If you’re like many of the homeowners throughout the areas we serve, you are using a gas-powered furnace to heat your home and keep your family warm. A furnace is a fantastic choice–it’s powerful and cost-effective. Today’s furnaces have a much higher minimum efficiency rating than even just 10 years ago, with the highest AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) rating for a gas furnace being 98%!
Trust us when we say that a gas furnace is a very efficient and effective heater. But you also want to rely on safety, right? And gas furnaces aren’t inherently unsafe, but if you don’t maintain yours properly, it can become dangerous.
Though more common in aging furnaces (10-15 years old), the most common culprit of “danger” in a gas furnace is a damaged heat exchanger. That said, even if you don’t have a heat exchanger problem, it’s probably a good idea to start looking at replacement options if your furnace has reached this age–it will start to suffer from other wear and tear.
In the meantime, no matter how old your furnace is, you should know what’s so important about the heat exchanger, and why a damaged one is bad news. Read on!
Winter may seem like it’s lasting exceptionally longer than usual, but soon enough temperatures will warm and we’ll be ready to turn to our air conditioners for reliable service.
Have you heard that phrase before—struggle bus? It’s a pop culture term describing when a sentient being is… well… struggling to complete a task or responsibility.
Wintertime is the time of year when our heating systems are truly put to the test. Because of the strain they go through this time of year versus in milder weather, it tends to be when problems arise. Since you need your system to function at its best this time of year, this is obviously not ideal. It pays to ensure you schedule routine maintenance each year, and to keep a watch for signs of trouble with your heater.
If you’ve followed our blog from the beginning, you’ve likely seen it in writing many times that we recommend you change your HVAC air filter every 1-3 months. We aren’t just throwing this out as a suggestion—we are offering this advice as a way for you to get the most effective and efficient use from your heater (and air conditioner) as possible.
Temperatures in our area are certainly still cold enough for the daily use of our heating systems. But soon enough, spring will be here and as we all know, that warmer weather can come in fast and hard, leaving us quickly switching from using our heating systems every day to using our cooling systems instead.
Winter is, naturally, the worst time you can run into a problem with your heating system. Of course, it’s also the time when heating problems are most likely to happen, thanks to the added strain that these systems are put through. If you can detect problems with your heater early enough though, you can have