Short cycling furnace

10 years ago

My landlord had a new Williams wall furnace put in last winter because the old one was having little "explosions" on startup sometimes. After the weather started to get cold again this winter, the new furnace has started cycling the flame on and off at short intervals with the blower continuing to run the whole time. I sometimes wake up in the morning and it is doing this, so the blower has probably been running most of the night. The flame comes on for maybe 2 minutes, goes off, then back on again in less than a minute. If I turn the thermostat down into the 50's and let the furnace not run for awhile, and turn it back on, it performs normally for awhile, but it always goes back to short cycling if it is very cold outside. I did some searching, and since there is no filter for this furnace, that is not the cause. The thermostat location did not change when they switched furnaces. Wondering what could be causing this and whether to be concerned. I don't want to cause the landlord to have to pay for a service call if not needed.

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Comments (5)

mike_home
10 years ago
Why doesn't the furnace have a filter? Tell you landlord it needs to have a filter otherwise there will be problems in the future.

It sounds like the high limit switch is shutting the furnace down. The furnace may be too big for the duct work, or the duct work is too small. Whatever the reason it is an installation problem that needs to be corrected. It is wasting a lot of fuel. The service company needs to fix this problem. If it less than a year it should be under warranty.
tigerdunes
10 years ago
Cut the furnace off until landlord gets a service tech to check problem and operation.

Need further info about the filter. Is there a rack for the filter?

IMO
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janetjanetbobanet
Original Author
10 years ago
No place for a filter, I asked about that when they put it in. The old furnace was just like it and didn't have one either. I will talk to the landlord about the short cycling, then. Thanks for the replies!
weedmeister
10 years ago
I suspect a wall furnace like this does not use duct work. As mike suggested, it is probably a high limit switch that is faulty, or something similar.
SpecialtyAirInc
10 years ago
It does seem to be a faulty high limit switch, but don't go for assumptions, get it checked by a pro.