10 Steps to Prepare Your Furnace for Winter

With the chilly months rolling into Louisiana, it’s almost time to turn off the air conditioning altogether, enjoy the lack of humidity, and prepare your furnace for winter. The team at SBC Cooling + Heating is always here with Shreveport furnace maintenance, repairs, installations, and more.

Fortunately, there are ways to stay ahead of any issues and prep your heating system for winter to avoid unexpected breakdowns and repairs. Our team put together the best tips to get your furnace in Shreveport ready for a cozy winter.

1) Prioritize Safety

Before you decide to tackle Shreveport, LA, furnace maintenance on your own, you need to prioritize your safety above everything else. Go to your circuit breaker panel and turn off the furnace at the power source. This step will prevent any unintentional power surges or accidents that could harm you or your home. Don’t turn it back on until you get to steps that require power, such as checking your thermostat.

2) Change Your Air Filters

Changing clogged air filters is a relatively simple task and can help resolve many furnace issues, including a lack of efficiency or poor air quality. The team at SBC Cooling + Heating generally recommends swapping out your filter for a fresh one at the start of every heating system and then every one to three months. How often you change your filters depends on how old your unit is, your preferences, and how often you run your system.

Regularly replacing your furnace filters keeps your furnace running smoothly and leads to a reduction or stabilization of your energy bills. If you or your family suffers from asthma, allergies, or other respiratory issues aggravated by air quality or dust, you should also notice an improvement.

3) Clean Out Your Vents and Ducts

Just like your air filters need changing, so do your vents and ducts. Dirty or blocked systems can restrict the airflow from your HVAC and make it work overtime to keep up. The results are often high energy bills, untimely repairs, or a shortened lifespan of your unit. Remove the visible instructions and then vacuum out the vents. Keep in mind that it’s not always straightforward to get vents and ducts thoroughly cleaned on your own. Instead, you can schedule a duct cleaning with SBC Cooling + Heating to get your system back on track.

4) Check Your Ducts and Home for Air Leaks

Leaks in your ductwork, windows, or doors can lead to poor energy efficiency and a drafty home. Don’t wait until a drafty, Louisiana winter day rolls in to realize there’s a problem. Inspect your home, and if you notice air coming in, seal the gaps with a door or window draft stopper, caulking, and weatherstripping as needed. Properly insulating your home keeps your furnace working efficiently, extends its lifespan, and reduces its workload and energy bills.

5) Check and Lubricate Moving Parts

This step may require one of our expert technicians to come out for furnace maintenance service in Shreveport. If you’re comfortable handling it yourself, you should check on the moving parts of your furnace, including its blower motor. Lubricate it to keep everything in good working order and reduce the friction and keep your system running for longer.

6) Inspect Your Heater’s Exhaust Flue

Rust and cracks can cause damage to your heater’s exhaust flue. Proper ventilation is also necessary to prevent carbon monoxide leaks. If there’s a buildup of carbon monoxide, you could end up with a dangerous buildup that could lead to serious illnesses or even death. If you notice any issues, give the SBC Cooling team a call right away.

7) Test Your Carbon Monoxide Detector and Smoke Alarm

While we’re talking about carbon monoxide, make sure you’ve installed a detector with new batteries for the season. Test your carbon monoxide detector periodically to ensure it’s properly working to keep your family safe. Although an electrical fire from your furnace or HVAC is unlikely if properly installed and maintained, go ahead and test your smoke detector, too to keep everyone in your household safe.

8) Check Your Heater’s Ignition System

It’s important to periodically check your furnace’s ignition system to see if it lights up and works without issues or significant delays. Pilot lights should burn blue and not yellow. A yellow flame could indicate an issue, such as too much air in the gas line due to a damaged component. Other problems could be due to the wrong temperature, imbalanced gases, carbon monoxide leaks, or poor combustion and require immediate attention from a technician.

9) Clean Out the Blower

Cleaning your furnace’s blower assembly will optimize your heat and airflow. When the blower is too dirty, you also risk driving up your utility bills and forcing your furnace to work overtime. Gently clean out the motor’s blades, or call the experts at SBC Cooling + Heating for maintenance assistance.

10) Double Check Your Thermostat

After you’ve completed these steps, go ahead and turn your power back on and check your thermostat. Make sure it reaches the desired temperature and your home warms up properly. If there’s a problem, look to see if the program settings changed. Otherwise, the team at SBC Cooling + Heating can take a look to determine what’s going on and make sure everything is working before the cold rolls in.

Schedule Professional Heating Maintenance

Once you’ve checked everything off your list, remember to schedule heating maintenance in Shreveport, LA. Doing these simple tweaks and checks on your own is helpful, but at some point, you need qualified technicians to take a look and identify any potential problems. Ongoing heating maintenance can also keep your system working efficiently and even extend how long your furnace or other heating system can last.

Schedule Your HVAC Maintenance or Repair with SBC Cooling + Heating

The team at SBC Cooling + Heating is here to keep you warm all winter. Give us a call anytime you need top-notch Shreveport heating maintenance, repairs, installations, replacements, and more. No matter what’s going on, give us a call, and we’ll make sure everything is working the way it should. Schedule your appointment today!