The cold weather hasn’t arrived in Burlington, VT yet, but we all know that it’s coming. Now is the best time to find out if your home heating system needs repairs or replacements done so you can have the heater ready to go when the temperature drops.
The best way to prepare a furnace for winter is to have professional maintenance for it. However, you can also do a test on your own to see how the furnace is running. Turn your furnace on during a day when you don’t actually need it, and let it run for about an hour. Watch for any signs that something is wrong. Here are some of the more common warnings to look for:
- Strange noises: If you detect an abnormal sound coming from the furnace, it’s almost never a good sign. Any sort of grinding, screeching, clicking, or banging noise means that you should call for repair technicians to investigate.
- Odd smells from the vents: Does the air coming from the vents have a strange smell? You can expect a slight dusty odor when the furnace first turns on—this is normal—but if there’s an acrid taint to the air flow, it often means mechanical problems in the system.
- Uneven heating: Walk through each of the rooms in the house and find if there are any cold spots. If there are, it could come from a variety of sources, from a damaged blower to a poorly fit vent cover. Whatever is behind it, you need to have it fixed.
Keep in mind, doing this “test run” is not a substitute for scheduling professional maintenance. Even if you notice nothing amiss with the furnace, you still must arrange for HVAC technicians to inspect, clean, and adjust the furnace. This will catch any hidden problems and also see that the furnace will run at peak performance levels throughout the winter.
Red Rock Mechanical LLC offers furnace maintenance and repair services. Give us a call to help you get your furnace ready for winter.
