Last winter was, well, epic, in many areas of Canada. The temperatures were all over the map (including some very low points we seldom achieve), prompting some news services to question whether Canada was colder than Antarctica or vice versa!
While this is a worthwhile debate, it sure won’t take your mind off the bitter cold if your furnace decides to give out in the middle of it.
Here at Shipton’s Heating & Cooling, we want to do everything we can to help you avoid spending even an uncomfortable hour without heat this winter.
So not only are we offering up our very best tips for keeping your furnace in tip-top shape all winter long, but we are running a Scratch & Win contest where you can win up to $1,000 off the price of a new furnace, A/C unit, or combination unit through November 30, 2016!
(Oh, and by the way, every single card is a winner, so whether you win a little or a lot, you are guaranteed to save hard-earned cash on your purchase!)
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Save Your Furnace: Tips to Keep Yours Operational This Winter
According to Global News-Canada, furnace-related service calls rose nearly 25 percent last winter in the Toronto, Ontario, and surrounding service areas. Yikes!
If your current furnace or heating system is relatively new and well maintained, you may have a pretty good chance of avoiding that moment when you hear it conk out and find yourself scrambling around to locate Shipton’s 24/7 emergency repair hotline phone number.
But if you have an older model furnace or heating system, one that isn’t so energy efficient or enthusiastic and maybe hasn’t been seen by a service technician in some time, the odds of an outage in the face of another frigid winter increase exponentially.
Here are some easy tips to safeguard your family from enduring freezing temperatures indoors this winter!
Pay attention to strange noises
Is your furnace suddenly turning into a one-man band? Do you regularly hear clanking, banging, honking, choking, shuddering, thumping, or all of the above coming from that one special spot in the corner of the house? If so, this could be an early warning sign of an impending outage. In this case, it is best to call your Shipton’s service technician out right away to see what may be causing the noise, rather than wait to see what happens. This will ensure your furnace is not quickly becoming a safety or fire hazard to you, your family, your home, and your neighbourhood.
Locate your furnace filter and change it
If you are not sure exactly where your furnace filter is, this is a clear sign you probably need to go ahead and change it. Ideally, you should be changing the filter monthly during high-use months (like in winter) and every three months during the rest of the year. This is because pet dander, dust, rust, pollen, mould, mites, debris, and other detritus can collect in the filter, blocking your furnace ventilation and creating a fire hazard.
It will also reduce your furnace’s efficiency, increasing your winter energy costs and the likelihood of an expensive part burning out, such as the furnace motor or blower.
Clear away debris from your home’s air vents
Ice and snow may seem pretty harmless at first glance. But in a hard freeze in the midst of a long winter, that water can begin to freeze over the air vents themselves, trapping stale, toxic air and particulate matter inside your home and boosting the likelihood you and your family will become ill.
Weatherize and seal your home
If you had goggles that could show you all the places where air can escape from inside your home to the outdoors, you would probably be speechless. But unless your home is a brand-new construction, it is likely there is air escaping right in front of you every day and you don’t even know it.
Time and the elements have a way of unsealing even the most carefully weatherized home. Window seals degrade and caulking gets saggy. Humidity warps window and door frames and rodents pry away small boards and sneak inside your attic or basement areas. This makes resealing and weatherizing your home one of the hands-down best ways to not only improve energy efficiency and lower your winter heating bill, but also to give your hard-working furnace as much help and support as possible to do its job this winter.
Consider upgrading your furnace this year
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, any furnace that is 15+ years old or any heat pump that is 10+ years old has earned its retirement honestly. You can save up to 15 or 20 percent by replacing your elderly system with a new system. Even better: newer energy-efficient systems that are Energy Star-certified will automatically deliver a lower energy bill with more balanced humidity, even heating, and easier programming than their older ancestors.
Oh, and don’t forget that if you do decide to upgrade before December 1, 2016, your purchase will include a Scratch & Win card that could save you up to $1,000 on that new heating system you’ve had your eye on!
Contact Shiptons’s Heating & Cooling Today
Here at Shipton’s Heating & Cooling, we have nearly a century of expertise optimizing HVAC and furnace performance in homes and workplaces. We know the challenges of the Hamilton and surrounding areas like the backs of our hands—after all, we not only work here, we also live here! We can advise you on a new purchase, help you design the most efficient system for new construction, repair anything with parts, and provide the latest information on the most energy-efficient practices in use today.
Contact us by phone at 905-549-4616 or online. We look forward to serving you!
