Name: Bounds Heating & Air
Address: 25645 West, Newberry Road, Newberry, FL, 32669
Telephone: 352-472-2761

Yes, You Still Need to Tune Up Your Furnace In Florida: Here’s Why

Down in Florida, we typically find ourselves relying on our air conditioners much more than our furnaces. That being said, even if you don’t run your furnace that often, it’s still important to keep up with its routine preventative maintenance.

WHY IS FURNACE MAINTENANCE IMPORTANT?

Preventative maintenance for your furnace is important for three main reasons:

1. Routine maintenance makes your furnace safer.

This is especially true if you own a gas- or oil-burning furnace. These types of furnaces burn fuel to produce heat. That process of burning fuel (combustion) produces some toxic flue gases, such as carbon monoxide.

During a routine maintenance appointment, a technician will check your furnace to make sure that those toxic flue gases are being safely vented outdoors and are not mixing with your indoor air. The technician will also inspect your furnace for any fuel leaks that could create a fire hazard.

2. Maintenance helps reduce wear and tear on your furnace.

Even a correctly installed, well-built furnace needs to be serviced and adjusted every so often. As the machinery whirs and runs, parts can lose lubrication, move out of alignment, or loosen.

That type of wear and tear makes your furnace a less effective machine, and it will end up working harder to compensate for its declining performance. The harder the components work, the faster they wear out, which means you’ll end up replacing parts (or even the entire system) much sooner than you’d otherwise have to.

3. Your heating system operates more efficiently with routine maintenance.

As mentioned above, a neglected system with wear and tear has to work harder to perform its job. This means that your furnace will use more energy to warm your home than it should have to. By keeping up with routine maintenance, you’ll notice that your energy bills don’t jump up during the colder months of the year.

Gainesville Preventative HVAC Maintenance

At Bounds Heating & Air, our technicians take pride in providing dependable service and thorough HVAC maintenance. Backed by over three decades of experience, we are Gainesville’s go-to for heating and cooling services. Contact us online or give us a call at (352) 472-2761.

Are You Operating Your Furnace Safely?

Modern furnaces are engineered with a variety of features and redundancies to ensure safe operation and reduce untoward incidents involving gas lines and fire. As homeowners fire up their heating systems during the colder months, it’s important to keep in mind a few safety pointers to make sure your furnace runs safely and efficiently throughout the season.

Our HVAC repair experts at Bounds Heating & Air have compiled a shortlist of reminders about the proper way to safely operate your furnace below.

Regular Inspection and Maintenance

The old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” rings just as true when it comes to your heating and cooling system. There’s no better way to guarantee safety than to have a professional come in and perform a full inspection of your furnace. These routine procedures are typically completed before the heating season begins, but you can choose to avoid the pre-winter rush and schedule a maintenance visit a few days into it.

Consider having your annual or seasonal inspections include air conditioning repair and maintenance as well. Your cooling system works hand in hand with your furnace in making your home comfortable, and keeping it in excellent condition will contribute to the quality and performance of the entire system.

Carbon Monoxide Levels

Blocked flue pipes are a potential carbon monoxide (CO) hazard. CO is an odorless and colorless gas that can cause disorientation, respiratory problems, and in the worst cases, death. Luckily, furnaces have a standard built-in carbon monoxide detector to alert you to any leaks. Having these detectors regularly checked, maintained, and repaired is essential to overall home safety.

Filter Changes

Over time, furnace filters will get congested with soot and smoke. Dirty filters reduce airflow to your vents and can cause your heating bills to increase. Cleaning or changing your filters at least once every quarter should always be part of your regular HVAC maintenance schedule to ensure your furnace performs as it should.

This winter, turn to Bounds Heating & Air for your heating needs. We’re the number one provider of HVAC products, repair, and maintenance. Give us a call at (352) 278-9123 or fill out our contact form. We serve clients in Lake City, FL.

Prep Your System for a Maintenance Visit

To keep your Gainesville, Florida, HVAC system running smoothly, our experts at Bounds Heating & Air recommend scheduling preventive maintenance visits twice a year. Is your HVAC system’s maintenance visit coming up? Find out how to prepare yourself, your home, and your system for a maintenance check.

