Did You Know?

Heating Season Tune-Ups Save Money , Extend Equipment Life

About 55% of American home owners have their heating-cooling equipment professionally serviced at least once a year, according to a recent survey of home owners across the country by Honeywell, Inc. They're the smart ones. An annual heating system "clean & check" tune-up is one of the best home maintenance investments you can make. What about the 45% of home owners who neglect annual maintenance? They pay the following penalties:

• Fuel bills rise as much as 10-15% as a result of inefficient equipment operation. It's like having a fireplace that burns money.
• Accelerated equipment wear. Annual maintenance extends equipment life as much as 20 - 30%. This translated to an additional 5-10 years of usage for your furnace or boiler.
• Most service contractors will tell you that about 75% of all repairs they do could have been avoided with regular maintenance. Heating system repairs typically run into the hundreds of dollars - more fuel for that money burning fireplace.
• Most important, annual heating inspections can save your life and those of your loved ones. Small cracks in a heat exchanger or problems with the flue system could allow deadly carbon monoxide gas to seep into your home. Hundreds of people in the U.S. lose their lives each year in these tragedies. Our trained service technician’s knows how to spot danger signs in the system.

Modern heating equipment is very sophisticated. Our well-equipped service technician has an array of electronic measuring devices and tools to properly service these units. While heating inspections can be done at any time, early fall is the most popular time for most home owners to schedule these visits.

To avoid the rush, many home owners have their fall heating inspection done as part of an annual Preferred Service Agreement. Preferred Service Agreement customers receive priority in scheduling and discount pricing for any repairs. A Preferred Service Agreement also is a good way to ensure you don't forget about scheduling regular heating system maintenance.

While service is important, beyond a certain point even the best maintenance cannot save an antiquated system. In fact, efficiency improvements over the last couple of decades have been so dramatic that if your furnace is more than 20 years old, it's quite possible that it would make economic sense to replace your present system even if it is still operating well.