It’s easy to just turn on the oven or heat pump and hope everything works when the cold weather turns in Bradenton, Florida. But abandoning proper fall maintenance can lead to ineffective operation of the heating system or even breakdown. Here’s a complete guide to maintaining your oven every fall. Clean all heating components year-round, your oven attracts all kinds of dust and dirt. The burning of dust on the oven stove is responsible for the unpleasant smell that you get when you operate the oven for the first time every year. In addition to causing poor indoor air quality, a dirty oven or heat pump does not perform as well as a clean oven. Components such as the circuit board are running hotter than they should be. Over time, this additional heat can cause these parts to fail and your oven to collapse. A trained HVAC technician has special equipment to clean all parts of your heating system without damaging them. This cleaning must be done every fall. Lubrication of all moving parts A furnace or heat pump does not have many moving parts, but these transfer a lot of air. Throughout the winter, things like the blower fan and the belt that drives it get exercise and need to be properly oiled to function properly. Without this lubrication, these parts require more energy to run. It also generates more heat when running, causing it to wear out faster than it would otherwise get. Check out the vital parts of your heating system Your oven has some key parts that will need to work for your oven to function. A few of the problems that often encounter problems are pilot lamp or electronic ignition, heat exchanger, and oven thermostats. A professional HVAC technician should inspect any of these parts for wear or corrosion prior to the heating season. Should any of them fail, a technician can fix the problem before it crashes and you might even spend a night in the cold. Check gas connections If you have a gas oven, you must ensure that there are no leaks in the gas service lines before the heating season. Leakages can cause gas to build up near your oven and potentially explode, so this is something on our annual checklist that’s about more than just keeping you comfortable; It’s about keeping you safe. Test smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors Not every item on this fall maintenance checklist requires a professional. Checking smoke and carbon monoxide detectors is something you can easily do and is key to keeping you safe during the winter. Older models of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors use 9V batteries, so if you have one of these, now is the time to change the batteries. Newer smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have durable, long-lasting or hard-wire batteries in your home. But these also require some scrutiny. Test each one to see if the alarm still works, and replace them if they don’t. If any of your detectors are more than 10 years old, have them replaced. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors become less sensitive over time, and older detectors may not alert you to a dangerous condition. Clean the condenser line If you have a high efficiency oven or heat pump, your system will use a pipe to drain the water created during the heating process away from the oven. This tube, called condensate line, can get clogged with dust and dirt over time, especially when the system has not been operating for a while. The blockage can cause the water to back up, causing it to stop working. Professional HVAC Technician will make sure your capacitor line is clean during annual maintenance visit and flush it out if needed. If you have not serviced the oven or heat pump this year, contact Aqua Plumbing & Air. We have a whole team of HVAC technicians trained and ready to service your furnace or heat pump this fall. Set an appointment today. Image provided by iStock
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