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How to Safely Prepare Your Furnace for Winter Use
2 min read
Many of us in the Fox Valley region of Illinois don’t turn our furnaces on until October. This means that they have been off for four to six months. Before the cold gets here, it is important to go through some essential maintenance tips. If you’re a handy individual, you can try some of these yourself. However, for peace of mind and to avoid voiding any warranties, it is recommended you use a licensed HVAC contractor to perform the following seasonal maintenance.
- Clean your filters. You should change or clean your filters at least twice a year. However, in the winter months it may be advisable to change them in shorter intervals because your furnace runs more during the winter season.
- Vacuum out your registers. Using a Shop Vac and a bristled nozzle attachment, remove your registers and vacuum out debris.
- Seal up drafty areas on the interior of the house. If you would like to have a home assessment of where these possible draft areas are located, call Restoration 1 of Fox Valley. We will document these areas with our FLIR camera.
- Have your heat exchanger cleaned by a service technician. This is a critical component that heats the air used to generate heat for your home and should be cleaned once a year.
- Have your fan and blower motor cleaned, checked and oiled.
- Check your thermostat. Turn it to heat and set the temperature to a level where it will turn on. If you don’t hear the furnace turn on in a minute, then you might have some trouble.
- While you are at your thermostat, replace the batteries and while you’re at it, replace the batteries in your smoke and carbon dioxide detectors.
- Take advantage of pre-season inspection deals advertised in your local area. Almost all HVAC manufacturers require tune-ups at certain intervals to keep warranties in force. The cost of tune-up can keep you from being exposed to a larger financial hit if you might need major work without warranty coverage.
We are proud to serve the Fox Valley region and are your local restoration team. If you have are in Aurora, Plainfield, Oswego, St. Charles, Naperville, Bolingbrook, Geneva, Wheaton, West Chicago, Batavia, or any of the surrounding areas we are able to get to your home quickly to help service water, fire, or mold issues.
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