Fall is here and winter is just around the corner. The holidays are here, too. Don’t you want to be comfortable throughout this season? Now is the time to schedule heater maintenance with My Father’s Mechanical. We’ll inspect your heating system to make sure it is safe and reliable all winter long, including testing for carbon monoxide leaks. In the meantime, you can perform a little test yourself to make sure your heater and thermostat are working properly. Let’s talk about this below.
Open Your Windows
You know how awful your heater smells when you turn it on for the first time in the winter, so open all your windows to avoid the smell of burning dust. This allows the odors to seep outside rather than get stuck inside your home. Unless the odors are overwhelming or different, do not panic if you do smell a little something odd. It’s normal for your furnace to release unpleasant odors the first time you run it.
Set the Thermostat
Switch your cooling option to Heat on your thermostat and then set the temperature high enough that the furnace will turn on. It will have to be higher than your current indoor temperature. Make sure your fan is set to Auto. Wait for the click from your thermostat. This click is the heater turning on. You will also be able to hear the furnace start up once the thermostat has determined that you want the house warmer than it is currently.
Feel the Air
Head to a vent and put your hand in front of it. Make sure you can feel warm air blowing out of the vent. If you can’t feel anything and you never heard the thermostat click or the furnace turn on, call us because something is wrong. If you can feel warm air, check the air blowing out of every vent in the house. If the air blowing out of each register isn’t uniform in pressure, you may have torn ductwork in your attic that needs to be repaired.
Give Us a Call
Finally, if everything is okay, call us anyway. Turn off your furnace and give us a ring to schedule an appointment for a furnace inspection. You should have one every fall. We will clean the furnace, inspect all the parts and replace any that need it, and make sure that you needn’t worry about your furnace’s safety.
We are My Father’s Mechanical in San Antonio, TX, and we are HVAC experts. Call us today.