If you own your home, you’ve likely heard for years that it’s essential to have your furnace checked before the cold weather season. However, if yours is like most families, you don’t have a lot of extra money for furnace tune-ups and repairs. Although it may seem frugal to save money by skipping the furnace tune-up, having your furnace checked annually can save you money in the long run.
What does a furnace tune-up include?
When the technician visits your home for a tune-up, he or she will thoroughly inspect and clean your heating system, lubricate the moving parts, and check the power source. He or she will also look for any leaks that could send dangerous combustion gases into your living space instead of being vented to the exterior of your home. The entire process rarely takes more than an hour to 90 minutes.
Why furnace tune-ups are necessary
There are several excellent reasons to make sure that you schedule your furnace service call every year. Just a few of these include the following.
1. Extending the lifespan of your heating system.
One of the chief reasons to have your furnace checked each year is to make sure that the system lasts as long as possible. A dirty heating system, clogged with dust, pet hair, and other debris, is the leading cause of premature furnace failure. Keeping your system clean will likely extend the life of your system.
2. Catching any repair issues early.
Another good reason for getting that furnace service call every fall is to make sure that your heating system serves you well throughout the cold-weather season. No one wants to wake up on a January night in a home without heat. By having your furnace inspected before you start running it regularly, we can likely catch any potential problem and fix it before it causes your system to fail. What’s more, fixing a problem early generally translates into lower repair bills. You might even save your furnace from having to be replaced.
3. Make sure that your furnace is properly vented.
A heating system with venting issues or holes or cracks in the venting pipe can cause dangerous carbon monoxide and other combustion gasses to stay in your house where they can compromise your family’s health or even be deadly. Having these vents checked annually can give you the peace of mind that comes with knowing your heating system is safe.
4. Keeping your energy bills in check.
A dirty heating system is inefficient and uses more energy than necessary. It only makes sense. It takes more effort/energy to push air through all of that dirt and debris. By having your system cleaned well each year, you’ll pay less for your natural gas or electricity.
5. Being kind to the planet.
An efficient furnace isn’t just more expensive; it uses more energy than necessary and increases your family’s carbon footprint. If your family is trying to be ecologically responsible, getting your furnace checked and cleaned annually makes sense.
To learn more about keeping your southwestern Illinois heating system running smoothly, visit our maintenance page or call us at (618) 224-7344. We’ve been helping Mascoutah Illinois homeowners like you with their heating and cooling needs for more than a decade.
