10 Items on a Pros Inspection Check List
What exactly is a furnace technician really inspecting?
Owning a furnace is sort of like owning a car. While we enjoy the many benefits of ownership, most of us don’t really have a clue exactly how our furnace works. By extension, we also don’t know what an HVAC technician is up to when servicing it.
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Yet a furnace is usually the most expensive piece of equipment in a home, and it goes without saying that it should be serviced regularly. Not only should we be calling in a qualified technician for an annual maintenance check, we should also, at the very least, have some idea of what that technician does.
A qualified service technician can quickly and conveniently inspect a home’s heating system, making sure it’s both safe and ready for the cooler winter months. Inspections performed by a licensed technician may include some or all of the following:
- A safety test for carbon monoxide (CO);
- Checking for hazardous debris in the chimney and flue;
- Cleaning air filters and/or re-installing them;
- Checking the operation of thermostat and safety controls;
- Checking the gas pilot safety system and cleaning it when required;
- Cleaning the motor and fan;
- Checking the blower operation;
- Checking the condition, tension and alignment of the fan belt and performing required adjustments on older systems;
- Cleaning burners and setting them for proper combustion and ignition; and
- Checking the gas piping to the furnace.
It’s a fairly extensive list, and so it should be given the important job a furnace performs in your home.
When it comes to heating your home, annual maintenance checks are always in order. An ounce of prevention, as they say, is worth a pound of cure.
Learn more and locate a qualified contractor to service your air ducts and furnace system by going to the Heating, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) Contractor Locator page, or calling 1-877-467-HRAI (4724). All HRAI member contractors have been pre-screened and have the required trade licences, technical certifications and insurance coverage to service on your system.
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