Cold weather is on its way to Virginia, and you’ll soon be using your furnace on a daily basis. Before that day arrives, get a furnace maintenance appointment on your calendar. A professional tune-up before the heating season could contribute to cost savings and a more reliable system.
Clean Your Furnace
A heating system can get quite dirty in a year’s time! The combustion process can leave residue on the interior of your furnace. In addition, dust and dirt may accumulate on the various parts. For example, the blower may have a good deal of dust inside it.
When your system is dirty, it has to work harder to move air. That can put a strain on its parts, so they may wear out prematurely.
Plus, as the air travels through your system, it can pick up some of the dust particles and carry them throughout your home. That compromises the quality of the air you’re breathing. It can also leave you with a house that’s unusually dusty.
An annual furnace cleaning can help you avoid that situation. Your professional furnace technician will thoroughly clean parts like the combustion chamber and the flame sensor.
The filter is a piece of your furnace that’s designed to trap dust. If it’s getting dirty, then it’s doing its job. Even still, you don’t want to leave it with a thick layer of buildup. A dirty filter can seriously hamper airflow. Most filters should be replaced monthly, and a filter swap is usually included in a professional maintenance appointment.
Achieve Better Efficiency
A dirty furnace is much less efficient than a clean one. Because it takes so much more work to push air through an unkept system — especially through a filthy filter — the furnace requires more energy. A thorough, professional pre-season cleaning ensures that your heating system can run as efficiently as possible.
Efficiency is good for the environment. It also has more immediate benefits for you. Since an efficient system demands less power, you’ll be able to run your furnace for less money. Your utility bills will be lower than they would be without a tune-up.
Check the Settings
Your furnace is a complex appliance that relies on proper settings. Small shifts could lead to large operational problems down the road. Perhaps your furnace won’t be able to operate at full capacity, or your rooms won’t reach the temperature that you’d prefer. Having a professional check the settings once a year can prevent that from becoming an issue.
Your furnace technician may calibrate the thermostat. That process involves checking whether the temperature output matches the setting you’ve chosen.
Other tests may involve the electrical power running through the system. For example, the technician may do an amp draw test for the blower. That will evaluate whether the blower is calling for the right amount of power.
In addition, the tech may perform a test to see if the gas pressure is set properly. If not, you may not get the furnace results you want. Even worse, improper gas pressure can cause damage to your furnace.
Stay Warm This Winter
A small furnace issue may not be a big deal right now. When you first start up your furnace, you may not even notice anything is wrong. As the winter goes on, though, the problem could get worse and worse. Eventually, you might end up with a heating system that won’t even turn on.
While small furnace problems may be undetectable to you at startup, a professional technician can catch them during an inspection. Then, you’ll have the opportunity to have a repair done, whether right away or during a future appointment. Either way, the problem will then be resolved before you’re using your furnace day in and day out.
Otherwise, you risk having a system that isn’t producing enough warm air in the winter. The furnace may not even turn on. You could end up quite chilly while you wait for an emergency repair technician to arrive and carry out the fix. If that idea doesn’t appeal to you very much, then an annual furnace inspection would be the better option.
Save Money
Midseason repairs can be inconvenient. In some cases, they can also be expensive. The longer that a problem with your furnace has continued, the worse the situation may become. Additional parts may be affected by the issue. If you end up with a larger repair problem, then you may also have a heftier bill.
You’ll face an even greater expense if you need an entirely new furnace. Not all major repairs are worth carrying out. Sometimes, replacing the heating system is the more economical choice in the long run. That doesn’t mean it will be cheap, though. New furnaces are a big investment. It makes a lot more sense to invest annually in the small cost of a tune-up so that you can get as many years out of your current furnace as possible.
Protect Your Safety
Regular maintenance can help you rest comfortably throughout the winter with the knowledge that your heating system is safe.
During a tune-up, your furnace technician will check the electrical connections. If any of them are loose, the tech will retighten them. That will reduce the chances of a scary electrical situation happening inside of your furnace over the winter.
Your technician will also inspect any parts of the system that could contribute to a carbon monoxide leak. Carbon monoxide is a gas that can potentially poison you. Under normal circumstances, your furnace won’t release this gas. A broken part could allow it into your house, though. An annual inspection can guard against that dangerous situation. If you’re at risk, the heating tech will let you know and suggest a repair or replacement option.
Support Your Warranty
Your furnace may still be covered by a warranty. If something goes wrong with your system, the coverage may allow you to have the repairs done at a discount — or at no cost to you at all. It would be terribly disappointing to learn that your warranty is no longer valid. Unfortunately, if you can’t supply proof that you’ve kept up with annual maintenance, then that could be exactly what happens.
The terms of many furnace warranties require homeowners to have professional maintenance performed at least once a year. Scheduling this annual appointment is a smart way to protect your investment and make sure that you can get as much benefit from your warranty coverage as possible. The cost of a tune-up may pay off when you receive a significant discount on covered repairs.
Meade’s Heating and Air is the experienced team to call for heating and cooling services in the Sterling area. Our technicians perform annual maintenance for our customers. We’re also experts at furnace and air conditioner repairs and installations. Our additional areas of expertise include ductwork, water heaters, gas lines, and indoor air quality. We’ve been named a Nextdoor Neighborhood Favorite, and we look forward to becoming your favorite heating company as well. Call Meade’s Heating and Air today to ask about furnace maintenance in Sterling or to schedule your first appointment.
