Should You Be Worried? What These Furnace Noises Mean

It’s not uncommon to regularly hear sounds coming from your furnace. Your furnace is full of parts that can cause noise, including burners, blowers, and ducts. However, what if you are starting to hear sounds that might indicate something is wrong?

We’re going to dive into what furnaces sounds could mean for your home heating system, and whether or not these sounds are a cause for concern. We all want our furnaces to be working top-notch all the time, but if you are ever concerned about how well your furnace system is running, please contact us. What may seem like a harmless little rattle here and there could develop into something far more severe down the road.

Scraping & Squealing 

The blower motor experiences the most movement of all of the parts that make up your furnace. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the blower motor causes the most commotion. One of the more intrusive sounds you might hear coming from your blower motor can be scraping or squealing.

If the bearings on your blower motor (the part of the motor which holds the rotor) start to wear down, it can cause a scraping sound. If you begin to hear scraping, turn your furnace off and contact one of our professionals to help repair or replace the bearings.

The physical motor that drives the blower motor may be located on the outside of the fan. If this is the case, the motor will spin the fan using a belt connected to the rotor of the motor and the fan itself. These belts wear down over time, and if they start to become frayed or worn, they can cause a squealing or squeaking sound.

While there are tutorials all over the internet that claim to have easy at-home fixes for these problems, we always recommend contacting one of our professionals first before moving forward with any repair with your furnace. 

Clicking

Clicking can be a sign of a lot of different things that might be occurring with your furnace. Still, one of the most concerning is when the clicking sound has something to do with the pilot light.

When your furnace has a dirty or worn out pilot light, it can fail to ignite even when it is still producing gas. This clicking sound may be paired with a lack of heat. If this is happening, turn off the furnace immediately and contact a professional. Leaving the furnace on without a pilot light can leak toxic fumes into your home.

Rattling

Depending on the age and design of your furnace, the motor may actually be housed inside the fan itself. This fan is connected to the motor using bolts and screws. However, if any of the screws are loose, your furnace may produce a rattling sound.

The wheel of the fan is connected to the motor by a set screw, and if this is loose, your fan will rattle quite a bit while it is spinning.

Another source of rattling may be the actual motor part of the blower motor. The motor inside the fan is kept in place by a set of mounting bolts. If the bolts are not tightened enough, it can lead to rattling from the motor. 

Tightening these screws and bolts can help eliminate the sounds coming from your blower motor. While there might be sources online that can show you how to fix this yourself, we always recommend contacting one of our professionals to do it for you.

Sounds in Your Ducts

The next type of sound that is worth discussing doesn’t actually come from the furnace itself but rather the duct system, which is used to distribute warm air throughout your home. 

Sounds can vary from your duct system; some can include a rattling or banging; others might sound like a form of creaking or humming. These sounds depend on the type of issue your ducts have. For rattling or banging, it is possible that either the screws holding the system together might be coming loose, or if a plating might have become loose. 

Humming and creaking from your ducts can be caused quite merely from air being blown through your duct system. This air can expand or even vibrate your ducts, causing all kinds of different (and annoying sounds).

There are several different strategies that can be used to repair your ducts. Still, as always, we recommend talking to one of our professionals first.