Hello,
We've purchased a home 3 1/2 years ago, but haven't done any
maintenance/cleaning of the electric furnace. This furnace sits
in the attic above the second story.

The house is about 7 years old, and we don't know if previous
owner did any maint work.

From your experience, is periodic maintenance/tune-up of the furnace
needed and beneficial ?

Thanks!

Correction - it's not an electric heater, but rather a gas heater.
And it sits in the attic.

ap wrote:
Hello,
We've purchased a home 3 1/2 years ago, but haven't done any
maintenance/cleaning of the electric furnace. This furnace sits
in the attic above the second story.

The house is about 7 years old, and we don't know if previous
owner did any maint work.

From your experience, is periodic maintenance/tune-up of the furnace
needed and beneficial ?

Thanks!

ap wrote:
Correction - it's not an electric heater, but rather a gas heater.
And it sits in the attic.

ap wrote:
Hello,
We've purchased a home 3 1/2 years ago, but haven't done any
maintenance/cleaning of the electric furnace. This furnace sits
in the attic above the second story.

The house is about 7 years old, and we don't know if previous
owner did any maint work.

From your experience, is periodic maintenance/tune-up of the
furnace needed and beneficial ?

Thanks!

In this case I would suggest calling our a professional HVAC tech and
have them check it out and perform any needed maintenance. The advantage is
they are far more likely to spot a potential problem or safety issue than
you would be doing the maintenance. The only trick is to find a good one.
Ask neighbors and friends. Good Luck

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

ap wrote:
Correction - it's not an electric heater, but rather a gas heater.
And it sits in the attic.

ap wrote:
Hello,
We've purchased a home 3 1/2 years ago, but haven't done any
maintenance/cleaning of the electric furnace. This furnace sits
in the attic above the second story.

The house is about 7 years old, and we don't know if previous
owner did any maint work.

From your experience, is periodic maintenance/tune-up of the furnace
needed and beneficial ?

Thanks!

One thing you can do: change filters regularly (find out what size you
need, and
what types of filters are available, maybe from service tech.) Such
filters clog
quickly, and reduce efficiency. Yours is probably pretty hairy.

You wouldn't believe what the previous owner of my house did with the
filter
in the gas furnace. Jammed in a folded oversized filter, one time, and
walked.
Thus the quip about "hairy"- someoned had a dog, too. Dunno about
yours.

HTH,
J

I put in the filters about every 3 mos or so.

do you have the technicians do any specific cleaning when they
come out for an inspection?

I have a gas furnace.

wrote:
ap wrote:
Correction - it's not an electric heater, but rather a gas heater.
And it sits in the attic.

ap wrote:
Hello,
We've purchased a home 3 1/2 years ago, but haven't done any
maintenance/cleaning of the electric furnace. This furnace sits
in the attic above the second story.

The house is about 7 years old, and we don't know if previous
owner did any maint work.

From your experience, is periodic maintenance/tune-up of the furnace
needed and beneficial ?

Thanks!

One thing you can do: change filters regularly (find out what size you
need, and
what types of filters are available, maybe from service tech.) Such
filters clog
quickly, and reduce efficiency. Yours is probably pretty hairy.

You wouldn't believe what the previous owner of my house did with the
filter
in the gas furnace. Jammed in a folded oversized filter, one time, and
walked.
Thus the quip about "hairy"- someoned had a dog, too. Dunno about
yours.

HTH,
J

"ap" writes:

I put in the filters about every 3 mos or so.

do you have the technicians do any specific cleaning when they
come out for an inspection?

I have a gas furnace.

If they're traditional thin paper filters, the recommended change
frequency on those cheap little babies is once a month, for what it's
worth.

A typical seasonal gas furnace service for my 15-20 year old furnace
always seemed to involve them pulling all the burners and cleaning
them, and then doing a visual mirror inspection of the heat exchanger,
checking CO levels wihle the unit was up and running, perhaps checking
to verify that temperature rise is within spec, adjusting burner
manifolds for clean flame. While they're out there, may as well toss
another $10-$20 at them to replace the thermocouple preventively if
you stil have a piloted furnace, unless you are comfortable changing
those yourself when the need arises.

The last time they were sufficiently concerned about rust to pull the
blower and do an extended test of the heat exchanger using a water
solution, but I have my reservations about the validity of that test.
But all the same, on the weight of efficiency gains alone and another
issue with teh furnace preventing the pilot from staying lit I went
ahead and replaced mine at the 15yr mark.

Several home inspectors seem to recommend annual service for any
furnace over 10 years in age.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/