Many heating systems are easy to maintain but this only becomes easy if regular maintenance is scheduled. So how does this work? Efficient operation only becomes possible when a professional takes a good look at your heating system on a regular basis. No matter what kind of furnace you own, there is a handful of guidelines that you need to do to keep you heating system from going kaput.
A few aspects of electric furnace upkeep can be difficult, hence, they are best left to the experts. If you only take time to look at the problem, you would discover that there is a surprising amount of maintenance or repair work that you can do on your own. Keep your electric furnace running and you get to save a lot of money in future heating costs.
Before you go directly to troubleshooting, begin with a few steps which you can take –
Clean It Up
Did you know that dirt is an electric furnace’s biggest enemy? This can waste electrical energy and even drastically lower your furnace’s efficiency. There are even cases when dirt can cause the furnace to overheat.
Since dirt affects the fundamental components of your furnace, it is vital to have it cleaned up during its regular maintenance. Remember to clean up the three basic parts of the furnace – the blower, motor and the filter system.
Be sure to have the furnace filter cleaned or replaced at the beginning of every heating season. Do this also after about a month of continuous use. In checking your filter, be sure to take it out then peer through it against a light. If the filter looks clogged, be sure to replace it with new filter. Ascertain that you are using the same filter make and size.
Disposable furnace filters have a fiber mesh inside a cardboard frame. Notice the arrows on the frame’s edges? Those are the arrows that indicate the right direction of the airflow. Be sure to install it at the correct direction so that the air flows beginning from the return-air duct and then to the blower. Be sure that the arrows are pointing away from the return-air duct.
Find a metal panel in front of the furnace right below the return-air duct. This panel could be labeled filter.
Take the panel off the holding hooks or unscrew it from the furnace housing. A few heating units have exposed filters so, in this case, slip the filter up then out of the tracks that are U-shaped.
Replace and clean the filter depending on your furnace type. Clean the rest of the furnace from the blower assembly, pulleys, belts, blower and the motor housing. The blower is most critical especially when you are dealing with a squirrel-cage fan which accumulates more dirt.
Remove the panel to gain access to the panel or blower; slide out the fan unit then clean it up. Be sure that you know how to reassemble all the parts that you just cleaned.
As a non-electrician, all that you could do to maintain your electric furnace is to have it cleaned up. If, after cleaning the furnace is still problematic, then have your heating unit tuned up by a licensed professional. Do this and you can start watching your heating bills descend. Just remember that your home’s heating system is a mechanical system so it needs maintenance. A professional tune-up can cost $100 or more but this is something that you have to do every few years OR you can have the furnace checked annually (with or without mechanical issues) and you get to save more money in the process – the choice is always yours.
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