How to Identify and Fix Uneven Heating Issues in Your Home
The Portland area tends to get quite cold during the fall and winter. During these months, you depend on your heating system to keep your home warm and cozy. Ideally, you should be able to maintain your preferred temperature throughout the house. However, this isn’t necessarily always the case. Certain issues with your HVAC system can lead to an uneven climate in your home, also known as having “hot and cold spots.” Although many different problems can cause uneven heating, the majority of them are fairly simple to solve. Here, we’ll take a closer look at how to identify the cause of your home’s uneven temperatures. Additionally, we’ll examine straightforward troubleshooting techniques that can potentially restore your comfort.
Does Your Heating System Need a Tune-Up?
Commonly, uneven home temperatures will be the result of a heating system that needs a professional tune-up. At Revival Heating & Cooling, our expert heating technicians offer comprehensive heating maintenance, which is aimed at restoring your heater to peak performance and energy efficiency.
If you haven’t had your heating unit serviced in more than a year, that may be affecting its ability to cycle properly. When a furnace needs servicing, its airflow can start to weaken, which can lead to certain parts of the house being left without enough warm air. Scheduling a heating tune-up now will not only help you restore even temperatures to your dwelling, but it will also provide various other benefits.
Professional heating maintenance can offer all of the following advantages for your household.
- Lower monthly heating bills
- Improved indoor air quality
- More reliable comfort in your home
- Longer furnace life expectancy
- Lower likelihood of equipment problems
Is Your Ductwork in Good Condition?
Uneven heating in your home isn’t necessarily caused by a problem with your furnace. Alternatively, the root of the issue could be dirty or damaged ductwork. When you run your heater, the warm air must flow through your home’s air ducts, which carry it to the different parts of the house. Over time, though, household ductwork commonly becomes dirty, leaky, or damaged. These issues create additional obstacles for your heating system, which can lead to hot and cold spots while also putting unnecessary strain on the heater.
At Revival Heating & Cooling, we offer several ductwork solutions that can improve your home’s comfort. Our skilled professionals can seal or upgrade your home’s air ducts, ensuring that your heating unit has a clear path for circulating warm air. If your ductwork is still in good shape but is overdue for a cleaning, you can also schedule professional duct cleaning. This will clear out any contaminants, such as dust, dirt, mold, and random debris, that may be obstructing your heater’s airflow. In addition to creating a more even climate for your home, this will improve the quality of your air and make your living space smell fresher.
Do You Have Quality Insulation?
Another comfort efficiency upgrade we offer at Revival Heating & Cooling is insulation installation, and it can potentially remedy your uneven heating problem. If your home isn’t properly insulated, large amounts of heat could be escaping whenever your heater is cycling, resulting in certain rooms of your house feeling significantly colder than others.
Ideally, your attic, walls, and floors will be well-insulated. Heat naturally rises, so if your attic isn’t insulated, most of the warmth in your home will rise toward the top of the house. As a result, the lower levels of your dwelling may consistently be colder. Having effective insulation in your walls is also important, as it can prevent heat from seeping through the walls and out of the house. At Revival Heating & Cooling, our expert insulation services can eliminate hot and cold spots in your home and significantly reduce your monthly utility costs.
With a comprehensive comfort analysis, our team can pinpoint exactly where your home needs insulation the most. Once they’ve determined where heat is escaping, they can take a targeted approach to solving the problem, which will save you money and hassle.
Check for Air Leaks
Another common cause of uneven heating is the presence of one or more air leaks. Typically, these cracks and gaps will be very small, most commonly located along the edges of windows and doors. Even if you can’t see them, these openings can allow quite a bit of heat to escape your house throughout the fall and winter. When this happens, it not only disrupts the climate of your home but can also impact the overall health and efficiency of your heating system. If you’ve noticed that the coldest parts of your dwelling are near a window or door, there’s a good chance that you have air leaks.
If you suspect air leaks in an area of your home, take the time to carefully inspect the edges of each nearby doorway and window. The openings may be too small to see, but if you feel around with your hand slowly, you should feel air moving through the leak. When you find a gap or crack, you’ll want to seal it immediately with caulking and weather stripping. This is fairly simple to do, and you can get the necessary tools from any local hardware store.
Clean Out Your Air Vents
Have you cleaned your home’s air vents recently? If it has been months or years since you did this chore, then one or more of your vents could be obstructed. Over time, dust, dirt, and small debris tend to build up inside the vents. Eventually, this can create a blockage, which will obstruct the warm air being cycled by your heating system. This can prevent that particular part of your home from receiving enough heat.
If one or more rooms of your house seem to be colder than usual, consider checking and cleaning the air vents in those areas. First, make sure the vents aren’t blocked by furniture or clutter. Next, use a screwdriver to remove the cover from each vent. That will give you access to clean out the vent’s interior with a vacuum cleaner’s hose extension.
Consider a Thorough Energy Assessment
Our HVAC professionals offer both Comfort Assessments and Energy Audits. During these services, we use testing equipment such as thermal cameras, blower door devices, and computer modeling to comprehensively analyze your home’s heating and cooling needs. Our team will not only determine what’s causing your uneven heating, but they’ll also provide you with a detailed plan to optimize the comfort, efficiency, and overall functionality of your home.
Qualified Local Heating Professionals
Revival Heating & Cooling has been a top-tier provider of home comfort services in the Pacific Northwest, including Portland and Vancouver, for over 20 years. Our highly trained and experienced HVAC technicians offer full heating and cooling services, including maintenance, repairs, and installations. If you’d like to learn more or schedule an appointment, simply give us a call at Revival Heating & Cooling today!