GENERAL

Why HVAC Preventive Maintenance Is Important

An HVAC system provides heating and cooling to commercial and residential buildings. Preventive maintenance for your HVAC system is a very wise and worthwhile investment for you. Here is a list of benefits of preventive maintenance:

1. Helps You Save Money

  • Prevent costly breakdowns
  • Extend the lifetime of your system
  • Stay protected under warranty
  • Reduce energy bills

Regular HVAC maintenance is claimed to reduce the danger of costly breakdowns by as much as 95%. Chances are you wouldn’t drive your car for 30,000 miles without getting an oil change; you’d be looking for trouble. 

Extend system life: Regular maintenance extends the lifetime of your system, reducing the likelihood that you’ll have to spend a lot on an HVAC installation soon. It’s kind of like how annual checkups can help us humans live longer, except your HVAC doctor makes house calls.

Stay covered under warranty: It’s important to remember that the majority of HVAC manufacturers require proof of annual maintenance when a repair claim is submitted under warranty. Some of the components that make your HVAC system work are fairly expensive, so investing in annual maintenance to keep them covered under your warranty can help you save a big sum if something goes wrong.

Cut energy bills: Preventive maintenance helps you to make sure that your HVAC system runs at close to peak efficiency. This means that you can save up to 30% on your energy bill, following the U.S. Department of Energy.

2. Keep Your Home Safer

You’ve heard the horror stories. Someone you know went away during winter and returned to find a frozen, severely damaged house. If you’re away from home and your heat stops working during a cold snap or among those polar vortexes we’ve been hearing about lately, the results are often frozen or burst pipes, water damage, and worse. The value of repairs in this situation is very expensive.

Preventive HVAC maintenance also helps safeguard you and your family against the danger of carbon monoxide gas – the colorless, odorless gas whose effects are often deadly. According to the Centers for Disease Control, exposure to even low levels of carbon monoxide gas can cause serious health issues.

The most common reason for carbon monoxide gas leaks may be a cracked or failed device. An HVAC maintenance checkup typically includes a carbon monoxide gas test that might detect any potential hazard. Your HVAC professional can also tell you about the advantages of putting in a carbon monoxide gas detector.

3. Improve Your Air Quality

The EPA reports that indoor levels of airborne pollutants could also be 2-5 times higher (in extreme cases it can be 100 times higher) than outdoor levels. This is particularly significant if you or any relations suffer from respiratory issues like asthma.

Although we are not aware of it day to day, we share our homes with a variety of substances that we might rather not breathe. These common indoor allergens range from ordinary household dust that can contain dozens of respiratory issues to pet dander, dust mites, cigarette smoke, pollen, and mold.

If a musty odor has you concerned about mold, it’s a good time to think about having the air ducts professionally cleaned. Generally speaking, preventive maintenance helps make sure that the nice and cozy or cold air pumping through your vents is as clean and well-filtered as possible.

4. Improve Your Comfort

You depend on your HVAC system to keep you comfortable year-round. Regular maintenance helps your system produce and distribute the nice and cozy or cool air more evenly and steadily. It also reduces the chances that you’ll come from work one winter’s day to seek out frigid air blasting through your vents.

But it can also be easy to think of maintenance without any consideration or to get used to the thought that a specific room is simply too hot during summer or chilly during winter. 

Regular maintenance will also minimize the probabilities that HVAC noises or smells will disrupt your quality of life.

5. Help the Environment

For those concerned about their green footprint, keep in mind that a well-maintained HVAC system consumes considerably less fuel – and that’s good for the earth.

Such homeowners will also want to remember what type of refrigerant is used in their system since the EPA has been working to remove substances that harm the environment. HVAC technicians handling controlled refrigerants are required to have an EPA Section 608 Certification and can help you understand what type of refrigerant you’re using its impact on the environment, and your options.

Your HVAC contractor can also tell you about the advantages of employing a programmable thermostat or switching from oil heat to natural gas so you can reduce your system’s impact on the environment.