Keeping Your Furnace Running Smoothly

At Plumbing Paramedics, you’ll hear a lot about getting a furnace inspection done. This is especially true during the fall or early winter as Calgarians prepare for the cold months. Is furnace maintenance necessary? We stand by the importance of a furnace inspection; they help to catch the little issues before they become expensive repairs. Annual inspections also ensure your warranty will be honoured if there’s a defect in the furnace. But what are some everyday things you can do to help keep your furnace running smoothly for years?

Keep Hair & Dust Under Control.

Your furnace filter has an important role in both protecting your furnace and keeping the air you breathe as clean as possible. It filters out all sorts of dust, hair, and dirt from the air every minute that the furnace runs. But as detritus gets caught, the furnace has to work harder to move air through the filter. By dusting and vacuuming often enough, you can reduce how many larger particles are in the air. This will reduce how much gets caught in your filter and keep the load on your furnace reasonable. Of course, how much cleaning you need to do is going to depend on your family. Two short-haired adults with a goldfish will need to vacuum far less often than a family of Rapunzels and their two golden retrievers.

Turn Down the Heat.

A fantastic way to both save money and reduce the load on your furnace is just to turn it down a degree or two. For much of winter, the inside of our homes may be as much as 20-50 degrees warmer than outdoors. That’s a lot of work for your furnace, and even shaving off a degree or two can help. In fact, it may surprise you to learn that, for every degree you lower your furnace during winter, you actually save about 5% on your heating costs.

Change Your Filter.

Is your furnace filter 1-inch thick or 3-inches? Does it need to be changed monthly or quarterly? Helping your furnace stay in great shape means providing it with the maintenance it needs. Check your the guidelines provided by the manufacturer and set a reminder in your phone, so you remember to change the filters as needed. That will help to keep your furnace functioning smoothly.

In Calgary, we rely on our furnaces to work. When a furnace stops running, we and our families quickly find ourselves in a very dangerous situation. That’s why furnace maintenance is necessary. At Plumbing Paramedics, we want to ensure that every Calgary family stays cozy warm all winter. Contact us today if you have any concerns about your furnace, and we’ll make sure we get it running smoothly in no time!