How To Increase Furnace Lifetime
A furnace is a costly investment. To maximize the investment that you put into your furnace, you need to make sure that it stays in top operating order for as long as it can. This means that you need to do everything possible to maintain your furnace in its peak operating shape.
Fortunately, there are quite a few ways that you can increase the life of your furnace and prevent costly replacement. Here are a few suggestions to keep it running at peak efficiency for many years to come.
Keeping the Ducts Clean
The first place that furnaces can lose efficiency and work harder is if the ducting in your home is full of dirt and debris. Even the cleanest homes will build up dirt in the heating ducts. It is the nature of how furnaces work that dust will be pulled in and moved around your home.
Dirt and buildup in ductwork can actually cause efficiency losses of up to 20%. When this happens, your furnace is forced to work harder than it should, reducing its lifetime by a similar percentage. This could mean having to replace your unit years ahead of its time.
Dirty Blower Motor
One of the most cycled, and vulnerable, parts of your furnace is the blower motor. This bit of machinery works all winter to move the clean air around your home. This means you want your blower motor as clean as possible when your furnace is operating.
If your blower motor is clogged with dirt and grime, this makes the motor work harder to blow at the same rate it normally would. Working harder not only draws more power, causing wear and tear on the power distribution system, it also stresses the internal parts of the blower motor causing it to degrade quickly.
Keep your Power Source Clean
It doesn’t matter if you have a gas or electric furnace; keeping the area in the furnace that the heating takes place is also a good way to prevent the untimely demise of your system. Your furnace works by heating the air in a small chamber, then blowing air through that hot chamber through your home.
It can get very toasty in there, hot enough to combust any debris that might be inside. Since that chamber is not built to handle additional materials burning inside, this causes damage. If this part of your furnace is damaged, replacement is your only option.
Getting Professional Help
While all of these things sound like something that the home owner can handle on their own, it is always best to have a professional HVAC contractor do this work for you. They are experts in getting jobs like this done safely and properly.
If your furnace isn’t operating like it should, it may be time to replace it. Click here for a custom quote from reliable HVAC contractors in your area. Your free quote will be ready in just minutes — no contact information required!
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