Your home's furnace should be maintained at least once a year to keep it in the best possible condition. Understanding what annual maintenance can do for your furnace is the first step toward recognizing why this task is so important. Before the cold weather season starts each year, it's important for you to call your local heating maintenance technician for an inspection and maintenance appointment. Here is a look at some of the things that you can expect from this service.

Thorough Inspection

The first step in your annual maintenance appointment will be a comprehensive inspection of your home's furnace and heating system. The inspection will include checking the condition of your air ducts, the burner, the chimney, and the rest of the components in the heating system. This inspection will help to identify any blatant problems, such as broken or corroded parts or poorly functioning components.

Additionally, this inspection will help to identify any parts that may not necessarily need to be replaced right now but are likely to fail or will probably need to be replaced before your next annual maintenance appointment. This gives you the chance to address these problems before they have the chance to lead to furnace failure throughout the winter.

Cleaning

After your system has been inspected thoroughly, the next stage of an annual maintenance appointment is cleaning. The technician will clean the firebox, the burner, your air vents, the ductwork, and all of the other serviceable components of your furnace. 

He or she will also clean or replace the fuel delivery nozzle on the burner. This is important because the fuel passing through that nozzle will leave resin behind on the nozzle. Over time, this can clog the nozzle, disrupting the fuel flow to your furnace.

The technician will also check the fuel pump and the fans to be sure that everything is properly functioning. If there is any dust or debris building up, that will be cleared away as well.

Pressure Testing

In boiler systems, whether water or steam, your heating maintenance technician will test the pressure in the system to be sure that there are no leaks. The system's pressure must be consistent. If it is below the recommended pressure rating, that's an indication that there's a leak in the system somewhere. Your service technician will have to locate and address the leak, then restore the system pressure as it should be. He or she will also make sure to examine the storage chambers for any signs of corrosion or leaking.

If you need a heating maintenance service, contact an HVAC company, such as Laroc Refrigeration-Metal Division.