Parents try to impart all kinds of worldly lessons to their children: Wear that itchy scarf so you don't catch a cold. Keep that case on your cell phone to protect it from accidental drops and damage. Study for a final exam a little each day rather than cram like mad one long night.
Good advice? All of it. Making small investments in the short term almost always pays off in the long term. Put another way, it's called insurance.
Such insurance also applies to heating repair service. Scheduling a yearly tune-up with Experts In Your Home costs you a little money upfront – and maybe a little discomfort, like that itchy scarf – but it will save you big money in the long run. Consider these four compelling reasons – all forms of insurance in the investment you've made in your heating system:
- An annual tune-up is your best insurance against malfunctions and breakdowns. Dust, dirt and especially grime are the biggest enemies of your furnace. Just as your car runs cleaner and more efficiently after a tune-up, a furnace tune-up will help ensure that your furnace does not fight impediments that can press the “brake” on its performance and cause it to falter.
Cleaning and lubricating the moving parts of your furnace plays a big part in an Experts In Your Home furnace tune-up. But there's a lot more involved because our technicians follow the recommendations of the U.S. Department of Energy as they:
- Inspect the entire heating system, from the heat exchanger to the thermostat
- Set the burners for proper combustion and ignition
- Tighten the electrical connections and measuring the voltage
- Inspect the condensate drain, chimney and flue
- Survey the condition and tension of the fan belt
- Conduct a carbon monoxide test
- An annual tune-up is your best insurance against major repairs. If you've ever gone too long between oil changes – only to be told that you were 1 quart of oil away from engine failure – then you can appreciate that your furnace needs the same kind of regular maintenance to prevent a major and expensive repair. It's a rare heating repair service call during which an Experts heating technician doesn't make some small mechanical adjustment or make some recommendation that doesn't provide insurance against a looming and larger repair. Many times, it comes down to a reminder to check the filter once month and replace it when it becomes clogged with dust and dirt. These impediments slow down a furnace's operating power and, in the worst cases, can damage the components and cause it to shut down.
- An annual tune-up is your best insurance against unwieldy energy bills. You can't set your gas rates, and you can't do much to change the fact that about 30 percent of your energy bill goes to heating your home (at least according to the department of energy). But you can ensure that once you set your thermostat at a certain temperature, your furnace doesn't run any longer than it has to to reach that setting. An annual tune-up keeps your furnace in peak operating condition so that it runs more efficiently and saves you money, both in the short and long term.
- An annual tune-up is your best insurance to extend your furnace's lifespan. Every mechanical product has a lifespan, and your furnace's lifespan is between 15 and 20 years. Experts In Your Home technicians have encountered many furnaces that flounder at the 10-year mark and some that defy the odds and last 25 years. The difference always comes down to how vigilant homeowners were about annual tune-ups, and that's a forecast you can take to the bank – so you don't have to go to the bank to withdraw money for a new furnace.
Many kids favor the expression “pay it forward,” and that's good advice that applies to furnaces, too. You can do far more than bridge the generation gap by scheduling an annual furnace tune-up with Experts In Your Home; you can save money in the long run, too.
