What Is Important For Your Furnace Maintenance?

Furnace maintenance is very important for keeping your house warm and safe during the winter. However, there is some variance in what is covered in routine maintenance from one company to the next. Here’s what you should do for furnace maintenance and why each step is vital.

What Makes Maintenance Investments Worthwhile?

Let’s start with why it’s worth the investment before getting into the specifics of what should be included in your upkeep. Maintenance is comparable to teeth cleaning in that some people put it off until a big issue arises or even the same as maintaining your car instead of waiting until you have a big bill from the mechanic, all because you waited for the clinking noise to stop. If you take this method, you’ll end up paying significantly more than you would if you just kept your system running properly.

As your system runs, it loses some efficiency, raising your utility expenses and putting a burden on your operations. As a result, your repair prices go up, your chances of needing emergency service go up, and your system’s service life goes down.

By assisting in the maintenance of the equipment’s optimal efficiency, annual maintenance helps to lower the danger of all of this. Furthermore, most manufacturers mandate this maintenance as part of the conditions of a new system’s warranty. You will not only pay more in operational costs if you ignore maintenance, but you may also lose your warranty.

Checks for safety

You may not always realize it, but your furnace carries risks, and neglecting to maintain it raises those risks. If any of those dangers materialize, your home could be severely damaged, and your family could be injured.

An yearly expert maintenance visit helps to mitigate these risks by verifying that everything is in working order. There are various safety switches built into your furnace that will shut it down if there are any signs of trouble. Each of these switches will be examined by your expert to ensure that they are in good functioning order.

This furnace specialist will also inspect your gas supply for any potential leakage. Finally, while your furnace is cycling, your technician can check for carbon monoxide. This lowers the chances of your family succumbing to the silent poisoner.

Inspection of Components

Simply checking the physical components for signs of deterioration is an important part of keeping your system working smoothly. Your circulating fan motor, burners, and igniter should all be included. In addition, your technician should inspect your heat exchanger thoroughly to verify there are no cracks. Cracks in this area are one of the most common sources of carbon monoxide leakage in homes.

Thorough Cleaning

Small particles travel through your filter when your system runs and settle further down. The heat exchanger and the circulating fan wheel are the most commonly affected areas. When these become clogged, the flow of air through your system is reduced, lowering the overall efficiency of the device. Each of these components will be gently cleaned by your expert, ensuring that air can easily circulate.

Balancing And Tightening

As your system runs, vibration occurs, causing mounting nuts and screws to loosen. This has an impact on some electrical connections as well. Loose mounting hardware permits your system components to roam around a lot. This places an exceptional amount of strain on certain components, causing them to wear down faster.

In the same way that your car’s tires can fall out of balance, your circulating fan wheel can. When this happens, the motor spindle is stressed, causing the motor bearings to wear out. Your expert will tighten all of the mounting bolts and screws during routine maintenance. They’ll examine your circulating fan wheel to ensure it’s in good working order. Finally, they’ll inspect your electrical connections to make sure they’re secure and not producing too much resistance.

Cycle Check

All of this effort is necessary and beneficial to your system, but there is one more chore to complete before the winter arrives. Your technician will do a full run cycle to ensure that your system is ready for the cold season. During this test, each step of the run cycle will be checked to ensure that it starts appropriately. The ignition, gas flow, circulating fan, and draft fan are all part of this system. The temperature rise will also be evaluated to confirm that the equipment provides enough heat to warm your home adequately.