Home maintenance is one of the biggest expenses homeowners face each year. In fact, most homeowners spend about $2,000 keeping their homes in good condition.
Proper maintenance may cost money, but it’s essential if you want to keep serious issues from happening in the first place.
While you know that fixing minor plumbing leaks or dealing with drafty windows is important, there are some tasks that most homeowners just let slip by the wayside.
Furnace maintenance is one of them. Unfortunately, neglecting a furnace tune-up is one of the worst things you can do for your home and your budget. Here are a few reasons you need to schedule your furnace maintenance this year.
1. Extends the Life of Your Furnace
Unfortunately, furnaces don’t last forever. With regular care and maintenance, they can last for 15 to 20 years. However, if your furnace doesn’t get regular tune-ups, that expected lifespan can decrease quickly.
Scheduling annual inspections and tune-ups will help keep your furnace working properly for as long as possible. This means you’ll be able to keep your unit for years without having to worry about paying for an expensive replacement.
Your technician will even be able to warn you when it’s time to start thinking about buying a replacement. This will help you budget for the cost and plan the purchase when it’s most convenient for your family.
2. Improves Energy Efficiency
Poorly maintained furnaces often need to run more often and burn more fuel to keep your home comfortable during the winter. This can have a huge impact on your monthly utility costs, making them go up significantly once the temperatures drop.
Regular tune-ups will help keep your system clean. This makes it easier for your home’s heating system to maximize the fuel it uses to put out as much heat as possible. Even better, it will have to run less often, saving you money every month.
3. Prevents Breakdowns and Emergency Repairs
No homeowner wants to wake up in the morning only to discover that their furnace isn’t working. You expect it to work flawlessly when you need it most.
If your furnace isn’t maintained properly, you’ll increase your risk of needing an emergency repair right in the middle of winter.
Regular tune-ups help you stay on top of minor repairs before they can cause catastrophic failure to the unit. Even better, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your furnace will work when you need it to.
4. Maintains the Unit’s Warranty
All furnaces come with a warranty from the manufacturer. This protects you from the cost of repairs or replacement if the furnace gets damaged by a fault in its design.
However, maintaining the warranty takes work. If you don’t schedule regular tune-ups with a licensed technician or try to make repairs on your own, you’ll void the warranty.
Once this happens, you’re liable for the full cost of any repairs, even if they’re caused by a fault with the unit itself.
Though you’ll pay for regular tune-ups, the cost is much lower than what you’d have to pay out-of-pocket to replace the furnace. You’ll save money in the long-run and be able to enjoy using your furnace for years to come.
5. Keeps You and Your Family Safe
Most furnaces rely on a steady supply of clean air to provide your home with the heat it needs. The system pulls air from outside your home and uses it to bring your home to the right temperature.
Before the air hits the system, it passes through a filter that catches debris like dust, pollen, and dirt. Over time, that filter can get clogged which then causes the furnace to work harder.
If left unaddressed, the furnace can overheat, putting your home at risk for gas leaks and fires.
Regular furnace tune-ups will help you keep those filters and the furnace itself as clean as possible.
6. Saves You Money and Time
When you schedule tune-ups, you can do it during the off-season. This means the technicians will have more available appointment times, making it easier for you to find a time that works with your schedule.
If you wait until the furnace breaks down, you may end up waiting longer than you’d like to get an appointment. This is because more people need their services than they do in the off-season.
Further, emergency appointments can end up costing you more than regular tune-ups ever will. It’s always cheaper to take care of a minor repair than it is to fix a broken unit.
Regular tune-ups will help keep maintenance issues from becoming major problems, saving you money in the long-run.
7. Keeps Your Air Clean
Your furnace’s air filter can only stop so much dust and debris from coming inside. When it gets dirty, some of that debris gets forced through your furnace and out into your home.
The dirtier things get, the more contaminants and allergens you’ll be breathing in.
By scheduling a tune-up once a year with your experienced HVAC technician, you’ll be able to keep your unit running cleanly. This will help you keep your indoor air quality higher throughout the colder months.
8. Helps Your Unit Provide Heat to the Whole House
As furnaces go longer between maintenance appointments, they start to become less efficient. While this can result in higher energy bills, it can also lead to poor heat distribution throughout your house.
Some rooms will be warm while others will stay cold no matter what the thermostat is set on.
Scheduling a regular tune-up will help you keep your home consistently warm and will help you avoid unexpected cold spots in your house.
Schedule a Furnace Tune-Up Today
If you can’t remember when you last scheduled a furnace tune-up with your HVAC contractor, don’t wait. Schedule an appointment as soon as possible.
The sooner you do, the easier it will be to keep minor issues from turning into major and costly problems.
If you’re ready to schedule a tune-up, contact our team today. We’ll help you keep your furnace in good condition for years to come.