It’s easy to forget to schedule pre-season preventive maintenance when fall rolls around. But before you know it, it’ll be time to turn on your heating system. Is yours ready to perform?

Ensure that your furnace or heat pump is in top shape before you need it by having pre-season preventive maintenance performed on your heating system. Then you’ll be able to perhaps even enjoy the colder temperatures with peace of mind, knowing that your heating system is well-equipped to keep your home at comfortable temperatures.

A great benefit of pre-season preventive maintenance is lower energy bills. Dirt, loose electric connections, low refrigerant levels and other problems stemming from a lack of maintenance can cause a heating system to perform less efficiently. This can eventually require that the system consume more energy to heat the air, increasing utility bills.

Also, keep in mind that it is generally far cheaper to pay for preventive maintenance than for repairs. Home-comfort contractors get a lot of emergency calls in the middle of winter when heating systems break down, but that doesn’t have to be your experience -- especially if you keep your system well maintained.

Pre-season preventive maintenance service involves a filter change -- but it's more than that. It is a process that involves evaluating and testing the entire furnace system, and it includes a thorough cleaning to ensure that the system will perform well during the heating season.

The service for heat pumps or furnaces may include, but is not limited to, the following tasks:

• The evaporator coil, flue, start and run capacitors, start and run delays, and other parts of the heating system will be thoroughly inspected.
• The expansion valve, refrigerant levels, voltage differences, amperage draw and gas input will be measured and monitored.
• The fan blades will be checked for balance and efficiency.
• The thermostat calibration, bypass dampers, burners and operating pressures will be adjusted as needed.
• The evaporator drain, fan blades, condenser coil, blower wheel, combustion chamber and heat exchanger will be cleaned.

For more expert advice about preventive maintenance and other issues related to home comfort, please contact us at JonLe Heating & Cooling. Serving the Cincinnati area, we're always happy to help.

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