3 Furnace Maintenance Steps That Keep Your Furnace Clean And In Good Repair

It may be hard to believe that a simple lack of maintenance and cleaning could cause serious damage to your furnace. Even getting lax about changing the filter on time could cause enough damage to the heat exchanger that you need to buy a new furnace. Here are tips for keeping your furnace in good shape so it has a long life and doesn't pose a health risk to your family.

1. Get An Annual Furnace Tune-Up

You probably don't want to dismantle your furnace to clean and inspect parts yourself, and you might even void your warranty if you do. The best way to make sure the parts of your furnace are in good repair is to have maintenance done by a professional at least once a year. If your furnace shares the air exchanger with your AC, then you'll also want a tune-up in the spring before you turn your air conditioner on for the season.

A furnace technician will replace parts as needed and clean the furnace to get rid of dust and soot. Cleaning the furnace ensures there is adequate airflow, and good airflow is important or else your furnace will overheat and shut down to prevent damage to the heat exchanger.

2. Keep The Filter Clean

Changing the filter on schedule is the most important maintenance chore you can do on your own. When dust builds up on the filter, the amount of air that is pulled into your furnace is reduced. The air that does go through could carry dust with it and cause dust to build up inside your furnace.

At the least, your furnace won't operate efficiently. But, one of the worst things that could happen is if the heat exchanger overheats and cracks because of a dirty filter. A cracked heat exchanger is so expensive to repair that it's often best to just replace the furnace.

3. Keep The Furnace Clean

Keeping dust off the furnace is important, and one way to do that is to dust the outside of the furnace occasionally and clean it with the vacuum hose attachment. Your furnace may be in the basement where you don't clean regularly, but it's worth the effort to vacuum and dust the room around the furnace periodically so dust doesn't accumulate and then get pulled into the furnace.

Once inside, the dust can build up and cause parts to malfunction. It's important to keep the blower and motor area free of dust and to keep the ignition area clean. You can do your part to help keep the furnace clean, and the furnace technician can do their part by deep cleaning and doing preventative furnace maintenance so your furnace stays in good shape and functions optimally.