Why Regular Furnace Cleaning and Maintenance Are a Must

Most homeowners have a strict maintenance schedule they follow to keep their home clean and their landscape maintained, but despite their diligence, they may be forgetting to care for one important thing.

If you have a furnace, it should be a part of your regular maintenance routine. Furnace cleaning is important throughout the year, but it becomes especially important before the winter.

Want to know why furnace cleaning is important? Read on to learn why you should regularly clean your furnace.

Why Furnace Cleaning Is Important

While your furnace works to heat your home, it ends up taking in a lot of troublesome matter. The average furnace is a magnet for dirt, dust, and other particulate matter and debris.

If you don’t keep your furnace clean, you’re letting harmful debris get distributed around your house.

This can cause a variety of health problems. You may find yourself more prone to colds and other viruses and germs because they aren’t being properly cleaned from your air ducts.

This can be especially troublesome for people with asthma, allergies, and breathing disorders.

Particulate matter can easily inflame lungs that are already sensitive to the environment. Enough dust, dirt, or dander could easily trigger an asthma or allergy attack.

An unclean furnace decreases indoor air quality in general, and poor indoor air quality can harm you even if you don’t have allergies or other health problems.

Aside from health problems, neglecting furnace cleaning can affect its performance. If it isn’t properly cleaned, you may find that your furnace doesn’t heat your home evenly or as powerfully as it did in the past.

When to Clean Your Furnace

Now that you know that furnace cleaning is important, you’re probably curious about the best times to clean your furnace.

Unlike other parts of your home, your furnace won’t require weekly or even monthly cleanings. The best time to get your furnace cleaned is before and after the winter.

Getting your furnace cleaned before the winter is important. You’ll be able to clean out any dirt, dander, and other particulate matter that has built up over months of use.

If you use a professional cleaner, they can also check out your furnace for other functional problems. They can catch problems before they become too big to manage and can give you tips to keep your furnace running in peak condition.

It’s also a good idea to get your furnace cleaned after the winter. You’ll be able to clean out everything that has built up over the winter.

You’ll also be able to see if there are any major repairs you need to make before the next winter.

It’s better to make essential furnace repairs in the spring when you don’t need it, instead of learning that there’s a problem in the middle of winter.

Signs Your Furnace Need To Be Cleaned

If you maintain a regular cleaning schedule, there still may be times where you’ll need to give your furnace another cleaning.

If you want to keep your furnace clean and running in peak condition, be sure that you call in the furnace cleaning experts when you notice these issues.

You Just Moved

You had an inspector come out and see your home before you moved. But when they were inspected your house they probably didn’t pay a lot of attention to your AC units or furnace.

Whenever you move, make sure to have your furnace cleaned. You don’t know how well the previous tenants treated their furnace, and you don’t want to have a furnace that’s full of dirt and other debris.

If you handle negotiations right, you may even be able to have someone come out and clean your furnace before you have to move in.

The Air Flow Feels “Off”

Do you feel like some areas of your home never seem to heat up fast enough, or can maintain their warmth? Do you feel like the airflow feels uneven in certain places?

Sometimes heating problems are caused by insulation and other problems that aren’t directly related to your furnace. But more often than not the problem lies within the furnace itself.

A problem with heating and air flow could be solved with a simple furnace cleaning. Before you do anything drastic, make sure that you give your furnace a thorough cleaning.

There’s Water in the Ducts

You’ve just replaced the filters around the house, and you noticed that some of them feel slightly damp. When you look inside they ducts you notice that they have noticeable beads of water on them.

Moisture is never a good sign when it comes to any heating system. And if you notice water on the filters or in other areas of the ducts, you need to get your furnace cleaned.

Water in the ducts can encourage mold growth. Mold can cause a variety of health problems, and could even decrease the value of your home.

Signs Your Furnace Needs Repairs

Cleaning can solve a variety of problems with your furnace, but there are some issues it can’t solve.

Do you think that there could be something wrong with your furnace? If you notice these problems, be sure to call a repairman instead of a furnace cleaning service:

·         You notice water pooling around your furnace

·         You smell gas or smell something else strange when you use your furnace

·         You hear thumps, bangs, or scrapes when it runs

·         Your thermostat stops working or needs to be turned high for the heat to come on

·         Your heating bills becomes very high very fast

·         Your furnace blows cold air

Next Steps

You now know how important furnace cleaning is, so it’s time to move onto other facets of proper furnace maintenance.

McCoy’s Heating and Air have been servicing the West Jackson, Tennessee area since 1981.  They are trusted professionals that specialize in electrical, plumbing and HVAC work.  We are currently running a special for a $100 one-time system cleaning and $50 for any additional Heat units.