Reassess Your Backyard Landscaping

Most air conditioners include two important parts — the indoor unit and the outdoor unit. Your outdoor unit is susceptible to the elements and overgrown grass and shrubs.

To prepare for HVAC system maintenance, cut tall grass, and trim back shrubs and flowers to leave two to three feet of clearance around the unit. Maintain five feet of clearance for trees and if trees grow above your air conditioner, be sure to check regularly for fallen branches and leaves on the unit itself. If you are planning new landscaping, consider smaller plants and shrubs or trees that don’t shed their leaves.

Clear a Path Toward the Indoor Unit

In addition to pruning and trimming landscaping around your outdoor unit, you’ll want to clear a path toward your indoor unit.

Additionally, don’t store anything within a three-foot radius of the indoor unit. Never stack items on top of the unit and don’t store chemicals, cleaning products, or paint supplies near your air conditioner. Not only can these materials block the air supply and compromise your system’s efficiency, but they can also cause volatile organic chemicals (VOCs} to circulate through your home.

Understand HVAC Lingo

Our HVAC technicians typically have much helpful information to share about your air conditioner. Take the time to learn a few key terms so you can speak our language. For instance, you’ll want to know that the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) reflects how much energy your air conditioner uses. A higher SEER rating means your system is a more energy-efficient unit and has lower operating costs.

Have you scheduled your spring preventive maintenance visit yet? Call Bounds Heating & Air today at 352-472-2761 to speak with one of our HVAC experts or to set up an appointment.

Use a Maintenance Plan for Your Heater Tune-Up

Although our region is known for relatively mild winters, you need to keep in mind that the record low in Gainesville, FL was six degrees Fahrenheit. The sub-freezing reading was reached in 1899 and might seem unlikely to be repeated, but snow has been recorded in the area as recently as December 26, 2010. In fact, we tend to register approximately 16 days with freezing temperatures on average each year, making a reliable heater an important part of your home comfort system. Fall is the ideal time to have a heater tune-up completed to ensure that you are ready for these colder days, and a maintenance plan can provide great value as your service is performed.

What Is a Maintenance Plan?

You can schedule your heater tune-up at your leisure, but a maintenance agreement enables you to be sure that your appointment will be reserved at an affordable price. With an agreement, you can schedule both heating and cooling optimization to be sure that seasonal maintenance is completed before the change of weather. It’s easy to forget about the need for a tune-up, but with a comprehensive service plan, you can count on your HVAC contractor calling to let you know that it’s time for the next visit.

Some homeowners don’t realize that regular maintenance can provide many important benefits. Having your heater inspected before the weather cools allows you to be notified of any frailties in the system. Moving parts can wear out over time, and failure during cold weather can have uncomfortable consequences. Your technician will identify parts that need to be adjusted or replaced so that your system can be brought back up to manufacturer standards for operation. You can benefit from improvements in both comfort and energy usage when your system’s internal parts are properly adjusted. In fact, regular maintenance can extend the life of your heating equipment by limiting stress on key components.

Safety Benefits from a Tune-Up

During a furnace tune-up, your technician will evaluate the safety, pilot equipment, gas valves, and connections, flue drafts and piping, heat exchangers, and burners. Problems with the gas supply and the piping for emissions can lead to serious issues in your home. Additionally, leaks in your ductwork can facilitate back-drafting, allowing emissions to infiltrate your airstream. The annual inspection of your gas-fueled heater can lead to the diagnosis and repair of these problems before you need to heat your home for the winter. Your technician can also recommend carbon monoxide alarms to ensure that your family can be alerted if dangerous gases get into your air supply.

Additional Issues

Special pricing on annual maintenance agreements is helpful, but you will also appreciate the fact that Bounds Heating & Air provides discounts to our Gainesville, FL customers who enroll in these plans. In addition to priority service in the event of a system malfunction, you can take advantage of a 15 percent discount on parts and reduced rates for service calls that occur outside of your planned maintenance. Contact our office to learn more or to schedule your tune-up.

Category: Maintenance