How Do I Prepare My Heating System For Winter?
As you stock up for the winter, you may be forgetting something vital that could save you hours of frustration and hundreds of dollars: the state of your heating system.
If you’re like most people, you rarely think about checking in on your heating system until something goes wrong with it. Routine maintenance can prevent heating failures and ensure you’re still warm even when the temperature drops. But what can you do to take care of these vital components?
Thankfully, there are some simple ways you can take care of your home heating system and keep it running all year. Best of all, these tips don’t require extensive technical knowledge.
Test Your Thermostat
If you keep a close eye on your thermostat, you may catch early signs that your heating system is experiencing problems. You can ensure that it’s giving accurate readings by cranking the heat. If it takes a long time for warm air to leave the registers or no warm air leaves them at all, it’s a sign to investigate your system further.
Another problem could be the air not being as warm as you selected. However, this can be difficult to measure with some older thermostats. If you haven’t already, consider upgrading your system to include one with a digital display.
Check for Leaks
If the heating system itself is in working order, leaks in your home could force it to work harder. That’s because it will constantly try to compensate for the lost air to meet your thermostat’s setting. Eventually, this could shorten the life of the system.
Air leaks are most common around doors, windows, pipes, and electrical outlets. In some cases, you can feel the air being pulled outside near these areas. However, a professional HVAC technician has the tools to ensure every leak is found and sealed.
Inspect Your Insulation
Most people inspect their insulation after they discover leaks or experience flooding. That’s good practice to keep your insulation dry and in good shape, but you should also check that you have enough insulation as well. If there isn’t enough insulation in even one area of your home, it will be difficult for it to retain heat.
Having proper insulation means insulating your air ducts, and other parts of your heating system, too. Helping the system retain heat will allow it to produce more for less energy. Since these areas are more exposed than other insulated points in your house, check them often for wear and further damage.
Keep Air Filters Clean
How often do you take the time to clean the air filters in your home? If you are like most people, your filters are “out of sight, out of mind,” and you’ll only clean them once visible signs of dirt can’t be ignored. However, by this point, your heating system could already be struggling.
Dirty filters do much more than lower the air quality in your home: as they become more polluted, they make it harder for air to travel through. In addition, dirty filters push your heater into overtime, straining your heating system just like covered vents. You can avoid this by replacing your filters once every month.
Have Your System Serviced by On Time Home Services
By regularly performing these small acts of preventive maintenance, you’ll increase the odds of catching problems before they become serious issues. But despite your best efforts, there will always be a chance that something will go wrong, and there won’t always be a simple fix. When this happens, do you have a professional HVAC repair service you can turn to?
Whether you need a new system, need emergency repairs, or want to book repairs on your existing HVAC system from the Bakersfield AC repair professionals, turn to the experts at On Time Home Services.
Our trained HVAC technicians will troubleshoot issues with your heating or air conditioning, install a replacement, or recommend an energy-efficient system for your new construction.
We have extensive training and expertise in all stages of installation, repair, and maintenance of most major HVAC manufacturers. We’ll inspect your current unit to help you determine if it can work more efficiently, or whether a replacement is truly necessary.
Get in touch with our team today to schedule a consultation!
