We may live in the Sunshine State, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to prepare for the winter season. Of all the cities in Florida, Gainesville is particularly likely to get very cold, due to its northern and inland location. With winter quickly approaching, it’s important to make sure your home is ready. Therefore, we’ve compiled a checklist of items to inspect with your heater and your house to ensure you will be comfortable throughout the winter months.
Gator Air & Energy’s Pre-Winter Heater Checklist
✓ Make Sure Your Heater Works
Since most Floridians don’t need to use their heater for a majority of the year, it’s important to make sure that your heater still turns on and churns out some heat. In order to not be too uncomfortable while testing your heater, turn on the heat after you get back home from work when it’s not so hot outside. Keep it running for 15 minutes or more to make sure that it’s still running effectively and blowing out heat. If it isn’t turning on, smells weird, or isn’t very hot, it could be due to one of the underlying problems explained below.
✓ Check Your Duct Sealing
Leaky ducts can lead to wasted heat, and wasted heat leads to wasted money. Because the holes in your air ducts are leaking into your attic instead of holding in heat and distributing it throughout your house, you’ll be paying to heat up your attic! A tell-tale sign of leaky ductwork is finding that you really have to turn up the heat just to get your house warm. You’ll also probably have a high electric bill, due to the cost of wasted heat energy. Thankfully, Gator Air & Energy offers Duct Sealing Services, where our inspectors patch and seal off holey ducts! Getting those checked and sealed before the winter will ensure a cozy house, despite the chilly weather.
✓ Make Sure Your Ducts Are Clean
Similar to holey ducts, dirty ducts also cause heating problems. As time goes on, ductwork can easily become dusty or dirty, especially if it’s left unchecked. When you start using the heater in the winter, the hot air combined with dust can become a fire hazard. The only way to ensure your ducts are clean is to have them regularly checked. However, the danger of dirty ducts can all be prevented with a duct cleaning, which can be performed by a Gator Air & Energy professional.
✓ Have Your Furnace Burner Checked
The furnace burner is the spot in your central heating unit where air and fuel are burned to produce heat. Because there’s an actual flame here, it’s very important that the burner is clean of any dirt, grime, grease, or anything else that could inadvertently catch on fire. This should be looked at by a professional, and a complete heater inspection from an HVAC professional can easily assess and clean out any issues there might be.
✓ Check For Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide is especially important to be aware of if your house has a chimney and you use your fireplace. If unchecked for an extended period of time, a chimney can gather grime and soot to the point where it traps some of the fumes in the house. Amongst those fumes is carbon monoxide. Even if you don’t have a chimney, the furnace burner, electrical wiring, mechanical controls, and more can be potential causes of carbon monoxide.
This colorless, odorless gas is impossible to detect with human senses, so a carbon monoxide test is very important leading into the winter months. Basically, the inspector can ensure that your house is clean of carbon monoxide using specific instruments, and they can help prevent future issues by finding areas where the gas might get trapped in heating the house.
✓ Replace and Maintain Your Air Filter
Dirty air filters can cause dander, germs, and dirt to get transferred throughout the house when they’re not replaced. Replacing your air filter is a quick and easy task, as most air filters have a specific size that can then be bought at a home improvement retailer for a reasonable price. Just removing your vents and replacing them with a clean, new filter will allow for better airflow, cleaner air, and a fresher environment.
✓ Prevent Allergy Season With UV
Airborne germs can collect in your ductwork and then get distributed throughout the house, worsening allergies, causing lung problems, and more. In the winter, when allergies are typically stronger, immune systems can use all the help they can get! Therefore, installing UV lights in your A/C system can help kill any germs hiding in ductwork or coils. These lights can be easily installed by professionals during an inspection.
Contact Gator Air & Energy For a Heater Inspection
Our professional team knows exactly what to do to prepare your home or office for cold weather. With services like duct cleaning, sealing, UV installation, carbon monoxide tests, and more, we can ensure that you are ready to heat your house all winter. Contact us today for a consultation!
