If you’ve lived in Sioux City, IA for longer than one winter season, you probably know how important your furnace is to keeping your home warm and comfortable. Simply put, it gets cold in Iowa, and you want to make sure that your heating system is doing its job throughout the winter. While this obviously means contacting Kalins Indoor Comfort for repairs when your furnace isn’t working properly, it also means scheduling regular tune-ups and inspections.
You should ideally be scheduling this maintenance at least once a year, preferably in the fall before the main heating starts. This might sound excessive if you’re on a tight budget and your furnace has been working well enough, but it is worth your time to schedule furnace maintenance at least once a year. Here are just five reasons why you should give us a call and schedule a furnace tune-up if you haven’t done so yet this year.
1. Gives You a More Efficient Furnace
Anyone who has been through a cold winter knows how expensive it is to run a furnace for months at a time. According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the average American home’s energy consumption can go up by as much as 36% during the winter. While that increase seems unavoidable, you can lower your bills by making your furnace more efficient.
A more efficient furnace won’t have to work as hard to keep your home at a consistent temperature, which will help keep your utility bills more manageable this winter. A furnace tune-up will certainly accomplish that, especially if you have an older furnace that might have some wear and tear. At the very least, our technicians can inspect your system and make sure that it’s running at peak efficiency.
2. Helps You Avoid Repairs
Furnace repairs can be a pain. Not only do they get expensive if you need major repairs, but you could be left without heat until the repairs are completed. While you can’t account for everything that could happen to your HVAC system, you can avoid at least some repairs with a regular furnace tune-up.
A good furnace tune-up includes a thorough inspection of your heating system. If this inspection uncovers a minor issue that could cause a problem in the future, our technicians can make the necessary repairs while they are still easy and affordable. In many cases, we would simply have to replace a worn part or tighten a loose connection. This maintenance will also leave your furnace in good enough shape to not require any repairs for the winter. Ideally, you wouldn’t have to call us until it’s time for your next tune-up.
3. Makes Your Home Safer
Part of a furnace tune-up and inspection is making sure that your heat exchanger is in good shape. The heat exchanger is the component that transfers heat to the surrounding air that is then circulated throughout your home. It can cause a lot of serious problems if it’s damaged. The worst of these problems by far is a carbon monoxide leak. Carbon monoxide, CO, is a colorless and odorless gas that can be fatal in large amounts. A cracked heat exchanger can leak CO into your home and create a serious health hazard.
Our HVAC technicians will inspect your heat exchanger to make sure that it isn’t cracked and leaking CO, but they will also check the CO levels in your home and HVAC system as well. They will also check for things such as bad electrical connections that could cause a short circuit or a fire as well as potential gas leaks. In other words, regular furnace maintenance helps keep your home and your family safe.
4. Improves Indoor Air Quality
Your HVAC system has a huge effect on your home’s indoor air quality. Aside from preventing potentially deadly carbon monoxide or natural gas leaks, a good furnace has a filter that removes dust and other pollutants from the air. Replacing the filter is usually up to you, but our technicians will inspect your system. They will make sure that there isn’t too much dust building up in your air ducts and that the filter itself is still working properly. All of these things will contribute to the air quality in your home, which will be particularly important when your house is essentially shut up during the winter months.
5. Extends the Lifespan of Your Furnace
Most furnaces last between 15 and 20 years before you need to replace them. Since new furnaces are expensive, it makes sense to try to put off buying a replacement for as long as possible. Regular maintenance can help extend the lifespan of your furnace so that you can get the most out of it for roughly two decades.
What’s Included in a Furnace Tune-Up?
We’ve talked a lot about why you should schedule regular furnace maintenance, but we haven’t gone over exactly what is included in a typical tune-up. The maintenance you’ll need might depend a bit on the kind of heating system that you have, but you can usually expect the following tasks:
- Thermostat recalibration
- Inspection of the heat exchanger
- Tightening of all electrical components
- Inspection of the burner and ignition system
- Fuel line inspection
- Blower motor inspection
- Basic ductwork inspection
In addition to these inspections and maintenance tasks, our HVAC technicians will also lubricate all moving parts and ensure that everything is working properly. We will also document everything that was completed, which may be required for warranty or regulation purposes. If we do find any issues, we’ll recommend any repairs that should be made.
Save Money on Your Furnace Maintenance
When it comes to their furnaces, many homeowners tend to hold off on calling for maintenance and repairs unless their systems break down completely. While that may sound like a good way to save money on HVAC services, you’ll actually be saving money in the long run by scheduling regular furnace maintenance.
Contact Kalins Indoor Comfort for Your Furnace Maintenance Needs
If it’s been longer than a year since your last furnace tune-up, Kalins Indoor Comfort will be happy to assist you. We are a heating and cooling company that has served Sioux City, Vermillion, Yankton, and the surrounding areas in Iowa for over 100 years, and we work hard to make sure that our customers are safe and comfortable in their homes. Not only do we provide regular furnace tune-ups and inspections, but we also provide repairs, installations, ductwork sealing, and indoor air quality services. Our highly trained and experienced technicians are there for you 24 hours a day, so don’t hesitate to call us if you need emergency repairs.
To learn more about our HVAC services or to schedule an HVAC tune-up for your home, contact Kalins Indoor Comfort in Sioux Falls today. Our team will be happy to assist you and answer any questions that you might have.
