When your furnace isn’t working properly, you’ll likely notice less airflow and less heat in your home. The first thing you should check in this situation is your air filter to make sure it’s clean and that air can pass through it freely. If it looks fine, or you replace it and your home still doesn’t have enough airflow, you may have a dirty furnace coil. The evaporator coil is located inside the furnace plenum, so it’s not openly visible.
How an Evaporator Coil Works
If your furnace can provide both heat and air conditioning, it likely contains a burner to create heat and an evaporator coil that gets refrigerant from your A/C compressor to cool air during the summer. This coil is located in the plenum, which is a chamber in your furnace that air is forced into by a blower. The coil is made up of many small air passages that are designed to let air flow freely, so if any of the air passages get blocked by dust or debris, it will affect heating and airflow.
Since the evaporator coil has warm air passing through its openings to be cooled by the refrigerant, the coil can also get blocked up with mold. The mold spores dry up once heat is added and can restrict airflow through the coil. Mold affects the respiratory system and aggravates allergies, so it’s important to have the coil cleaned thoroughly if mold present.
Cleaning a dirty furnace coil is a job for a professional due to its location inside your furnace and how easily it can be damaged. Arpi’s Industries, Ltd. has been helping Calgary and area residents improve their home comfort for over 50 years. If your heating and airflow are affected by a dirty furnace coil, we can professionally restore your comfort.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information, talk to an Arpi’s technician today. Credit/Copyright Attribution: “All-vectors/Shutterstock”
