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Learn all about caring for your new home with OPUS Homes’ Construction Manager, Alex Reid.
With more than 15 years of experience building homes, Alex knows how to keep your home looking great and operating at peak efficiency.
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It’s that time of year again! Time to switch over from cooling to heating. Do you know how to ensure that your furnace is running at peak efficiency? We talked with Marco Celebre of Kingswood Heating and Cooling, to learn some great tips for taking care of your heating and cooling systems this fall.
First, you should check to see when you last had your furnace serviced by a qualified technician. This should happen every two years for a gas furnace or according to the manufacturer’s recommendation.
• To assess your furnace yourself, start by making sure it’s working. Set your thermostat to “heat,” which will turn it ON. Then raise the setting until you hear it begin to run.
• Remove floor vent covers and vacuum inside the ducts. The cleaner they are, the better your system will perform.
• Every change of season, check, clean and/or replace furnace air filters. This should be done every two to three months, and in the case of ventilation systems such as a heat recovery ventilator, every two months.
• Check the ductwork leading to and from the heat recovery ventilator to ensure that the joints are tightly sealed with aluminum tape, and that the duct insulation and plastic duct wrap are free of rips and punctures.
• Check your condensate drain pipes to ensure they are draining properly.
• With winter just around the corner, it is critical to check your humidifier in the fall. During the cold months, your heating system dries out the air, so you need to keep your home’s humidity level in the proper range. Good consistent air quality is beneficial for your floors, your furniture and your health. You can use a hygrometer to confirm the correct level. This tool is available at your local hardware store.
• While you are in the basement, if you have a sump pump, examine it to make sure it’s in working order and there are no line obstructions or visible leaks.
• In the laundry room, clean the vent leading from your dryer to the outside wall. Keeping the vent clean optimizes the efficiency of your dryer and helps to prevent fires. When you do your maintenance walk-around outside, clean the vent from the exterior as well.
• Ensure effective airflow in your bathroom exhaust fans and the range hood vent in your kitchen. When you turn the fans on, the dampers to the outside should open.
• Get into the habit of checking your smoke, carbon monoxide and security alarms when you do your seasonal maintenance, and replace batteries if needed.
• If you have a gas fireplace, check the terminations and vents for obstructions such as nests, leaves or anything else that might affect airflow.
• Now, to the exterior of your home. Open and close all of your doors to see whether they swing easily and shut tightly. If not, you may need to replace weather stripping around them.
• Be sure to include the door connecting your house and garage, if you have one, and check the adjustment of the self-closing device so it closes completely.
• While making your outside rounds, cover your air conditioning units and shut off power to them.
• This is also the time of year to make needed adjustments to the earth around your home, which should slope away from the foundation wall. Better to take care of that now to keep water draining away from your basement rather than toward it when the snow and ice thaw.
• Remove leaves from your eavestroughs and roof. And make sure your downspouts are clear to carry off drainage.
• Remember to drain and properly store your outdoor hoses so they’re ready to use in the spring. Close the interior valve to the outdoor hose connection and leave the exterior faucet (called the hose bib) running to drain it thoroughly.
• Look around and see what else needs to be protected during the winter. Some of your trees and shrubs may require special winterizing, and you likely have outdoor furniture to store.
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