It’s spooky season! Time to bring out the pumpkins, the scary costumes, and the decorations, and have a blast watching those horror movies on the big screen.
Though, one of the most spooky things that could happen to you this season, is waking up in the middle of the night to a strange sound. If you follow the sound and find out that the source is the big metal box in your basement, then you might have an issue with your furnace. These sounds are (likely) not ghosts haunting your home, but instead the sound of a malfunction taking place inside of your furnace.
What do you do? Do you try to ignore the problem? Do you look up a DIY solution online? Or perhaps you call our team for furnace repairs in Lloydminster, SK? Well, you should always call our team for help, but here are a few explanations as to what might be happening.
5 Scary Sounds That Go Bump in the Night
So, what the heck is going on inside of your furnace system? Sure, it still works and heats your home, but it’s making these loud and frightening noises. When this happens in the middle of the night after watching a scary movie, it can be quite disconcerting.
Well, the good news is that they have explanations that can be easily examined. Let’s discuss a few of them.
- Booming. When a gas furnace makes a booming sound, the noise can be attributed to gas buildup in the combustion chamber. As the burners get dirty, it becomes harder for them to quickly ignite the gas, allowing gas to flow into the chamber for a few seconds, before all igniting at once. This creates a miniature explosion that can make a “booming” noise outside of the furnace. No, there’s not an angry ghost that’s yelling at you through the furnace, it’s just your burners that desperately need to be cleaned.
- Rattling. Rattling can be from many different components or areas of your furnace system, but they usually denote the same kind of problem. Either a component has broken off and is jumping around the furnace’s housing, or there’s a component like a screw that’s loose. These are easy fixes but they can quickly turn into worse problems when not addressed.
- Clanging. If that loose screw we just mentioned hits a larger component, and that component comes loose, then you might have a clanging furnace. Clanging is not good, because it means there’s a large part of your furnace that is loose or not bolted down properly. Get this fixed as soon as possible
- Buzzing. A buzzing sound can clue you in that there’s an electrical malfunction in your furnace. Yes, even gas furnaces have electrical components that need to be fixed every once in a while. Luckily, these problems aren’t too complex or expensive to resolve.
- Shrieking or squealing. If your system is shrieking or squealing, this could be due to a fan belt in the blower motor that’s falling apart. While the sound can be loud and uncomfortable, this is a problem that can easily be fixed by a professional.
Contact Guardian Plumbing & Heating Ltd. Lloydminster’s Plumbing and Heating Authority!