Do you remember when you bought your car, you had to take it for a maintenance service just after six or twelve months? You then likely had to do the same thing at the same intervals. During those times, a technician inspected your vehicle’s climate control system and replaced its filter.
You strictly followed those schedules to ensure your car can last as long as possible. So, if you can do that for your ride that you may be using for only a couple hours a day, you should do the same for your furnace.
Regular furnace maintenance is worth it since it can help prolong the life of your system, which you likely run for a third, if not more, of the day.
In this guide, we’ll discuss what exactly makes furnace tune-ups crucial. So, read on to discover how scheduling one yearly can benefit you, your family, and your home.
Maintain Optimal IAQ
During the last heating season, your furnace worked hard for three to four months to warm the air in your home. Throughout that period, it repeatedly filtered, heated, and circulated air throughout your house.
So, after the heating season, your system’s vital parts have likely accumulated lots of dust, dirt, and grime. It then sat dormant for several months, collecting even more.
If you use your system without cleaning it first, the air that passes through it, including the HVAC vents, can disturb those contaminants. They can then mix with your indoor air, reducing its quality.
Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) can have adverse health effects, including lung diseases. It can also trigger allergies and asthma and cause headaches, fatigue, and dizziness. Moreover, it can aggravate existing health conditions and worsen their symptoms.
Fortunately, an HVAC maintenance service plan includes cleaning your entire system. It also covers the following tasks:
- A multi-point inspection, including the heat exchanger
- Testing the furnace’s combustion or heating efficiency
- Assessing the system for possible gas leaks
- Tightening electrical connections
- Lubricating parts
- Calibrating the thermostat
You can also rely on the HVAC technician to replace your furnace filters. Since you can and must do this task between your AC and heating tune-up schedules, you can ask the tech to teach you how.
Ensure Your Furnace Is Safe to Use
If you have a gas furnace, its burners may become clogged with filth. In this case, they’ll be unable to combust the fuel source completely. You don’t want this because incomplete combustion generates dangerous gases.
One such harmful gas is carbon monoxide, which, when inhaled, can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. It’s even more dangerous and can be deadly at higher doses.
Your furnace can leak those gases into your Navarre home if it has a cracked heat exchanger. This component is deep within your system, behind an interior panel. So, the only way to check it is by removing some parts of your furnace.
Since it’s a complex job, it’s best left in the hands of a heating and cooling maintenance expert. The good news is that, as mentioned above, it’s part of a comprehensive HVAC tune-up program.
Prevent Dangerous Gas Leaks
Furnace maintenance can also help prevent natural gas leaks, which you should consider as HVAC emergencies.
Leaks can happen if the pipe or valve that supplies gas to your system develops punctures or corrosion. Such problems can result from poor installation and lack of maintenance and cleaning.
Natural gas leaks are dangerous because breathing in the gas can cause asphyxiation. It reduces the oxygen supply in the air, forcing you to inhale less O2, the life-supporting gas.
A high concentration of natural gas in an enclosed space can also cause an explosion. This can occur if it comes into contact with a spark or a flame.
HVAC maintenance can help minimize the risks of gas leaks since it includes gas pipe and valve assessments. During the tune-up, the technician will inspect these parts and look for signs that indicate a leak may occur soon. Then, if they find any, they’ll get your permission to seal or replace the worn or damaged pipe and valve.
Heat Your Home Efficiently
Dirty burners don’t just generate dangerous gases; at the very least, they waste gas.
When your burners are filthy, they can’t create flames that burn evenly and are of the right height. This reduces their heating efficiency, forcing the furnace to work harder and burn more gas. This is a waste of resources that also drives your utility bills.
If you have an electric furnace, dust and dirt build-up can also affect its heating element. This accumulation acts like insulation, preventing the heating coils from warming the air efficiently. This also leads to an unnecessary increase in energy consumption.
Having your furnace undergo professional maintenance once a year can help keep such problems at bay.
Prevent Costly and Premature Furnace Repair
Dirt and dust build-up, especially on air filters, causes many furnace problems, including busted heat exchangers.
For example, a clogged filter restricts the airflow into the furnace. This triggers the system to work harder, causing the heat exchanger or heating element to overheat. This makes it expand and contract (when it cools down) more than usual.
All that expansion and contraction can make the exchanger or heating element crack.
Overheating can also affect your furnace’s blower motor. If this happens, it can shut down completely, leaving your home without heat.
Those issues are among the most expensive to repair since they often require replacing the damaged part. That’s a good enough reason to prevent them, which you can do with regular furnace tune-ups.
Furnace Maintenance Is a Worthy Investment
From boosting IAQ to preventing gas leaks and making your system last longer, these are just some of the benefits of furnace maintenance. However, they should be enough to make you realize that regular HVAC tune-ups are worth your money.
So, if you’re ready to invest in your HVAC system, let our highly experienced technicians here at All Seasons Service Network help. For over five decades, customers in Navarre, Pensacola, and surrounding areas have relied on our expertise.
Connect with us now to schedule your service and get your free furnace estimate with All Seasons Service Network!