Are Your Heating, Hot Water Systems and Their Components Ready For Winter?
Maintaining the mechanical systems in your house is very important, especially with winter upon us. To keep your system running and keep utilities costs down, take some time to learn how your particular unit functions and what it needs to run efficiently and safely.
Boiler and Domestic Hot Water Systems
Servicing and maintaining these units should include:
- the nozzles on the oiled fired burner head
- the oil filter at the tank
- gas burners in the natural gas boiler/hot water heater
- testing the temperature pressure relief valves (TPR)
- draining the hot water tank to remove mineral deposits on the bottom
- it is recommended that the an oil tank be drained and cleaned every 3-5 years to remove sludge.
Chimneys
Whether for your fireplace, oil or gas burning boiler, hot air furnace, or the hot water heater, your chimney(s) should be checked and swept. This includes masonry and stainless steel lined chimneys.
Pipe Insulation
It’s never too late to insulate your cold and hot water pipes.
- Domestic hot water pipes
- Heating hot water pipes
- Domestic cold water pipes
Forced Hot Air Heating Systems
Most of the maintenance described above also pertains to hot air heating systems, except for one major item ” filter changes”. Whether heating or cooling, it is recommended that the filters be change monthly, using pleated filters.
Service Contracts
If you have a service contract, review it, and most importantly, when the Service guy/gal is doing their thing, please be present, asking a million questions. That’s the TLC way of doing it.