You’ve read it right and it was not a title error. At this point, there are plenty of articles around the web telling you what to do, and the steps you should take in order to buy or fix your furnace. Although there are plenty of good trustworthy guidelines from HVAC experts out there, there are only a few in the bad advice corner?
What about disastrous consequences, and the elements about your repairing service that, when completely overlooked, can cause you stress as well as skyrocketing expenses in both repairing and energy bills? Some of them might even put your family’s health as well as your own at risk.
Here is an article that will tell about the wrong ways to get your furnace repaired, so that you don’t ever end up learning it the hard way.
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Listen to An Unlicensed HVAC Technician
I’m sure you’ve never thought of having an unlicensed doctor take care of your health. If not, why would you allow your furnace to be fixed by an unlicensed technician? What’s more, many companies will only send out a salesman disguised as a technician, so they can take more cash from you.
They might say that you need to buy a new furnace when it’s been just 5 years since you bought the one you have. Most furnaces are built to last from 15 to 20 years, so make sure the technician has actual credentials that proves he/she is really qualified to do the job. Trust me, this will save you a lot of confusion and money.
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Try to Fix It by Yourself
What if you’re the jack of all trades at your house? First, you might feel pumped up with enthusiasm about repairing your own furnace. Nevertheless, you’ll discover later on that enthusiasm and the most basic HVAC knowledge won’t do the trick.
Instead, it is better to let the real experts do the job. If you don’t believe me, you can directly ask the guys from Acclaimed! Heating, Cooling & Furnace Cleaning in Edmonton and try one of their services. Doing this you will notice the difference reflected on the efficiency of your furnace, as well as your utility bills going down.
There are even services that can help you to properly schedule the times your furnace needs a helping hand, so don’t hesitate and contact the professionals right away.
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Rely Fully on Your Carbon Monoxide Detector
It is well known in the industry that your gas furnace has a combustion process that emits carbon monoxide. It is a known fact that CO detectors, are highly fallible. Many things can go wrong, from electronic malfunctions and design flaws, to more external factors such as having a highly humid basement.
That’s why it is in your best interest to not take this lightly, and have your furnace properly checked by a Combustion Analyzer, something that only an HVAC licensed technician is able to perform.
You really have to be extremely careful on this point, as recent research has pointed out that CO can be at the core of many medical health problems that can be developed through years of exposure. Besides, CO is extremely poisonous and almost invisible, even for CO detectors, turning it into a silent killer.
It is extremely important to have the CO leaks of your furnace properly diagnosed and fixed as soon as possible. Remember it is you and your family’s health that is at risk.
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Forget About the Gutters
Your furnace is connected to the HVAC wiring, meaning that it is also connected to the gutter. This is so common sense, yet many of us tend to forget this overtime, and the problems start to appear. A dirty gutter can bring problems of efficiency, meaning that your furnace has to work more, in order to get the air circulating through the tubes.
This will also result in poorer air quality as well as a considerate increase of energy bills. The frequency of cleansing will vary depending on the size of the house, and whether there are many trees near it. In those cases, the cleaning frequency can go up to 4 times a year.
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Don’t Register Your Furnace Warranty
Warranty can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how responsible you were on early registration. There are even some furnace brands like AMANA which offers a lifetime warranty. However, being in that kind of warranty paradise will not be possible if you didn’t fill out the registration form within the specified time lapse.
With most furnace brands, there is a pretty significant difference between an unregistered and a registered warranty. The time span of an unregistered furnace warranty in most furnace brands can even be reduced by half. This means that if you expected to have 10 years of heater warranty and 5 years of additional parts coverage for example, going unregistered can cut those numbers by half.
So, don’t procrastinate any longer and fill in the registration form as soon as possible before it’s too late.
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Don’t Read the Troubleshooting Manual
Each furnace is unique, so do yourself a favor and read the manual. It is so easy to troubleshoot the problems by only using our intuition, yet it might not turn out well.
There have been many cases of stubborn owners who have messed up their HVAC systems by playing trial and error. If you want to take that risk, you might be in for some expensive consequences. If you truly care about your house health otherwise, you will read the manual carefully, so you can properly troubleshoot for any problem that might be occurring.
Also, you might want to know your limits. This means that if you don’t understand anything about what’s being said on the manual, a professional should be contacted right away. Not only will he or she properly diagnose the issue, but he or she will also give you important information for proper maintenance and repairing.