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The limit switch on your furnace is a critical component that helps keep your home safe. Learning how to reset a limit switch on a furnace is useful for troubleshooting common furnace problems, such as dirty coils or a blockage in your vents.
Your limit switch acts as protection for your home, preventing your furnace from reaching dangerous temperatures that could cause a house fire. However, when a limit switch continuously trips, it’s not only inconvenient but can render the entire furnace nonfunctional.
In this article, our team at Leith Heating & Cooling, one of the most trusted Elgin HVAC companies out there, explains the steps to reset furnace limit switches.
Why Do You Need a Furnace Limit Switch Reset?
Resetting the limit switch on a furnace is a method you can use to investigate furnace malfunction issues. During operation, your limit switch may activate its furnace overheat protection reset. If there is something faulty going on with your furnace, some limit switch troubleshooting methods may help you find the cause.
Learning how to reset a limit switch on a furnace starts with understanding the potential causes of overheating, which include the following.
Clogged Air Filters
When air filters become clogged with dirt and dust, this creates a heat bottleneck that can trick your limit switch into thinking things are hotter than they actually are. Since heat activates the limit switch in an effort to prevent your unit from overheating, a clogged air filter may cause your limit switch to continuously send out false signals. Clearing the limit switch on a heating system requires little more than heat, which is why a dirty furnace is a dangerous one.
Overactive Cycles
As the blower motor sends hot air from the coils into your home, a limit switch may trigger because it senses either too hot or too cold of conditions within the vents, causing a shortened cycle. Short cycles are self-imposing, making the limit switch work against the furnace instead of for it. If you believe your limit switch is simply reacting to a short cycle in temperature, resetting the limit switch on your furnace may fix the problem.
High Heat
One of the simplest ways to activate a limit switch is by introducing excessive heat to your furnace system. Whether due to a clogged vent or dirty filter, heat causes a limit switch to activate to keep your furnace and house safe.
You can expect repeated tripping if your furnace overheats easily due to a lack of maintenance. If you need to keep resetting your furnace for the sake of its interior temperature, odds are something is clogging the way for heat to escape.
Closed Vents
If your vent is closed or blocked, heat can’t properly flow from the blowers to the rest of your home. Having too many closed vents in your air circulation system can suffocate your furnace and keep things hot enough to trip your limit switch.
If opening your vents and ensuring your airways are clear solves the issue, then you won’t need to rely on a limit switch reset to get your furnace back in order.
Faulty Blower Motor
If your furnace is doing nothing but heating without blowing all that hot air into your home, it could cause problems for your limit switch. A faulty blower motor may be blowing air out from your vents, but if it isn’t doing this fast enough, hot air could accumulate throughout the entire system, tripping your limit switch.
Dirty Coils
Just the same as other heat-accumulating problems that a furnace can create, dirty coils can be responsible for false alarms. A coil covered in debris or dust can overheat the entire furnace.
If you notice excessive heat, the best thing to do is clean everything, from your filter to the coils. However, this is a job best left to professionals who have the right equipment and knowledge.
A Broken Limit Switch
If you’ve determined that none of the above issues exist within your furnace, odds are your limit switch is the ongoing problem. Limit switches that continuously trip without explanation are likely worn out due to age or continuous heat exposure.
Steps To Reset Your Furnace Limit Switch in Your Elgin Home
Learning how to reset a limit switch on a furnace can help you troubleshoot your heating problems. Here’s how to do it:
1. Turn off Your Furnace
When dealing with a furnace issue, you should always deactivate the power first. You can do this by going to your circuit breaker and turning off the switch for your heating system. Ensuring the power is out on your heater can help prevent accidents as you troubleshoot your issues.
2. Check the Control Panel
Once you’ve powered down everything, locate your control panel and lift it off the furnace. Depending on your furnace, there should be handles on each side that can make this easier. After removing it, set the control panel aside so that you can focus on the interior.
3. Locate Your Furnace Limit Switch
To find the limit switch on your furnace, look for a red, yellow, or white button on the panel. To restart your furnace manually, hold this button for three seconds before releasing it. After restarting the system, affix your control panel back on the furnace and turn your furnace back on via the circuit breaker.
Let Leith Heating & Cooling Help You Learn How To Reset a Limi Switch on a Furnace in Elgin
Now that you understand how to reset a limit switch on a furnace, have you narrowed down what your furnace problem might be? For issues like flame detection rod cleanings and limit switch adjustments, a professional may need to step in.
If you need to keep resetting your furnace or have other heating issues, call our team at Leith Heating & Cooling. Our experts in Elgin, Illinois, are happy to help, so call 847-565-1538 today.
