Annual Service – Furnace Maintenance
Annual Service on a Gas or Propane Furnace
Alpine Heating & Cooling is a service-based company, fully licensed and insured for just that. We started as a service company, not as a construction company. A lot of HVAC construction companies subsidize their income in the winter by practicing doing maintenance on your heating equipment. Your furnace can be a very dangerous piece of equipment. Please consider experience and qualifications as well as price when shopping for a heating system maintenance provider to perform your annual service work.
Why an Annual Service?
Maintaining your heating system is not only a matter of efficient and trouble-free operation, but also of safety. A properly serviced and safety-checked gas furnace can give you safe and trouble-free operation for the lifetime of your heating equipment.
Improperly maintained gas furnaces can be a fire and or carbon monoxide hazard and can be a serious health risk. Cracks or openings in the heat exchanger can leak carbon monoxide or allow flames, which are normally contained inside, to reach your living space, causing a dangerous and life-threatening condition.
A cracked heat exchanger can be caused by malfunctioning safety controls or other equipment failures. An annual service by a properly trained and licensed HVAC service professional can drastically reduce the chances of problems occurring.
Winter is a very busy time for professional heating and cooling contractors. Having a professional inspection and annual service performed on your furnace before the busy winter months will help keep your unit running properly, prevent delays in its repair, and keep you safe from harmful gases while reducing the danger of a fire.
An Annual Service Should Include The Following:
(All points may not apply on all equipment.)
- A Carbon Monoxide test – The most important test of all. Carbon monoxide is an odorless tasteless gas that can be lethal in small doses. Professional inspection and furnace maintenance should include a thorough inspection of the heat exchanger which contains the flames and carbon monoxide gases produced by the unit. The inspection or furnace maintenance should include an in depth analysis of the Carbon Monoxide or CO content of the combustion chamber and an adjustment or repair if necessary. It should also include an analysis of the draft of the flue pipe which carries the gases out of the house. Analysis MUST be done with a Carbon Monoxide detector and other qualified equipment by a trained technician to insure safe operation.
- Pull, inspect and clean the main burners.
- Make burner adjustments.
- Pull, inspect and clean the flame sensor.
A Professional HVAC Technician Performing an Annual Service
- Visual inspection of firing sequence.
- Pull, inspect, and adjust the pilot assembly.
- Pull and clean the thermocouple.
- Visual inspection of the ignitor.
- Check amp draw or OHMs of the ignitor.
- Test the fan limit switch or switches.
- Test the pressure switches.
- Inspect pressure switch hoses.
- Inspect and clean pressure port openings.
- Inspect the electrical wiring and connections.
- Inspect for gas leaks in and around unit.
- Test the gas manifold pressure (gas only).
- Inspect the heat exchanger.
- Test the fan motor and oil if needed.
- Examine the draft diverter or housing.
Furnace Air Filters Are Often Replaced During an Annual Service
- Test thermostat for proper operation.
- Adjust the heat anticipator if needed.
- Check, replace and adjust the fan belts.
- Check the temperature rise across the heat exchanger.
- Check the motor voltages and the amp draws.
- Lubricate the fan motors.
- Replace or clean the air filter(s)
- Cleaning the blower compartment.
- Run and check sequence of operation
Blower housing.
Even though cleaning the blower compartment is included in the furnace maintenance, removing and cleaning the blower housing and blower wheel is considered an extensive cleaning beyond the normal furnace maintenance. In some cases the existing venting and or combustion air system will need to be cut and removed to accomplish this task. After a thorough inspection of the blower housing the technician will determine if the blower housing and wheel shall be removed and cleaned. The cost will be determined by the difficulty of the task.