Preventative Heater Maintenance 101: Air Filter Health

What’s the big deal about heater maintenance? If your furnace is warming your home, there’s no problem, right? Why should you care about scheduling a heater tune-up when you have a million other things to take care of?

Blanco AC, Electrical & Plumbing understands, but we want you to be as informed as possible about the real consequences of skipping heater tune-ups. No maintenance can affect way more than your HVAC system or the heat in your home. In fact, poor indoor air quality is one of the top symptoms of lack of maintenance.

Heater Performance & Poor IAQ

Don’t underestimate the role of your heater in your home’s air quality. The HVAC filtration system that is designed to remove air contaminants from your home is largely responsible for the air you breathe — and it’s part of the heating process! As air is sucked into the heating system to be warmed, it runs through a filter. If you don’t have your heater maintained, professionals can’t evaluate how well your system is filtering the air. Your tune-up appointment is the perfect time to find these subtle issues before they make serious problems.

For example, long-term exposure to low-quality air can cause respiratory irritation and illnesses. You could be getting sick just because your air quality is poor.

DIY Heater Maintenance

One of the most important things that homeowners can do is to clean out clogged air filters. Air filters are usually easily accessible and simple to replace. Since professional tune-ups are only recommended once a year, the air filters need to be tended to for the rest of that time. When air filters become clogged with dust, dirt and other debris, the air circulating in your home is no longer being effectively filtered. Locate the air filter for your heater or furnace and follow the directions (usually printed on the filter itself) to replace it.

Set a reminder for yourself to check the status of your air filters every couple of months. This is a great way to tell if your air is especially polluted with animal fur or dust, and it keeps those materials from entering your air.

Heater Health

On top of your own health, the heating system is balanced a specific way, and it counts on airflow. Inside a furnace, there are coils or metal that heat up to warm the air. When air flows over them, the heat is transferred to the air. If a low amount of air is flowing into the heater because the filter is too clogged, it causes a problem. The heat in the metal isn’t transferred to the air, causing the furnace to overheat.

This could cause the system to shut down to avoid dangerous temperatures. The strain this puts on the system is considerable. It can even cause unexpected repairs or premature replacement, It’s better to have every piece of the process working together instead of against each other. And you can help that happen by simply cleaning out your air filters.

Schedule Your Tune-Up Today

In addition to completing some DIY maintenance of your own, you need a professional team to take care of the rest of your system. Blanco AC, Electrical & Plumbing is your go-to HVAC company in Blanco. You can count on us to be thorough and pay attention to detail to make sure your system is ready to handle the upcoming season. Contact us today to start your service request!