It may be December now but last month had us feeling like it was late-September instead! The sun has been shining and the red, orange and yellow leaves have only now all fallen off the trees. The nice weather has allowed homeowners to prepare for the upcoming winter by tuning and starting up their furnaces to make sure everything is running properly, but the combination of falling leaves and running furnaces can lead to a problem – the leaves could block your furnace and end up causing it to stop working.

It may come as a surprise, but leaves can cause serious breakdowns for your home heating system. How? Your furnace has either a chimney (if it has a lower efficiency, i.e. an AFUE rating of 89% or lower) or has PVC pipes, or polyvinyl chloride pipes, for intake and exhaust purposes that keep your furnace venting and functioning. The chimney or pipes are incredibly important for your system, and also happen to be a place where falling leaves can settle and eventually force your furnace to breakdown.

The leaves are messy – they gather a lot of moisture in the morning from frost, which makes them sticky and cling to everything, including the inside of your chimney or plastic pipes. They can form a solid layer of blockage within and make your furnace stop working because no air can pass in and out!

So what can be done to prevent your furnace from trying to work through masses of leaves in its pipes? Rake them often! Keep your yard free of leaves as much as possible and try to keep an eye out for blockages in your furnace and clean them out. But most importantly, remember to stay safe and power down your unit before you attempt to clean out trapped leaves!

If you’re not quite sure how to clean out your chimney or PVC pipes, we can help! Fahrhall Home Comfort Specialist’s professionals can clean out your furnace and demonstrate how to safely and effectively get rid of leaves that block your furnace so you can keep your system functioning properly!

Schedule an appointment with Fahrhall today!