Ensuring Your Furnace Is Safe and Efficient

If you are in an area of the country that regularly sees snow and cold temperatures, then you know all to well that the cold months are right around the corner. Soon enough, the mercury will be falling quickly, and it will be time to fire up your furnace and make your home warm and a comfortable temperature for you and your family and guests.

Before you do fire up the heater, ask yourself: "When was the last time I had my furnace inspected and serviced?"

If you cannot remember the last time that your furnace and heating system was serviced, than you may have a much larger problem than just hoping your home will have sufficient heat throughout the winter. Your furnace might be running inefficiently, and could have dangerous issues that could put you and your family in harms way.

Thousands of house fires that occur each year have been traced back to malfunctioning furnaces and other heating sources. These issues could have been repaired, if only a service technician was called out to inspect the heating and AC system. A service technician would have immediately recognized that there was a problem, and would have made suggestions to repair or complete replace the HVAC system. While it may sound like a financial burned, repairing and replacing a heating system is actually quite affordable, and will keep you, your family, and your home safe from home fires or other damages.

Keeping Your A/C Running All Year Long

Your air conditioning system is about more than just air conditioning. It’s also about heating and ventilation. That’s there the HVAC acronym comes in. Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning. Normal maintenance on the air conditioning aspect of the system is routine and easy enough.

Just as you should take care to maintain the air conditioning part of your HVAC system, the condenser coils, compressor and evaporator -- you should also take care to maintain the very heart of the system; the fan.

Inside your house, if you have a split-unit AC system, resides the furnace and the fan that drives all the air through your home.

The fan is designed to run for years and years with minimal input from you. However, just as with cars and any other form of mechanical equipment, it will need a little maintenance here and there.

The first thing you can do when you go to the basement or utility closet to locate the furnace is to replace the filter. The filter is the first line of defense in keeping your fan clean and free from dust that can gum-up the prop shaft.

When you have the housing off, AND you have the power to the whole unit turned off, wipe your hands along the blades. If you notice a fair amount of dust that covers your hand when you pull it away, you’re going to want to be sure to give the blades a good cleaning. The uneven surfaces that the dust buildup creates will lower the effectiveness and efficiency of your fan. Think if it like barnacles on the prop of an ocean liner.

When the power is turned on, take a listen to the fan. If you notice any squeaks or rattles, turn the power back off. Make sure that the fan blades are tightened down and that none of them are bent. Any such thing can cause the whole motor to become unbalanced and vibrate very rapidly, degrading the housing through metal fatigue. And then you’re going to have a big problem on your hands.

Oil the fan if necessary or tighten any bets. Replace bent blades and tighten up loose ones. By spending just a few minutes you can make sure that your fan will last for many years to come.

All of these tips will help extend the life of your Air Conditioning Unit, but when there is a problem, it is best to call a professional service company to perform the repairs or replacements: