Hello, We've purchased a home 3 1/2 years ago, but haven't done any maintenance/cleaning of the electric furnace. This furnace sits in the attic above the second story.
The house is about 7 years old, and we don't know if previous owner did any maint work.
needed and beneficial ?
Thanks!
In this case I would suggest calling our a professional HVAC tech and have them check it out and perform any needed maintenance. The advantage is they are far more likely to spot a potential problem or safety issue than you would be doing the maintenance. The only trick is to find a good one. Ask neighbors and friends. Good Luck
One thing you can do: change filters regularly (find out what size you need, and what types of filters are available, maybe from service tech.) Such filters clog quickly, and reduce efficiency. Yours is probably pretty hairy.
You wouldn't believe what the previous owner of my house did with the filter in the gas furnace. Jammed in a folded oversized filter, one time, and walked. Thus the quip about "hairy"- someoned had a dog, too. Dunno about yours.
HTH, J
I put in the filters about every 3 mos or so.
do you have the technicians do any specific cleaning when they come out for an inspection?
I have a gas furnace.
snipped-for-privacy@sme-> > Correction - it's not an electric heater, but rather a gas heater.
If they're traditional thin paper filters, the recommended change frequency on those cheap little babies is once a month, for what it's worth.
A typical seasonal gas furnace service for my 15-20 year old furnace always seemed to involve them pulling all the burners and cleaning them, and then doing a visual mirror inspection of the heat exchanger, checking CO levels wihle the unit was up and running, perhaps checking to verify that temperature rise is within spec, adjusting burner manifolds for clean flame. While they're out there, may as well toss another $10-$20 at them to replace the thermocouple preventively if you stil have a piloted furnace, unless you are comfortable changing those yourself when the need arises.
The last time they were sufficiently concerned about rust to pull the blower and do an extended test of the heat exchanger using a water solution, but I have my reservations about the validity of that test. But all the same, on the weight of efficiency gains alone and another issue with teh furnace preventing the pilot from staying lit I went ahead and replaced mine at the 15yr mark.
Several home inspectors seem to recommend annual service for any furnace over 10 years in age.
Best Regards,
-- Todd H.
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