Your furnace is a surprisingly long-lived appliance, with some models lasting up to two decades or even longer. The best way to keep your furnace operating in peak condition is to keep up with maintenance and schedule annual service visits, but it's also easy to neglect or fall behind on these steps. When that happens, you may find your furnace running poorly or inefficiently.

If this sounds familiar, does that mean it's time to put your old furnace out to pasture? In many cases, the answer may be no. While every furnace will eventually reach a point where repairs are no longer cost-effective, revitalizing an old unit with some strategic fixes is often possible. These three repairs may be worth considering before you send your furnace to its final resting place.

1. Burner Repair

The burners in your furnace may develop issues for several reasons. However, age and poor maintenance are among the most common causes of failure. Routine cleaning can help extend the life of your burners, but a simple clean-up job may not fix units with significant amounts of rust, soot, or dirt build-up.

Failing burners can cause poor combustion, leading to inefficient operation and insufficient heating. If the problem is bad enough, the furnace may not run or may shut off after a short while. Replacing your furnace's old burners can help breathe new life into your unit, potentially allowing you to use it for several more years.

2. Igniter Repair

The igniter's job is to get your furnace going whenever the thermostat calls for heat. Older furnaces tend to use standing or intermittent pilot lights, but newer units typically utilize a hot surface igniter. This design heats up to an extreme temperature, igniting the natural gas as it flows over the surface of the igniter.

A faulty igniter will stop your furnace from running, but one that's simply beginning to fail can cause intermittent issues. If your furnace works sometimes but fails to ignite in other cases, you may have a failing igniter. Replacing your igniter may get your old furnace working reliably again so you can avoid installing a new furnace for a while longer.

3. Blower Repair

Your blower pushes hot air through your home. Without it, your furnace wouldn't be able to distribute heat and might even suffer severe damages, such as heat exchanger cracks. A faulty blower can cause many frustrating problems, including loud noises and poor airflow. Your furnace might also occasionally trip its breaker thanks to the defective blower motor trying to draw too much current.

If you're experiencing symptoms like this that make it challenging to keep your home warm, it may be time to have an HVAC technician check on your blower motor. You may find that this one repair can get your system functioning flawlessly again, saving you from a much more costly heating replacement. For more information, contact a local furnace repair service.

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