Regular Home Heating Maintenance
Oil fueled appliances like furnaces, boilers and water heaters need to be properly serviced and maintained in order to operate efficiently. They typically require more maintenance than natural gas powered appliances as soot and dirt can easily build up. Princeton Fuel offers a complete range of repair, installation, maintenance and tune-up services for fuel oil burners, furnaces and boilers.
Do-It-Yourself Checklist
While it’s important to have a trained HVAC professional inspect and maintain your oil furnace and other oil-fired appliances, there are a few things you can do yourself in order to keep things running fairly well.
1. Take a Look Around: Casually inspecting your furnace from time to time on your own is beneficial to its proper maintenance and efficiency. Black soot buildup around the outside of the furnace could mean that it’s burning more oil than it should be. The smoke coming out of the chimney is also an indicator of how well your oil furnace is operating. If you see black smoke coming out it might be a sign that the oil isn’t burning properly or completely. Additionally, if you hear any unusual sounds coming from your oil furnace or other oil-fueled appliances like rattling, it might be an indication that your blower needs servicing.
2. Wipe It Down: If you’re comfortable turning off your furnace do so prior to cleaning it and its surrounding area. Once off and cooled down, vacuum around your furnace and clean the dust off of it and all of its exposed components. By removing this dust you’re helping remove any allergens or other particles that can be distributed throughout your home.
3. The Filter: One of the best things you can do for your oil furnace, or any furnace for that matter, is to change the filter on a regular basis. Typically, a furnace filter needs to be changed every few months depending on the conditions in and around your home. If you check your filter more often and realize that it’s consistently dirty then you may need to change it more often than recommended. In this scenario you might also need to have a professional come and inspect your furnace’s intake to ensure it doesn’t need to be professionally cleaned.
Oil Burner Maintenance and Repair Services
Overall, there are a number of things that can be done to ensure your furnace is running as efficiently as possible in between professional home heating maintenance visits. Ensuring the efficiency of your furnace will also help reduce your home heating costs and prolong the life of your furnace and its components. If you have an aging furnace that’s not working properly, we can evaluate and recommend a repair or replacement. New replacements for home heating oil burner installations can be accomplished with minimal service interruptions and will most often result in space savings as newer, high efficiency equipment is more compact with smaller footprints. For more information about oil burner maintenance, contact Princeton Fuel Oil today: 1-800-253-9001.