We live in Michigan, and chances are your furnace will be working overtime each and every winter. Keeping it in tip top shape just got easier with these four steps thanks to our friends at www.RepairClinic.com.
"We would have ducts throughout the basement for both the heated air going out to the home and the return air going back,” said Chris Zeisler with RepairClinic.Com. “A lot of times there'll be seams where they're joined together. A good thing to do these days is to foil tape them."
An easy place to start is with the ducts in your home. Check your ducts to make sure there are no air leaks. You can foil tape them yourself or hire someone to do it for you. Next you'll want to run your furnace and monitor its performance.
"Be aware,” said Zeisler. “Make sure everything is in good shape. Look for rust look for corrosion. That could indicate problems with moisture with the furnace causing a problem and if you do see anything that you don't like it's really important to call the professionals out to take a look."
Your home should also have working carbon monoxide detectors. One in each bedroom, each floor and near the furnace itself. They cost around $20 on average.
Keep all chemicals and other flammable materials three feet or more from furnace.
"This would be a gas furnace so you have a gas burner in here so you wouldn't want any flammables anywhere near this where you could have a paint can or turpentine and potentially that could be leaking so fumes get in the furnace area and start a fire," said Zeisler.
For more furnace tune-up tips, click here.