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Turning the heat on: Expert furnace advice, maintenance requests on rise

Posted at 5:49 AM, Oct 30, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-30 16:55:00-04

Temperatures are dipping and fewer and fewer people are waiting to fire up their furnace for winter.

In metro Detroit, the warning from heating experts is simple: Do not wait to get your inspections taken care of, some will say it’s already too late. When the snow begins to fall emergencies for homes and buildings without heat will pile up, so if you don’t act soon you’re likely going to be waiting for an inspection if your home is still operating.

Stephen Bez, a co-owner of Mastercraft Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, told 7 Action News that he began getting more and more calls beginning in September.

“Pick up the phone and don’t wait until it gets too late,” said Bez.

He doubled-down on that advice when it comes to unusual sounds, a ping when you’r used to hearing a pang or a click. As Bez explained: once the furnace is fired up, you’re the expert of what a typical sound is inside your home. If you hear something out of the ordinary, it’s best to make contact with a heating company as soon as possible.

“If it’s broken it can be fixed,” said Bez. “If it’s dead there’s not much we can do on it, and that’s why we’re all about preventative maintenance.”

Here’s some more advice when it comes to starting up your furnace:

* Check your humidifier: As the weather gets cooler you may have to adjust your humidifier — this is often why people get condensation on the inside of your windows. However, you’ll need to make sure the water line to your humidifier is turned on, and that the by-pass damper is switched from summer to winter if you have one.

* Batteries: If you have a system that has batteries inside of it make sure that the battery is swapped out, and fresh, for the winter months. This is also a good time to double-check batteries for other necessities inside your home such as fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

* Schedule a professional inspection for your furnace — this is recommended annually to ensure you have efficient operation during the winter months.

* Check filters: Just because you don’t change a filter monthly, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be checking them often. According to Bez, every home has a variety of factors including: whether you smoke, how often people are inside the home, whether pets are present, and how the furnace is operating. It’s better to be safe, than sorry when it comes to checking on filters.