October is always a fun time of year as it is the official beginning of the holiday season. Once Halloween is over, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years will be right around the corner. With the holiday season creating lots of opportunities to entertain, be sure that these HVAC horrors don’t jeopardize your home comfort.
- No oil in your furnace or boiler – Last winter did you let your furnace or boiler run out of oil? If you allowed it to go bone dry, you could be facing a $400-500 maintenance call. When the oil runs out, there is sludge in the bottom of the tank that gets sucked up. As a result, this clogs the filter and nozzle. You will have to call a reputable company like Dave’s Cooling and Heating to come out and purge your lines of air and to change the filter and nozzle. To save you money in the long run, be sure to keep at least some oil in your tank no matter what season it is!
- A flooded basement – Are you one of those homeowners who takes your HVAC maintenance into your own hands? This could be pretty risky for several reasons. For one, there’s a great chance that you won’t be able to tell if something is not functioning properly or is about to break which could end up costing a lot in the long run. What’s even riskier is that you may forget to maintain your system altogether. If you have a humidifier, you could end up flooding your basement by forgetting to maintenance it. Depending on your water quality, your humidifier may need to be maintenanced twice a year. At a minimum, it needs to be done once a year. Since it’s so infrequent, chances are that you will forget. WIth humidifiers, this could cost you hundreds of dollars. In humidifiers, the water goes across the pad inside it and then the humidity goes into the ductwork which is how the moisture is added to the air in your home. If humidifier pads aren’t changed, it will flood your home. Additionally, when your humidifier is maintenance the right way, your drain will be blown out and the inside of the humidifier will be descaled and checked to make sure it is working properly.
- A frozen unit – Speaking of remembering to do your regular maintenance, if you don’t change your filter, you could risk your unit freezing and therefore not working. HVAC units require proper airflow to keep the cold coil warm. If the filter is so dirty that the air cannot flow through, the coil will end up freezing. This then causes a blockage for the drain hole. Your unit condenses water vapor into liquid that drains outside. If the drain clogs, this cannot happen which will cause your system to stop working.
To avoid these things from happening, it’s important to be on a regular maintenance plan and to be mindful of what’s going on with your system. If you’re looking for an affordable heating maintenance plan that can help you save money in the long run, give us a call at Dave’s Cooling and Heating – 301-401-2780.
