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Energy Adviser: Maintain heating system, or be left in cold

The Columbian
Published: November 11, 2010, 12:00am

I think my home is ready for winter weather, but should I do anything about the furnace?

Like your car, your home’s heating system needs attention occasionally to keep it running at top performance.

“Maintenance ensures you’re getting the most from the system,” said Tim Feuz, owner of MetFab Heating in Vancouver. “When it gets the coldest is when you need the most capacity from the heating system. If you haven’t done maintenance, you just won’t get that.”

What you can do

Regularly cleaning or changing filters on your forced-air heating system is probably the most important thing you can do.

“Dirty filters cause the furnace to run at higher temperatures, which is not good for anything mechanical,” Feuz said.

Keep heating registers open. “Closing too many registers causes lower air flow through the system. Older systems are not able to overcome the added resistance,” he said. “Never close more than one or two out of 10.”

What the pros can do

Feuz recommends having the heating system professionally maintained every two years.

“A lot of customers do it every year like clockwork, but I’d say at least every two years, particularly if we’ve had a hot summer or cold winter where the system had a lot of run time.”

A professional technician will test the safety controls on your heating system, check air controls and the air temperature difference entering and exiting the furnace, clean out traps, check how many amps of electricity the unit is drawing and do a light cleaning.

The technician also will check the flue and gas pressure on a gas furnace.

Heat pump servicing

Servicing a heat pump system should include checking the outdoor compressor, cleaning the indoor evaporator and condenser coil, verifying refrigerant levels and checking the defrost cycle, and again comparing the temperature difference between air going in and coming out. The technician should also do a maintenance check of the indoor system.

You should check around the outdoor unit to be sure it’s clear of leaves, boxes, old wood or other things that could block the flow of air.

Heating ducts

Unfortunately many residents do not think about checking the duct work associated with their heating system. Yet according to Energy Star, duct work can leak as much as 20 percent of a furnace’s heated air. If your duct work is in a crawl space or attic, that’s 20 cents of every dollar spent on heat that being wasted.

Ducts should be visually inspected and any breaks or separations sealed with mastic.

Act before it breaks

Remember, heating companies are busiest when the temperatures drop, meaning you may have to wait hours or even days in the cold for a service technician to arrive. It pays to do preventative maintenance early.

The Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities energy counselors, who provide conservation and energy use information to utility customers. Send questions to energyadviser@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, in care of Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA. 98668. Past topics are available at www.clarkpublicutilities.com.

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