In Ottawa furnaces work very hard over the winter months. Ottawa has quite the extreme when it comes to temperature variations throughout the year. Our cold winters require a reliable furnace to ensure that we keep warm through the colder months. A furnace that stops operating for even a few hours can have a devastating effect on our home. For example, pipes can freeze quickly resulting in hidden leaks and flooding. At AirZone, we want to ensure that your furnace is operating at its best. That is why we offer annual maintenance and protection packages to ensure you stay warm and don’t have to deal with the inconvenience of an inoperable furnace.
Furnace Maintenance Tips:
There are quite a few things that you can yourself to make sure your furnace is running at it’s best. The most important thing an Ottawa homeowner can do is to regularly change their furnace filter. Think about what happens when you have a clogged furnace filter. The furnace has to work much harder to push the air through a dirty filter. This results in a decrease in furnace efficiency resulting in a higher utility bill. A dirty furnace filter will also reduce the lifespan of a furnace because the parts wear out faster when they are working harder. By simply changing a furnace filter every month or two, you will be keeping dirt out of your unit, increasing efficiency, and extending the lifespan of your furnace.
Another tip for furnace maintenance is to clean the blower along with any belts and pulleys. A clean furnace will benefit from all of the points mentioned above. Make sure that if you are doing this yourself that you are comfortable working on a furnace and have turned the power off! Keep in mind that it is always dangerous working on a unit such as a furnace.
Are you experiencing a lower than expected temperature in your home? Often older thermostats in Ottawa are not working correctly. If you have an older thermostat make sure to check it’s operation. For example, if it is displaying a higher temperature than you are experiencing in your home you may want to replace it. There are a number of new smart thermostats on the market today including our very popular products from Nest and Ecobee. These thermostats offer many benefits including adjusting the temperature from your smartphone, vacation scheduling, and auto away settings for increased efficiency.
Do you have any exposed ducts in your home? Check around you furnace while it is running for any air leaks. A common sign of a leaky duct is a furnace room that is extremely warm due to leaked air.
By properly cleaning your furnace and replacing your filter you will also experience less airborne particulates. This is very important for people with allergies who need to ensure a higher indoor air quality.
Annual Maintenance Versus Protection Packages
A lot of customers ask us what the difference is between our annual maintenance service and our protection packages. The simple answer is that our protection packages include annual maintenance along with a number of other benefits. By signing up for a protection package you will book your first annual maintenance visit. We will come out and perform this initial service for one low price, and then you will be billed each month for the protection package. Note that on your second annual maintenance visit there will be no additional charge since the payments will already have been made throughout the year.
The advantage to having a protection package for your Ottawa furnace is that you don’t have to worry about booking your maintenance (or forgetting about it). You will also receive a number of additional benefits including priority emergency service, discounts on parts and labour (relative to the PP package), and a discount on scheduled service. Also, by paying a low monthly fee, you will be splitting up your payments so that you are not left with a high bill once a year. You will also be ensuring that your furnace is running efficiently and correctly. Our technicians are trained to spot issues before they affect the homeowner. This can avoid the dreaded red tag and our customers being without heat in their home.
Furnace Maintenance Ottawa (& The Valley)
For more information about our annual furnace maintenance and protection packages, please click on the link above.
