It’s officially fall and that means you’ll soon be transitioning to using your furnace if you haven’t done so already. Before you switch it on for the first time, there are some things you should do.
DIY maintenance along with scheduling a furnace tune-up with our team will make sure your furnace operates at peak performance this fall and winter. Let’s go over 5 essential things you should do before the cold weather hits.
1. Change the Air Filter
If changing your furnace’s air filter on a regular basis isn’t already on your list of routine home maintenance tasks, it should be! Contrary to popular belief, this filter has little to do with your home’s indoor air. Its main purpose is to keep your furnace’s interior parts free of dust, dirt, and debris.
The standard recommendation is to change the air filter every 1-3 months when the system is in use. Depending on factors such as if you have pets, how many people live in your home, and whether anyone in your household suffers from allergies or respiratory illnesses, you should change it closer to the one-month mark.
2. Clear the Area
Just like the filter needs unobstructed airflow, so does the area around your furnace. If summer equipment is cluttering the area around your furnace, now’s the time to move it out of the way. Bicycles, lawn chairs, tiki torches, kayaks–whatever items you used for an adventurous summer shouldn’t be within the 3-foot perimeter surrounding your furnace. Storing items directly around it will impede airflow, so clear them away.
3. Schedule Maintenance
If you haven’t had furnace maintenance done yet or scheduled an appointment, now’s the ideal time to do so. A furnace tune-up is the opportunity for our technicians to inspect, clean, and adjust any components that are needed in your heating system. This optimizes its performance and lets us catch issues before they either lead to heating system breakdowns or safety hazards.
We can’t stress enough the importance of annual furnace maintenance. With our long, cold winters, maintenance is key to ensuring that your system holds up through the long heating season. It’s also the best way to prevent unexpected repairs or breakdowns in service.
4. Get Repairs Done
Speaking of furnace repair, during a maintenance visit, we might’ve made recommendations for those. Whether it’s from us or any reputable HVAC contractor, getting recommended repairs done promptly is imperative. This prevents small problems from becoming larger and costlier problems that could result in a full-blown breakdown if it’s allowed to continue.
5. Clean the Burners
If you own a gas furnace, checking the burners is an essential maintenance tip we’ll perform during a tune-up, but it’s also something you can check yourself. Give them a quick cleaning, making sure the furnace and gas valves are powered off. You can simply wipe them down with a clean cloth. This will increase your furnace’s efficiency and prevent a buildup of dirt and grease that can be a safety issue.
We know how important it is that our heating systems work when the cold weather arrives. That is why our heating contractors provide top-notch furnace services.
Contact Peatson’s Heating and Air Conditioning Ltd. for reliable furnace services in Vaughan, ON.