Help, My Heater Blows Cold Air! Here’s What to Do

Winter’s fast approaching, and the temperatures may have already dropped dramatically where you live. To keep your family nice and warm inside, you go to turn on your heater, thinking it’ll make your house toasty.

But after having it on for a little bit, you realize: “my heater blows cold air!”

But this shouldn’t be a cause for panic. Here are a few causes of this issue and some easy ways to handle it.

Check Your Thermostat

Before you do anything else, the first thing you should do is check your thermostat. Your heater blowing cold air may be due to something as simple as your thermostat being set on “auto” or “fan,” which may cause the air coming out to not be hot.

If the thermostat is on the correct setting, then the next thing you’ll want to check is its batteries. If they’re low on power, then it may cause the thermostat not to function correctly. Change the batteries if you suspect that’s the cause.

Another thing you can try is to crank up the heat. It’s entirely possible that you had the settings too low and all you need to do is turn it up a bit.

Otherwise, your thermostat may be broken. In this case, you’ll need an HVAC professional to replace it.

Replace Your Air Filter

The air filter is what lets hot air flow smoothly into your home. It also keeps all the dust, allergens, and debris out so you breathe clean air.

As expected, the air filter may get clogged over time. Not only does this reduce your air quality, but it can also cause your heater to blow cold air. This is because the restricted airflow has the potential to overhead your heater, which means it may trigger a safety control to stop it from functioning properly.

Take a look at your air filters and hold them up to the light. If it’s clogged, then you’ll barely see any light come through; it may be completely stopped up.

In this case, you should replace your air filter with a new one to see if it helps with the temperature in your house.

Check for Blocked Vents

As we’ve said above, if anything is preventing good airflow, the heater will shut off parts of its functions to avoid overheating.

During the year, you may forget about the heater since you’re not using it. So you may have piled up some of your belongings in front of the vents without realizing it.

Go around your house and check all the vents. Make sure things like couches, beds, or shelves aren’t blocking the airflow. You need at least a few feet of clearance to ensure your heater won’t switch to cooling.

Look for Ductwork Leaks

Houses with attics often have ductwork sealing problems, so if your house fits the bill, then this may be your issue.

If your ductwork isn’t properly sealed, then the cold outside air is getting in and that’s what coming out your vents. You should have a professional come in to take a look and seal up your ducts.

Check the Pilot Light/Ignition

Sometimes, your heater is completely fine; it’s just the pilot light or ignition isn’t on. Either thing is what burns the gas or oil to make the heat that makes your house so warm and cozy. Without it, your heater’s just circulating cold air.

Go check your heater and see if the pilot light or ignition is on. If you find that it’s off, then relighting it should do the trick.

You may also have a problem with your gas or oil supply. This means if your pilot light is on, the supply is too weak to adequately heat up your air.

This problem means you could have either a clog or something broken in your system. Call an HVAC professional in this case so they can have a look.

Check the Flame Sensor

If you have a new heater, then it may not have a pilot light; it’ll have a flame sensor instead. But this doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong with it.

Over time, it can gather dust and dirt, which can block the sensor. As a result, the heater will blow cold air.

You can try and clean the flame sensor yourself to see if it helps with your heating issues. But if you’re not comfortable cleaning it yourself, you can always have a heating expert come out to do it for you.

Empty the Condensate Drain Line

This one applies to newer models as well. They usually have condensate drain lines where the evaporator coil’s water is collected and drained out.

Normally, this works well to keep your house warm, but clogs can happen. When you get clogs, these signal for a shutoff in your burners.

So if your heater has a condensate drain line, check that there are no kinks in it and that it’s not sending water back up. This drain line can easily clog and if you have not flushed it out often may need a proper drain cleaning.

Don’t Panic If You’re Thinking, “Help, My Heater Blows Cold Air”

“Help, my heater blows cold air!”

The next time this runs through your head, you have several options available to you to handle the issue at hand. When you’ve assessed the issue and gone through all the possible ways to remedy it yourself, and it’s still not resolved, always call an HVAC professional promptly.

Leaving a problem alone or trying to fix a complicated issue on your own can lead to bigger and more costly repairs. Avoid that potential headache and have the pros handle it for you.

Is your heater blowing cold air and you’ve tried troubleshooting it already? Then get in touch with us now. We’ll give you a free quote!