Don’t Let the Furnace Breakdown in Your Springboro Area Home
A wise man once said “To everything there is a season.”
As such, there’s also “a time for every purpose under heaven.”
The season is furnace season now here in Ohio, holiday season; it’s wintertime.
The purpose of this blog is keeping our furnaces working throughout these cold months and make sure it operates to its fullest capacity, most efficiently, to save time and money.
No one wants to wake up to a cold home, or come home to a broken down furnace that won’t fire back up.
As such, our certified HVAC technicians here at Springboro Heating & Cooling put together the a list of six quick and easy steps you can take to avoid the risk of having to make emergency HVAC repairs:
Fire Up That Furnace Early In The Fall
With our home heating systems having been off since the end of the last winter, one of the best ways to get an idea of whether your home heating system is going to run well this winter and beyond is to start using it early in the fall, or as early as possible — before the weather is too cold and most local HVAC companies are busy. Early usage can help demonstrate your heater’s performance early on to ensure everything is in prime working order. Doing this also permits you to potentially identify glitches in the system or even worse problems before it’s too late and you can’t risk losing heat. No one wants to have to find a local emergency furnace repair service during the night, but if you happen to, we can assist you with that as well.
Check & Replace Air Filters As Needed
We know. We know. We are giving this recommendation all the time. However, we keep recommending it for a pretty good reason: Checking and changing HVAC system air filters often (or cleaning it often for those who have a reusable filter) is a non-negotiable for those who want to preserve the life of their system and avoid breakdowns while keeping energy bills lower. How often should you check your air filters? If your furnace has the basic fiberglass air filter, you need to replace it once a month during the winter.
Check Thermostat Batteries & Change As Needed
We get phone calls from homeowners from time to time who are upset because their home’s heat has gone out. When we get to their home to make the repair and get to the root of the problem, we find out the solution is a very simple one: Sometimes, a homeowner’s heat will go out because they failed to check their thermostat’s battery and it went bad. If they had only considered this as the problem, they could have fixed it themselves (or never had the problem in the first place) if they had only checked their thermostat’s battery. We urge you not to be that homeowner. Consider the age of your thermostat’s batteries. Typically, a thermostat’s battery will last for three or four years; this is on average. If you realize your battery is old, or if you can’t even remember the last time you actually replaced it, you should allow this serve as a reminder. Replace your thermostat’s batteries before they go bad.
Understanding Your Thermostat’s Settings
Along those same lines, there are times homeowners call us upset because their furnace won’t stop blowing air. More importantly, it’s blowing air that isn’t always warm or heated.
We find often from calls like these, there isn’t anything wrong at all per se, outside operator error. This error is in not knowing fully the thermostat’s different settings. Because of this, it’s important to remember the difference between the settings: “Auto” and “On.”
- Using the “On” Setting, the furnace’s fan will constantly run, and remain on, even if the furnace is not producing heat. When the fan is “ON” it will continue to blow air through your vents even when the furnace is off.
- Using the “Auto” Setting, the furnace’s fan will only run while the furnace is generating heat for the home. When the furnace stops generating heat, the fan “automatically” shuts off.
Keep Open All Vents and Registers
Despite the widespread belief that closing off vents or registers in unused portions of the home will save you money, this is not a cost-effective strategy.The misconception is fairly common, too: Many homeowners believe this saves them money and energy. The reason this is not a good idea is because it makes your HVAC system perform far less efficiently and can lead to other problems that aren’t good for your furnace and AC.
Preventative Maintenance Is Essential!!!
We emphasize this so often, you might be tired of hearing it. For some, it might go in one ear and out the other. Nevertheless, we will state once again that consistent preventative maintenance is a smart choice that doesn’t cost a great deal and yet pays for itself quickly, and tenfold. If you have not done so already, we recommend you give us a call to set up your annual visit as soon as possible to enable you to reap the rewards of preventative maintenance.
Our friendly, highly-skilled expert technicians are more than happy to come to your home and tune up your furnace, run through a whole list of tasks, and diagnose any minor glitches that could snowball into major problems during the winter. For those homeowners who have newer HVAC systems, many of you understand that the manufacturers of these newer furnaces, heat pumps and AC systems all require you to have this done anyway to keep their warranties active.
When it comes to something as complex as a furnace or any HVAC system, it pays off in dividends, in the end, to be proactive rather than reactive. It’s like getting the oil changed in your car. You should consider how much it would cost to replace this system.
Call Springboro Heating & Cooling today at 937-600-6834, or schedule an appointment now by clicking here!
We truly hope to hear from you, and wish you the safest and most comfortable holiday season possible.
Many blessings!
