Serving St. Louis & Surrounding Areas
Furnace Repair Near Pomme Creek Park: Arnold Split-Levels and Older Furnaces
Furnace repair near Pomme Creek Park usually means a split-level. The streets around the park, like Pomme Meadows Drive and Tony Drive, are full of them, along with some ranches. A lot of these went up in the 70s and 80s. Which means a lot of them are on furnace number two or three by now, and some are still on an old one.
Liberty Heating Cooling and Plumbing is Sam Marsala’s company. Sam’s been in the trade since 1998. Our shop’s about ten minutes from the park, so Arnold is home turf for us.
Where the Furnace Lives in a Split-Level
In most split-levels near the park, the furnace is in the lowest level. Sometimes it’s in an unfinished utility room with the water heater. Sometimes it’s in a closet behind louvered doors in a finished family room.
The closet’s fine. The furnace just has to breathe. See the slats in those doors? That’s where its air comes from, the air it burns. Put solid doors on, or shove the laundry basket up against them, and it’s gasping.
So leave the slatted doors on. Keep the floor in front of them clear. Costs you nothing.
Why the Upstairs Is Always Cold
Ask anybody in a split-level near Pomme Creek. The lower level is toasty and the bedrooms up top are cold. Crank the thermostat and now the family room’s an oven and the kids’ rooms still aren’t warm.
Heat rises, right? Should be the other way around. Except the furnace is two half-flights below those bedrooms. Those ducts are the longest runs in the house. Each bend and each foot of duct costs a little air.
Few things to try. Every vent upstairs open, nothing parked on top of it, no bed, no dresser. The big return grilles, the ones that suck air back, clear too. And the filter. Dirty filter, the far rooms lose out first.
If it’s still bad, it can be a damper in the ductwork that got closed, a duct that came loose, or a blower that’s getting weak. Sam can find which one.
The Thermostat Is on the Wrong Level
Here’s another split-level thing. The thermostat is usually on the middle level, in the hallway or by the kitchen. So it’s reading the temperature of the middle of the house. Not the bedrooms.
Once the middle level hits 68, the thermostat says “good enough” and the furnace shuts off. Upstairs might still be 63. Downstairs might be 72. The furnace did exactly what it was told.
Sometimes the fix is as simple as running the fan a little longer to mix the air. Sometimes it’s adjusting the dampers in the ducts so more air goes up. Sam will look at how your house is set up before he suggests anything, and he won’t sell you a new furnace to fix a duct problem.
Power Problems Look Like a Dead Furnace
Before we talk parts, check the power. A furnace with no power does nothing. No fan, no clicks, no lights on the board.
Go to the panel. Find the furnace breaker. Tripped? Push it all the way off, then back on. Pops again right away, leave it alone and call us.
Then look for the furnace switch. In a lot of split-levels it’s on a ceiling joist or the wall right next to the furnace, and it looks exactly like a light switch. People flip it off by accident all the time, thinking it’s the light for the room.
One more spot to check. Most furnaces have a small safety switch behind the front panel that cuts the power when the panel isn’t on tight. If somebody changed the filter and didn’t snap the door back right, the furnace thinks it’s open and won’t run. Push the panel firmly into place.
If the breaker, the switch and the panel are all good and the furnace is still dead, that’s when Sam comes out.
Furnace Repair Near Pomme Creek Park on an Older Furnace
A furnace that’s been in a house near the park 20 or 25 years can still run fine. It just gets a harder look. And on an old one, what we really want to see is the heat exchanger.
That’s the metal box in there where the fire is. Fire and exhaust on one side, your house air on the other, and they’re not supposed to touch. Heat it, cool it, heat it, cool it, a few thousand times, and that metal can crack.
A cracked heat exchanger can let exhaust mix with the air you breathe. That’s why we look at it closely on older furnaces, sometimes with a small camera. If we find a crack, we’ll show you what we see. You won’t just get told.
Every home with a gas furnace should have a working carbon monoxide alarm. If yours ever goes off, get everyone outside first and call from the yard.
Repair or Replace on an Old Furnace
Most repairs on an older furnace are still worth doing. An igniter, a flame sensor or a blower motor isn’t a reason to buy a whole new furnace.
The answer changes when it’s the big stuff. A cracked heat exchanger, or a furnace that needs its second or third big repair in a couple of years. Then Sam will tell you straight whether he thinks it’s worth fixing. You’ll get the price for the repair either way, and you decide.
For a rundown of the everyday furnace problems and what causes them, see our main page on furnace repair in Oakville and St. Louis.
What Happens When Sam Comes Out
Here’s how a furnace call near the park usually goes:
- You call. Sam asks what it’s doing, how old it is, and where it is in the house.
- He’ll ask about the breaker, the switch and the filter, in case it’s a quick fix.
- At the house, he watches it start and finds where it fails.
- On older furnaces, he checks the heat exchanger and the venting too.
- You get the price before any part goes in.
- He runs it a full cycle before he leaves.
ENERGY STAR has a simple heating and cooling maintenance checklist if you want to stay ahead of it after that.
Driving Directions From Our Shop to Pomme Creek Park
Our shop is at 3236 Ridgetop View Drive in Oakville. It’s 3.9 miles to the park, about ten minutes.
- Take Ridgetop View Drive out to Telegraph Road and turn left, heading south.
- Stay on Telegraph Road for about a mile, then turn right onto Arnold Tenbrook Road.
- Follow Arnold Tenbrook Road about two miles, past the Tenbrook industrial park.
- Turn left onto Tony Drive, then left onto Pomme Meadows Drive.
- Pomme Meadows Drive brings you to the park at 1 Golfview Drive.
We cover the rest of Arnold too.
Get directions from our shop to Pomme Creek Park on Google Maps
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Know If Your Furnace Is Dying?
A furnace that’s on its way out usually tells you, with repairs coming more often, rooms that never get warm, new loud noises, or a gas bill that climbs even though you didn’t change anything. Age matters too, because once a furnace is past 15 to 20 years and starts showing more than one of those signs, it’s worth having someone look it over closely.
Is a 30 Year Old Furnace Safe?
It can be, but only if it’s been checked, because after 30 years of heating and cooling, the heat exchanger is the part most likely to crack and let exhaust into the air. Have it inspected before the heating season, keep a working carbon monoxide alarm in the house, and expect a straight answer about whether it’s worth keeping.
My Furnace Is 25 Years Old. Should I Replace It?
Not just because of its age, since a 25 year old furnace that runs well and passes a safety check can keep going for a while. If it needs a big repair, like a heat exchanger or a control board, or it’s had several repairs lately, that’s usually when replacing it makes more sense than fixing it.
What Temperature Is Too Cold for a House in Winter?
Most people keep the house somewhere in the 60s while they’re home, and going below about 55 degrees risks frozen pipes, especially on outside walls and in a cold lower level. If your furnace is out and the house is dropping toward the 50s, keep the cabinet doors under sinks open and call for help before it gets colder.
Call Sam for Furnace Repair Near Pomme Creek Park
Looking for furnace repair near Pomme Creek Park? Call Sam at Liberty Heating Cooling and Plumbing. He’s been fixing furnaces since 1998, our shop is ten minutes away, and he’ll show you what he finds before he fixes anything. Call us at (314) 600-2202 and get warm again.