3 Ways You Can Ensure Your Furnace Lasts As Long As Possible

Installing a new furnace isn't cheap. Unfortunately, having a functional furnace isn't optional in many parts of the country. If you live in one of the colder states, functional heating is necessary once winter arrives. Ideally, your home's furnace will not only keep you warm, but it will do so while remaining as reliable and efficient as possible.

A typical furnace may last a few decades, but you may be able to extend the life of your furnace even further. Conversely, poor maintenance and repair habits can lead to costly failures and premature replacements. These three tips will provide a great starting point to ensure your home's furnace lasts as long as possible.

1. Understand Your Filter

How much do you know about your HVAC system's filter? If you're like many homeowners, you probably know you need to replace it occasionally, but you may not realize its importance. While your filter helps keep your home's air clean, its true role is to protect your HVAC equipment. Critical components such as your heat exchanger and burners must remain as dust-free as possible.

Checking and changing your filter is one of the easiest and most important things you can do to extend the life of your system. Not only do clean filters help protect critical system components, they also ensure adequate airflow. Without enough airflow, your heat exchanger can potentially overheat and crack, causing a failure that's so costly (and dangerous) that it often leads to a furnace replacement.

2. Don't Delay Repairs

Your furnace will often tell you when something is wrong. A properly operating furnace should run a few times per hour, cycling on and off to meet your thermostat's setpoint. Even when conditions outside are very cold, your furnace should generally be able to keep up and maintain a reasonable temperature. If your furnace can't keep up, runs for too long, or short cycles, there's likely an underlying issue.

It's easy to ignore these problems, especially if your furnace still produces enough heat to keep your home livable, but unaddressed issues can often lead to more expensive failures. Once you notice your furnace misbehaving, the best course of action is to contact a heating contractor as soon as possible to investigate and repair the issue.

3. Schedule Annual Maintenance Visits

You don't need a professional to help you change your filter, but you will want an expert to check in on your furnace at least once yearly. An annual inspection allows a trained technician to check your system for proper operation, potentially discovering any issues that can lead to costly failures. The sooner you discover these problems, the cheaper they are to fix.

Annual maintenance visits also help ensure your furnace's long-term efficiency. Many HVAC contractors will perform a combustion analysis during these visits, looking for issues creating inefficiencies. As a result, these straightforward checkups can save you money by ensuring your utility bills don't spiral out of control.

For more information, reach out to heating services near you.


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