This is a question we often hear from customers, and we want to address it here because it helps to explain what maintenance is and why it’s vital.
When you notice something wrong with your home heating system, whether a furnace, heat pump, or another type of heater, you should call a service professional. This is the right instinct! Attempting to handle repairs on your own rarely solves the problem. In the case of gas-powered heaters, it’s potentially hazardous (and may be illegal). However, what you want to call technicians for is repairs. You don’t want to schedule maintenance to “tune-up” the furnace and stop what’s wrong. That’s not what maintenance is for.
Maintenance is Prevention of Problems, Not a Remedy
Let’s take a basic medical example as an analogy. When you are suffering from a terrible toothache, you don’t call up the dentist to schedule a basic cleaning and check-up. You call the dentist and say, “I have a terrible toothache that I need you to look at and cure.” During your dental visit, the dentist will attend to this problem. Maybe the dentist will recommend you schedule cleaning for a week later (if you’re overdue for it), or maybe the dentist has an open slot that day and can also do the cleaning.
The purpose of scheduling regular teeth cleanings is to prevent cavities and give your dentist a chance to check on any potential problems to watch for—or schedule a separate appointment to deal with. Prevention is also the purpose of maintenance for your heater. Twice a year (same as dental appointments!), an HVAC technician comes to your home and adjusts, cleans, and inspects your heating system or AC—the first appointment in fall, the second in spring. This does the job of preventing potential problems, as well as catching early smaller troubles that may be fixed before they threaten your home’s comfort. If the problem is small enough, the technician may be able to fix it right there.
Repairs Are Not a Substitute for Maintenance
If you told your dentist, “I don’t think I want to bother with regular cleanings. I’ll just come in when I need to,” the dentist would then give you a lecture about the risks you’re taking with your teeth—and you know you’d be taking a risk. The same is true for caring for your furnace. Repairs are things you want to avoid at all costs. There what you do when things go wrong, and you don’t want to let things go wrong in the first place! When you’re enrolled in regular maintenance, you’ll prevent on average 85% of repairs the system may need!
However, you may need repairs at some point. No amount of maintenance can stop all malfunctions. When you notice a heater that can’t keep up, is making strange noises, or giving off other indications of trouble, that is the time to call for heating repairs in Bucks County, PA. If you haven’t scheduled maintenance yet for the season, like the dentist your HVAC technician will remind you to get this done.