Winters in Peotone, IL, can be downright nasty with brutally cold temperatures, leaving you thankful for a reliable heating system. If you don’t take proper care of your furnace, you may find yourself battling the cold when your system fails. Let’s look at the type of maintenance your heating system needs and the frequency.
Hiring a Professional for Maintenance
Heating maintenance is a household task that requires a professional HVAC technician to ensure safety and offer expertise. Your furnace features dozens of parts and components, each one critical for the proper operation of your system. Without extensive knowledge and training, you could damage parts of the system or even create safety hazards that threaten you, your loved ones, and your belongings.
How Often Should I Schedule Maintenance For My Heating System?
Heating and cooling experts recommend scheduling heating maintenance every year to keep your system running properly. This service is best scheduled in the late summer or early fall before you flip the switch from cooling to heating inside your home.
What Does a Technician Do During Annual Maintenance?
Visual Inspection
Our team typically begins maintenance service by visually inspecting your heating system. We’ll look for signs of damage and excessive wear and tear to the individual parts and components inside your furnace. For example, we will look for signs of corrosion that could cause a part to fail. We will examine the blower motor to ensure it’s clean and moves freely. The blower should also be free of corrosion and damage.
We check the heat exchanger to find holes and cracks. We’ll also examine belts for signs of loosening or cracks that could cause the belt to snap. If any concerns are found during the visual inspection, our technicians will provide you with the necessary information and help you schedule repairs so that you can have your system up to par before winter sets in.
Clean Inside of the Furnace
During the inspection portion of maintenance, our technician may wipe away dust, dirt, and debris that has accumulated inside your heating system over the past year. This cleaning helps your system run more efficiently, resulting in lower heating costs. A clean HVAC system also results in greater safety, lowering the risk of fires. Keeping extra dust and dirt out of the system also leads to better indoor air quality by preventing these contaminants from spreading through the ductwork. With a clean furnace, you’ll find it easier to maintain a healthy indoor air quality level.
Lubricate Moving Parts
Some of the components inside your heating system move during operation. These components may rub against each other or other parts as they work, causing friction. Proper lubrication is necessary for certain parts to reduce the damage that friction can cause and keep them in operational condition. Improperly lubricated parts may wear down or corrode over time, preventing your furnace from giving you the heat you rely on.
Inspect Utility Connections
Our team will inspect the wires and power connections of your unit, ensuring they are securely connected and free from damage. If you have a gas furnace, our team will ensure the gas hookups are tight and sealed to prevent gas leaks. Gas leaks can be highly dangerous, leading to illness, fires, and explosions. We will also check the pilot light on gas furnaces to ensure it’s properly lit and light it for you if needed.
Test Safety Controls
Some heating systems feature safety controls that prevent your system from operating when a malfunction is detected. We will test these controls to ensure they shut down the system when needed. These safety controls are vitally important as they reduce damage to your heating system and prevent safety hazards such as fires that could devastate your home. We can also advise you on having an appropriate number of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home in anticipation of using your HVAC system more frequently.
Assess for Proper Airflow
Once the inspection and tuning of the interior parts of your heating system are complete, our team will turn on your furnace to assess for proper function. One thing we look for is sufficient and even airflow. If your heater powers on but there is no heat coming from the vents, you may have a faulty blower or other mechanical issue. Inadequate hot air or uneven airflow can also be caused by a mechanical issue inside your furnace but may also be attributed to problems within your ductwork. Something simple like a clogged air filter or dirty ductwork may be to blame.
Listen for Odd Sounds
Another thing we pay attention to is the noise your heating system makes. You may hear a slight mechanical sound from your furnace as it operates. Anything loud, banging, or otherwise unusual should be investigated and repaired before running your furnace this winter.
Check for Unusual Odors
During the test run of your heating system, our team checks for strange odors that could indicate a problem inside your system. It is normal to smell a slight hot or burning odor the first time, you fire up your furnace. This smell usually goes away after a few minutes. Any other alarming smells require attention to ensure reliable and safe heating this winter.
Calibrate Thermostat
Finally, your technician will check the thermostat that controls your heating system and ensure it’s properly calibrated. The thermostat should show the accurate temperature of your home and match the temperature that your technician records near the device. If the temperatures don’t match, the thermostat may require calibration. Our team may also check that the device is installed in a good place, away from heat-producing appliances, drafts, or other areas where the temperature may not be representative of the rest of the house.
Benefits of Annual Maintenance
As you can see, annual maintenance offers many benefits for you and your home. You’ll be able to relax comfortably without worrying about your system failing unexpectedly. With maintenance, you can spot many of the warning signs early enough to prevent mid-winter breakdowns. Greater efficiency is also a benefit, helping you keep your heating costs down. You’ll get more life from your furnace when it’s properly cared for and spend less money on replacement units over the course of your homeownership. Finally, a clean system means better indoor air quality and a cleaner home with less dust settling on surfaces.
Schedule Maintenance Today With the Top Professionals in Peotone
Serving our customers since 1979, Kulacz & Sons Heating & Cooling, Inc. has a long history of providing top-tier service for your heating and cooling system as well as your HVAC system as a whole. Aside from providing expert, in-depth maintenance services, we also offer skilled heating repairs and installations and air conditioner services to help you keep your home comfortable all year long. Whether you need a new air conditioner, a furnace tune-up, or ductwork services to keep air moving efficiently, we have you covered.
Contact Kulacz & Sons Heating & Cooling, Inc. today to keep your Peotone home comfortable this winter with professional heating maintenance.
