Furnace Tune Up And Safety Check

By Pete Busch

A forced air furnace is an appliance that is typically forgotten about until it stops working.  Furnaces are installed in the ugliest room in the house, their anything but exciting, and are generally taken for granted until something breaks on it, or even worse, creates a deadly carbon monoxide condition inside your home.

I know were all still thinking its summer but winter heating season will be upon us very soon. Now is the time to call your local HVAC service provider and have your furnace tuned up and safety checked. If you wait until heating season you may run into problems. Once the temp drops and people start turning on their furnaces is a common time where issues show up. This makes for a very busy time for HVAC technicians so you may not be able to get one.

There are three main items that are addressed when this service is performed.

1. The furnace is cleaned and tuned to keep it running as efficient as possible, this will save you money over the long run.
2. An inspection is performed to diagnose any part that has either failed or is about to. If you wait until it breaks you may freeze up your home. This is not a guarantee but will greatly reduce the chance of this happening.
3. Arguably the most important reason is to have a safety inspection performed. A cracked heat exchanger may allow deadly carbon monoxide to enter the living space of your home. This will be found at this time if it exists. They will also inspect the flue/exhaust system as well to ensure it is safe and is properly exhausting the flue gases outside.

Just last week I was doing a home inspection in St. Louis Park Minnesota. The furnace was about ten years old and there was absolutely NO indication that it had ever been serviced. This is a very common experience when inspecting homes. It creates an unsafe condition in the home, its not cost effective causing unnecessarily high utility bills, and a shortened furnace life.
I highly recommend you get on an annual service program with a reputable HVAC service provider.

Pete BuschMinnesota Home Inspector.