Wow. It is finally September. Fall is on the way at last and winter is nipping at its heels, which means that now is the right time to shake the dust off, wake your furnace up and start putting it through its preparatory paces before those lower temperatures arrive.
Because of how unusual this year has been, we understand that many of our Shipton’s customers in Hamilton and the surrounding areas have been impacted by job and income interruption. Right now, it may feel tempting to put off or simply skip essential furnace maintenance, but furnace malfunctions are one of the top causes of winter home fires. We want to make it as safe, easy and affordable as possible for you to have your furnace checked and serviced. So read on for furnace tune-up tips to trim your budget and put cash back on your wallet.
P.S. Speaking of cash back, make sure to read all the way through to the end for a money-saving discount offer that includes a high-value freebie!
How a Furnace Tune-up Puts Cash Back In Your Wallet
The typical homeowner here in Ontario reports spending $2,358 on energy each year.
Of that amount, an average of 61 percent, or $1,438, goes directly to heating their home.
A furnace tune-up includes a number of important preventative maintenance and safety checks. The simplest of these is changing out the furnace filter.
The Department of Energy states that just this one part of the typical preventative maintenance tune-up can save you up to 15 percent on your annual energy bills.
That is an instant savings of $215 per year.
Consider that the furnace tune-up service at Clean Air Solutions (see the end of this post for details) costs as little as $103.20.
With this offer, you’ve already popped $112.56 back into your wallet and the savings are just getting started.
Furnace Tune-up Safety Checks to Avoid a Home Fire
The National Fire Protection Association names “heating” as one of the top causes of winter home fires (43 percent to be exact).
Over a 10-year period, nearly 10,000 home fires occurred, which resulted in millions of dollars of property damage and just over 1,700 deaths.
Every year, malfunctioning residential heating equipment sparks devastating home fires that lead to fatalities. This is why scheduling routine preventative furnace maintenance makes the NFPA’s top five list of tips to prevent home fires.
This is also why our highly trained service technicians at Shipton’s Heating and Cooling Ltd. perform each of the following safety checks as part of your routine preventative furnace maintenance service.
- Pilot light ignition test
- Thermostat calibration and system operation test
- Apply lubrication to all moving parts
- Clean interior and exterior components (inside and outside the home)
- Clean and test blower motor and coils
- Electrical: tighten connections, check voltage and current output
- Gas and oil: check pressure, fuel lines, connectors, burner combustion, heat exchanger
- Furnace filter cleaning or replacement (based on the system)
Incomplete Combustion Can Be Dangerous
Incomplete combustion is not just an energy waster and a wallet-emptier. It is also one of the top ways that poisonous, toxic gases end up inside your home space.
What is incomplete combustion? Essentially, when there isn’t enough oxygen available to turn fuel into energy, this shortage produces unwanted chemical by-products.
One of the principal by-products of combustion is carbon monoxide, aka the “silent killer.” All kinds of furnace problems can contribute to excess carbon monoxide inside your home.
Because carbon monoxide is odourless and colourless, you won’t know it is present, unless you install a carbon monoxide detector. That carbon monoxide detector won’t do you a bit of good unless you test it periodically though, to make sure that it has an uninterrupted power supply and is working properly.
You may not realize that standard fire alarms do not also detect carbon monoxide. You actually need a separate standalone alarm to detect carbon monoxide.
In addition to the undeniable safety advantages of doing a combustion check on your furnace annually, you stand to save a considerable sum of cash by boosting combustion efficiency.
Let’s say your furnace is rated for 85 percent energy efficiency (total fuel utilization). But due to lack of cleaning and maintenance, it is only operating at 70 percent efficiency.
This means you are buying 15 percent more energy than your furnace technically requires to deliver peak operation.
So you are spending an extra $215 per year to operate the exact same furnace!
By scheduling preventative furnace maintenance service with Shiptons to check the pilot light, clean soot off the burners, unclog blocked vents or flues, adjust burner shutters and gas intake/outtakes and other safety-focused maintenance tasks, you also pop another $215 back into your pocket.
Hey, You Just Made $225 By Scheduling Preventative Furnace Maintenance!
Remember the $112.56 you made earlier by simply cleaning or changing out your furnace filter? That was great!
So now add to that amount the $215 you just made by upgrading your furnace combustion to match what your system is rated to provide.
Your wallet just got $328.56 richer.
Our normal price for preventative furnace maintenance at Shipton’s in Hamilton is $129. When you contact us by September 15th to schedule your appointment, you pay just $103.20.
That still leaves you $225 richer!
PLUS, if you are one of the first 25 appointments scheduled, you get a FREE furnace filter (up to a $54 value).
Save 20 Percent on Furnace Maintenance AND Get a FREE Filter!
Right now, and through October 15th, we are offering valuable savings to make scheduling routine preventative furnace maintenance more affordable for our customers.
- Schedule by September 15th and save 20 percent.
- Schedule by September 30th and save 15 percent.
- Schedule by October 15th and save 10 percent.
First 25 appointments get a FREE furnace filter!
Get in Touch With Shipton’s Qualified Technicians
Shipton’s Heating and Cooling in Hamilton is open and ready to continue servicing your heating and cooling needs – day and night! Give our qualified technicians a call at 1-905-549-4616 or visit us online if we can be of service to you!
