How it differs from a gas furnace
An electric furnace pushes air across heating elements, coils of resistance wire much like those in a toaster, rather than across a heat exchanger with a flame inside it. There is no combustion, no venting and no carbon monoxide from the furnace itself. What it has instead is a lot of electrical current, switched on in stages by relays called sequencers.
In Caldwell, 27.6% of occupied homes heat with electricity, by Census estimates for 2020 to 2024. That covers electric furnaces, heat pumps with electric backup and baseboard heat, so it says how common electric heat is, not which kind you have. The label on the furnace settles it.
What usually fails
- A heating element. Elements burn open with age. With one or two of several elements out, the furnace still runs but the air is lukewarm and the house never catches up.
- A sequencer or relay. These bring the elements on in turn. One that fails leaves its elements cold.
- A limit switch. A safety that cuts an element when it overheats, usually because of restricted airflow. Some reset themselves; some need replacing.
- The blower motor. No airflow and the elements trip on their limits. See blower not working.
- A breaker. Electric furnaces draw heavy current and are often on more than one large breaker. One tripped breaker can knock out some elements and leave others working.
What you can safely check
The thermostat, the filter, and the breakers. An electric furnace may have two or three large breakers in the panel, sometimes with breakers in the furnace itself. If any have tripped, reset them once. If one trips again, leave it off: on an appliance drawing this much current, a breaker that will not hold is protecting you from a fault.
Do not open the furnace's element compartment. The voltages inside are lethal.
Lukewarm air, all day
The commonest electric-furnace complaint is not no heat but not enough: air that is warm rather than hot, and a furnace that runs constantly. That is the shape of one or more elements or sequencers having failed, or of a tripped breaker on one circuit. A technician measures the current on each element circuit to find which one is out.
No heat? Tell us what the furnace is doing.
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