Annual Furnace Tune Up Means Years of Worry-Free Service

By Roger Livingstone


A home heating furnace is an expensive appliance, but once that investment has been made you can expect the unit to last for many years and give essentially worry free service. There is one catch to that statement, however. You need to remember to have some preventative maintenance done on your furnace every heating system.

This is typically called a furnace tune up or checkup, and most heating contractors have special offers each heating season. It is not unusual to be able to have a furnace tune up done for about $100 or even less.

You might wonder if you could save the expense of a service call and do what is necessary yourself. Several of the typical steps in a furnace tune up can in fact be done by the average homeowner. One of these tasks is checking the air filter and cleaning it or replacing it with a new one if it is dirty. You can also vacuum around the furnace itself to prevent dust and dirt from building up.

Several other tasks are more complicated in terms of needing specialized training and equipment. One of these is checking the combustion of the gas that burns in the heat exchanger. This job requires a combustion analyzer, and in addition, a skilled technician needs to analyze any readings that are not proper and must know how to fix the problem.

Another example of a job that needs special expertise is checking the gas pressure that is being delivered to the burners. Wasted fuel and wasted money will be the result if the gas pressure is not set correctly.

The fan belt is another item that needs checking periodically. It needs to be looked at for wear, and it also needs to have the right amount of tension around the blower. The blower motor needs lubrication every so often as well.

As noted, most of these tasks are not within the wherewithal of the average homeowner to perform. Your best bet is to hire a licensed heating technician. Doing so each year will give you peace of mind knowing that your furnace will last for many years and will operate efficiently and safely.




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