Prepare your heating system for cooler weather . . .
Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Now is the time here in South Carolina to prepare your heating system for cooler weather. Here are a few tips to help with the process:
- Order a complete preventative maintenance. No matter what sort of heating system your home uses, it's best to have it checked annually by a licensed HVAC technician – like those here at LHT Cooling & Heating. Beware of sub-par companies that use the cleaning appointment to upsell large repairs or new systems.
- Check your air filter. Make sure your air filter is new and clean before you try to start your heat. One of the most common questions we get asked by customers is how often they should be changed. The easiest answer is "when they are dirty." However many different factors need to be considered. To keep it simple, we recommend changing them on a monthly basis – usually the first day of the month makes it easy to remember.
- Remove any obstructions near the unit. This is one of the more obvious examples of what needs to be taken care of before using any heating or cooling unit, but it's any easy thing to forget. Many heaters are located in garages or attics and need to share their space with many other household items. Be extra careful with how close your heater is to chemicals or flammable materials. This is an incredibly dangerous situation if left unattended. Give your unit a good amount of room on all sides from any clutter to avoid any issues.
- Check your return and supply vents. Take a look at the registers in each of the rooms in your home and put them into the open positions – even if you're not using that room. Many people will close registers in unused rooms to save money. Unfortunately, your heating system will actually be less efficient. Also make sure no dust or debris is clinging to the metal grates. If so you can wipe them down relatively easily.
- Test your thermostat. Once these steps have been completed, you are now ready to test your system. Turn your unit on and set it to "heat" mode at your thermostat. This will allos you to see if your system is ready to work properly in heat mode. If you don't have any issues, then you are prepared for cold weather, or at the very least your home will be warm and cozy inside!