Any responsible homeowner knows that the seasons’ changing means its time to complete some necessary home maintenance tasks. When it comes to your Dallas heating system, preparing for wintertime is a must. This preparation helps to ensure that you’ll have a toasty house to come home to each winter night without the worry of a system failure.
Change Your Air Filter
When you start preparing your heating system for winter, you’ll want to start with your air filter. This filter is a necessary component of your heating system that traps harmful pollutants and irritants in your air. Its job is to ensure that you and your family are breathing clean air inside of your home.
Each heating system will have its own filter size and recommendations. If you have trouble finding the filter size for your heating system or its location, one of our Dallas heating experts can assist you. If you forget to change out your air filter, it may become clogged with debris. This situation can make your HVAC system work much harder and lead to higher heating costs for you.
Prep Your Registers / Vents
There is a series of vents and registers throughout your home that allow for airflow throughout your heating system. You need to ensure these are all free from obstructions, such as furniture. Make sure that the grates are open on your registers so that the air can flow freely. It’s a great idea to take off the vent and register covers so that you can clean them off. While the covers are off, take advantage of your access to the ducting and give it a good cleaning too.
Cleaning out the ducting throughout your home can ensure that there is no nasty buildup of dirt and debris in your system. While it’s not necessary to have professional duct cleaning performed annually, you should be doing it every few years. It’s best to ask your service professional how often your individual system should be cleaned as your heating system use will determine your necessary cleaning frequency.
Test Your System
When preparing your heating system for the winter, you’ll want to test it out beforehand. Don’t be that homeowner that waits until the first freezing day of winter to turn on their heater system only to find out it isn’t working properly. Instead, take a half-hour and run your heating system at a higher temperature. Ensure that your system is producing an adequate amount of heat for your Dallas home. During this time, you should be checking every vent to ensure adequate heat is coming out.
Schedule A Professional Tune-Up
Just as you head to your dentist’s office each year to ensure your teeth are healthy and identify any problems before they turn into painful toothaches, you should be calling in a Dallas HVAC professional to tune-up your heating system. When preparing for winter, your HVAC professional can evaluate your heating system’s state and identify any wear and tear problems that should be addressed before using your system day in and day out throughout the winter months. They’ll also take care of lubing up your blower fans and other components to ensure they operate seamlessly this winter.
Chimney Cleaning
While many new heating systems in Dallas don’t utilize chimneys, many older ones do. If your Dallas home uses a chimney to vent out gas, then it’s time to schedule that annual chimney cleaning. This cleaning ensures there are no obstructions in your chimney, such as a bird nest, and there is no excess buildup that could result in a fire hazard.
Check Your Carbon Monoxide Detector
Your carbon monoxide detector should be considered a component of your heating system. It helps to alert you if there is a high level of carbon monoxide detected in your home. Push the test button on your detector to ensure it’s working properly. If not, put some fresh batteries in your unit and try again. Carbon monoxide can be very poisonous and result in death, so it’s essential you have a good alert system that works.
Clean Up Around Your Furnace
It can be very easy to set things on or around your furnace throughout the summertime because it’s not in use. When winter times rolls around, it’s time to clean up around your furnace and ensure a safe distance from any objects. This practice can drastically eliminate your fire hazard risk.
Prep Your Heating System with Strikeforce AC
As you can see, there are many small tasks that the average Dallas homeowner will need to undertake to ensure that their heating system is prepared for the winter months ahead. It would help if you considered performing these tasks as the fall season comes around so that you can have your system tested, properly maintained, and ready for full operation before the cold weather strikes. If you have any questions regarding these maintenance tasks, it’s best to contact your local HVAC professional for assistance. Our specialists at Strikeforce AC, for example, are available to conduct maintenance, repairs, and system replacements for you as you get prepared for the Dallas winter. If you need any kind of assistance with your heating system, contact our HVAC experts today!