When the winter chill sets in, the last thing you want is for your furnace to falter. But, like any essential home appliance, furnaces don’t last forever. Recognizing early warning signs can prevent unexpected breakdowns, help you avoid costly repairs, and keep your family warm. Here’s how to know when it’s time to call for help.
As the cold winter months approach, your heater becomes one of the most vital appliances in your home. Ensuring it functions optimally can make a significant difference in both comfort and energy bills. However, many homeowners neglect their heating systems until something goes wrong. By the time the heater shows significant signs of trouble, a simple maintenance issue can turn into an expensive repair or replacement. If you’re wondering whether it’s time to schedule heater maintenance in Brighton, MI, here are some clear signs that you shouldn’t ignore.
As winter starts to head toward its end, many homeowners may notice an unexpected spike in their heating bills. After the previous months with a steady monthly utility bill, this sudden change can feel disconcerting. Some people might just ignore it, but we’re glad you’ve taken the time to seek some information about this switch in your heating bills.
In this blog, we’ll explore the reasons why your heater might be costing more to run at the end of winter, shedding light on common issues. We’re the HVAC company in Brighton, MI you can count on for any service that will get your heater back in the best shape.
One of the last bills you ever expect is a repair call for your heater, especially because we all know there’s no way to properly plan for the amount you’ll hear from the technician that shows up. There’s so many problems that could happen and so many components in your heating system that it’s hard to project, so the next best thing? Prevent as many problems as possible from occurring in the first place.
Through providing heating repair in Brighton, MI, we’ve seen just about every heating problem you can imagine. We’re confident that we can not only help you with your current heating problems, but help you learn how to prevent future ones, and that starts right now.
If you looked at your heating bills during the previous winter and wondered why they seemed higher than normal, this post can help. We know you probably spent more time in your home last winter than usual (pretty much everyone did), so that will account for some of the increase in how much you paid for heat. But if you factor out that, as well as any rise in energy costs, and the price still seems too steep, then there are several steps you can take.
Fall started officially on the 22nd of September, but most people think of the season starting after Labor Day, or when the calendar leaf flips over to September. Now it’s almost October and the reality of fall (and a certain even colder season that follows it) will strike homeowners. They’ll start making cold weather preparations. One of the most important preparations is arranging for professional HVAC technicians to do a maintenance inspection and tune-up on their heating system.
We can’t overestimate the importance of annual fall heating maintenance. It helps home heating systems work at high energy efficiency with little chance of repairs cropping up. The peace of mind that comes along with heating maintenance is worth the cost alone.
Although you can have heating maintenance done anytime in the fall, or even during early winter, we urge you to have it scheduled as soon as possible. Or just “now.” Why?
When we talk about regular heating maintenance, we often call it “fall heating maintenance.” That’s because this is the typical time when people arrange to have it done. Heating maintenance done during autumn has the advantage of giving homeowners time to arrange for any repairs the technicians may uncover during inspections and ensures the heater is in the best condition just before it will be needed the most.
This, however, doesn’t mean that once fall is over that maintenance has passed it’s “expiration date.” We need to emphasize this: There is no expiration date for professional heating maintenance. A residential heating system requires maintenance once a year, and doing it later is far, far better than skipping it. And it is especially true for a gas furnace.
In short: No, it’s not too late to have maintenance for your furnace in Brighton, MI.
The fall brings relief from the heat and a time to prepare for the cold of the winter. It’s when our technicians get busy taking care of the heating system maintenance our customers need to make sure their home’s heater is in the right shape for problem-free comfort through the end of the year and the beginning of the next.
It’s also the season when homeowners still need to be aware of when they need air conditioning repair in Brighton, MI. It’s far too easy to brush off any lingering AC problem when the weather is close to making a hard right turn into colder temperatures. But please don’t ignore any air conditioning trouble you notice during this time. You don’t want any repairs left undone before you shut down your air conditioner for its hibernation period.
September, when summer officially ends and autumn begins. We know it’s hard to say goodbye to summer weather, although fall has its joys. To get the most from the fall and ensure you enjoy a comfortable and worry-free winter, you need to ensure your heating system is ready to get back to work.
In other words, it’s time to schedule regular fall maintenance for your heating system.
Yes, this is another item on an already busy fall “to do” list. But it’s an important one. Please don’t decide you can sit out maintenance this year because the heater is “doing fine.” Skipping maintenance for even a single year has consequences, and if you skip it once, you’re more likely to skip it again in the future. (You know it’s true.)
At First Choice, we like to help our customers save money with their heating and cooling systems. Our summers and winters can force HVAC systems to put in an immense amount of work, which can make for steep utility bills. But there are many ways to cut down on energy costs, and one of them is partially or completely shutting down your home’s furnace during the summer.
