Seasonal Heater Maintenance

To keep your furnace in tip-top condition it's important to follow a seasonal maintenance schedule. You should also inspect the furnace's blower any time air is moving faster or slower than usual.

Furnace blowers operate with the use of either a direct-drive motor or an adjustable V-belt and pulley operation. If your furnace uses a direct-drive motor you won't have to do any adjusting, although it may require oil - just check the manufacturer's instructions to find out.

For both furnace types, find the lubrication ports on the motor - on belt-drive machines you will also have to find the blower pulley. Before each heating and cooling season begins, apply a few drops of SAE-10 nondetergent oil into the ports with an oil can.

Note that when trying to identify oil ports, they should be at each end of the shaft. Also look for lube points on the blower fan.

On belt-drive blowers you need to carry out a few more tasks. Because belt-drive units need the right belt tension to operate properly, take some time to inspect the belt for frays, cracks, and other obvious signs of wear. In the event that you'll need to make a replacement, it may be a good idea to store a spare belt at home. To change the speed of a belt-drive motor if necessary, consider using an adjustable motor pulley to loosen a setscrew and adjust the distance between pulley faces.

The last step involves ensuring the belt is loose enough without falling off - a depression of about 1 inch is ideal. Finally, check that all mounting bolts are tight.

In addition to seasonal maintenance, for forced heating and cooling systems it's necessary to change the filters once a month. This type of furnace blows up a lot of dust and dirt, which is caught by the filter before circulating throughout your home, so in order to keep the system running efficiently you must remember to do a filter change regularly.

Filters are easy to replace - simply remove the filter and hold it up to the light. If you can see through it a replacement is not yet needed. Otherwise, discard the used filter and install a new one in its place.

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