Here's how you can protect your furnace as the Pittsburgh area deals with extreme cold temperatures
With the incredible deep freeze hitting the Pittsburgh area this week, the last thing you want is for your furnace to go out.
The cold temperature alone can create a risk you may not be aware of and KDKA's John Shumway is here to explain.
If you have a gas furnace, it needs fresh air, gas, an igniter, and a blower fan.
To fuel the jets of your furnace, it requires a steady supply of gas under pressure.
"If the gas line freezes, no gas through, no heat," said Rocco Florio from Air Pro Heating and Cooling.
That's right. Gas lines can freeze.
"The gas line can freeze at the meter, it can freeze before the meter, but if that happens, the furnace will not work," Florio said.
Florio said that like trickling water to help keep your pipes from freezing, if you're aware of it, gas line freezing can be simply avoided.
"Run your furnace at higher temperatures in this weather," Florio said.
Florio said that the key is to keep gas flowing into the furnace.
"You're going to run this thing all day, just about," Florio said. "You don't want it to shut down that much. It will only be intermittent. but not for a long time."
The flowing gas will prevent the freezing, and speaking of flowing, Florio said that one of the other big reasons furnaces fail when stressed is the lack of air due to a dirty filter.
"It's not coming through the filter, it's like a blocker and it will kick the furnace off on limit," Florio said.
And then there are the flue pipes outside your home.
"The snow packs up against that flue pipe," Florio said. "It will shut the furnace right down."
So as no doubt, you've heard recently to keep those pipes outside your home clear of snow, Florio said that one inch filters should be changed around every two months during the winter. Box filters should be changed around every four months.