Maintenance Tips For Your Furnace You Can Do Yourself

Your furnace is an expensive and important piece of equipment in your home that heats your entire house. If not taken care of properly, it can cause a breakdown in your heating system and lead to expensive repairs. Most of the maintenance on your furnace can be done yourself and is fairly simple to do. See below for a few of these maintenance tasks and instructions on how to perform them.

Change Your Furnace Filter

The furnace filter helps prevent dust, dander and other pollutants from getting into your home. The furnace filter is easy to change and should be changed every month to every three months. If you notice a lot of dust buildup in your home immediately after dusting, you may want to check your furnace filter. To change your filter, turn off the furnace and then open the panel for the return air vent. Be sure to pay attention to the arrows showing which way the replacement filter should be inserted (putting it in backwards can disrupt airflow). To check your furnace filter, hold it up to the light. If you can't see daylight through it, it needs to be changed. Replace the old filter with the same type of filter. Once you have the new filter in place, turn your furnace back on.

Keep Clutter Away From Your Furnace

Your furnace needs some space in order to work properly. Be sure to keep the area around your furnace clear of boxes and other items to prevent a problem with airflow (or prevent a fire hazard). Also keep clutter, furniture and other items away from the return vents in your home.

Vacuum Your Furnace

Turn off the furnace and take off the panel to get to the inside of your furnace. Next, take your vacuum (or a shop vacuum) and the hose attachment to get to the smaller spaces inside your furnace. Vacuum out the inside of the furnace to get rid of excess dust and dander that can clog the interior of your furnace system. When finished, replace the panel and turn the furnace back on.

Some maintenance is easy to do, but there are other things that also need to be done such as greasing the bearings, cleaning the flame sensor and inspecting the fan blades. If you aren't comfortable with these maintenance to-do's, contact a furnace repair technician to have this work done for you. Visit a site like http://www.customcomfortinc.com/ for more information.

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