Your furnace keeps your home warm and toasty throughout those chilly winter months. Like most things, it needs to be well cared for to function optimally. When your furnace isn’t well maintained, not only could it go caput in the middle of a storm, but it will be less efficient and your indoor air quality can suffer. During a furnace inspection, a contractor will perform several tasks to ensure everything’s in tip-top shape.
And in the long run, these regular tune-ups will save you money and make your furnace last longer.
How Often Should You Get a Professional Furnace Inspection?
It’s recommended by both furnace manufacturers and HVAC experts that you get a contractor to perform a furnace inspection every year. Ideally, it’s best to schedule an appointment in the fall, before the busy season for HVAC contractors arrives in the winter.
What Does a Contractor Do During a Furnace Inspection?
During the appointment, an HVAC pro will typically:
- Look at the system’s controls to check that they are working and functioning safely from the start to the finish of a cycle.
- Add lubricant to all moving parts to avoid motor friction, which causes you to use more electricity.
- Inspect burner combustion, gas pressure, heat exchanger and all gas or oil connections to make sure they’re in proper and safe working order.
- Make sure your thermostat setting is scheduled to warm your home while you’re there and is in energy-saving mode when you’re gone.
- Examine the condensate drain to ensure it’s not clogged, which can impact the humidity levels in your home and cause water damage.
- Measure the motors’ current and voltage levels and tighten up the electrical connections.
What You Can Do to Help
In between maintenance appointments you should change or clean the filter in your furnace. This can help reduce your energy costs and extend the life of your system.
For more expert advice about an annual furnace inspection, and other topics related to home comfort, please feel free to contact us at Arpi’s Industries anytime. We’ve been proudly serving the Calgary area for more than 50 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about UV lights and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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