7 Tips to Help Your Furnace Work Better

Furnaces are an essential part of your household. During winter, they keep your house warm, and during summer, they have an essential task of circulating cool air.

Furnaces, like any other machine, require regular maintenance and cleaning. If you’re looking for ways to keep your furnace happy, here are seven tips to improve its efficiency.

The role of a furnace filter is to keep the dust, pollen, dirt and any other flying debris away from the furnace. Although some homes have a heat pump instead of a furnace, all the same, both types have filters that need regular maintenance and checks. The heat pump or furnace will function more optimally when its filters are clean.

With time, however, dirt slowly settles on the filter; and as a result it causes your furnace to run inefficiently. To give you an idea of this, imagine drinking milkshake through a straw; quite challenging, right?

The same case applies to a furnace with a dirty filter. It will require more energy to generate the same amount of heat. Unfortunately, this undue pressure may result in the ultimate breakdown of your machine. Therefore, you can make your furnace more efficient by cleaning or replacing the filters regularly.

A furnace requires an intake pipe for air supply. If the external intake pipe gets blocked or clogged, it can hamper the efficiency of your furnace severely. Worst of all, it can result in the toxic buildup of carbon monoxide, thus posing a safety hazard. Make sure to check the intake and exhaust pipes to see if there’s any obstruction.

During winter, for instance, you’re likely to have ice and snow in the pipe. Other common obstructions include bird nests and insects. To prevent any issues, do regular checks around the pipe to ensure that it is clear from debris that can impede the air intake. Carefully remove animal nests and ensure that nothing is left behind to keep the pipe open and clean.

A programmable thermostat usually matches the energy output from the furnace according to room temperature. This way the performance of the furnace is optimized as it delivers the ideal temperature, right for the existing environment. Regardless of whether you’re at home or not, you don’t run the risk of either overheating or getting your pets too cold. Regulating the home’s temperature makes the home more comfortable for everyone.

Ask a professional about the best thermostat to use for a specific home. They know the different brands and the ideal thermostat suitable for every kind of space.

If you don’t perform regular maintenance on your car, it will eventually breakdown. The same case applies to the furnace. To keep it running at its best, you need to schedule regular professional furnace repair. A trained specialist should assess the condition of your furnace and make the necessary repairs.

The benefit of having regular maintenance is that you’ll:

• Save on your electricity bill
• Make your home more comfortable
• Allow early detection of problems

The heat generated from your furnace can escape through the cracks in your doors, and windows, meaning that you’re losing on the energy you’re paying for.

To prevent this, you might consider investing in weatherstripping; this will seal all your windows and doors to ensure the generated heat stays in your house. The weatherstripping acts like an insulator to contain comfortable air and save on energy consumption. This feature keeps the home’s temperature constant, whereas homes without this insulating layer would lose more heat much quicker.

Weatherstripping is easy to apply and doesn’t need much skill, although many prefer to find a local contractor to assist them with the installation.

Few homeowners know about this trick. During summer, you can use your ceiling fan in collaboration with your AC to help in creating a downward movement of cool air during summer.

The toasty part comes during winter, where you can turn your ceiling in reverse. These will force the warm rising air back to the ground where you want it, and this will ensure that your home reaches optimal temperature quickly.

The reverse ceiling trick will provide a bit of help to your furnace when it comes to keeping your home comfortable.

It’s essential to keep the areas surrounding your furnace clear of any debris. Besides the safety issue because of the burning gas, it has been shown that debris and items near a furnace often obstruct the free circulation of air.

Objects placed too close to the furnace could overheat and start to burn, or if it consists of synthetic material, they will melt. These items are a fire hazard that could cause home fires if left unchecked.

Moreover, if objects are stacked around the furnace, the airflow is diminished, thus affecting the way it should function. Ensure that you have allocated a large space so air can circulate adequately into and away from the furnace.

Published in: Home advice | Author: Yanita