Regardless of the age of your heater, you want it to last for as long as possible. Furnaces in Columbus, Georgia, are expensive. The more you maintain your heater, the longer it will last. Here are eight ways to ensure that your furnace stays in pristine condition:
1. Call For Seasonal Furnace Maintenance
If you do just one thing to let your furnace know that you care, give it a proper tune-up every fall. Regular preventive maintenance is almost always the number one determinant of how long a furnace will last. A good HVAC maintenance technician will thoroughly inspect and clean your heater from top to bottom. A clean furnace will always run more efficiently than a dirty one, and that saves you money. A clean furnace will also improve your indoor air quality and keep your home healthier.
2. Don’t Wait If You Need Furnace Repair
During maintenance, your service technician can identify potential furnace repair issues. It’s best to schedule heater repair immediately. Whether it’s a bad belt or a clogged condensate line, you don’t want to damage other parts of the system. If you wait, the situation will get worse and your heater will be more likely to die an early death.
3. Keep Air Filters Clean Between Heating Maintenance Visits
Filters are your furnace’s first line of defense against dirt, grunge, contaminants and foreign agents. These culprits can invade the system and damage the unit. In most cases, filters should be changed every one to six months. Filters need changing when you can’t see the filter material beneath the grit. They should also be swapped out when you can’t see any light through the dirty buildup.
4. Install a Programmable Thermostat
Furnace lifespan is partially determined by how hard the unit has to work. Many factors make a heater work harder than it should. If you’re away from home every day for nine hours but your heater still runs full throttle, it’s overworking. You’re also paying too much in energy bills. It’s easy to forget to adjust the thermostat before heading out, but a programmable thermostat will do that for you. According to energysaver.gov, lowering the heat even by a few degrees every day reduces your monthly energy costs remarkably.
5. Maintain Set Temperatures
Keep your furnace thermostat on one setting for at least eight hours every day. That minimizes wear and tear on your heating system. Adjusting the thermostat all day will make your heater work harder.
6. Have Ductwork Cleaned and Sealed
American homes typically lose up to a whopping 30 percent of heated and cooled air via ductwork breaches. Grunge and dust accumulate in ducts over time and can create obstructions that make your furnace overwork. Leaky ductwork and airflow obstructions also make energy bills higher. Meanwhile, the grunge in your ductwork blows into your home and pollutes your indoor air.
7. Add Attic Insulation
You can ease the workload on your furnace by insulating your home. Attic insulation makes the most of furnace-generated warmth by keeping it inside where it belongs. The result is that your furnace has a lighter workload and your home stays cozier during the winter months.
8. Run Ceiling Fans Counterclockwise
Ceiling fans rotating in a counterclockwise direction help warm air to better circulate throughout your home. Fans distribute heat to the upper parts of rooms. That helps a house to insulate warmth more effectively so that your heater can take it easier. Combining a ceiling fan with a furnace can reduce winter energy bills by as much as 15 percent.
Well-tended furnaces can live for up to 30 years. Learn how to save more and spend less on heating costs. Visit Climate Control Heating & Air Conditioning in Columbia, Georgia, or call us directly at (706) 405-4796.