As the year winds down and you’re preparing for the holidays, it’s important to ensure your HVAC system gets some attention, too. Consider the following checklist of simple tasks to keep your system running well through the winter and maintaining its efficiency.
Change Your Furnace Filter
Furnace filters keep airborne contaminants out of your HVAC system. Over time, the filter will clog and restrict airflow, adding strain and wear to the system. To prevent this, plan to change your filter as the seasons change. Also, check it monthly to catch a dirty filter before it can strain your system. This is often every 30 to 90 days for smaller 1- and 2-inch models while thicker fillers may last several months, and the largest may last as long as a year.
Check and Clean Condensate Drain
The condensate drain clears water that your system condenses from the air away from your HVAC system. This drain can clog over time with mildew, dirt and metal particles from within your system. When this clogs, it can cause the system to shut down to prevent water damage to the area around the system.
Open and Clear Supply Vents
Your supply vents not only deliver conditioned air throughout your home but are also crucial to circulate that air. The system creates high air pressure at the supply vents and low air pressure at the return vents, causing the air to move to equalize the pressure. To ensure your system is moving the conditioned air properly, make sure all of your supply vents are open. Additionally, make sure that each at least 6 inches above and around each vent is clear to allow air to move effectively.
Prep Your Ceiling Fans
Your ceiling fans help push down heated air from near the ceiling to where you’ll feel it over the colder months. To prepare your ceiling fans, shut them off and clean the fans of any dust. After that, change the switch position on the side of the fan body to change the direction that the fan spins. Over the winter, a ceiling fan should rotate clockwise on low.
Clear Around Your Outside Compressor Unit
Whether you have a heat pump or a furnace, it’s a great idea to clear your outdoor unit before winter hits. The unit needs to draw air, so anything obstructing airflow will reduce its effectiveness. Industry professionals recommend keeping at least 2 feet around the unit clear of grass, weeds, tree branches, or brush. Keep 5 feet above the unit free so that it can vent heat freely.
Gently Clean the Compressor Unit
Once you clear the area around the unit, gently clean the exterior of the unit and the visible coils. To do this, simply use water from the garden hose without a nozzle to prevent damaging the coil fins. You don’t need to use a detergent or a solvent to remove dirt or other contaminants that can further restrict airflow.
Have Your Ducts Inspected, Sealed and Cleaned
Your ducts transport conditioned air throughout your home. However, when they have leaks or get clogged, your HVAC system’s efficiency tanks along with your home’s comfort. Industry professionals recommend having your ducts inspected annually but need sealing and cleaning only every three to five years.
Change Thermostat Batteries
Most thermostats have batteries that act as a backup power source when the wired power supply is interrupted, preserving your settings. These batteries do not last forever, and it’s best to change them before they die and you lose your settings. Experts recommend changing them once or twice a year, which also prevents them from corroding in your thermostat. Replace them with the same size and only use disposable alkaline batteries because rechargeable ones are unreliable.
Schedule Fall HVAC Maintenance
You can get HVAC maintenance anytime throughout the year, but fall is a perfect time between the summer heat and the winter cool-down. Professional maintenance prevents mid-season breakdowns and keeps your system running efficiently.
Visual Inspection
A maintenance visit usually starts with a visual inspection of the exterior of the unit. They are looking for signs of corrosion on the housing, which usually indicates additional corrosion inside the system. They’ll also inspect the coils for a heat pump and the heat exchanger if you have a furnace or dual-fuel system. Cracked heat changers are a leading cause of residential carbon monoxide exposure. Corrosion on the coils can lead to refrigerant leaks that cause frozen coils and strain on the compressor.
Deep Cleaning
After the visual inspection, they’ll conduct a deep cleaning of the system to ensure that it operates at peak efficiency. The cleaning for heat pumps includes the inside refrigerant coil and the circulating fan wheel. Furnaces are a little more expensive, including the heat exchanger, the burner, the flame sensor, the high limit switch, and the circulating fan wheel.
Tighten Electrical Connection and Mounting Hardware
Every HVAC system vibrates as it runs, loosening electrical connections and mounting hardware. Loose electrical connections increase resistance, generating excessive heat and increasing electricity consumption. Loose mounting hardware allows excessive movement of the components, like the circulating fan motor or the heat pump compressor. This excess movement wears the system, increasing the number and frequency of repairs and shortening the system’s lifespan. An experienced technician will check and tighten all of these.
Thorough Testing
The last part of professional maintenance is thorough testing of the system. This includes testing a heating cycle, checking the temperature rise, and ensuring that the system activates properly. They’ll also test individual components to ensure they are working within optimal parameters. This may include the circulating fan motor, capacitors, contactors, and safety switches. The goal of the testing is to find small problems before they cascade into larger issues that result in noticeable performance issues.
Have Small Issues Resolved
It’s tempting to ignore small issues, hoping they’ll eventually go away, but that isn’t how mechanical systems work. Rather, small issues strain the rest of the system, increasing wear and the risk of other components failing. Whether you’ve noticed small problems or a technician discovered them during routine maintenance, take care of them before the colder weather settles in and adds even more strain to the system. If you’ve noticed small performance issues, always start with the simplest solutions, like checking your air filter and making sure your vents are open and clear. Dealing with issues while they are small can help control your repair costs and extend your system’s lifespan.
Contact Us Today
For more than 20 years, people around San Marcos have turned to We Care Plumbing, Heating, & Air to keep their homes comfortable and their plumbing flowing. Our award-winning team provides AC and heating maintenance, repair, and installation along with indoor air quality solutions like air filtration, duct cleaning, and humidity control and a wide range of residential plumbing, including water heaters, showers, toilets, septic, water treatment, and drain repair services.
Call to schedule a fall maintenance visit with one of our NATE-certified technicians today.
