Your furnace will experience a certain amount of wear over the many seasons of its life. And over time, the effects of this wear and tear can accumulate, causing your furnace to lose efficiency, work improperly or break down entirely. Regular preventive maintenance, including a fall furnace tune-up, can keep these troubles at bay, while also ensuring that your heating system works optimally all winter long.
During your fall furnace tune-up visit, your HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) technician should perform several tasks, including:
- Lubricating motors, fans and other moving parts.
- Adjusting and testing burners.
- Cleaning the combustion chamber.
- Testing the thermocouple, which provides temperature sensing for your system, and then changing it, if necessary.
- Testing and adjusting your thermostats.
- Tightening loose belts, internal components and electrical connections.
- Inspecting and repairing the ignition system.
- Testing and repairing the safety controls.
- Checking the fuel lines and electrical power supplies.
- Inspecting the heat exchanger for damage.
- Checking ventilation to ensure adequate removal of any carbon monoxide that builds up.
To give your technician more time to focus on technical issues, you can do simple tasks yourself, such as filter changes every four to six weeks.
You might wonder why a fall furnace tuneup is important. Well, it can provide you with numerous benefits, including:
- Increased system reliability: Adjustment and repair of components and controls will ensure that your heating system works when you need it. There will be less possibility of expensive midwinter breakdowns or worse, a system failure that requires total replacement.
- Better efficiency: A tuneup helps your furnace run efficiently and optimally, making the best use of the fuel or electricity that it consumes to produce heat. Efficient furnaces cost less to operate since they use less fuel to heat your home.
- Improved comfort: A tuneup will help your furnace generate heat more effectively and distribute it more evenly, which will make your indoor living environment consistently warm and comfortable. Furthermore, airborne contaminants will be reduced, making your indoor air cleaner.
- Increased safety: When all of your system’s components, including exhaust venting systems, are working optimally, the possibility of a dangerous carbon monoxide leak is decreased.
With 36 years of experience in the HVAC industry, Roth Heating & Cooling serves the heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical needs of customers in Portland, Bend, Salem, Canby and the surrounding Oregon communities. Contact us today for more information on furnace maintenance or to schedule a fall furnace tuneup that will keep your heating system working hard to keep you warm all winter.
