Furnaces built in our day and age are manufactured with safety in mind. They are equipped with a number of safety mechanisms that keep your furnace, home and family safe. The furnace limit switch is one of those mechanisms. It is located under your furnace’s supply plenum and works not only as a safety device but is a part of the control system as well. When you turn your heat on, you can hear the furnace fire up, but it takes a minute or two for you to begin feeling the warm air. The limit switch reads the temperature inside the furnace’s supply plenum, when the supply plenum has reached the desired temperature the limit switch sends a signal to the air handler to begin delivering warm air throughout the home. If the temperature inside the plenum gets too hot, the limit switch will send a signal to shut off the gas supply to the burners which will prevent the heat exchanger from over overheating. It’s important to ensure the limit switch on the furnace stays in good working order. So, what happens when a limit switch stops working? Air Supply Heating & Air Conditioning will be discussing this today.

Furnace Limit Switch Failure

The most common issues we see with limit switches are due to age or lack of proper maintenance for the furnace. Something as simple as a clogged filter can cause more damage than what its worth. We recommend that filters be changed as frequently as they get dirty, so they don’t impede air flow through the unit. When a furnace lacks the proper air flow it requires, it can cause the heat exchanger to overheat repeatedly which in turn will wear out the limit switch rather quickly and eventually stop working altogether. An impaired limit switch can cause further damage to the furnace. When a limit switch breaks, it can cause the air handler to shut down, or run continuously because the limit switch can’t send the signal for it to turn on or off. This will cause your furnace to rapidly overheat and can result in costly repairs if the issue isn’t caught in the early stages.

Furnace Repairs, Tune Ups & More in Summerlin, North LV, Henderson, Enterprise, Paradise, Sunrise Manor, Spring Valley, Aliante, Anthem, Desert Shores, Eldorado, Green Valley Ranch, Inspirada, Mountain’s Edge, Peccole Ranch, Providence, Rhodes Ranch, Seven Hills, Silverado Ranch, The Lakes, Tuscany Village & Las Vegas Nevada

We can’t express enough how important it is to keep your filters changed regularly. Filters are affordable and simple to change out, if you need assistance doing this, Air Supply Heating & Air Conditioning can do it for you monthly or bi monthly depending on your home’s unique needs. Also, annual maintenance for your home’s furnace can give you the ability to keep all the mechanical parts within the furnace in good working order, while catching any issues that may be starting before they cause a major problem. Air Supply Heating & Air Conditioning will inspect your whole system, limit switch included, as well as testing the air flow to the unit and fixing any airflow complications right away. This will ensure your furnace stays in good working order and prolong the lifespan of the unit. If you have further questions about limit switches or would like to schedule a tune-up for your furnace, call our office, we’d be glad to help!