What To Do To Get Your Heater Working Well Before The Cold Sets In
School is officially in session, the leaves are falling off of the trees, and that pumpkin spice latte just isn’t enough to stave off the morning chill. So it’s time to switch your HVAC system over to Heat. This article was written by Lancaster Brothers to ensure your furnace is ready for the coming winter.
1. Turn on the thermostat.
Switch from cooling to heating and set the temperature a couple of degrees higher than the current room temperature. If you don’t hear the heat kick on within a minute, make sure the power source to the HVAC system is turned on. If it’s still not working, it’s time to call in a professional.
2. Change the air filters.
You probably have air filters behind a vent grill in the wall or ceiling or a single filter in the HVAC system itself. Change these filters every few months. Or, if you have a permanent electrostatic filter, you can wash and reuse it. Cleaning or replacing your filters regularly keeps particles out of your HVAC system and can prolong its life. While you’re at it, change your humidifier filter and set the humidistat if your HVAC includes a humidifier.
3. Check Humidifier Operation
- Ensure your humidistat is turned up to the highest setting. Turn your furnace thermostat to heat and turn up to call for heat on the furnace. Typically, humidifiers only work in the heating cycle.
- Ensure your water line to your humidifier is turned on.
- Lift the supply tube to your humidifier from the top of the distribution box slightly, can you see water coming out of it?
- If you are still having problems, call Lancaster Brothers to have a professional take a look at it!
4. Change Humidifier Pad
- Make sure the humidifier is turned off
- Take the cover off of your humidifier.
- Each humidifier will be different in how this will be achieved. Most will have a tab at the top and bottom of the unit that will release the cover when pressed.
- Disconnect the feeder tube from the humidifier.
- Remove the black frame holding the evaporator pad from the humidifier. You should see two tabs protruding from the frame that will help you lift the frame up and out of the humidifier. You might hear a ‘snap’ as it disconnects from the humidifier housing.
- On the top of the evaporator pad frame will be a thick piece of plastic called a distributor tray. There should be tabs holding the distributor tray in place on the frame. Press these to release the distributor tray from the frame.
- Remove the used evaporator pad from the frame and replace with a new one.
- Re-attach the distributor tray to the top of the frame.
- Place the evaporator pad and frame back in the humidifier the same way you took it out, ensuring the hole for the feeder tube is on the correct side. You may here a ‘snap’ again as the evaporator pad frame snaps into place.
- Connect the feeder tube back to the unit and replace the cover.
If you are having trouble with your HVAC system in any way, schedule an appointment with Lancaster Brothers today! If you simply don’t want to worry about keeping your HVAC working properly, learn about our extremely affordable maintenance plan today!