QUINCY (WGEM) – Local heating and air businesses have been seeing an uptick in calls for furnace checkups and repairs as the weather gets colder.
“The sudden temperature changes, especially coming off the first cold weekend, everybody all of the sudden realizes, ‘Hey, it’s going to be cold. We need the furnace’,” said Keck’s Heating and Air Service Technician Ed Scranton.
Scranton said this could be some people’s first time turning their furnaces on this fall and that could come with unexpected complications.
“We went from 80 degrees to 30 degrees, so systems are starting to run really hard,” Scranton said. “Filters are dirty, they start over heating, they start acting up, and we get a service call.”
Scranton said the most common issues he is seeing on these calls are air filters not being changed and dirty flame sensors.
He said calling for a furnace checkup once a year can not only save you money in the long haul but could save your life.
“Everybody out there needs to make sure you have a good carbon monoxide detector,” Scranton said. “Make sure it’s within the date range and make sure it’s functional. It’s an easy safety device just like a smoke detector, especially with an older furnace.”
Furnace checkups or repairs can cost anywhere from $75-$1,600, depending on how serious it is.
Scranton said you can maintain your furnace by:
- Changing your air filter every 3 months.
- Having your furnace checked once a year.
- Keeping an eye out for anything abnormal with your furnace.
Scranton suggests people get their furnaces checked now before going deeper into the colder months.
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