At Home in Berks August 2017 - 10

FEATURES

The Benefits of Maintaining Your Heating System
A
s this article is being written, it's 94 degrees outside,
making everyone inside grateful that the air conditioner
is running at full tilt.

And yet, while it's hard to imagine, in two or three months
we'll be turning up the thermostat and waiting for the heat to
come on.

Some other reasons for a pre-season inspection and service
include the following:
*

It's a safety thing. Knowing that your furnace is
operating correctly provides peace of mind and
assures that you and your family are safe. Incorrect
gas pressure, defective safety controls or dirty burners
can cause flame roll out or excessive temperatures
in your furnace. This can damage the equipment or
even result in fire. A HVAC professional can perform
a digital analysis to verify that your gas or oil furnace
is operating safely and efficiently. A gas or oil furnace
that is not operating properly also can produce carbon
monoxide, an odorless, tasteless gas that can be fatal
if inhaled. Your technician will perform a combustion
analysis to ensure the furnace is working correctly and
not producing carbon monoxide.

Maximize the efficiency of your system. During a preseason inspection, a HVAC expert can make sure that
gas pressure, refrigerant pressures, voltages, amp draws
and combustion efficiency are on target, and that your
equipment is operating correctly. A gas furnace that
has low gas pressure or a heat pump with low refrigerant can result in long periods of unnecessary run time
and significantly drive up your utility costs.

And that, said Stacy Lord, general manager for UGI Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, is exactly why homeowners should
be thinking now about getting their heating systems inspected
and serviced.
"I know it's not top of mind when it's warm and it's still summer, but August and September are great times to have your
heating system checked," Lord said. "You want to get this done
before the heating season starts so you're not left sitting in the
cold if it turns out that you have a problem."
Ideally, homeowners should have their HVAC systems
checked each year to detect any problems and assure that the
system is working safely and efficiently.
"If you do this every year, you can rest assured that when
you go to get your heat turned on, you'll be in good shape,"
Lord said.

Having a system inspected each year gives
technicians a chance to discover minor issues
before they turn into major issues, and provides
peace of mind to homeowners.

AT HOME IN BERKs August 2017

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