How To Clean a Furnace
Like all important parts of your home, your furnace should be maintained and cleaned. Here's how to clean a furnace.
Your furnace is an essential part to creating a comfortable and pleasant environment in your home. In order for your furnace to be as efficient as possible, you would have to maintain its condition and keep it clean. To do this effectively you can follow these steps on how to clean a furnace. Cleaning and maintaining your furnace will ensure that your home stays warm and comfortable throughout the cold winter months and that you aren’t wasting any fuel or your hard earned money.
A dirty furnace with a build-up of dust and dirt would result in a waste of fuel and an inefficient heating system in your home. These steps below on how to clean a furnace will apply to gas, oil, and electric furnaces.
Step 1: Turn off your furnace
To shut off your furnace, cut the power by turning off the breaker switch. Remove the safety panel from your furnace. On an oil or gas furnace, the fuel supply and pilot light should be shut for safety.
Step 2: General furnace clean up
You can use your vacuum to get rid of the dust and loose dirt in the interior area of the furnace. Be careful to not displace or move any of the wiring while doing this. To clean up the hard to reach dirt and grime, use a toothbrush to remove the build-up. When this is done, use the vacuum a second time to ensure that the interior is as clean as possible.
Step 3: Clean the blower fan
Remove the blower fan from the furnace. To do this you need to remove the wires that connect the blower fan to the furnace’s power source. While disassembling the blower fan keep track of which wires go where because this information is necessary to its reassembly. To clean the blower fan you may use a toothbrush, a clean rag, cotton swabs and toothpicks. You may use a toothbrush to clean the blower fins and the edges of the fan. A rag may be used to clean off the remaining dirt from all part of the blower fan assembly. If your blower fan has a belt, inspect it to make sure that it is not worn out, and if it is you should replace it with a brand new one. When you are done with cleaning the blower fan use your vacuum to pick up the debris left over.
Step 4: Clean the furnace’s filters and vents
To clean the vents, use a dry scrub brush. Take off the furnace filters and replace the old disposable filter with a new one. You should change your disposable filters on a yearly basis. If you do not have any filter replacements, they can be bought at most hardware stores. When purchasing replacements make sure that they are the same size and make as your old ones. Permanent filters can be cleaned by using a vacuum and then using a brush to remove the dirt and grime build-up. You can also blow out dust and dirt by using an air compressor.
Step 5: Clean the furnace’s heat exchanger
The furnace’s heat exchanger consists of chambers, each of which need to be cleaned separately. The heat exchanger’s chambers can be cleaned with a vacuum. Use a vacuum hose on a reduced power setting to clean the chambers to remove all existing dirt.
Step 6: Reassemble all wiring and parts
When the cleaning of all furnace compartments is finished, you will need to reassemble the furnace to exactly how it was before you started. Before doing so, check for any worn or melted wiring, loose connections, or signs of corrosion. If your furnace seems to be in good condition and all of its parts are clean, reconnect all wiring and put all of the pieces together. To make this easier and to avoid confusion it would be a good idea to use your furnace’s manual to make sure that all of the parts are located and connected properly. When everything is connected it is safe to turn on the furnace.
When all steps on how to clean a furnace have been followed, let the furnace run for a few minutes to make sure that it is working properly. Ensure that there are no unusual smells or sounds that persist. If there is a smell of burning gas, electrical wiring or oil coming from your furnace, immediately power down the furnace and contact a professional to investigate the problem and ensure the safety of yourself and your family. When all possible problems are dealt with and the furnace is running smoothly, replace the furnace’s safety panel and continue living in comfort.
To schedule your Furnace Maintenance or Furnace upgrade call the experts at FurnaceRentToOwn at 647-547-1868 or submit your request online
