SELF HELP MAINTENANCE

 

Ventilation: Like your body your house needs certain elements, like air and water. Ventilation is an important part of this. A simple visual inspection of external terminations can inform you of potential problems, such as natural and human obstructions, such as snow banks, grasses, birds' nests, wasp hives, or if a human built obstacle has blocked the vent.

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Filters: Changing your filters regularly is probably the most important and simplest thing you can do to keep your equipment working well and your energy bills lower as well. Your filters are like the lungs of your house, they too need to breathe.

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If allergies, health concerns or air quality is a concern for you, it is even more important to change your filters. Using your air conditioning during certain weather seasons instead of opening doors and windows can help reduce environmental pollutants in your home. Hepa filters have also been proven to reduce allergens in your home. Your HVAC supplier can provide you with filters for your needs.

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Different temperatures on different floors: Heat will always rise and below ground will feel colder. These variations are a part of your natural environment, and your system can be modified to work with this. Remember to adjust your registers between floors between seasons. Dampering certain registers in forced air systems will help direct conditioned temperatures to rooms that need it less or more than others. Other types of systems may have zones etc and ceiling fans used to move this air can help with balanced comfort. Learning how your system and house works, will help you to modify it for your preferred comfort as well as understanding how your system works so you are informed.

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Unit care: for health and safety reasons, as well as the optimum performance of your equipment, it is best to keep items a safe distance from all of your units, including water heaters. A forced air furnace does need to draw air through it so should be in a space where there is air movement. Outdoor air conditioning units benefit from having grass cuttings, dirt etc hosed off of them. Ideally there should not be any grasses or plants too close to the unit. Covering your outdoor air conditioning unit during the winter months is best to be done for snow fall off from the roof, which can prevent impact and ice damage. If you put a blanket type cover over your unit, it is best to do so when it is dry to help prevent rusting.

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Drains are flowing: Several of your units will drain water, either to a floor drain or a condensate pump. Ensuring that these systems are flowing should be a part of your maintenance check. It can be as simple as a visual inspection or by pouring water through to ensure there are no blockages.

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HRV:  Homes are becoming more efficient, and a bi-factor of that is that they are becoming more air tight. For efficiency and the environment, this is good, however we need fresh air in our homes for our health. A Heat Recovery Ventilator does this for us. It is an addition to your home comfort system that exchanges stale air with fresh air, while not losing the comfort it has worked to achieve. They are also simple to maintain.

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Humidifiers:  Help keep the right amount of moisture in your home. Anyone who has experienced the shock from a door knob understands why this is important. They also assist with health concerns and general comfort of your home.