Every year it seems like the transition between summer and winter becomes shorter and shorter. One day your air conditioner is pumping out cold air full blast, and the next day your furnace is pulled out of its short summer hibernation. For many homeowners, the furnace takes quite a beating during the winter season, and as a result, countless units fail during the most brutal winter temperatures. To prevent your unit from falling victim to the weather, you need to prepare your furnace. Furnace repairs, maintenance, and replacement all need to be considered when getting your furnace ready for the upcoming winter season. It’s not too late to take action to prevent unwanted furnace repairs on your home heating system.
Home Heating Maintenance
The first step to take when preparing any home heating unit for the winter season is to have it cleaned and maintained by a certified heating and cooling company. This isn’t limited to forced air furnaces. A furnace can also be a hot water or steam boiler. These units need just as much care and maintenance as a forced air furnace home heating system. When you have a certified tune-up done, you are not only preventing furnace repairs, you are also boosting the overall efficiency of the unit. A good furnace technician will be able to get your furnace running as close to factory specifications as possible. This boost in efficiency will also help you conserve energy and money this winter.
Home heating is not something that can be lived without, and using the furnace incessantly can quickly lead to high energy bills. The less efficient your furnace is, the higher your energy bills will be. How does having a dirty furnace effect efficiency? Well its simple. When a furnace or boiler becomes clogged with debris, soot, and dust, the unit has to work harder and harder and longer and longer to get the temperature in the home up. For example, dirty burners on a furnace will not heat up as much as they potentially could. This lack of heat decreases the overall heat distribution in the home. This is just one of the ways that lack of maintenance can effect the furnace’s efficiency.
These are a few of the key components of the furnace that should be checked by your heating and cooling contractor:
- Clean Pilot Assembly- a dirty pilot assembly can prevent ignition of the entire system
- Clean Burners- as we discussed, dirty burners will stop the unit from firing at its full potential
- Check, Clean and Lube Blower Motor- a dirty blower will decrease air flow and is prone to failure
- Air Filter Replacement- a clogged filter will allow debris to back up into the furnace and prevent proper air flow
- Check Heat Exchanger- a dirty or rusted heat exchanger can crack causing carbon monoxide leaks in the home
- Flue Inspection- a clogged or inadequate flue will prevent harmful combustion gases from venting out of your home
- Thermostat Calibration- a poorly calibrated thermostat will not allow the furnace to get the temperature at the home to the level you need
These are just a few of the checks that will be performed in your furnace cleaning.
Furnace Repairs
Unfortunately, there are many people who have put off furnace repairs for way too long. Maybe you put off repairs that were needed last season, or have rigged your unit to work at least temporarily. Now is the time to get the repairs done! Don’t wait until the snow starts to fall to take care of that old unit. Call a certified home heating specialist today and figure out what kind of furnace repairs are actually needed. If you wait till the last minuet, it could end up costing you twice as much. Many heating and cooling contractors charge extra for nights and weekends, and you never know when the weather will suddenly take a turn for the worse. It is also dangerous to run a furnace or boiler that needs repairs. One of the leading causes of house fires is heating equipment. These fires usually result from lack of maintenance or system malfunction due to lack of furnace repairs. At the very least, a heating fire will destroy your home heating unit, but what if the fire doesnt contain itself inside the unit? I doubt you want your family put in this situation.
Even when you take care of your furnace, failure is still a possibility. To prepare yourself for potential furnace repairs, you should do some research into various heating and cooling companies. Your home heating unit is an expensive piece of equipment, and you cannot just trust anyone to work on the furnace. When choosing a furnace repair contractor, you should look for a few of these qualities in your heating and cooling contractor:
- 24 hr service- Around the clock service will guarantee that no matter when the furnace breaks, you will have a technician ready to take your call.
- Guaranteed repairs- This will give you added confidence in the work that is performed. If there is a mistake made, you will not have wasted your money on a company that doesn’t warranty their furnace repairs.
- Good referances- Ask around town. If you can find family, friends, or neighbors that would recommend the company, then they are probably a good choice.
- Up-front pricing- Ask the contractor how they determine prices. If it is based on hourly work, or if they don’t give you a guaranteed price before they perform the repair, you may be choosing a company that will end up gouging you after they perform the furnace repair.
When you have the unit professionally diagnosed, you can then decide if the unit is worth salvaging. Poorly maintained units can often have several problems at once, and repairs can become outrageously expensive. If this happens to your home heating system, you are probably better off replacing the system completely rather than putting money into a unit that wont last much longer anyways.
Home Heating Unit Replacement
Getting your furnace ready for this winter may mean replacing the system completely. Old run down furnaces are ineffcicent and could be costing you hundreds of dollars extra every year in energy costs. Home heating units that are over ten or fifteen years old, usually have efficiency ratings below 80%. The lower the efficiency, the more money you are wasting. Furnaces can be up to 98.2% efficient these days, and that translates into big savings.
Purchasing a new furnace before the real winter temperatures hit is a very smart investment in your home. Many heating and cooling contractors offer pre-season discounts that will be gone if you wait until the middle of the winter to replace the furnace. Replace the furnace early, and you will enjoy the assurence of a fail free winter season.
Dont let the winter temperatures surprise you this year! Take these tips to heart, and you will have prepared your home heating system for the winter season. Having furnace maintenace performed increases efficiency and redeces the chance of failure. Finding a reliable heating and cooling company will prepare you for unexpected furnace repairs and get your furnace running so that it is ready for the cold weather. If the furnace is old and inefficient, replacement is your best bet for ensuring reliable heating for your home all winter long. Find out what your furnace needs today, and you will stay warm this winter.