Furnace Maintenance Volume 1

As the nights are starting to get colder, it is time to do a little preventative maintenance on your furnace. The first step is to clean out your furnace. Dust is a major reason for furnace failure, it decreases the life of your furnace and can cost you more money. As dust builds up on the filter, the motor, and the blower assembly, it causes your furnace to have to work harder and consume more energy. If not cleaned, the motor can overheat and fail.

The best way to start your seasonal furnace cleanup is to grab your canister vacuum or shop vac and a can of compressed air. Turn off your furnace at your circuit breaker panel to insure that it will not kick on while you are working on it. Next, remove the blower access panel from the front of your furnace. It should be fairly easy to open. If you have difficulty opening your access panel, consult your owner's manual. Once open, turn on your vacuum and begin using the compressed air to blow off any dust or durt and use your vacuum to suck up the bits as you go along. Make sure that you pay special attention to the blower motor, the belts, and the sides and bottom of the blower area. A wet rag or microfiber cloth may be used to remove larger dust build-ups. Next, remove and replace the air filter. You should replace the air filter at the beginning of the winter season and every month when under continuous use. Just because your user's manual says to replace it every 2 or 3 months, it must be replaced every time that it gets dirty. You can hold the filter up to a light to check to see if it is getting dirty. Once you have replaced the filter and cleaned the blower assembly and motor, replace the cover and turn the unit back on. It may seem like a waste of money to replace the filter this often during the winter, but a filter is much cheaper than a new furnace!
Hints on Chester's Clean House are provided "as is" and Chester's Clean House shall have no liability for any damages (whether direct, indirect, consequential or otherwise) arising from the use, attempted use or application of any of the hints described in this blog.

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