Throughout the year, it's easy to forget your heating and air system unless you are having issues. You come home and your house is as warm or as cool as you expect it to be so the idea of something going wrong isn't there until it happens. Doing some home maintenance as well as scheduling us come out to service your unit at least twice a year will help to keep problems from surfacing.
So what can you do for your unit?
1. The first steps you can take and do yourself is knowing the age of your unit, and purchasing a carbon monoxide detector. If your heating or air conditioning unit is over 10 years old or very close to it, having a carbon monoxide detector is a great step to take to keep your family safe.
Leaking furnaces or boilers are one of the most common causes of deadly carbon monoxide poisoning— every year without fail.
Each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning not linked to fires, more than 20,000 visit the emergency room, and more than 4,000 are hospitalized, according to the CDC.
2. After having your carbon monoxide detector in place, check your air filters. We suggest checking your filters at least once a month and changing them every three months. Your heating and air unit can't breathe if your filter is clogged and that keeps it from working efficiently. We are not saying to change them if they have a spec of dust, but use good judgement and don't wait until the dirt has saturated the filter like below. If you hold your filter up to the light and can't see through, it definitely needs to be changed. Notice the difference between a new filter and one saturated with dirt. The dirty filter came out of a house that we recently were called to service!
Make sure to buy good pleated filters. Cheap filters are cheap for a reason and don't filter out what you want them to which can increase pollutants/airborne illnesses in your home. We do not recommend the high allergy filters (or really thick filters) as they are extremely restrictive and can cause air-flow issues with your system.
B&L stocks excellent filters for your home at a reasonable price. Visit us anytime during our office hours to grab your new filter.
3. Routine maintenance is a great way to stay ahead of problems in your unit. We suggest getting your unit check before each of the seasons, but especially before summer and winter. Getting your unit serviced is a great chance to find leaks and other possible problems. You don't drive your car without tune-ups and expect it to run without problems. Your heating and air unit is the same way. Routine maintenance can make sure your unit runs at its top efficiency and saves you money in the long run!