One of the best ways to prime your heating system for winter is by scheduling professional maintenance just before fall ends. Pre-season maintenance optimizes the efficiency of furnaces, promotes higher indoor air quality, and limits the likelihood of heating emergencies and mid-season repairs. But did you know that your furnace, boiler, or heat pump can also benefit from a post-season tune-up? The following are seven reasons to schedule additional service just as Victorville, CA enters spring.
1. Aging Heating Equipment Needs It
If your heater is relatively new, scheduling a tune-up service once each year should suffice. New heaters are less likely to harbor stubborn build-ups of trapped debris than are heaters that have already offered 10 or more years of service. Although many furnaces can last two decades or more, their efficiency levels progressively decline and they’re increasingly likely to develop problems.
Catching and correcting wear-related issues in spring will set you up for a much easier winter in the following year. It’s important to note that aging HVAC equipment often develops more than half of its total repair issues within the last two years of service.
2. Mark the End of Your Heater’s Lifespan Before Winter Arrives
If you know that the need for heater replacement is looming just over the horizon, twice-yearly maintenance service will help you avoid unpleasant, last-minute surprises. During these visits, our team can estimate the remainder of your heater’s lifespan, help you explore your options in new heating equipment, and prepare your budget. This also gives you plenty of time to find and apply for any necessary financing.
You Could Pay a Lot Less for a Heater Replacement in Spring
Finding out that you need an urgent heater replacement in spring isn’t just more convenient than waiting until winter. It can also be a lot cheaper. With less demand for heating services and brand-new heater designs hitting the market, you’ll likely pay less for both project materials and labor even as you have access to the latest and most cutting-edge features and functions.
3. Check for and Resolve Pest Infestations
Among the greatest causes of wintertime heater damage are pest infestations. Critters of all types and sizes look for viable points of ingress and set up camp in warm areas that are closed off and close to accessible sources of water and food. If you’ve had rats, mice, raccoons, roaches, or other pests enter your HVAC ducting, your indoor air quality (IAQ) will decline and remain low until you identify and correct the problem.
No matter where they are, pests like these always leave germ-ridden detritus behind. During your post-season heater inspection, we can look for shed exoskeletons, wings, feces, carcasses, and other evidence of infestation. We can also thoroughly clean and disinfect all affected surfaces and structures. These efforts will eliminate airflow obstructions, improve your IAQ, and protect the lifespan of all your heating and cooling equipment. This is especially true for HVAC pest infestations that involve insects and animals that are known to gnaw through or eat wiring insulation and other structural features.
4. Shared Components Need a Little Extra Care
If you have a condensing furnace, your heater likely shares a condensate drain with your air conditioner or heat pump. Even with regular use, these features can get clogged by fast-growing colonies of algae and bacteria. At winter’s end, condensate drains could be both malodorous and non-functional.
We’ll inspect, clean, disinfect, and deodorize your condensate drain pan, drain line, and drain. This will minimize the likelihood of drain overflows, pervasive indoor odors, and flooring damage. When you turn your AC or heat pump on for cooling, post-winter condensate drain maintenance will also prevent issues like short cycling, overheating, and excess indoor humidity.
5. Ensure Furnace Safety
If you have an older, gas-fired furnace that uses a pilot light for burner ignition, your heater poses the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) and natural gas leaks all of the time. Most HVAC companies recommend turning pilot lights off for summer. This eliminates their constant fuel use and makes their summertime dormancy much safer. It also eliminates the small but significant amount of heat that pilot lights continuously add to buildings just around furnace storage areas. During these visits, we’ll check the integrity of your gas line, test your CO alarms, and look for blocked or crushed venting systems. We can also safely shut your furnace down for the summer season.
You Could Experience a Late Winter Storm
In many areas, California weather is often unpredictable. Just as summer can hang around until late October or early November, spring could bring a surprising cold snap in late March or early April. Thus, although you might turn your heater off and start running your AC in mid-March, there’s still a good chance that you’ll need your heater from time to time. With a post-season tune-up, you can rest assured that your furnace’s venting system is working correctly and that all carbon monoxide and other gases are being routed outside.
6. Scheduling Post-Season Maintenance Can Be Both Easy and Inexpensive
Scheduling maintenance for your heater after winter has ended can be as easy as adding this service to your pre-season AC tune-up. You don’t need two separate appointments and you might not have to pay two separate charges. Many of the same features that we inspect and maintain during furnace tune-ups are checked during AC tune-ups as well, including:
- HVAC air ducts, vents, registers, and grilles
- Thermostats and thermostat location
- Condensate drains
- Exhaust vents
You can cut your spending even more by purchasing a preventative maintenance plan. Keep in mind that if you have a mini-split or heat pump that provides both heating and cooling, you will already be servicing both components during each maintenance visit.
How a Preventative Maintenance Plan Can Help You Save
Preventative maintenance plans help homeowners keep all of their HVAC equipment in optimal condition. With these plans, homeowners get two or more covered maintenance services each year, discounts on repairs and replacement parts, priority scheduling, and many other perks. As your heater ages, having one of these plans will allow you to have it serviced either once or twice annually without any significant, additional, out-of-pocket spending.
7. Some Heat Pumps Pull Double-Duty
If you own a heat pump and use this appliance for both winter heating and summer cooling, twice-annual maintenance may be recommended. Given that they work year-round, heat pumps never enjoy extended periods of dormancy, and they’re almost always sustaining new wear. This is commonly done during the more temperate seasons of spring or fall, when you may not need much help to keep your home at a comfortable temperature. Check with your HVAC professional to see whether your system willl be best served with semiannual or annual maintenance visits.
Proudly serving Victorville, CA since 2007, we offer exceptional air conditioning and heating maintenance, installation, and repairs. We also provide ductless mini-split systems, swamp coolers, and preventative maintenance plans. To schedule post-winter heating system maintenance, contact Aace's Heating, Air Conditioning & Swamp Coolers now.
