2017

If the air coming out of your vents smells a little dusty now and then, it's not a big deal. You probably just need to change the air filter or have your ducts cleaned. But when the air takes on a chemical odor that reminds you of preservatives, that's a whole other story. A chemical smell coming from your furnace usually indicates that the heat exchanger has become damaged — and that's a problem that can have deadly consequences.

If your air conditioner (AC) trips its circuit breaker, you should only reset the breaker once. If the breaker trips again, do not reset it again because a breaker that keeps tripping signifies that something is amiss, and running the AC may intensify the fault. You need to diagnose and fix the fault before resetting the breaker and using the AC. Here are some of the reasons your AC may keep tripping its breaker:

If you have an oil furnace, it will run out of oil and need priming to restart it. It isn't advised to let your furnace run out of oil, but it happens at times when you try to conserve fuel. After the tank gets low, air can seep in the furnace, which means insufficient oil transfer. You should be able to prime the furnace yourself. Here are tips to prime an oil burning furnace.