It’s that time of year again, here in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, to contact your home comfort contractor for your fall furnace maintenance visit. Get your request in now before arrival of the high season when technicians’ schedules will be packed. Here are some of the crucial tasks the technician will perform:
For any type of heating system
- Examine the heat exchanger for leaks. Heat exchangers combine combustion gas with your home’s air supply if leaking, which can be a serious safety hazard.
- Set boiler or furnace controls for efficient and comfortable air and water usage.
- Inspect the chimney and vent pipe for rust or damage.
- When you’re considering whether to replace or upgrade your home heating equipment, your tech will do a combustion-efficiency test.
For forced-air heating
- Inspect combustion chamber for leaks and cracking.
- Set air temperature and blower control.
- Do a CO (carbon monoxide) test and locate/fix any problems.
- Eliminate visible dirt and rust from the boiler/furnace.
- Lubricate and clean the blower.
- Verify proper flame color and strength along with fuel input and correct as needed.
- Make sure the connection between the ducts and furnace is solid.
Maintaining a steam heating system
- Clean out sediment by draining out a bit of water from the boiler to increase the efficiency of the heat exchanger.
- Run tests on both the high-limit controls and low-water cutoff safety limit.
- Clear sediment and debris from the float chamber to avoid clogging the low-water limiter.
- Examine a sample of water from the boiler, adding chemicals to prevent rust damage and sediment.
- Clean heat exchange chamber.
Servicing a hot-water heating system
- Examine the high-limit control for proper function.
- Check that there’s air filling the pressure tank, rather than water.
- Cleanse heat exchange structure.
- Inspect and conduct performance testing on the pressure relief valve.
Ready for your home heating inspection and tune-up? Contact the experts at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning for your fall furnace maintenance. Visit our website to learn more about our complete home comfort HVAC services or just give us a call.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about fall furnace maintenance and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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