Fall 2014 Newsletter
The Importance of Servicing Your Furnace
If you’re like many homeowners, then you’ve started to notice the chill in the air as fall and winter approach. As we all shut down our air conditioners and prepare to stay warm, we wanted to alert our customers to the importance of getting your furnace serviced. Take a look below at some of the benefits of regular tune–ups for your furnace and then call your local heating contractor to set up a visit from their technicians today.
As your furnace operates, it will naturally develop a variety of small problems and issues. These can range from the fan motor belt wearing out to the burner gradually getting dirtier. Without regular service, such issues will likely just get worse and eventually cause more costly repairs. They can also force other parts of your furnace to work harder to compensate for the broken part.
When you get your furnace regularly serviced before the fall and winter, your technician will thoroughly clean and inspect your entire furnace. This allows him or her to find any small problems in the system and alert you to them so you can approve repairs. This has several important potential benefits to your home.
- Reduced repair. Probably the most important potential benefit to regular tune–ups is that it allows you to avoid many types of repairs that result from lack of maintenance.
- Increased efficiency. If your furnace has many small problems with it, then it will have to work harder to heat your home, which reduces its efficiency and leads to higher monthly bills.
- Extended equipment life. Over time, these many small problems that your furnace develops could cause the system to prematurely break down. Regular tune–ups can help extend the life of your furnace so that it can operate as long as possible.
Make sure that you schedule your furnace services today before fall and winter are in full effect. Over the summer, your furnace likely sat dormant, which could have allowed rodents or insects to take up residence inside it as well as letting dust and dirt accumulate on the moving parts.
Why You Should Replace Your Air Filters
Your heating and air conditioning systems are both vital to your home’s comfort throughout the year. Whether you’re looking to stay cool in the summer or if it’s time to heat your home in the winter, you need your AC and heater to work well. One of the most common (and easily avoidable) problems that we see is a clogged air filter. In order to protect the inside parts from large particles like dust and dirt, your HVAC system has an air filter in it, usually located near the return air duct. It needs to be changed regularly or it will clog and restrict the flow of air through the system. This can cause several serious problems for your home and we wanted to let our customers know about them.
Air Conditioning Problems from Clogged Air Filters
Your air conditioning system’s main job is to remove heat from your home and exhaust it outside. In order to do that, it uses a fan to pull in warm air from your home, then passes it over a series of very cold evaporator coils. The fan then pushes the newly–cooled air into your home through the ductwork. If the air filter gets clogged it will restrict the flow of air into the system and cause the following issues:
- Insufficient cooling
- Extra wear and tear
- Inefficient operation
- Reduced comfort
- Ice on the coils
- Strange noises
If you notice any of these issues with your system, the first thing you should do is check your air conditioning system’s air filter. Depending on the type of filter that you have, you may be able to wash it off and put it right back in. But most likely you will have to buy another filter.
Heating Problems from Clogged Air Filters
For heating systems, a clogged air filter can cause big problems—especially for furnaces. A burner in the furnace heats up the heat exchanger and a fan pulls in cool air from your home and passes it over the exchanger. If the filter is clogged it won’t allow enough cool air over the exchanger and it will heat up which could cause it to crack. A cracked heat exchanger can allow carbon monoxide to leak into your home which could be very dangerous.
Make sure that you get your heating and air conditioning systems regularly inspected and maintained by a professional. During regular maintenance visits, they will likely check the filter to make sure that it isn’t clogged or alert you if it is.
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