November 04, 2019
One of the questions our technicians are frequently asked is whether or not furnace maintenance is really worth it. Sure, the idea of maintenance is good for just about anything, but is it really worth the investment with only marginal improvements? As a homeowner, what do you really get out of a maintenance service?
For these customers, we like to recommend thinking of your furnace sort of like your car. As a car owner, you know you have to change your oil every few thousand miles to keep your engine healthy. You have to rotate your tires to keep their wear even and make them last as long as possible. You also have to check and replace brake pads, rotors, and other important safety devices when they wear out to the point where they’re no longer able to work properly.
Your furnace is not unlike your car in this way. Your furnace has moving parts that need to be lubricated, electrical components that need to be checked, and other important parts that need to be inspected for your system as a whole to operate properly. This is the type of service that annual furnace maintenance provides. And you and your home will benefit as a whole in many different ways, both in the immediate future and overall as time goes by.
Here are just a few of the most popular benefits of furnace maintenance, which also incidentally are some of the best reasons to make the investment in this valuable annual service.
Short Term Benefits
When people invest in maintenance, in many cases they’re the most interested in what they can expect to see right away. The good news is that furnace maintenance has a huge number of benefits that you can expect to see as soon as your service is completed. These benefits are some of the reasons why we strongly recommend having your furnace maintained every year, usually in the fall just as the heating season is about to begin.
- Better Energy Efficiency: Have you noticed that your gas mileage improves when you change your oil or get a tune-up for your car? Better-maintained machines use less energy: it’s that simple. When your furnace is well-maintained, your system won’t have to run as long, will be more effective when it does run, and will produce more heat with the energy it consumes.
- Better Carbon Footprint: If you have a gas-powered furnace, a well-maintained furnace burns less energy in order to heat your home. When your furnace burns less fuel, it produces less exhaust. When it produces less exhaust, that leads to a cleaner environment and atmosphere for everyone. If you have an electric-powered furnace, you’ll depend less on public utilities, which in turn also reduces your carbon footprint.
- Reduced Wear And Tear: As parts are continually used and then sit idle for months, they accumulate a good amount of wear and tear. That wear and tear contributes to both higher energy consumption and to declining condition. Eventually, this wear and tear can lead to everything from annoying breakdowns to total system replacement. With maintenance, you’ll avoid a good amount of this wear and tear and enjoy a reliable system.
- Fewer Costly Breakdowns: It’s freezing cold outside and you go to turn on your heat, only to find your furnace goes belly-up and quits on you the moment you start it up. Do you want to avoid this nightmare scenario? Tune-up and maintenance service can do just that. By maintaining and preparing your system for the heating season, your system will be ready to go when you need it.
- Lower Operating Costs: Maintenance saves you money. By making sure that your system uses as little energy as necessary, that parts work as they should, and that you are able to avoid costly breakdowns to the best of your ability, you’ll save a ton of money over the course of winter.
Long-Term Benefits
Your furnace will benefit from annual maintenance in long-term ways as well. In fact, these long-term benefits are even more valuable because they could have an even bigger overall impact on how well your furnace runs and how much it costs to do so. Here are some of the most prominent ones.
- Warranty Adherence: You’ve just bought a new furnace and you’re super excited about the fact that it has a warranty that lasts anywhere from seven to ten years. However, did you fully read through the terms of that warranty? Believe it or not, most modern furnace warranties require that you have your furnace maintained at least once per year in order for the warranty to remain valid. In this way, getting maintenance done actually protects your investment in your home comfort.
- Better Furnace Longevity: Your furnace should last you at least ten years, but almost nobody wants to have to make this kind of investment in their home every decade. Why not take proactive steps if they can extend your furnace’s life to 15 years, 20 years, or more? Getting your furnace maintained every year can do just that. You’ll enjoy a longer lifespan and a much greater value from your furnace.
Schedule a furnace tune-up service by calling the experts at EnviroSafe Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning, Water Treatment at (856) 208-5108 or contacting us online today.
