Most people tend to ignore their home heating furnaces and neglect the regular maintenance that these appliances need to keep running efficiently. Either they forget about having an annual furnace tune-up done, or they just let it slide. It is true that some of the steps in a furnace checkup can be done by anybody, but there are others that need to be done by a licensed technician who has both the training and the necessary equipment at his disposal.
If your furnace is serviced each heating season by a licensed technician, it will run at maximum efficiency. This means that fuel will not be wasted and your energy bills will be as low as possible. Just as an auto needs to be serviced at certain intervals, your furnace needs to be looked at and serviced as well. But since few people think about or see their furnace, except on rare occasions, a tune up is often overlooked.
One part of a furnace tune up is to check the air filter. In fact this should be done more than once a year, and it is an easy task to determine if the filter is dirty in order to clean or replace it.
Some tasks that are a bit more difficult and beyond the ken of most individuals are to lubricate the blower motor and to check the combustion of the furnace. To do the latter takes a combustion analyzer which can determine if the fuel is being burned efficiently and if any carbon monoxide is present.
A licensed technician will also be measuring gas pressure when he does a maintenance check on your furnace. If gas pressure is not correct then the furnace will not be burning fuel efficiently which will lead to waste and higher cost.
As can be easily surmised from the above discussions, most normal homeowners do not have the wherewithal to properly perform required maintenance checks on their home furnaces by themselves. Most heating companies offer specials on these tune ups, and they normally can be had for about $100 or less, so they are not outrageous.
If your furnace is serviced each heating season by a licensed technician, it will run at maximum efficiency. This means that fuel will not be wasted and your energy bills will be as low as possible. Just as an auto needs to be serviced at certain intervals, your furnace needs to be looked at and serviced as well. But since few people think about or see their furnace, except on rare occasions, a tune up is often overlooked.
One part of a furnace tune up is to check the air filter. In fact this should be done more than once a year, and it is an easy task to determine if the filter is dirty in order to clean or replace it.
Some tasks that are a bit more difficult and beyond the ken of most individuals are to lubricate the blower motor and to check the combustion of the furnace. To do the latter takes a combustion analyzer which can determine if the fuel is being burned efficiently and if any carbon monoxide is present.
A licensed technician will also be measuring gas pressure when he does a maintenance check on your furnace. If gas pressure is not correct then the furnace will not be burning fuel efficiently which will lead to waste and higher cost.
As can be easily surmised from the above discussions, most normal homeowners do not have the wherewithal to properly perform required maintenance checks on their home furnaces by themselves. Most heating companies offer specials on these tune ups, and they normally can be had for about $100 or less, so they are not outrageous.
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Check out furnace repair Lafayette CO for lots of information about home heating in general and how to cut costs on untilty bills in the home in particular.
