It’s SO easy to overlook your home’s HVAC maintenance...
We get it. We really do. After all, we’re homeowners too, and we juggle work, family life, busy schedules, a new school year starting, the whole nine yards.
But we’re also HVAC experts here in the northern Virginia area, and we know how crucial it is to make time for servicing and maintaining your oil, gas, or propane system, both for your comfort and your safety. In fact, the majority of the emergency calls we receive during the winter are due to a lack of maintenance. These are problems, and expenses, that really could have been avoided by a simple check from one of our friendly technicians.
It’s a little like changing the oil in your car instead of waiting until it’s broken down on the side of the road... Like good ole Ben Franklin said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
So, what do we recommend?
Perform a Combustion Analysis
Your furnace or boiler is a combustion machine, and it creates and emits gases. If you want, we can get very, very technical, but this article does that really well (check it out, if you’re into science).
What you need to know for our purposes here is that a “combustion analysis” checks for two things:
- The safety of your system
- The efficiency of your system
Safety
Especially if you have a natural gas or propane system, a routine check for levels of CO (carbon monoxide) is important, as well as “draft verification.” In short, we want to be sure your system is breathing well, venting well, and that the gas pressure levels are within the correct range for your specific equipment.
Efficiency
Adjusting the efficiency of your system is like tuning an instrument to exactly the right tone and pitch. Our high-tech, digital combustion analyzers will help us dial in your mixture of air, gas, and flu temps, maximizing the efficiency and comfort of your HVAC system.
How Else Can You Maintain Your Heating System?
Again, your comfort and safety are our two primary concerns. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind:
- Invest in a CO detector, if you haven’t already. Many on the market today sense a variety of gases, making them a really crucial addition to your home’s safety precautions.
- Change your filters routinely! We see the impact of this oversight in the summer too with air conditioning - a simple clogged filter can bring your HVAC system to a halt.
- Routine cleaning! We recommend hiring a professional HVAC technician to come to your home and inspect, clean, and test your heating system as a whole. The right tools and expertise can drastically increase the lifespan and efficiency of your furnace or boiler.
“Should I Upgrade to a High-Efficiency Furnace or Boiler?” We Hear This a Lot!
Talk to your HVAC professional. Whether or not an upgrade makes sense depends quite a bit on your existing system, its age/condition, and your budget. It’s also important to consider your goals as a whole. Buying a new heating system is a little like buying a new vehicle: it’s an opportunity to really think through your HVAC plan as a whole, both related to heating AND cooling. Don’t just jump in and replace!
Many gas companies also offer special incentives for upgrading. For example, Washington Gas here in Virginia is extending a rebate for investing in high-efficiency furnaces (take a look here for more details).
In the meantime, our team at L.R. Bennett, Inc. invites all of your questions. We’re ready to help, and to make the testing, maintenance, and upgrade process simple.
