When the winter weather finally ends during spring is one of the best times to consider making a big change with your home’s central heating system. Most years you won’t need to make any major changes—as long as the furnace is receiving regular maintenance and hasn’t shown signs its losing efficiency/dropping in performance. (Always be on the look out for a spike in your heating costs as a sign the furnace may be aging rapidly.)
However, if your furnace has recently given you trouble, you may be thinking about putting in a new one. Or, you could choose to have repairs and keep the furnace running for a few years. When comparing the cost of repairs against the cost of replacement, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Yep, it’s still winter. It’s plenty cold. But we’re now in March, and this means the first official day of spring is a few weeks away. Of course, that doesn’t mean we’ll instantly start to enjoy warmer weather—but it does mean we are in the home stretch.
When the time arrives for a new installation of a
We’re now in what we in the HVAC business call “heating season.” It’s when home heaters turn on and work steadily all the way through the early spring—and sometimes longer than that.
You don’t need us to tell you how important a working furnace is in this part of the country. We deal with harsh winters, and they can sometimes stretch into April. A home’s furnace is essential for getting a family through even a single day of winter.
Our recent weather has been rainy and in the 40s. That’s much warmer than during the dead of winter, but it’s certainly not a full spring thaw. But these are probably the last few weeks you’ll be using the furnace until fall. You don’t necessarily need to shut the unit down since most furnaces now use electronic ignition systems and won’t waste power using a standing pilot light. But you also should make sure the furnace doesn’t have any lingering repair issues before you stop using it.
It’s the first week of spring! That doesn’t mean the weather will instantly turn warm, of course. But it does signal the start of making plans for the coming change in weather. We strongly recommend using the time to schedule maintenance for your air conditioning system so it’s ready to go on the first day of hot weather.
We still have plenty of winter left to go, and the farther into the season we move, the more danger the heating system in our homes will be at suffering from a drop in heating effectiveness. To keep your
The fall is the most popular period for replacing old heating systems or arranging for a new heating installation. People are usually thinking hard about the coming winter, and the weather is still warm enough that they can go without heat for the short period necessary to have the new heating system installation done.