Maintenance is essential for keeping critical appliances in top operational conditions throughout their lifetimes. Appliances that include furnaces, air-conditioners, fireplaces and water heaters need specific maintenance for a long life and safe operation.
Water Heaters
Water heaters are often the most overlooked appliances in residential and commercial settings, typically going unnoticed until a problem presents itself. Water heaters need regular inspections focused on the heating element for electric models, while gas models have gas lines and combustion chambers to monitor. Water heaters also build up deposits inside the tank itself, which can block water flow, foul pipes and contaminate water. Simple, routine service and inspections are all that is needed to prevent these occurrences, extending the useful life of the heater and protecting those who use it.
HVAC
Air-conditioners are quite troublesome, when not properly maintained, and while most individuals know that inspections and filter changes are recommended, few actually understand why. Clogged filters and blockages are by far the most common problems leading to air-conditioner failure, often causing catastrophic failures that could have been prevented.
Thorough inspections are needed at the beginning and the end of peak seasons and filters should be replaced at these times, for a total of four individual filter exchanges per year. This sounds excessive, but clogged filters and dust build-up around the outside of the AC module kill more units each year than any other cause. The constricted air-flow not only reduces cooling abilities, but also causes the system to work much harder, ultimately resulting in its early demise.
Furnaces
Furnace maintenance is just as crucial as AC unit maintenance, with the added concern of combustible gases and deadly exhaust fumes. The main concerns with furnaces and their filtering systems are the toxic fumes that are byproducts of any type of combustion. Even with electric furnaces, there is still a need for filtering and proper exhaust, employed to carry away compounds that include carbon-monoxide gas. The same filter schedule should be employed with furnace units as with AC units, in addition to inspections of ducting work and the combustion/exhaust systems, four times each year.
Fireplaces
Fireplaces cause hundreds of home fires every year, most of which are easily avoided with the right maintenance plans. Flue fires are quite common but are the most avoidable of all fireplace hazards; a simple visual inspection from a professional cleaner is all that is needed to determine the safety of a fireplace for the year. In the event that the chimney does need service, cleaning is often under $100 and typically takes less than 30 minutes.
Maintenance is essential for protecting personal property, families and keeping appliances running correctly for many years, often only requiring a few simple steps or a single phone call.