Stay Safe This Fall With 8 Heating Maintenance Tips

Heating maintenance will ensure you will be able stay warm and safe this year. However, many homeowners will often neglect heating maintenance under the belief that there’s no way their heating system will put their well-being at risk. Don’t fall into a similar mindset, or else you may just turn your home into a giant safety hazard. A home heating fire may be right around the corner if you allow any small issues with your furnace persist throughout the season. In addition, your smoke detectors, portable heaters, and gas lines all may prove to be huge threats to your safety. And a lack of safety won’t just be your only concern throughout the fall and winter. You will also experience setbacks like lower property value and higher costs on repairs due to frequent heating system breakdowns. There is no such thing as being too sure about your home’s level of heating safety.

Why Should You Call Arco?

Arco Home Services should be your leading choice for heating service, especially now that the weather is cooling down. Your safety is our highest priority, which is why we are always to make the extra effort in ensuring you stay at a better peace of mind. Our heating maintenance covers a wide variety of needs. For example, if you live with a growing family, we will provide maintenance guaranteeing everyone’s needs are met. If you have an old furnace, we can make quick furnace repair or replacement ensuring you will not have to face the possibility of a heating system breakdown later in the year. Even just a quick inspection of your heating system can go a long way in ensuring your safety so you can focus more on enjoying fall and winter.

8 Tips for Home Heating Maintenance

As part of our heating service, we want to give you a better understanding of your home’s heating system. In addition to our helpful heating service, here are 8 heating safety tips we recommend to help you stay on top of maintenance this season:

Add a Metal or Glass Door to Fireplaces: An uncovered fireplace is much more dangerous than you may think, as it can lead to the possibility of sparks jumping out the fireplace and landing in the surrounding area. A metal or glass screen will prove effective in preventing this possibility, so you can experience all the relaxation of a fireplace without any of the additional fireplace hazards.
Consider a Chimney Inspection: Contained fires, which can occur in chimneys, make up 84% of home heating fires annually, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. This is mainly due to soot and creosote buildup within the chimney which, if not treated soon, can easily send your home ablaze. It is very important to have your chimney swept and inspected at least once a year.
Keep Air Ducts Clean: Poor indoor air quality is another threat to your well-being this season, especially if you do not call Arco for duct cleaning. Ducts will be blocked by dust and other allergens if not cleaned periodically and may not be able to provide a steady flow of warm air. When the allergens are transferred throughout your home, it can wreak havoc on indoor air quality, especially for any asthma or allergy sufferers in your household.
Change/Clean Air Filters Regularly: Air filters on your furnace should be, at the very least, cleaned and maybe even changed monthly during the fall and winter to ensure the safest yet most efficient performance from the system. Otherwise, filters will become blocked by dirt and debris. This can restrict air flow and result in higher monthly bills due to poor system efficiency.
Test Smoke Detection: You will be relying on your furnace more than ever when the weather dips below freezing, which will unfortunately greater the chances of the furnace emitting smoke and creating a fire all by itself. For situations like that, you need smoke detectors alerting you of a problem as soon as possible. Test your smoke detector on a regular basis to ensure it continues to do its job. You may discover batteries need to be changed or the detector itself will need to be replaced.
Keep the Area Around Heating Fixtures Clear: Avoid having any clutter around your heating system. This includes highly flammable belongings like stacks of old newspapers and piles of laundry, which can ignite a flame just due to a single spark from your heating system. There should be at least 3 feet of clearance around any heating fixture.
Turn off Portable Heaters: You need to make sure portable heaters are shut off after every use. The worst situation is leaving them on when you are not home or in the middle of the night when you are asleep. This may result in the system overheating and, if it begins to malfunction, spread a fire.
Call Arco for Annual Heating Maintenance: The team at Arco Home Services recommends you seek an annual heating tune-up once a year, preferably before the season begins. One of our heating contractors can give your heating system a closer look and fix any lingering problems with the system. Even the smallest problems can grow into a huge safety hazard, so our team will fix them so you avoid trouble later in the year.
Heating Maintenance Will Ensure You And Your Family Are Safe And Won’t Get Left In the Cold This Fall

Contact Arco Home Services today if you want to stay warm and secure this season thanks to our heating maintenance!