Establishing a Furnace Maintenance Schedule

2/4/2019 (Permalink)

Keep maintenance to your furnace

As the weather starts getting colder, you will probably start wanting to switch from air conditioning to the heater in your home. To ensure that you can do so safely, however, you need to perform preventative maintenance on your furnace before you use it as well as having it professionally inspected at the end of the cold season. Fire cleaning experts recommend the following steps to get your furnace ready for regular use.

Clean

The first thing you want to do is to make sure your furnace and all its components are free of dust, which can ignite a fire when the heat is turned on and leave you looking for smoke cleaning services. The three main components to clean are:

• Filter
  
• Motor
  
• Blower

Check the filter to see if it is clean. If not, change it. In fact, it’s a good idea to change the filter every month when the furnace is running continuously. Inspect each component inside and remove dust with a toothbrush or some other fine-toothed cleaning apparatus.

Repair

The need for fire cleaning can be avoided if you schedule any necessary repairs before turning the heater on. For example, if the belts look brittle or torn, they need to be replaced. Both the blower and the motor have belts, and all of them need to be strong for the furnace to work properly.

Lubricate

Many furnace motors are sealed by the manufacturer with the necessary lubrication already included. Some, however, have oil ports, and these motors require the occasional addition of lubricant. It doesn’t take a lot of motor oil to keep the furnace running smoothly. Just add a couple of drops to each port, and that should do the trick. A well-oiled motor is a happy motor that keeps your furnace operating efficiently throughout the colder months.

It’s smart to check your furnace before its first use of the year and after its last use. It is easier to keep it clean and well lubricated with intact parts than it is to hire fire cleaning experts in Tulsa, OK, when dust and grime cause sparks.