It may be more of a mild winter this year in the Pacific Northwest, but it’s still cold enough to be using your furnace regularly. If you have noticed that your furnace isn’t heating your entire home well, or that the temperatures are inconsistent from room to room, this can be frustrating, leaving you to bundle up and wear an extra layer. If this sounds familiar, here are some issues that might be causing the problem of uneven temperatures throughout your home. #1: Not enough insulation If you do not have enough insulation, or if the insulation in your windows, attic, basement, or walls is old and inefficient, the warm air that your furnace is putting out could be escaping and allowing cold air to seep in. Take a close look at the insulation around your home and analyze which areas need to be insulated for the first time or which areas could have more added. This is an affordable way to keep your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. #2: Neglecting preventative maintenance If you don’t stay on top of regular maintenance appointments for your furnace or heat pump, your system could be prone to unexpected breakdowns or problems. Dirty coils or blower motors, clogged filters, and unsecured belts are just some of the things that could be wrong with your system that could play a part in the system’s efficiency in heating your home. If you don’t have a professional regularly check your system, you could be risking a machine breakdown that could have been preventable. #3: Faulty thermostat Your thermostat is key to the efficient functioning of your furnace or heat pump. If you regularly keep the furnace set to “auto”, try changing it to the “on” setting to see if the temperatures are more evenly distributed to your home. If that doesn’t work, make sure the batteries are working right and that your thermostat doesn’t have any issues with faulty wiring or sensors that could be causing it to set the wrong temperature. If your thermostat is out of date, consider installing a new programmable thermostat that allows you to program the temperature to be what you want, when you want it. Talk to us about some of our favorite programmable thermostat options. #4: Leaky ducts. If there are ducts around the home that are being blocked by furniture, be sure to remove those so the air can flow freely inside the room. In addition, if there is ductwork inside the home that has holes or cracks in it, it could not only be allowing in dust, debris, and allergens to your home, but it could also be causing warm air to leak out. Our team at Specialty Heating and Cooling will clean the ductwork as thoroughly as possible with a powerful HEPA level filtration machine. In 4 to 6 hours, you’ll have clean ducts and you’ll be able to breathe the air in your home knowing that it is clean.