-heat-pumps\/\"> a heat pump makes sense<\/a> as a replacement option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>5. You can\u2019t seem to get warm enough<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you found yourself pushing your thermostat settings up higher and higher in order to warm up the house? You shouldn\u2019t need to do this\u2014the same steady temperature you normally set the furnace to should be fine, unless the furnace is starting to fail.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>At Atlantic Refrigeration &amp; Air Conditioning, Inc., \u201cWe Take Pride in Your Comfort.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/contact\/service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Schedule service for your furnace<\/a>\u2014repair or replacement\u2014with our team today.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fortunately, furnaces rarely burn their last without giving out several warnings of their imminent demise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[76],"tags":[179,50,15,164],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2136,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions\/2136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}