Indianapolis Furnace Maintenance

Make Gas Furnace Maintenance a Priority Each Year

To keep your furnace running efficiently and your energy bills low, the most beneficial thing you can do each year is schedule a professional furnace tune up. Inspecting and servicing your entire furnace based on a comprehensive checklist ensures all key areas and components of the system receive preventative care.

From the ignition system to the pilot light and checking for gas leaks, furnace tune-ups keep the system in good condition over the winter season while enabling it to deliver the reliable heating your family needs.

What Our HVAC Contractors Inspect On Your Furnace

We know cold winters in Indiana. Your home’s heating system needs the attention it deserves to avoid costly furnace issues with cool air coming.

Williams Comfort Air’s furnace maintenance checklist ensures each and every important component of the heating system is addressed by a professional. When your Indianapolis heating technician comes out to conduct a tune up, here are some of the tasks performed to improve performance and help alleviate future furnace repair.

• Inspect heat exchanger for damage, as a cracked heat exchanger could cause a carbon monoxide leak
• Test inducer electric motor to verify it expels combustion gases properly through the heat exchanger and exhaust flue
• Inspect furnace exhaust system for damaged, blocked, or corroded flues
• Add lubrication in the blower motor oil ports to lubricate bearings
• Tighten or replace a loose belt connecting the blower fan blades and fan motor
• Clean the blower motor and fan assembly
• Ensure the blower door closes securely
• Inspect electrical system components like the power switch, wiring, and circuit boards
• Tighten loose connections in the electrical power components
• Clean carbon soot from the chamber walls of the combustion chamber
• Clean flame sensor
• Test flame sensor operation
• Remove carbon soot from burners using a small wire brush to eliminate yellow flames
• Adjust air and gas flow so fuel mixes optimally in the combustion chamber
• Inspect natural gas supply or other fuel supply lines for damage
• Measure and adjust gas pressure as needed
• Remove old furnace filter and install a clean air filter
• Remove old filter and install a new oil filter for an oil furnace
• Measure pressure and airflow in the duct system
• Measure temperature differentials
• Test thermostat operation

When and How Often to Schedule Professional Furnace Maintenance

Heating system manufacturers recommend regular furnace maintenance be performed by a licensed furnace technician once per year. It doesn’t matter if your home uses a natural gas furnace or one that runs using oil or electricity – you need one tune up per year. Same goes for air conditioning equipment, too.

A professional furnace tune up will be beneficial to your heating system any time it is performed, as the furnace maintenance checklist we follow is designed to improve the unit’s condition, prevent repair issues, and keep your furnace in service longer. While you can schedule regular furnace maintenance at any point throughout the year, the early fall is the best time to do so. If you’re a member of our maintenance plans, our team schedules your tune ups this time of year.

This allows a pro to complete furnace maintenance before the start of heating season, when it’s time to start up your furnace for the year. All system components will be in great shape, and your technician will have had the opportunity to inspect the furnace through and through.

Avoid a Broken Furnace and Keep Your Family Safe

A yearly heating & cooling professional furnace tune up is only one piece of the puzzle in terms of proper maintenance for your heating system. It also saves you the expense of replacing your Indianapolis furnace sooner than its average lifespan. During the time between each annual furnace maintenance tune up, there are additional tasks that homeowners need to perform to keep a new furnace or existing heating unit in good shape and operating at its highest efficiency levels.

Skipping proper maintenance DIY steps could lead to performance issues with your furnace, diminished indoor air quality, or even damage to the system. Learn the tasks you need to take on to help your furnace heat your home with ease all winter long.

Change Air Filters

Furnace filters trap airborne pollutants before they are able to pass into the unit. While many homeowners believe the point of these air filters is to improve indoor air quality and provide cleaner air indoors, air filters are designed to prevent loose material like dust, dirt, pet dander, and more from entering the heating and air conditioning system equipment and settling inside it. Without an air filter, pollutant particles would settle on delicate components, causing damage or impacting their ability to operate correctly.

Most homeowners find it necessary to change air filters more often during the hottest and coldest times of the year, when the furnace or air conditioner is running the longest, as air makes more passes through the system and air filter which creates more opportunities for the filter to trap particles and fill up faster.

Open All Vents

We all enjoy the heated air of furnaces produce. Shutting vents in certain areas of the home has long been mentioned as a way to conserve heat energy costs and save money. However, this is bad advice that absolutely should not be followed.

It’s important that every return and supply vent, from floor registers to return air grilles in the ceiling or on the wall, be open and unobstructed. The home’s heating system is configured to heat all these areas, so closing a vent does nothing to tell the furnace to use less energy.

Carbon Monoxide Detector Maintenance

If you heat your home with natural gas heating equipment or oil furnace, you need to have carbon monoxide alarms installed in your home. Carbon monoxide is naturally produced when fuel combustion is incomplete. It has no odor or color so the only way humans can know of its presence is through the use of special detection units.

Each month, test every carbon monoxide detector in the home. Hold the TEST button until it goes off – if it fails to sound the alarm, replace the unit. Batteries should be changed every six months, even if the existing ones still have a charge just to make sure the unit has power whenever needed. Replace the entire carbon monoxide detector every five to seven years.