Furnace repair, Beaumont, Texas
Heating and furnace repair in Beaumont
Cold snaps in Southeast Texas are short, which means the furnace or heat pump may sit unused for most of the year and then get asked to run all night.
Cold weather here comes in bursts
The National Weather Service record for Beaumont/Port Arthur shows how sharp those bursts can be. The longest run of days at or below freezing lasted 11 days, from January 18 to 28, 1940, with a low of 12°F (streak records). Normal January lows for 1981 to 2010 at Jack Brooks Regional Airport were about 43°F (station normals).
That pattern is hard on equipment in a different way than a northern winter. Dust settles on burners, igniters sit for months, and a flame sensor that worked last February may not prove the flame this year.
Common reasons a furnace will not heat
- The thermostat is still set to cool, or its batteries are low.
- The furnace door is not fully closed, so its safety switch keeps it off.
- A dirty flame sensor lets the burners light, then shuts them off seconds later.
- The hot surface igniter has cracked. It glows on some starts and fails on others.
- The filter is clogged and the furnace overheats, so its limit switch cuts the burners.
- On a heat pump, the outdoor unit is iced over and stuck out of its defrost cycle.
A burning smell on the first cold night
A short dusty smell when the furnace runs for the first time in months is common, as settled dust burns off. A smell that lingers, smells like hot wiring, or comes with smoke is different. Shut the system off at the thermostat and call a contractor.
If you smell gas, follow your gas company's instructions. CenterPoint Energy, for example, tells customers to leave on foot, avoid switches, phones and anything that could spark, and call 911 and the company from a safe place.
Heat pumps get their own checks
A ducted heat pump moves heat into the house in winter using the same outdoor unit that cools in summer. On damp, near-freezing mornings it needs to defrost now and then, and you may see steam rise off the outdoor unit. That is normal. A unit that stays white with ice, or a house that only warms when the backup heat strips come on, needs a look.
Common questions
Can the same contractor handle the furnace and the AC?
Usually yes. In Texas the same TDLR air conditioning and refrigeration license covers heating and cooling work on house systems.
Is it safe to keep resetting the furnace?
One reset is fine. If the furnace locks out again, the control is protecting the equipment from a fault. Repeated resets hide the cause.
Should I have the heating checked before winter?
A fall check catches dirty flame sensors and weak igniters before the first cold front, when contractors are busiest.
Get a heating and cooling contractor on the phone
Say what the system is doing and how old it is, if you know. The person you reach works for an independent contractor in Southeast Texas, not for this website.