As the summer comes to an end, it’s time to consider what you need to prepare your HVAC system for the winter. It’s easy enough to flip the switch to turn on the heat; however, that doesn’t actually prepare your system to run effectively over the winter. Consider these seven reasons why fall maintenance is critical for your HVAC system.
1. Keep Your Energy Bills Down
Every property owner wants to find ways to keep their energy consumption down over the winter. When temperatures drop, your system has to work harder and longer to keep your home comfortable. The result is a slow degradation of heating efficiency, pushing energy bills ever higher throughout the season. During fall maintenance a technician will clean the system to clear airflow restrictions and will check and tighten mounting hardware and electrical connections, ensuring your system is ready to combat wintertime temperatures.
2. Better Home Comfort
Consistent, even heating is crucial for home comfort this winter. If you have a central air handling HVAC system, the heat is distributed by the system creating positive air pressure at the supply vents and negative air pressure at the return vents. When the system can’t move the appropriate amount of air, the heated air stays near the vents without proper distribution. By ensuring the system is moving the right amount of air, your maintenance technician continues to ensure that your home will heat evenly.
3. Improve Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality isn’t always at the top of the list of what people consider when they think about their HVAC system. However, the air filter removes airborne contaminants, which benefits both your health and your home’s HVAC system. As your technician works on tuning up your system, their work improves how the system circulates the air. The better it circulates your home’s air, the more contaminants the system will capture and remove, and the more it’ll improve your home’s air quality. The result is improved HVAC efficiency and better health.
4. Reduce Risk of Mid-Season Breakdowns
A major source of stress for property owners involves a heating system breakdown during the coldest part of winter. One of the things a technician does during maintenance is conduct a series of tests of the system’s components. They’re looking for subtle signs that indicate the component may not be working optimally. These may be detectable through testing before you notice it in how your system runs. By identifying these smaller problems before the start of the season, you get the opportunity to correct them before they cause the system to break down in the middle of the cooler weather.
5. Protect Factory Warranty
Every new heating system comes with a factory warranty to offer protection against premature breakdowns. HVAC manufacturers understand the important role that maintenance plays in getting the most from their systems. If you read the terms of most HVAC factory warranties, you’ll likely see one that requires you to have the system routinely maintained. When you schedule your fall maintenance every year, you’re ensuring the warranty will remain valid if you ever need it.
6. Extend Service Life
The average gas furnace should have a service life of 15 to 20 years, and heat pumps may serve your home for 10 to 15 years. Those projections are for systems that receive routine maintenance. Investing in an annual system tune-up is an investment in the long-term health of your home’s heating system.
7. Keeps Your Home Safe
It’s easy to forget that heating systems have inherent risks associated with running them. If your home has a gas furnace, there’s the risk of using combustible fuel. There are also the risks associated with toxic exhaust it creates when it burns the fuel. If you’re running an electric heater or a heat pump, there’s the risks associated with the massive electrical draw that both devices have. Part of the testing your maintenance technician does is to ensure that the system is still safe to run. Further, the cleaning, tightening and tuning not only improve efficiency but also improve the system’s safety.
JC Energy Solutions has been the HVAC service provider of choice for property owners around Oak Hills since 2019. Our team provides cooling and heating maintenance, repair and installation together with water heater services and indoor air quality solutions. Call to schedule your fall HVAC maintenance appointment with one of our expert technicians today.
