If you've been diligent, you've been keeping your furnace free of dust the last few months – both dusting it with your trusty feather duster and vacuuming around it.

Now, when you stop laughing, you'll let Experts in Your Home explain why you should schedule your fall furnace inspection and tune-up – and why you should do so before you fire up that dusty metal contraption for the first time this season.

A Home Heating System Tune-Up is Really no Laughing Matter

We're idealists when it comes to home heating and furnace maintenance, but we're also realists. We know that for most homeowners, when a furnace is out of sight, it also is out of mind. This means that while your air conditioner has been working hard to keep you cool the last few months, your furnace has been sitting there quietly, lapping up dust and dirt.

And this is precisely the problem: Dust, dirt and grime form the single biggest threat to your furnace, undermining if not choking its ability to run smoothly and efficiently. Just as we have seen furnaces falter and fail well before their time because of poor maintenance, we've seen plenty of furnace defy the odds because of superior maintenance.

Let Our Heating System Experts Attack that Dirt – As a Start

Experts in Your Home wants all of our customers to join the ranks of the latter group. So when you call us to schedule a fall tune-up, we will begin by thoroughly cleaning your furnace's components. A clean furnace – like a clean car engine – will even sound better as it runs. At the same time, we follow recommendations by the U.S. Department of Energy and:

• Inspect your entire home heating system, from the thermostat on the wall to the all-important heat exchanger
• Change the air filter (your furnace's dust collector), if necessary
• Lubricate all the moving parts
• Test the condition and tension of the fan belt
• Set the burners for proper ignition and combustion
• Measure the voltage
• Tighten the electrical connections
• Inspect the condensate drain, chimney and flue
• Conduct a carbon monoxide test

Add Up the Benefits of an Expert Home Heating System Tune-Up

Once your furnace is tuned up, you can breathe easier on five fronts in particular, knowing that:

• Your furnace –a fossil fuel-burning piece of equipment – is safe to operate. Every gas furnace – just like every gas stove – emits a small amount of carbon monoxide. But potentially toxic levels can stream from a furnace with a cracked heat exchanger, which also poses a fire threat.
• Your furnace is far less likely to break down unexpectedly, when you need it most. Blame the influence of dust and dirt again. In fact, a Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service study found that nine out of 10 furnaces (and air conditioners) fail because of dirt and dust buildup.
• Your furnace won't be able to “hide” minor problems. A furnace tune-up provides an excellent opportunity for our furnace technicians to spot minor problems and fix them – before they careen out of control.
• Your furnace should cost less money to run, just like a recently tuned-up car costs less money to run because it consumes less gas. If you're like most American homeowners, you prize warmth and have the energy bill to prove it, with home heating representing a full 30 percent of the bill. A tune-up helps keeps those bills in check.
• Your furnace is likely to last longer. Most furnace manufacturers project lifespans of between 15 and 20 years – provided that good maintenance procedures are followed. A yearly tune-up is always one of those recommended procedures.

Contact Our Home Heating Experts Today!

Now that it's fall, you can put down your furnace feather duster. But for all the right reasons, be certain to pick up the phone to schedule a home heating system tune-up with Experts in Your Home instead.