Winter is Coming - Prepare your Furnaces

   Sometimes we get a Spring season, but not always - and it's really more of a Monsoon season that eventually heats up into a Summer Heat Wave.  Our Fall season is more like a Decent into Winter, nearly skipping the Autumn leaf colors, and right into shoveling piles of snow from our driveways.

   Akron Ohio is in that last little bit of Summer Heat Wave meets Decent into Winter, meaning we wake up to sub 50 degree temps and within a few hours temps are pushing 90 outside.  As a result, many households are using their furnace in the morning and AC in the afternoons.

   But before a furnace is turned on the first time for the year, there is a check-list of things to do to keep everyone safe and comfortable...Lets Dive in!

   To help avoid musty smells – Change the air filter and ensure that the ventilation is clear.  As the furnace fires up for the first time in a year, accumulated dust, bugs, and dander on the heat exchanger or other elements is agitated and burned off.  This leads to a musty smell that shouldn't last more than a couple of hours.

If you still smell a burning musty odor after several hours, call a reputable HVAC Company like Unified Comfort Systems to check out your system at (330) 952-4822 – We operate in Summit, Stark, Portage and Tuscarawas Counties. There could be frayed and exposed wiring, or a clogged filter, leading to overheating issues and an overworked blower motor.  These should be checked out by a professional who knows what to look for and where to look!

   To keep the furnace operating safely – Assure that the area around the heating unit is clear and relatively clean.  Furnaces are usually located in a basement, garage, closet, or even an attic – All spaces where we tend to store goods and products that aren't in use.  Some of these are flammable; cardboard boxes, carpets, chemicals, and delicates stored in paper wrapping.  These can be dangerous if left unattended for long periods around a furnace, so clear out an area around your furnace.  Certain parts of a furnace can get extremely hot and be a safety concern.

   To keep your home at peak comfort – Open air vents and ensure that vents and returns are not blocked.  Furniture, carpets, and pet fur are the top contenders for blocked vents and air returns.  Vents can be thought of as veins for a furnace, heat pump, or boiler, directing and placing warm air where it needs to be and circulating cold air back to the heart of the furnace.  When a vent is closed, it's basically a blocked artery – Not Good!

   To keep your home safe – Test and change the batteries in your home smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. In rare cases of a severe furnace problem, fires can start indoors.  Smoke detectors are one of the best ways to detect when smoke and fire may be present, endangering human life.  If you have trouble reaching your smoke alarms, Unified Comfort Systems can change the batteries and test your smoke alarms during service calls. 

   To stop energy loss – Check your home for spots where cold air is entering.  When heated air is able to easily escape the home, your heating system needs to work harder to make up for that loss, costing you more money and energy.  Having these air leaks sealed will vastly improve the comfort of your home and stability of your HVAC system.  Need help with this?  Give us a call!  This is an overlapping problem that concerns HVAC as well as Air Sealing and Insulation.

   To Cover ALL of your Bases – Call an HVAC Company like Unified Comfort Systems to come and give your system a professional tune up!  Using our MeasureQuick software and TrueFlow Grid AirflowMeasuring Unit, we can check over 100 faults in 60 seconds!  We'll check all of the above too, just to make sure that your good to go for this Decent into Winter season!  Use the Blue Booking Buttons at the top or bottom of the page to set up your appointment online quickly and easily, or Call our Comfort Professionals at the Office and schedule over the phone, Call (330) 952-4822 or Click here on mobile devices!