Winter has finally arrived all over West Michigan, with over a foot of snow and cold temperatures in effect. With that said, there are several things that should be on your check-list in extreme winter weather conditions to make sure your HVAC system is running safely and efficiently. Discover our 2 Must-Know DIY Winter HVAC Safety and Efficiency Tips below!
1. Monitor Your Outdoor Intake Valves and Vents
We want to stress how important it is to monitor your outdoor intake and exhaust valves and chimney in extreme cold weather and after a snowstorm. It’s vital for the safety of your family. If you have a high efficiency furnace, you will have two outdoor PVC pipes coming out of the side of your home. One is bringing fresh air from the outside into your furnace. This is so it’s not pulling the air from your basement or mechanical room. The other pipe is for the exhaust. It’s essentially venting out the fumes burning from your furnace.
If this pipe is blocked with snow and ice, the fumes will remain in your home and can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. With a high efficiency furnace, if there is a carbon monoxide issue, your furnace should automatically shut off. However, older furnaces don’t always have this function so you should be especially conscious of this potential hazard if your furnace isn’t a newer high efficiency model.
2. Check Your Filter
At the beginning of every month, make sure you check your furnace filter to make sure it’s clean. If there is significant particle build-up in your filter, it’s definitely time to replace it because this will cause your furnace to work harder than it needs to to circulate air throughout your home. In turn, this results in higher energy bills than necessary. It’s a good idea to always check your filter every 30 days, especially if you have a big family and a lot of pets.
In some cases, you may want to check your filter more often. For instance, I am currently remodeling our home and doing a lot of drywall work. So we turn our units off while we’re drywalling to keep the dust from really getting in there. Right now, we are cleaning our filters once a week because we have so much dust in our home that is restricting airflow. Actually, we went two weeks without washing our filters during this remodel, and my wife kept complaining that our home wasn’t staying warm. After I cleaned the filter and put it back in, there was a huge difference in the warmth in our home immediately. This is because we had such limited airflow from all the dust from remodeling, and the heat just wasn’t able to reach certain rooms in our home as a result.
BOSS Online Air Filter Store with Auto-Deliveries
Has it been a while since you replaced your filter? We actually have an online store right here on our website where you can purchase filters for any kind of equipment and have them shipped directly to your home in just 2-4 days. We even have auto-delivery available where you can set up filters to be shipped to your home every 30-90 days. You decide your preference, and you never have to worry about going out and buying a filter again!
BOSS Online Air Filter Store: https://thebossservices.com/shop/
Questions or Concerns About the Safety of Your HVAC System?
If you aren’t certain that your HVAC system is running safely or efficiently, give our office a call at 269-468-6682 to schedule a furnace check-up with a BOSS HVAC Technician. We can perform a thorough examination of your system to make sure it is as efficient as possible, as well as look for potential hazards to protect you and your family. We serve areas from Niles and New Buffalo, Michigan to St. Joseph Michigan, all the way up to Grand Rapids, and as far east as Kalamazoo. Stay safe and warm, West Michigan!
