Does Your Furnace Need a Good Cleaning?
We get a lot of the same questions from families from Hamilton to Cambridge, and we want everybody to feel comfortable in their knowledge of home comfort appliances before buying any equipment or signing up for ongoing service.
When you learn more about the HVAC equipment and service we provide, we’re certain you’ll be happy with the value you get working with Comfort Plus ClimateCare.
So what do you want to know?
Should I get my furnace cleaned?
You’re really asking two questions here:
And the answer to both is yes.
Your duct work accumulates all kinds of dust, fluff, pet hair, human hair and more (just have a look in the ducts leading up from the floor of your kitchen). This causes 2 things.
- Your furnace works harder to move air around the house, making it less efficient.
- Your family breathes in the dust, pet dander and traces of other pollutants as the air becomes more saturated with them.
When we clean your ducts, we take care of both issues.
Replacing your furnace filter is also an important chore for the same reasons. It collects gunk, which blocks the airflow and floats toward your lungs whenever you’re in the house.
It’s a good idea to have a professional contractor look at your ducts and furnace every year.
If you subscribe to a We Care Maintenance Plan your service is already scheduled and you don’t have anything to worry about.
Furnace oil and diesel. The same thing?
Sort of.
Furnace oil is a generic name for fuel your furnace can burn. Fuel like kerosene qualifies, and so does on road and off road diesel.
But before you even consider an alternative to the furnace oil you are used to, give us a call to talk about it. We want you to be sure you’re doing the right thing.
Is my furnace filter recyclable?
Do you mean recyclable or reusable?
If you want to put it in your recycling bin for the city to take away – no. Put it in the garbage.
If you want to rinse the buildup off and put it back in your furnace to use again – yes. Not indefinitely, but you can certainly wipe down the dust deposits 2 or 3 times before buying a new one completely.
After a few cleanings the surface of the air filter degrades to the point of ineffectiveness, so just don’t try to keep the same one for more than a year.
Is it advisable to leave my furnace fan running all the time?
It sure is.
The furnace fan moves air through your home, and moving air is always better quality than stagnant air.
Moist, stagnant air condenses on windows and along walls in your home, damaging window components and causing mould on your drywall or other interior surfaces. If you are a fan-off kind of person and start noticing paint cracking off or wallpaper sagging, it’s probably too late.
The cost of running your fan constantly is probably less than $5 a month, and it saves potentially thousands of $$$ in renovations should mould develop anywhere in the house.
Still have unanswered questions? Give us a call. We want you to be in complete control of your home comfort, and we have the tools to make it so.
