As everyone is making their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, leave toxic relationships, and do other things that make their lives better, you also should resolve to take good care of your furnace.
Here are seven ways to take excellent care of your furnace as given by furnace repair services providers:
Clean the air filters
The number one way to keep your furnace in top shape is to keep an eye on the air filters. During the holiday season, they might have collected plenty of dirt and dust that might make the heater work excessively hard.
You don’t want your furnace consuming a lot of energy in the New Year, do you? To prevent it, set a schedule to inspect and replace the air filters at least once every three months.
You can clean the air filters by yourself or hire an expert to help you out. When hiring the contractor, ensure they are experienced.
Schedule an annual furnace inspection
Before the heating season starts, have the heating system inspected by a professional HVAC company. During the inspection, the contractor will take a look at all the areas of the unit and fix the faulty ones.
Furnace inspection comes with plenty of benefits such as:
- Lowering the energy bills
- Improving the energy efficiency and overall performance of the appliance
- Fewer breakdowns and costly repairs as the furnace ages
- Increased furnace lifespan
Clean the burner
Have you experienced a dirty, dusty smell when you turn on the heater after a warm summer? That’s the smell of the furnace burning off particles that might have accumulated in it over time.
In addition to the smell being harmful to the air quality, they are also harmful to the burners. You should resolve to wipe off or vacuum the burners at the start of each cold season.
When cleaning the burner, keep your eyes out for any signs of rust or misalignment.
Set the thermostat properly
A properly set thermostat should start immediately, without any problems. If it doesn’t respond immediately, or it’s significantly out of date, consider updating it to a newer model.
One of the best models to go for is a programmable thermostat that you can automatically turn down when you are away or asleep.
Setting the thermostat properly comes in handy at ensuring that the furnace is functioning correctly and optimally at a lower cost.
Keep the vents clear
It’s common for homeowners to add or rearrange the furniture without thinking how doing it affects the airflow.
When you place pieces of furniture close to the vents, you are bound to close them, preventing the air from flowing as effectively as it should.
For an even airflow, walk through the house and remove any pieces of furniture that are too close to the vents. For peace of mind, ensure there is an inch-or-two of clearance in front of the air vents.
In addition to blocked vents preventing air from getting out of the house, they also increase your heating costs.
When you operate the furnace with blocked vents for a long time, you trigger the furnace to overheat and even burn out.
Attend to problems as soon as they happen
If you are like other homeowners, you don’t attend to HVAC problems early enough. You sit back and wish them away.
Unfortunately, they don’t go away. One of the New Year resolutions you should make is to attend to the problems as soon as they happen.
If you notice an unusual sound, don’t wait for it to go away. Stop the appliance and investigate where it’s coming from. You should do the same thing when you notice the energy bills going up. Don’t think they will eventually go down.
Contact a professional to inspect the reason the appliance is consuming a lot of energy and fix the source of the problem.
Replace the old furnace
Have you had your furnace for more than ten years? You must have noticed the heating costs going up and other problems. You don’t want an appliance that is limping along for another year, do you?
Furnace service Falls Church providers recommend that you find a new and energy-efficient furnace that will not only give you a better service, but also consume less energy.
