1st Choice Heating and Air Conditioning
How to Maintain Your Furnace: Top 7 Tips
We know, it’s quite a downer that the summer is gone. It’s time to prepare for the upcoming winter, and a big part of that is taking care of your heating system. Unfortunately, only when something goes wrong is when individuals pay attention.
Regular maintenance and periodic checkups by a licensed heating professional are highly important for your furnace to remain efficient. Don’t wait until the cold hits this winter just to make sure your furnace is ready, be proactive and take precaution. With regular care, you’ll experience much less downtime.
Our Checklist Will Help You Maintain Your Furnace
- Clean or replace your filter.
A clogged filter limits the flow of heated air coming from your furnace, which causes it to work much harder and deliver less heat. - Make sure blower doors are replaced.
This keeps combustion byproducts such as carbon monoxide separate from the warm air circulated through your home. - Check the blower belt and oil the blower motor.
Loose belts can increase furnace working time. Replace belts that are worn or cracked. With two or three drops of oil in the motor, it will keep running efficiently. (Sealed blower motors require no lubrication. If you have questions, check your manual or call a heating professional. - Check to make sure that vents in the house are free.
The air in your house must circulate easily through the different vents. Your furnace doesn’t work as hard when the cooler air can circulate easily and the heated air is not blocked. - Check to see that the exhaust flue to the outside is clear.
The best way to check it by removing the flue cap next to the furnace and water heater and look through the flue to the outside. Be sure to swap the flue cap tightly. Should the furnace or water heater be in a closed space, make sure there’s air flowing to that area. Furnace rooms or closets should have door louvers or vents or a duct directly to the outside to provide adequate combustion air. - Remove any flammable objects from around your furnace.
Anything flammable such as clothes, paints, aerosols, gasoline, boxes and other items should be immediately removed from near the furnace or your water heater. - Clean your heating system’s floor vents.
Take a quick walk around your home and clean all of your floor vents. Floor registers attract all sorts of debris, like pet hair, dust and scraps of paper. This can reduce system efficiency and cost you significantly more during the cold winter. Remove the floor registers and use a vacuum to clean up any remains.
Our Take On Maintaining Your Furnace
It doesn’t take too much time or effort to keep your furnace in perfect working order, but it does take some dedication. Keeping the unit clean can prevent a lot of issues and save you money. Of course, regular service at right in the beginning of winter gives you a head start and lets you handle small issues instead of having spring up when it’s cold out and leave you stuck when you need heat the most.
1st Choice Heating & Air can handle all of your furnace service needs to keep it in top shape. Give us a call at (848) 266-6858 to schedule your appointment today.