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What’s That Noise? 5 Furnace Sounds and What They Mean

As we gear up for the fall and winter seasons, it’s time to turn your furnace on and begin heating your home up. Temperatures are beginning to dip lower and you want to make sure your heater is ready to stand up to the challenge of heating your home.

But if your furnace is making unusual noises, you may have doubts about how well it will do. You can give our team a call for a furnace tune-up in Hawthorn Woods. In the meantime, keep reading to you learn about some unusual furnace noises and what they might mean for your heating system.

1. Banging or Booming

If you have a gas furnace, a banging or booming sound is one of the most concerning things that you can hear. A gas furnace has a very precise process for releasing gas into a chamber and then using a flame to ignite the gas and create heat. If too much gas gets released into the chamber or the ignition is delayed, then leads to an explosion when the heater does finally start up. 

Over time, these explosions can crack the heat exchanger and allow gas leak out into your home. Hearing a banging or booming sound means that you need to schedule service right away to prevent the heat exchanger from cracking. Otherwise, you’ll be left replacing your entire furnace. If you go ahead and prioritize heater maintenance now ahead of the winter season you can take advantage of our early bird tune-up special.

2. Scraping

A scraping noise coming from your furnace usually points to problems with the ball bearings. Over time, lubricant dries up and dirt gets in between all of the tiny components that are trying to work together smoothly. The result is a scraping noise as your furnace struggles to operate well. Luckily, it’s an easy fix. 

Our team just needs to clean out in between all of the bearings and relubricate the components. Keep in mind that if you allow the scraping to go on for too long, the ball bearings will sustain damage and instead of just being cleaned, you’ll have to replace them instead.

3. Rumbling

A rumbling noise can mean that you have parts inside of your furnace that are loose. During furnace operation, these parts are vibrating or moving around to produce a rumbling sound. Whatever is loose needs to be secured before it breaks free completely and majorly impacts how your furnace operates.

4. Whistling

A whistling noise can mean that the air filter is clogged. Whistling happens when air is trying to move through a very small space. With a clogged air filter, your furnace may be straining to bring air in and warping the filter. As a result, air that is getting around the crevices will whistle as it is pulled into the system. This problem is as easy as replacing your dirty air filter with a new one.

5. Rattling

A rattling sound can be similar to rumbling since it may point toward a much smaller part like a screw or bolt that is loose. However, rattling is more than likely ductwork that is loose. As air blows through the fragile material, it rattles where the joints are loose. In this case, you can schedule a ductwork inspection for our team to identify damage pieces in either repair or replace them.

Contact Althoff Home Services today to schedule an appointment with our professionals. Chicago’s Choice Since 1961. Hand It Off to Althoff!

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