Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Get help with Electric Furnaces & Heat Strips
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
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Call (325) 219-0005Repairing electric furnaces and the heat strips inside air handlers, from burned-out elements and failed sequencers to tripping breakers, and explaining why electric resistance heat costs more to run.
01Electric heat
How much heat is missing, and when, narrows the search to an element, a control or a circuit.
Air is moving but none of the elements are on. A failed sequencer, an open thermal fuse or limit, a tripped breaker or a control fault can shut them all off together, and each is tested before parts are replaced.
Electric heat comes from several elements, and when one or two stop working the rest still produce some warmth. A burned-out element, a failed sequencer or relay, an open limit, or one of several breakers switched off can each cause it.
Heating elements draw a lot of current, so a shorted element, a loose connection that has overheated or a worn breaker shows up quickly. A breaker that trips again after a reset is reacting to a real fault.
Behind a heat pump, heat strips are meant to help in hard cold and during defrost. When the thermostat shows them running through mild weather, the heat pump may not be carrying its share, or the thermostat may be set up or switched to use them.
A dusty smell for a few minutes after the first cold snap is common. A smell of hot plastic or wiring that lasts points at an overheating connection or element, and the system is safer switched off until it is checked.
02Main or backup
The same elements do two different jobs, and the job decides what a problem with them means.
The elements carry the whole heating load. When they fail, the building has no heat, so a fault is a priority in cold weather. High bills are expected with this kind of heat, and a sudden jump usually means the elements are running longer to make up for something else, such as poor airflow.
The strips fill in when the heat pump cannot keep up and warm the air while it defrosts. A failed strip may go unnoticed until the coldest night. Strips that run far more than expected usually point to a problem with the heat pump or the thermostat setup rather than the strips.
Electric Furnaces & Heat Strips
Serving Abilene, TX.
03How it works
Electric heat has few moving parts, and most repairs come from how hard those parts work.
Each element is a coil of resistance wire that glows hot when current passes through it. Sequencers or relays switch the elements on one after another rather than all at once, so the electrical service is not hit with the full load in a single moment. The blower must be running for the heat to go anywhere, and limit switches and thermal fuses cut the elements if the cabinet gets too hot.
Because the current is so high, connections that loosen slightly can overheat and burn, and elements eventually break like the filament of an old bulb. A technician measures each element and control rather than judging by feel, since one dead element among several can leave the air warm enough to hide it.
04In the meantime
None of this repairs the heat. All of it keeps an electrical fault from getting worse.
Switch the system off at the thermostat, and at its breaker if the panel is safe to reach. Leave it off until a technician has looked at it.
A breaker that trips again after one reset is reacting to a fault. Leave it off and mention it when calling.
05Questions
Resistance heat turns each unit of electricity into one unit of heat and no more. A heat pump uses electricity to move heat that already exists outdoors, so it can deliver more heat than the power it uses. Whether electric heat also costs more than gas depends on local energy prices.
On a heat pump system it means the electric heat strips are running, either alongside the heat pump or while it defrosts. Seeing it in very cold weather is expected. Seeing it most of the time in mild weather is worth having looked at, because the strips are the expensive way to heat.
The elements together draw more current than one circuit is meant to carry, so larger units split them across two or more circuits. If one of those breakers is off, the furnace still runs but gives only part of its heat.
If it smells of burning, is leaking water, or the outdoor unit is humming without its fan turning, yes: switch it off at the thermostat. A system that runs but does not keep up can usually stay on until it is looked at.
What the system is doing, when it started, what the thermostat is set to and what it reads, and whether the outdoor unit is running. The age of the equipment and a photo of its label help a technician arrive prepared.
Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (325) 219-0005