Here’s Your Seasonal HVAC Maintenance Checklist

Maintaining your HVAC system is crucial to staying comfortable indoors as well as extending the life of your HVAC investment. Living in Middlesex, North Carolina, you’re no stranger to hot, humid summers and cold winters. That, as you’ll see, is why fall is the perfect time to maintain your HVAC. There are some maintenance tips you can do as a homeowner, but you can also expect your technician to perform some basic tasks on a maintenance call, too.

Your Seasonal Home Checklist

While you should never take apart your unit or fix major issues yourself, there are some basic steps you can take to help your system run efficiently:

• Clean the area around the unit by cutting back grass or shrubbery.
• Check for any unusual noises to report to your technician.
• Change out your air filter with one that has a MERV rating recommended for your system.

You should be replacing your filter every three months, but if you have pets or live in an area with a lot of seasonal pollen, look into replacing your filter every month. A dirty filter means higher energy costs for you.

Call In A Professional

There are some HVAC maintenance items that require a high level of knowledge and skill, use special equipment, or are otherwise just too dangerous to perform yourself. For those, it is important you call in a professional. Peak times for HVAC professionals are summer and winter, so calling in the fall will assure you get faster service and you won’t be dealing with any repairs while it’s freezing cold outside. An HVAC technician will:

• Lubricate moving parts.
• Inspect relays and wires.
• Calibrate your thermostat.
• Check system controls.
• Check defrost controls and heating strips.
• Clean condensate drains.
• Top off refrigerant levels.
• Check and clean thermocouples, ignition system, gas line, oil line, flue pipe, pilots and combustion air openings for gas heating systems.

Before winter hits, schedule your maintenance appointment with Alford Mechanical. Our HVAC maintenance specialists are happy to keep you comfortable through the long, cold months. Give us a call at 919-246-5265.

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