Getting To Know Your Home’s Heating System
Learn How to Care for the Equipment That Keeps You Comfortable
We may not have the worst winters in the northeast, but we get our share of Nor’easters, as well as bomb cyclones, polar vortexes, and all the other fancy weather terms for snow! That’s why your heating equipment is one of the most important systems in your home. While repairs are not a DYI project, it’s good to know the basics of how your furnace or boiler works—and taking good care of it can prevent those breakdowns from happening.
Boiler or Furnace: How Do They Work?
A furnace uses combustion to heat air and deliver it throughout your home via a system of ductwork. It also has a heat exchanger that warms incoming air, and a blower or air handler sends the heated air through the ducts to warm your rooms. Return ducts send cool air back down to your furnace to repeat the process.
A boiler uses combustion to heat water and then sends either steam or hot water through pipes to heat your home. One of the main differences is that a water boiler requires a pump to push the hot water through pipes, while steam does not.
Your thermostat tells your furnace or boiler when you need heat and when the set temperature is reached. Today’s furnaces and boilers include updated systems such as sophisticated heat exchangers, microprocessor-based controls, and high-pressure flame retention burners that all drastically improve efficiency and help keep your home more comfortable.
Available in gas-fired or oil-fired versions, they have minimum AFUE ratings of 80%, depending on the type of system—many are higher. All that technology helps you save money on heating bills, but you need to take care of it. The best way to do that is with good maintenance.
How Do I Take Care of My Furnace of Boiler?
Annual tune-ups are the key to keeping your heating equipment running properly. In addition to helping prevent breakdowns, regular maintenance by our trained pros helps ensure your system is running at peak efficiency. That means you’ll burn fuel more efficiently and keep heating costs down. Regular maintenance also extends the life of your equipment—an investment you don’t want to have to make again too soon.
Here’s what a typical heating system tune-up includes:
- Installing a new air filter, oil filter cartridge and burner nozzle
- Cleaning and checking electrodes and nozzle assembly
- Checking all controls
- Cleaning the combustion chamber
- Cleaning and inspecting the smoke pipe
- Testing and adjusting the oil burner for maximum efficiency
Annual tune-ups also protect your warranty. Most heating equipment warranties require routine professional service as a precondition; skip your tune-up and your manufacturer’s warranty could be voided, leaving you to pay out of pocket for expenses that would have been covered.
Tune-Up Time Is Any Time with Casey Energy!
There’s no wrong time for a tune-up. While the best time is spring or summer, when you can have your choice of appointments—though fall is very busy—and winter is less convenient, since we need to turn if off while we perform maintenance, you don’t want to put it off.
Contact the pros at Casey to schedule your tune-up today, and we’ll make sure your home is warm and comfortable and your system is operating trouble-free.