Does Your House Need an HVAC Checkup?
HVAC systems are incredibly important in a household, as they control the heating and cooling in a home throughout the year. If your HVAC systems are working properly, then everything should be fine in terms of heating and air conditioning in your home. The seasons will come and go smoothly. If not, however, you’ll need to have professionals, like those at Entek, perform an HVAC checkup.
How do you know if your system needs an HVAC checkup? There are several warning signs you can look out for:
Temperature Check
Generally, there will be a temperature at which you and your family feel comfortable, and you normally would set your HVAC system to regularly hit that temperature. If you gradually see your HVAC system unable to accommodate your temperature preferences, this is a warning sign. It could mean there are issues with your HVAC system’s ducts, for example.
Your best course of action, to start, would be to visually check the ducts and feel them for leaks while you run the system. Leaky ducts or crawl spaces can often lead to a nearly 25 percent energy loss, so if you see or feel anything resembling a leak, you should call HVAC professionals to fix the problem immediately. Duct sealing services could quickly correct this issue. If you need to take immediate action just to keep the system functional while you wait for a professional to arrive and perform maintenance, you can use mastic sealant or foil tape on all the duct’s connections, including the spots where the registers attach to the ducts.
Overcoming the Blockages
An HVAC system is like most any other system in that it’s susceptible to dust and dirt creating blockages. These blockages can damage the furnace filter and ducts, so it’s imperative this issue is dealt with swiftly and properly. For starters, the filters on the HVAC system should be replaced on a regular basis. If you do this and still have issues, that’s a surefire sign the system has deeper problems, possibly clogs in the ductwork, and professionals need to be called to perform an HVAC checkup and duct cleaning.
Allergies Are a Warning Sign
If anyone in your house has allergies and those allergies are acting up horribly indoors, that could be a sign that your HVAC system needs to be looked at. Bad allergic reactions are often caused by mold growing or getting into the ducts. Once that happens, the tainted air blows throughout the house and often will cause severe allergic reactions and sometimes even respiratory issues.
If you notice these kinds of health problems popping up among the members of your household, check your ducts immediately for mold and dirt. You can remove the surface-level mold and dirt you find, but you should also call professionals quickly so they can you with a full HVAC checkup so that this can all be taken care of before somebody develops a very serious illness. This is another situation where duct cleaning by a professional could really make a difference.
Raising the Roof
It’s easy to forget about roof vents and difficult to see them properly. The easiest way to check them is to use a ladder to climb up and do a visual inspection. These vents are susceptible to weather damage, so you should check them within a reasonable amount of time after any kind of major weather event occurs. Visually inspect the vents and make sure everything is in its proper place and functioning correctly.
It’s also possible for dead animals to get stuck in these vents or for live animals to nest in them. Should you find that to be the case, your best move would be to call a professional to remove the dead animal or nest because the issue can cause major damage or significant blockages that will prevent proper air circulation. In this case, your home could experience extreme cold in the winter or unbearable heat in the summer as a result.
Having the animals or nest removed by a professional in conjunction with getting an HVAC checkup to survey the damage will cost a little in the short-term, but in the long-term, it will save you a lot of money in future repairs, keep your family safe from contaminated air, and provide your home with greatly increased energy efficiency.
What’s That Smell?
In most homes, the HVAC system freshens the air and neutralizes odors. So you shouldn’t notice any kind of out-of-the-ordinary smell. If you do notice a foul odor, that’s likely a sign that something is wrong with your HVAC system. As an example, there could be a bad electrical smell (along the lines of burnt toast) serving as a sign that the HVAC system’s wiring needs to be reinsulated or replaced.
If you detect a smell that’s musty, it’s probably an indication that the system is being hampered by the growth of mildew or mold inside of it. If these smells or any other strange odors become a persistent issue, you should call professionals to your home for an HVAC checkup.
Too Much Noise
An HVAC system can be noisy when it gears down or kicks on, but those noises are routine. If at any point you hear noises you’re not used to, especially abnormally loud noises, that’s a red flag that something is wrong with your HVAC unit. As an example, a squealing noise generally means your HVAC system needs a new belt, and a grinding noise might mean the unit needs recalibration or has a loose part. If you hear noises like these, you should call professionals for an HVAC checkup immediately to get the problem fixed and avoid major long-term damage to the unit.