Ask any homeowner in the Greater Indianapolis area and they’ll tell you – a furnace breakdown is one big surprise they definitely want to avoid this season! While it’s impossible to completely protect your home from the risk of a sudden heating outage when it’s extremely cold outside, there are things you can do to minimize the likelihood that a lack of heat will hit your home. Thiele Heating & Air Conditioning shares tips to keep the furnace working throughout the winter season, keeping you and your loved ones safe and warm until spring.
Schedule a Furnace Maintenance Tune-Up
A professional maintenance tune-up for your furnace will go a long way to keep the furnace working throughout the winter season. This professional service is recommended each year. This is to protect your system’s components from wear and tear damage. Regular maintenance can also improve the furnace’s performance and energy efficiency.
Expert care and inspection during a furnace tune-up are incredibly helpful when it comes to preventing system breakdowns. Your HVAC technician will be able to spot any performance flaws in the system that could snowball into a breakdown issue later on in the season. Your technician will let you know if you need a furnace repair and let you know how much it will cost. Most things your technician will find when tuning up your HVAC system will most likely be minor. But making these heating system repairs now instead of later limits the damage to your heating system, minimizing the expense and extent of repairs, and lowering your risk of a furnace breakdown.
Staying on top of routine maintenance is a must. In fact, it’s a great idea to have your furnace and air conditioner tuned up every year. Schedule your furnace system inspection in the fall and your ac unit inspection in the spring.
Change the Filter
A good way to fast-track your furnace for a major breakdown is to skip filter changes and allow the system to run with a dirty filter throughout the season. Dust and debris make their way to the air ducts where they are blown towards the furnace. The air filter catches these irritants and removes them from the circulating air. Once a furnace air filter fills with particles, it essentially becomes a barrier that prevents air from freely moving through the unit as well as your home. Your furnace needs extra electricity as it overworks to heat your home under these conditions. This places more stress on your heating system components in addition to driving up electricity bills. Since the filter can no longer trap particles, more dust and dirt will settle on components, stressing them and causing damage.
To keep your furnace working this winter, make sure you change its filter on a regular basis. Filters should be replaced every one month to one year, depending on the filter in use. Even if you typically go a few months between filter changes, it’s best to check the filter at least once each month during the winter. With your heating system running more frequently due to the cold outdoor temperatures. It’s easier for the filter to clog at a faster rate than it does during the fall. With eyes on your filter each month, you can easily assess when it’s due for a change and limit stress to your system to keep your heating system working throughout the winter.
Don’t Wait to Replace
Playing chicken when it comes to furnace replacement is a good way to find yourself suddenly without heat during extremely cold weather. If you want to keep the furnace working in your home all season long, don’t take chances and wait to replace a failing heating system! Be proactive and schedule furnace replacement before your existing system suffers a complete failure so your household isn’t left without a source of heat when it’s coldest outside.
Is your furnace in need of replacement? Here are some clues that it’s time to install a new unit:
- Your current furnace is 15 years old or older. The average service life of a gas furnace is 15 to 20 years.
- The furnace’s repair needs have increased over the past season or two. Furnaces suffer more breakdowns and need more repairs in their final two years of service.
- Your energy bills are higher than normal, but there’s no explanation. Look for sudden increases in energy use that cannot be traced often point back to a failing furnace.
Call Thiele to Keep Furnace Working
Thiele Heating & Air Conditioning is here to help homeowners in the Greater Indianapolis area keep their furnaces working throughout the winter months. Count on our extremely knowledgeable team for expert furnace maintenance or for a service call when your HVAC system has stopped working. For the direst cases, we can help you pick and install a new furnace for your home. Contact us today to schedule service or request an installation quote.