Why is it so important to get your furnace cleaned?

Getting your furnace cleaned can be an often over-looked area to improving safety and reducing your ever-increasing heating costs. Most homes will benefit greatly with a little bit of routine furnace cleaning maintenance to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

Every furnace out there produces an amount of Carbon Monoxide.

In an efficient and clean gas furnace, this is a small amount that is vented outside safely. A dirty and inefficient gas system can produce harmful or even deadly amounts of the colourless, odourless gas. CO can cause nausea, dizziness, disorientation, confusion and even death in large enough concentrations. If you exhibit any of these symptoms, and they vanish shortly after leaving your home, a carbon monoxide problem is likely. Open your windows, call us, and purchase a carbon monoxide detector.

Newer heating units have safety features that will shut down the system if a problem is detected. Older units have far fewer, or even no such safety shut-offs. The older your heating system is, the better off you’ll be having a competent HVAC service technician making sure it is running in peak condition. Cracks that develop in the combustion chamber over time and improper ventilation are the leading causes of high levels of carbon monoxide in the home, that is easily preventable with regular maintenance and professional furnace cleaning.

The excess carbon monoxide that is a huge danger is also a huge waste! The CO is the unburnt by-product of all that expensive natural gas. The more efficiently you are able to burn the gas, the more home heating you get for your hard earned cash. A dirty unit is a wasteful unit. An easy way for you or our technicians to determine if the furnace is dirty is by the presence of a yellow or orange flame. Your system should have a bright blue, stable flame.

If it's time to get your furnace cleaned? Don't wait, contact Expert-Vac Services in Regina today for a free quote.

Anomalies to Watch For 

Strange noises
If it sounds like it has a problem, chances are it has a problem. Chattering, snapping noises indicate an issue with the electrical. A loud banging or irregular huffs and puffs can signify a delayed ignition issue, while clunks and bumps could be a belt issue.

Dirty or dusty smell
If it smells like dust or dirt when you first turn up the heat, chances are it’s time to replace the filter. You should be able to do this yourself quite easily, and it’s a good idea to change your filter up to four times a year. If it ALWAYS smells it could be a more serious issue. If it smells like gas, stop reading this and get out immediately, and call your gas company.

Rust /Scale
Over time the burning of natural gas will react with water vapor and cause a small amount of rust build up. After a while, this scale can fall on the burners. This will cause both short and long term problems. In the short-term it will impede the flow of gas, causing the efficiency of the unit to plummet. In the long term, this can act as a sponge, harboring moisture, and fostering rust on a much larger scale within your furnace. 

Yellow Flames
As we stated before, your system should have a nice blue flame with just about no flickering. A yellow or orange flame indicates the presence of dirt in the burner, preventing it from mixing air and gas properly. Our techs will keep your heating system burning pure.