I stepped outside this morning and felt the cool in the air — the first signs of fall. The air felt cooler than normal and the breeze was crisper. The fall colors were exciting to see. Halloween, is and the first snow fall are coming soon. When I looked at my house, I realized that I have some work to get it ready for winter. My doors and windows need some caulking and weather stripping and my attic could use some more insulation. However, the most important part of feeling comfortable in the winter is my furnace. With tax rebates from the government available to those who qualify, now may be a good time to replace your furnace. But how do you really know? The following tips will help you determine if you need to spend some of your extra money replacing your existing furnace of if you can hold out another season instead.
Find Out Early: In many parts of the country the weather is quite warm still and hardly anyone is thinking of cold, winter nights. However, now is the time to think about your furnace and get it checked out. Usually heating and cooling specialists run specials this time of year knowing that most people aren’t thinking of the health of their furnace. Getting it checked out now, by a professional, can save you time and money in the future. He could simply do an easy tune-up or a small repair. This will enable you to flip on your furnace with confidence when the first really cold day arrives. You don’t want to be sitting in your house, without heat, waiting for the next available repairman. At that point you may be so desperate you will do anything and pay anything just to have heat and end up spending a lot more than you planned. Getting your furnace checked out now can save you time, stress, and money in the future.
Keep it Simple: Save yourself time and money by doing the simple things to maintain your heating unit. If it has a filter, replacing it at the recommended intervals will save you a lot of money in repairs. It’s difficult for air to move through a dirty filter, which can happen if you don’t replace the filter often enough. This causes the motor to work harder and eventually burn out. There are many kinds of filters on the market. Some are extremely inexpensive, but need to be replaced more often. Some are especially designed for allergy sufferers, but are more costly. Make sure you have the right size filter for your furnace — the numbers are typically on the side of the filter — and replace them when needed. If you have a lot of traffic through your home, you may need to replace your filter more often than if you don’t.
Take Advantage of the Deals: With the struggling economy, there are deals to be found out there. Right now the government is offering tax rebates for those who buy qualifying heating units, not to mention the deals from the retailers themselves. There are some great, high-efficiency units on the market which, although a little more expensive now, will pay for themselves later on through the energy savings you will see. And with the energy prices we saw last winter, finding some way to lower those costs is definitely a bonus. Not to mention your home being warmer as well. Spend a little time doing some research so you are prepared when you walk into a retailer.
Don’t be Left in the Cold: By starting now you can ensure yourself a more comfortable home during the coming months. You’ll save yourself time and money by switching your furnace on for a few minutes now in order to assess if there are any problems. And, as always, make sure you protect yourself and your loved ones by installing carbon monoxide detectors in your home in case your furnace has a leak you don’t know about.
Marty Craigs is an expert on home security and related topics. He also does writing and research on a number of related topics, such as torxplus security screws, products, and other hardware. Visit http://www.securityscrew.com/ to learn more about security, tamper resistant, and tamper proof screws and read about other security products.
