The better care you take of your furnace, the better results you’ll enjoy, and that includes a longer life expectancy. Proper furnace upkeep involves developing proactive habits and creating an environment conducive to efficacy. During winter, your furnace works harder and takes on extra wear and tear, so it’s important to stay diligent and consistent. With the right routine, you may buy yourself an additional five to seven years before needing to invest in a new heating system.

1. Scheduled Maintenance

Regular professional maintenance is probably the single most beneficial thing you can offer your furnace. During a tune-up, your hired technician will clean the system, inspect its components, and make adjustments. These maintenance visits are relatively inexpensive, yet they’ll provide your household with all of the following benefits:

  • Better heating performance
  • Improved energy efficiency
  • Longer, healthier furnace lifespan
  • Better indoor air quality

The most prudent time for a tune-up is the end of fall, but what’s important is that you schedule one at least once a year.

2. Clean Your Vents

Your home’s air vents have an important role in the heating process. Before warm air is distributed into your rooms, it must first pass through one of these vents. However, if too much dust, dirt, and debris have built up, it can clog up the pathway and put extra stress on your furnace. If you allow this situation to linger, your energy bills will increase, and the heating system’s health will gradually decline.

As long as you clean out these vents every couple of months, the pathways should remain open. Use a screwdriver to remove the protective panels, and use a vacuum extension hose to remove the contaminants.

3. Purchase a Humidifier

During winter, it’s common for the air in your house to become drier. Since it’s easier for oxygen to transfer heat around with moisture present, that dryness makes it feel colder than it otherwise would. As a result, you’ll often feel the need to crank up the thermostat.

By adding a humidifier to your home, you can restore much of that moisture to your indoor air. Just like that, you’ll feel warmer and be able to take some pressure off of your furnace.

4. Ductwork Inspections

Before hot air even reaches your vents, it first must travel through your air ducts. If that ductwork is dirty, clogged, or damaged, it’s going to make life harder on your furnace and shorten its life expectancy. Excessive dust and debris will obstruct the airway, necessitating that your furnace increases its air pressure to push through the clog. If you have damaged or leaky ducts, your heating system will need to work harder to compensate for escaped warmth. These issues will also result in worsened indoor air quality.

Fortunately, you can hire local ductwork professionals to inspect and to clean all your ducts. Plus, they can make repairs if they locate any damage.

5. Search for Leaks

Air leaks are perhaps the most pervasive cause of escaped heat. These leaks, which typically form around the edges of windows and doors, can be practically invisible. Sometimes, you won’t even realize they’re present as they put more and more strain on your furnace.

You can usually locate these openings by slowly moving your hand around windows and doorways, checking for airflow. Once you’ve found them, you can use caulking and weather stripping to seal them up tightly.

6. Install Attic Insulation

Warm air can also escape through your roofing, especially if that roofing is leaky or deteriorated. Heat always rises, so if you don’t have quality insulation, there’s practically nothing stopping it from flowing out of the house. You may not know it’s happening, but your furnace is probably feeling the effects.

There are several types of attic insulation to choose from. If you want the best of the best and don’t mind paying for it, spray foam insulation is a great choice. However, it will need professional installation. Another quality choice is fiberglass insulation; it won’t last as long or be quite as waterproof, but it’s more affordable, and you can install it on your own.

Call the Professionals

We at S.O.S. Heating and Cooling proudly provide top-quality heating and cooling services to Salt Lake City, UT and the surrounding areas. We’re fully licensed, insured, and committed to customer satisfaction. Because we know that equipment sometimes breaks down at inopportune times, we offer 24/7 emergency repair service. We serve residential and commercial customers, and we also provide free estimates and second opinions.

Contact us at S.O.S. Heating and Cooling to schedule an appointment today.