Here’s What to Expect During Routine Furnace Maintenance

Scheduling routine furnace maintenance is one of the most important things to ensure a comfortable home. Routine furnace maintenance ensures seamless performance by helping one identify signs that your furnace needs repair or any worn-out parts need to be replaced. Most importantly, furnace maintenance boosts energy efficiency, which in turn helps reduce monthly energy bills. And lest we forget, another primary benefit of regular furnace maintenance is that it extends the lifespan of the heating system. So, if you haven’t been scheduling routine maintenance of your furnace, we suggest you do that right away. But before you do, here’s a list of things you can expect during furnace maintenance.

Furnace Inspection

The heating expert will conduct a comprehensive furnace inspection that includes a point-by-point visual inspection of the furnace and all the ancillary equipment. At the end of the inspection, they will share a list of inspected parts and suggested actions. For instance, the expert may suggest a few replacements or repairs.

Furnace Cleaning

Furnaces tend to get dirty, so they need to be cleaned thoroughly. Considering the fact that your furnace was run the entire winter and then sat idle during the next few months, chances are that a lot of dust, dirt, and grease would have settled on your furnace. Therefore, the furnace maintenance expert will deep clean your furnace, wherein they will first vacuum the stove and then use specialized cleaners to clean up the stubborn grease and grime.

Furnace Tune-up

A furnace tune-up includes checking all fittings to ensure proper functioning. If there’s excessive vibration in the fittings or the moving parts, the expert will tighten them to eliminate the vibrations. For instance, if the belt is loose, the expert will tighten it. And in case the belt is worn out, it would need replacement. Besides mechanical parts, the expert will check the electrical connections to ensure they all work fine.

Furnace Lubrication

Just like your car’s moving parts need regular lubrication, your furnace parts also need lubrication. Furnace lubrication helps reduce friction, thereby allowing seamless movement. Furnace lubrication also helps minimize wear and tear and this, in turn, helps avoid furnace repairs and costly furnace part replacement. While the expert will lubricate the parts during the maintenance, you can also do it later on your own.

Descaling of Heat Exchanger

Heat exchangers are prone to scaling and fouling, which leads to hard water and chemical and solid deposits. This, in turn, leads to a loss of efficiency and also causes irreversible damage in the long run. While there’s nothing much you can do to prevent scaling and fouling in heat exchangers, you should get your heat exchanger serviced every year. This will help you eliminate the excess sediment buildup on your heat exchanger and avoid costly heater repair in Riverside in the future.

Carbon Monoxide Check

You may not know this, but your faulty gas and oil-burning furnace can be a silent killer. When the furnace kicks on during the winter, it produces a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas (carbon monoxide) as a by-product. The heat exchanger prevents the gas from entering the indoor air circulating within our homes. But if there’s a crack in the heat exchanger, it can lead to a carbon monoxide leak which in turn can be harmful to you and your family. If you want to avoid such issues, schedule regular furnace maintenance wherein a technician will inspect your heat exchangers for cracks and test carbon monoxide levels.

Checking of Gas Lines For Leaks

Besides heat exchangers, your gas supply line, too, might develop leaks. These gas leaks not just lead to inadequate heating issues but also lead to a substantial rise in energy bills. And in some instances, a gas leak might even lead to safety issues. The technician will perform a simple gas pressure check during the furnace maintenance process to ensure that everything’s running fine and there are no leaks in the gas supply line.

Thermostat Calibration

One of the reasons furnace issues occur is that the thermostat needs to be calibrated properly. Unfortunately, most people ignore thermostat calibration unless something drastically goes wrong with their heating and air conditioning systems. But if you want to stay comfortable and save money on your energy bills, it’s important to calibrate your thermostat regularly. During the furnace maintenance process, heating maintenance will calibrate your thermostat to ensure it is set to the correct readings.

If you want your home to be comfortable, you must get your furnace serviced every year. Keeping your furnace in good working condition will improve the efficiency of your heating system and help you save on your energy bills. If you are looking for a heating expert for furnace maintenance, heater replacement, or heating installation in Temecula, Riverside, and nearby areas, get in touch with us at Airight Cooling Heating & Plumbing Inc. Call us at 866-247-2420 or send us an email at [email protected].