It’s cold outside this week! It’s probably safe for us to assume that you’re using your heating system on a steady basis, and you’re relying on it to keep you comfortable as well as safe.
But did you have it professionally maintained before the heating season started? If you haven’t, the good news is that it’s not too late. Without maintenance, you can have surprise repair needs that are not only costly, but possibly harmful.
One repair to keep in mind, particularly if you have a gas furnace, is fixing or replacing a damaged heat exchanger. While no gas furnace is inherently dangerous, yours can become so if you ignore this important component.
The last thing any Oregon homeowner wants to face during the fall or winter is a broken down heater. Of course, this is a lot less likely to happen so long as you keep up on your heating maintenance appointments. Maintenance lets our trained professionals comprehensively inspect your entire system for potential problems, make any adjustments needed, and thoroughly clean the whole unit.
So here’s the thing: there might not be anything wrong with your heater. If there is something wrong with your heater, we are definitely the team to call! And to be fair, this is a call we get pretty often. Dry air is an issue for folks running their heating system on a daily, and even hourly, basis.
When you live somewhere that’s consistently chilly as it is here in the Salem area, you need a strong heating system to keep you cozy during the winter. Many homeowners have a furnace in place to get this job done. In fact, most homeowners choose this system type—so we are pretty familiar with them! This means we know all the ins and outs of their service, and what type of repair needs are most common with them as well. Remember, just like any other complex piece of machinery, your furnace will need repairs.
Maybe you are coming back from a First Saturday Park Walk in Eugene or perhaps you’re simply returning from running some errands. Whatever your day looks like, you are going to want to come home to a warm, comfortable house. You have a reliable heater, so you are pretty reassured that your home environment is going to be where you want it to be.
“Going out with a bang”—this phrase is often used to describe something exciting, like the end of the year leading into the New Year, or a quarterback scoring a touchdown at the very last second of a game. What you don’t want it to describe, is your heater.
It may seem strange to talk about furnace maintenance when our heating systems have already gotten their heaviest use for the year over the past several months. And it’s true, the ideal time to schedule this service is in the early Fall, before you need the system the most.
The weather here in our area of the world is fairly consistent. Meaning, it’s fairly consistently cold! Therefore, our heaters pretty much need to be ready to work at a moment’s notice. The best way to ensure that your heater is always ready for whatever you ask of it is to schedule routine annual maintenance for the system—or more often if you’re using a heat pump system.
If the time has come for you to purchase a new furnace, you’re likely tempted to rush to buy the biggest and best you can afford. But we urge you to slow down—just a bit—and consider a few factors first. For instance, did you know that too large of a furnace will be just as detrimental to your comfort and efficiency as a system that’s too small?
If you’re like the majority of homeowners in our area, then a natural gas furnace is your system of choice to warm up your home during a chilly winter. Sure, our winters may be relatively mild compared to Midwest and some East coast residents, but that doesn’t mean the contrast in temperatures doesn’t get to us—we need a fully effective and efficient heater in our homes, right?
