The comfort of your home during the winter months depends on how well you maintain your heating system. To ensure your furnace functions properly, it is important to perform annual maintenance. The experts at York® Heating and Cooling offer these tips:
- Have your furnace inspected once a year for leaks in the heat exchanger, soot, rust, corroded contacts and proper operation.
- Preventative maintenance is more cost effective than waiting for something to go wrong, so have both the heating and cooling unit checked annually. The many parts of a furnace all have to work properly for it to run efficiently.
- Oil-fired furnaces need annual clean-ups. Homeowners should have their gas-fired furnace cleaned every other year.
- It is important to look at the thermostat wire entry point. It needs to be caulked so a draft won't trick the thermostat into thinking the room is warmer or colder than it really is.
- Homeowners can save money on energy bills with an energy efficient furnace. The government's minimum energy standard for a furnace is 80 percent AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency).
- Inspect your furnace to prevent air stratification.
Air stratification happens in your home when warm air rises and becomes trapped in a room's ceiling. The Affinity™ V Series furnaces from York prevent this from happening with an Electronically Commutated Motor (ECM). The ECM circulates air for longer periods of time and at a fraction of the cost of a standard blower motor, which reduces air stratification and makes a home more comfortable.
Above all else, your furnace should provide comfort. Unlike other units, the Affinity furnace offers ClimaTraK™ technology, which lets installers customize the operating cycle for the ECM that works best in a particular homeowner's climate.