Time for Gas Furnace Startup or Maintenance in the Charlotte Area, Cold Weather is Coming

Charlotte is seeing its first snap of cold weather for 2011, and many of us will head for the thermostat within the next day or two, turn it over to the heat setting and start-up our home heating system for the first time in 8 months.

As we mentioned last week in our Charlotte furnace service and maintenance guide, you really don’t want to wait much longer to get your home heating system cleaned and checked out. If you do wait longer, you may find that companies are busy, and you have to sit on the cold for a day or two.

Here are several helpful guides for starting your home, your gas furnace, or heating system this year.

• How to light your Pilot Light (Older systems, also applicable for hot water heaters)
• McClintock HVAC Tip of the Week – A reminder to have your furnace tuned up now!
• Winter Preparation Tips from ARS of Charlotte – Takes it farther than just the furnace or heating system, and gets into home sealing, etc.
• How to Seal Leaks in Your Home for Winter – From EnergyStar, a great resource for homeowners.
• Maintenance Tips from Charlotte Appliance – If you scroll down the page a bit, you’ll find a good bit of info for furnaces, heat pumps and some commercial systems info as well.
• Article on Heat Exchanger Safety – B&E HVAC of Charlotte has a great article about safety and dangers of a cracked heat exchanger.

If you have home weatherization or HVAC cleaning or startup tips to share with Charlotte homeowners, please add them in the comments section below. If you have a local website dedicated to heating and air tips, we may add it to this list!

How Old is Your Heating System?

If you have a gas furnace or home heat pump system that’s more than 10 years old, it may be worth your time to get competitive free estimates before the heating season gets farther underway. After 10 years is the time when your furnace is going to start showing signs of failure, and may actually be worth replacing if the price is right.

Charlotte heating contractors are usually slow at this time of year, so it’s a great time to get a furnace or heating system installed at a very affordable price!