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How Often Do We Need To Have Our Furnaces Cleaned
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For those people who live in area's of
the country that gets cold, it's time to think about your heating
equipment. With the technology new furnaces have today there isn't
much to do on them as far as setting them up for winter. In the old
days (10 years ago and before) we were told to have our furnaces and
boilers checked once a year. But now furnaces and boilers have
electronics doing most of the work. There are only a couple of
things that a service tech needs to do in today's furnaces and
boilers as far as a "clean and check" goes.
The old days:
In the old days when a service man (politically correct term today
is "service tech" this term started about 21 years ago) when out on
a "clean and check," he had all kinds of things to do. First he
pulled out all the burners and blew them out with co2, then he
checked the heat exchanger for cracks using a mirror, then vacuumed
up any dirt he found. He also changed the "thermocouple" (on a
standing pilot, where the pilot flame burns all the time, the
thermocouple tells the gas valve there is a pilot light, and it's ok
to open, and start the heat sequence) on the "pilot light" and blew
out the pilot light assembly to make sure it would burn clean and
that the pilot flame was positioned correctly on the thermocouple,
and on the burner pilot runner.
After that he pulled the blower, and if it was a belt drive blower,
oiled the squirrel cage bearings, motor bearings, and checked the
belt for cracks . On a "direct drive blower" all he had to do was
just oil the bearings on the motor.
Now all the burners are cleaned and the heat exchanger has been
checked for cracks and everything is back in place, including the
blower. On to the next step.
Now, if the service man was worth his salt, he checks the most
important part of the furnace, the "limit switch". There's a limit
switch in every; gas, oil, electric, or propane furnace, or boiler.
It's main function is to turn on the blower (usually 200') and shut
it off (around 110 or 100' any cooler, and you would feel like there
was a draft) and the most important job it has is to tell the "gas
valve" to shut down the burners incase the blower fails. It keeps
the furnace or boiler (boilers also have a "safety relief valve"
like hot water heaters) from over heating and starting a fire.
What the better guys did was pull the blower wire off the limit
switch and start the furnace burners. With the blower wire pulled
off the limit switch, the blower can't start, and when the furnaces
gets to about 200 degrees, the burners should shut off and not
relight again until the furnaces cools and lowers it's temperature
to about 140 degrees. Some guys just checked the limit switch by
rotating the dial on the limit switch and blower settings until the
burners shut off. I liked taking the wire off the limit switch and
testing it that way because it was more real life working conditions
in the event of blower failure.
One of the last things, and just as important as checking the limit
switch, was to check the "flue pipe" to make sure it, or the
chimney, hasn't been blocked by soot or birds. It wasn't uncommon to
find dead birds in the flue. Some even made it into people's
basements. This doesn't happen anymore with the new furnaces. And
the very last thing that was done was to check for gas leaks.
Furnaces 10 years ago to the present:
Today's
furnaces and boilers don't need the kind of attention from the
service man like furnaces of the past did. On most modern furnaces
all that needs to be checked is the "flame sensor". The furnaces of
today pretty much watch themselves. The burners almost never get
dirty now a days because they are working in a mostly closed (80
plus furnaces are not, but the 90's are) environment. The blower,
gas valve, and all the safety controls (including the "limit switch"
and "blower switch") are run by a circuit board. The blowers are all
sealed now too. They don't even need to be oiled!
So how often do we want our furnaces and boilers checked?
That's a tough question. It all depends on the environment your
furnace is running in. It your furnace or boiler is running in an
environment that has a lot of dust or animal hair, then it mite be
worth it to have your furnace checked once a year. If your furnace
is running in a relatively clean environment, you can probably get
away with 2 or 3 years of not having to have to spend the money to
have a clean furnace checked.
Don't forget that these new furnaces shut down when they spot the
slightest problem. Some tech guys feel the only real time for home
owners to have their furnaces ( don't forget where're talking new
furnaces not the old clunkers) checked, is when they don't start.
They don't think the cost justifies what your getting in return.
But in the end, it's the choice of the home owner to decide how
often they have their heating equipment checked.
Jerry Quatrano is the proud owner of Addison
Services who has 30 years experience in the Heating and A/C
industry, and still likes to talk about it, along with selling great
products at his site at addisonservices.com
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