Serving St. Louis & Surrounding Areas
Furnace Repair Near Rockport Heights Elementary in Arnold
Furnace repair near Rockport Heights Elementary starts with one question. Is it a high-efficiency furnace? Those are the ones with two white plastic pipes coming out the side of the house instead of a metal flue up the chimney. They save gas. They also have a few parts older furnaces never had, and those parts cause their own kind of trouble.
Liberty Heating Cooling and Plumbing is Sam Marsala’s company. Sam’s been in the trade since 1998. Our shop’s in Oakville, and the school is about seven minutes down Telegraph Road and onto Jeffco Boulevard.
How to Tell If You Have a High-Efficiency Furnace
Walk outside to the wall closest to the furnace. See two white plastic pipes sticking out? One pulls air in, one blows exhaust out. That’s your high-efficiency furnace right there.
No plastic pipes, just a metal pipe from the furnace going up into a chimney? That’s a standard furnace. You’ll find both kinds in the homes around Rockport Heights. Plenty of houses got switched over when the old furnace was replaced.
Knowing which one you have helps a lot on the phone. Some of what’s below only happens on the high-efficiency kind.
Water Next to the Furnace Isn’t Always a Leak
These furnaces squeeze so much heat out of the gas, the exhaust cools off and turns to water. Real water, a lot of it on a cold day. It drips through a plastic trap, down a little hose, into a floor drain or a small pump.
Gunk builds up in that trap. Hose clogs. Water backs up and some furnaces just dump it on the floor. Others sense the water and shut the whole furnace down to protect themselves. So a clogged drain line can look exactly like a furnace that won’t heat.
If you’ve got one of those little pumps, listen to it. They usually run for a few seconds at a time. If it’s full of water and quiet, or the pump is buzzing and not pumping, that may be your no-heat problem.
The Small Motor That Runs Before the Fire
Every time your furnace starts, a small fan called the draft inducer spins up first. Its job is to pull exhaust out through the vent before the burners light. A little switch with a rubber hose checks that it’s pulling hard enough. If it isn’t, the furnace won’t light.
That’s why a lot of no-heat calls near the school sound the same. “I hear something spin up, then nothing happens.” The inducer is running, but the switch isn’t happy. It could be the switch, the hose, the motor wearing out, or a blocked vent outside.
Sam checks it in that order. Hose first, because a cracked or soggy hose is cheap. Then the switch, then the motor, then the vent.
Furnace Repair Near Rockport Heights Elementary After Snow or Leaves
On a high-efficiency furnace, those plastic pipes outside are low on the house. Sometimes just a foot or two off the ground. That’s what makes them easy to block.
Snow drifts over them. Leaves pile up against them in the fall. Wasps build a nest in the end of the pipe over the summer. Even a bush that’s grown up in front of them can cause trouble. Any of those can choke off the air the furnace needs, and the furnace won’t run.
After a big snow, walk out and clear the snow from around both pipes. It takes a minute and fixes more no-heat calls than you’d think. Don’t stick anything into the pipes. If you see something in there, like a nest, call us and we’ll get it out.
Gurgling in the Pipes
Hear a gurgle from the furnace when it runs? Kind of like a drain? On a high-efficiency furnace, that’s usually water sitting where it shouldn’t. Either in the trap, or in the exhaust pipe itself.
That plastic exhaust pipe is supposed to slope back toward the furnace, so the water runs back down to the drain. If a strap came loose and the pipe sags in the middle, water sits in the low spot. The furnace has to push exhaust through it. Sometimes it can. Sometimes the pressure switch says no and it shuts down.
We fix the slope, re-strap the pipe and clean out the trap. Usually that’s the end of the gurgle.
When the Drain Line Freezes
Some homes run the condensate line outside instead of to a floor drain. Or the line goes through a garage or a cold crawl space. On a really cold night, that water can freeze right in the hose.
Then the water has nowhere to go. It backs up into the furnace, and the furnace shuts off on the coldest night of the year. Moving the line, or adding a little pump that drains inside, keeps that from happening again. If your furnace has quit on the two or three coldest nights of the winter and runs fine the rest of the time, tell Sam that. It’s a big clue.
When It’s Not the Vent or the Drain
If the drain is clear and the pipes outside are open, the furnace still has all the regular parts that can wear out. The igniter, the flame sensor, the blower, the control board.
We walk through those common problems one by one on our main page for furnace repair in Oakville and St. Louis. The difference on a high-efficiency furnace is just that there are a few more places to look first.
What a Visit Near Rockport Heights Looks Like
Here’s how a furnace call near the school usually goes:
- You call. Sam asks what it’s doing and whether you’ve got the plastic pipes outside.
- He’ll ask if there’s water on the floor or a pump that’s acting funny.
- At the house, he watches the furnace try to start and checks where it stops.
- He clears or tests the drain, the switch, the hose and the vent.
- You get the price before any part goes in.
- He runs it through a full cycle so you know it’s heating before he leaves.
Once a Year Keeps These Running
High-efficiency furnaces like a little attention. A clean drain trap. Clear vents outside. A flame sensor that’s not coated in grime. A yearly checkup catches all of those before the first cold night.
ENERGY STAR has a short heating and cooling maintenance checklist with the basics you can do yourself. The rest, Sam can take care of in one visit.
Driving Directions From Our Shop to Rockport Heights Elementary
Our shop is at 3236 Ridgetop View Drive in Oakville. Rockport Heights Elementary is about 3.4 miles south, around seven minutes.
- Take Ridgetop View Drive out to Telegraph Road and turn left, heading south.
- Stay on Telegraph Road for almost three miles.
- Bear right onto Jeffco Boulevard.
- Go about a quarter mile, and the school is on the left.
We’re in Arnold all winter.
Get directions from our shop to Rockport Heights Elementary on Google Maps
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Most Common Furnace Failure?
On high-efficiency furnaces, a clogged condensate drain or a pressure switch that won’t close are some of the most common reasons the furnace shuts down. On any gas furnace, a worn igniter and a dirty flame sensor are right up there too, along with a filter that’s so dirty the furnace overheats and turns itself off.
How Often Should a House Furnace Be Serviced?
Once a year is the usual answer, best done in early fall before you need the heat every day. A yearly visit is when the drain trap gets cleaned, the flame sensor gets checked, and the vents and safety switches get tested, which is how a lot of mid-winter breakdowns get caught early.
How to Tell If Your Furnace Needs Cleaning?
If the furnace short-cycles, the burners look yellow instead of blue, or you see dust caked on the blower when you pull the lower door, it’s due. On a high-efficiency furnace, water on the floor or a drain line full of slime is another sign the condensate side needs cleaning out.
What’s the Average Life Expectancy of a Furnace?
Most gas furnaces last around 15 to 20 years, and some go longer with yearly care. High-efficiency furnaces can reach that range too, but they have more parts that need attention, like the drain and the inducer, so skipping the yearly visit tends to catch up with them a lot faster.
Call Sam for Furnace Repair Near Rockport Heights Elementary
Looking for furnace repair near Rockport Heights Elementary? Call Sam at Liberty Heating Cooling and Plumbing. He’s been fixing furnaces since 1998, our shop is seven minutes away, and he’ll check the drain and vents before he ever sells you a part. Call us at (314) 600-2202 to get warm again.