As the weather starts to chill down, it’s time to think about prepping your furnace for the upcoming winter season. There are various things you’ll want to do yourself and some things you’ll want to have a professional do for you. We’re going to go over these maintenance tasks to help ensure your furnace gets the care it needs to do its job effectively.
Schedule Professional Maintenance Service
By far, the most crucial thing you’ll want to do is schedule professional tune-up service with an HVAC company. This service will include things like lubricating moving parts and calibrating your thermostat. Maintenance service is imperative not only to ensure that your system is running efficiently but also to keep the warranty coverage on your furnace active. The best part is that your HVAC technician will be able to alert you if there are any potential problems in your system so you can get them fixed in a timely fashion.
Replace Your HVAC Filter
Another important part of your maintenance checklist needs to be to replace your HVAC filter. Ideally, you’ll want to ensure that you’re replacing your filter every two to three months. Make sure you have a spare filter on hand so you don’t have to delay the replacement process when necessary. As your family spends more time indoors during the winter months, you may want to consider investing in a higher-quality filter to trap more airborne particles.
Check Your Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
All furnaces that burn propane, heating oil, and natural gas, produce exhaust fumes due to their combustion process. These fumes need to be safely vented to the outdoors, as they can be extremely dangerous when left in a confined space. Unfortunately, if your system does experience an issue where these fumes start to build up inside, it’s necessary to have your detectors in place to let you know. Now is the perfect time to put new batteries in all your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Make sure you test each one to ensure that it’s functioning correctly.
Inspect Your Air Vents
For your furnace to run efficiently, all your air vents need to be open and free from obstructions. When you test-run your heating system to ensure it’s working appropriately, it’s the perfect time to check all your air vents. Make sure that you’re getting adequate hot air out of each vent. You want to ensure the vent is in the open position and it doesn’t have any obstructions within a three-foot radius.
Seal New Air Leaks
As your home shifts in the ground, it’s very common for new air leaks to develop on your exterior walls. You’ll notice these around your doors, windows, light switches, and even receptacles. You’ll want to feel around these areas to see if you notice a difference in temperature. If you identify any new air leaks, it’s best to seal them up. You can use caulking, weatherstripping, or foam inserts to do the job successfully.
Chimney Sweeping Service
Fall is the perfect time of year to have a professional come in and sweep out your chimney. This will remove any soot and stuck-on debris that could otherwise restrict the airflow inside your chimney. Furthermore, this professional should inspect your entire chimney to ensure there are no issues with its functionality.
Program Your Thermostat
As part of your maintenance checklist, you’ll want to ensure that you switch your thermostat to heating mode. It’s a good idea to have a programmable or smart thermostat that allows you to program in temperature settings. These are effective for helping you be more efficient with your energy usage. With a smart thermostat, you can even control your thermostat from your smartphone for your convenience.
Double-Check Your Fire Extinguisher
An important safety mechanism to ensure you’re prepared in the event that something goes majorly awry with your furnace is a fire extinguisher. This should be mounted in a position that’s somewhat close to your furnace, where you’re going to be able to access it in the event of a furnace fire. Make sure that it has a class C rating and that the extinguisher itself is not expired.
Expert Heating Maintenance Service
Montgomery Industrial Services offers expert heating maintenance service to Hanover, ON and the surrounding areas. We can also assist with all your heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, fireplace, indoor air quality, industrial, and smart thermostat needs. Simply give us a call today to schedule a service consultation.
