HVAC systems perform better when you maintain them properly. Ideally, you’ll schedule preventive maintenance once in the fall for your heating and once in the spring for your air conditioning. Consider these seven problems you may face if you skip fall HVAC maintenance for your Crichton, AL home.
1. Reduced Efficiency
Fall maintenance protects your system’s efficiency and reduces premature wear. Skipping maintenance slowly erodes that efficiency, resulting in longer heating cycles and less household comfort. If you skip maintenance services, you’ll start noticing an increase in energy consumption, especially compared to the prior year.
HVAC maintenance technicians work in two primary ways to protect efficiency. First, they will deep clean the system, including the circulating fan, furnace burner, and heat pump coils. Second, they’ll tighten electrical connections and mounting hardware to reduce resistance and excess movement.
2. Mid-Season Breakdowns
Most HVAC systems break down in the middle of the season when the temperatures are at their most extreme. Systems experience strain when some components aren’t operating within their optimal parameters.
You’re unlikely to need weather-related emergency HVAC repairs during the winter in Crichton, where low temperatures rarely dip beneath the mid-30s. But routine maintenance is still important because it allows an HVAC technician to conduct extensive testing to identify small problems early.
3. Reduced Lifespan
The average furnace should last 15 to 20 years and heat pumps slightly less at about 15 years. However, when they experience reduced efficiency and excess strain, their lifespan starts dropping. Part of what affects the lifespan is the cost of increased repairs that accompany reduced efficiency.
One way to know when it’s time to replace your HVAC system is the repair costs over the last two years. Add those costs and multiply that sum by the age of the system. Plan to replace the system when the product of that equation exceeds the cost of a new system.
4. Uneven Heating
Neglecting your HVAC maintenance can lead to uneven heating around your home, leaving you without the comfort you desire. Uneven heating happens when insufficient air moves through your system and doesn’t create the pressure needed at your vents. By cleaning and testing your system, an HVAC technician can ensure that it’s circulating the proper air volume.
5. Unusual Noises
When your HVAC system runs, it should be nearly silent aside from the whir of the circulating fan. Neglecting maintenance can cause noises ranging from scraping and screeching to banging, clicking and humming. These noises come from problems ranging from failing components to restricted airflow and loose parts.
6. Invalidated Warranty
HVAC manufacturers usually offer a factory warranty to cover parts that fail prematurely. However, those warranty terms often stipulate needing routine HVAC maintenance to prevent excessive wear. They include that term because they understand the effect that neglect has on the equipment.
Simply getting busy and forgetting to schedule your maintenance may result in invalidating your warranty. Combined with the excess wear from reduced efficiency, this could cost you substantially in the long run.
7. Degraded Indoor Air Quality
Removing airborne contaminants is one of the secondary benefits of running your HVAC system. As the system circulates air, the HVAC system’s filter captures these contaminants, improving your indoor air quality.
Reduced airflow is one of the major consequences of neglecting routine maintenance due to contaminants and mechanical failure. Regardless of the specific underlying cause, the result is that the system removes fewer contaminants from your air. This can lead to more allergy and asthma problems, more difficulty breathing, and more susceptibility to upper respiratory illnesses and irritation for anyone in your home who’s vulnerable.
While it’s easy to forget about fall HVAC maintenance, it’s just as easy to call and schedule an appointment to get the maintenance you need for peace of mind. Give our experts at Air Specialty a call to schedule your fall HVAC maintenance now.
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