Maintaining your home’s comfort systems is one of the important tasks for homeowners. With your furnace operating at its highest efficiency, you can count on reliable heat for your family’s well-being.

Why Is Regular Furnace Maintenance Essential?

There are a few reasons why regular furnace maintenance is essential at the outset of the season. You do not want to find yourself and your family sitting on the coldest day of the year with a furnace on the fritz. Regular maintenance will help you spot a small problem that can be fixed before it becomes large. When the weather is extreme, our home comfort systems are taxed the most. If your furnace has a problem, it is more likely to worsen when your system is operating at its maximum capacity. Also, regular furnace maintenance saves you money. If you are running a furnace that is not operating at peak efficiency, it is likely wasting energy and, thus, money each month on your energy bill. Finally, problems can be caught during annual furnace maintenance that may be more expensive if left unchecked. Leaving problems untended negatively impacts the furnace’s longevity.

Why Furnace Maintenance Is Beyond the Scope of Most Homeowners

There are many different brands of furnaces, and furnace technology has evolved over the years. Furnace maintenance requires skills such as adjusting gas output in burners and using a multimeter, which is beyond the toolkit of the average homeowner. Even if you attempt furnace maintenance yourself, you can’t be certain that you did the job correctly if you are not a qualified and trained HVAC technician. It is best to leave furnace maintenance to the pros.

What Are the Annual Furnace Maintenance Tasks?

There are tasks that professional HVAC companies perform at the outset of each heating season. Of course, the air filter needs to be checked and replaced. The thermostat needs to be tested for proper operation. Cleaning must occur in the combustion chamber, pilot light system (on older units), the heat exchanger, the blower, and the motor. While those parts are being cleaned, they are inspected. This includes the burner, igniter, and crossover in the combustion chamber. The heat exchanger is inspected to ensure no cracks can cause gas leaks. The bearings, motors, and blower shafts get cleaned and lubed to operate smoothly all season long. All wiring is inspected to ensure no tell-tale signs of burned wires or loose connections. Also, the technician will check for any sign of a high-temperature issue. The flue pipe and ducting are inspected.

As the maintenance call proceeds, the technician will check for gas line leaks. The gas valve is checked and adjusted as needed, with an emphasis on getting the right flame color at the burner. Then, the furnace gets a test run. The technician will take temperature readings at the ducts to ensure that the furnace is producing warm air within the manufacturer’s suggestions for that particular model.

When your furnace is professionally serviced in late summer or early fall, you can count upon it throughout the season to reliably provide optimal warmth for your family. This is far more cost-effective than operating a system straining at less-than-optimal conditions. It also saves on more expensive repairs later on. It ensures your family’s safety. Professional furnace maintenance also eliminates the guesswork and lack of safety of DIY furnace maintenance.

Published by: Annie P.