Whether you heat your Michigan home with the help of a furnace or you’re putting a boiler to work every day and night, it’s always helpful to know that you’re taking good care of your system between tune-ups. Here are some tips for best practices, for homes with furnaces and also for homes with boilers.
Check the filter. Keep dust, particles, and other impurities out of the air throughout your home by maintaining a clean filter for your warm-air system. Mark your calendar with one day each month to give the filter a check. If you need to replace it or you need a second opinion, your heating company can help! Just give them a ring and let them know what you need. They can walk you through anything you need to do.
Use the “on” setting. If you’re thinking about setting your thermostat to “auto,” think again. Keeping it set to “on” will allow your home to maintain a steady temperature for the entire day. This is the ideal way to go as you want to keep your Michigan state home’s indoor air circulating at all times, free of interruption.
A furnace, which can also be called a warm-air or forced-air system, produces heated air. The heated air travels through the home’s duct system and then it comes into each room through vents (also known as registers). This process keeps homes comfortable and warm during the cold-weather months.
Check the damper. You want to know that you are making the most of your system’s heating potential, and checking the damper can help you accomplish just that. When you feel the baseboard, be sure to confirm that you can feel heat. If no heat is coming through, there are a couple of steps to take. Confirm that it’s clear at the bottom of the unit. If there’s anything in the way, your heat may stop working properly. Make sure there’s not heavy carpeting or other items creating an obstruction.
Give the radiator valves a check. If your radiator is set to “on” or “off,” great. If it’s somewhere in between, then you need to make an adjustment. You want your temperature to regulate, and with the valve in between, this will not happen. Instead, you’ll hear an unpleasant hammering-like sound, which is an indication that your pipes are being strained.
Keep an eye on the water gauge. If you don’t have a steam boiler, you can skip this section. If you have a steam boiler, read on. A low water level is often the cause of a steam boiler shutdown. Also, if there’s a rusty look to the gauge’s water, then the steam boiler probably needs to be flushed. If this is the case, call your heating company. They can let you know what to do.
Here’s a brief description of how energy-efficient boilers made in recent years work. After hot water makes its way through the combustion chamber in your boiler, it moves through your home’s pipes. It gets pumped over to the baseboards or radiators in your house to create the heat you need to stay warm and comfortable during even the coldest times of year.
With steam systems, the water is converted to steam in the boiler, rather than after it travels through the home’s pipes. The steam moves through the home’s in-floor radiant tubing, radiators, baseboard or other sealed hydronic devices, to create a warm, comfortable atmosphere.
And without a fan or blower, a boiler does not contribute to the dust or particle level in the air of your Michigan home.
If you’re up for a system upgrade on a furnace, a boiler or a storage tank in your Michigan home, check out the rebates you may be eligible for.