When we talk about doing yearly maintenance, we don’t normally think about having that sort of thing done at the end of the build, or even during the final stages of the building process. Once the HVAC system is installed and operating what else is there? I’m here to tell you that there is so much more…
When your HVAC system is sized and designed, everything is based on the house as a whole. What is the square footage of the area being treated (heated/cooled), the type of insulation used, type of windows and seals, and doors and seals. This tells us what is needed to treat the house but doesn’t do anything for personalized comfort for the home. In over a decade of working in HVAC I’ve yet to see a system installed that doesn’t NEED some sort of fine tuning.
- Furnace:
More times than not, there is something that can be adjusted to make the home more comfortable for the family, and at least 75% of the time something NEEDS to be adjusted because the system isn’t actually operating within manufacture specs. Is the gas pressure correct? If it is too high then you could be using more gas than necessary, and the system could be overheating itself which is harmful to the system as a whole. On the other hand, if the gas pressure is too low then your system may actually be operating longer than it needs too, may feel like it never gets to temp, and can cause parts of the burner assembly to get dirtier faster, which causes other problems as well. - Air Conditioning:
Just like your furnace, the Air Conditioner is sized for the house but not for the exact comfort of the home and the family. The most common problem that I find is airflow, and I don’t just mean inside, but at the outdoor unit as well. Inside we need to make sure that we have a good static pressure, which can be adjusted by many factors, most of which cannot be done in a simple manner. As for outside, making sure that dirt/grass/other yard debris haven’t covered the outside unit, as the system works by removing heat from the inside and can’t do that if it can’t breathe. Sometimes we don’t want the outdoor unit visible from the street while on the side of the home; I get it, and that can definitely be done with fencing or other materials. What needs to happen with that, is it needs to have proper clearance around all sides of the unit, especially to the mechanical compartment, so that the system can be worked on safely and properly. - Water Heater:
Strangely enough, the biggest problem I run into with water heaters is that they don’t get maintenance done often enough, but there isn’t a lot to do to dial in a water heater… the standard tanks that is. There are now new hybrid tank water heaters and of course the much loved ON-DEMAND tankless water heaters. Now these newer style systems do have more components, specifically electronics and circuitry. This being said, there are some things that can be adjusted and fine tuned on these newer systems, ESPECIALLY if there is anything extra (I.E. re-circulation loop either designated or not needs to be programmed into some of the tankless systems, and the hybrid systems need to be programmed to operate around colder temperatures). I have also found that sometimes the there are some missed plumbing shavings that get into the pipes during construction and can clog up the filter in the tankless water heaters.
Just because the house or the system is new, doesn’t mean that it is working within spec, or to the comfortability of the family in the home. Yes the system can always be fine tuned after the one year mark, but if damage is caused due to the system not operating within manufacture specs, the manufacturer could potentially void the warranty of the equipment, which doesn’t help the builder or the family. Give us a call today to set up getting your system fine tuned and dialed in to be as efficient and comfortable as possible.
Cruzin Bee LLC 