It’s the most wonderful time of the year! I can’t believe that just a few months ago I was writing about “Cooling your home.” But this is why I call North Carolina my home. Our seasons last just long enough for us to appreciate them, and then we are blessed with another one to enjoy. Isn’t that great! What more could you ask for. I hope you all are as excited as I am about the fast approaching holiday season. What a wonderful time to spend with family and friends, sharing and making memories, and taking the time to give thanks for all that we have been blessed with, which brings me to the topic for this Holiday Issue of Heritage Magazine.
If you have read any of my previous articles you may remember that I am a licensed heating and air conditioning contractor. I have been in the business for 35 years. Believe it or not I am a Raleigh native and could not even think about living somewhere else. Well, I take that back, I probably could be persuaded to live at the beach if you twisted my arm (slightly).
As I mentioned previously about making memories, I must admit that there was one holiday season that I can remember that wasn’t so perfect. It goes way back to my early childhood. OK now wait a minute, it wasn’t that long ago. As a child I had a fascination with anything that was mechanical, used electricity, motors, or made noise. My dad was very mechanically inclined and I feel very fortunate to have had a dad like him. He had so much patience. He never got mad at me with all the “What’s that or how does that work “questions. I wanted to know how it all worked so what better way to learn than to take it apart and put it back together. I found out very early that electricity moves faster than my hand could. And I have to admit that sometimes I had some extra parts left over after putting things back together. I just figured that if it worked without those parts they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Right?
OK, back to my youth. I remember one Christmas with all of my family over at our house and we were having a wonderful time together. Everything was perfect until our trusty old oil furnace decided it was time to quit working and take a break. It just so happened that my brother in law was a service technician for a heating and air conditioning company and had his truck with all his tools with him. (A good technician always has his tools close by!) Well of course he was more than willing to go down under our small crawlspace and see what the problem was. I could not wait to go explore under there with him and help. Well, it was good and it was bad. The good news is that he got it going. The bad news is I came out covered in black soot. I think at that moment I realized the importance of keeping a furnace clean. It failed because we took it for granted and thought it would run forever. It had been so reliable up until then, however it failed at the worst possible time. You’ve probably heard “If it isn’t broken don’t mess with it, or Out of sight-Out of mind”. The furnace was definitely out of sight, however at that moment it was on everyone’s mind.
Many years have passed since then and I have learned through experience that maintenance is a must on any HVAC system for proper operation and reliability. Gas furnaces and oil furnaces especially need regular maintenance because they burn fuel. In order for you to get the most efficiency out of your furnace, it needs to be cleaned and tuned up properly. Gas furnaces require a certain gas pressure at the regulator on the furnace to allow the correct amount of gas to enter the burner. If the pressure is set too low the BTU output of the furnace will be affected and differ than what the furnace specifications are. This could affect the run time of the furnace and result in higher than normal operating costs. If the pressure is set too high the furnace can experience temperatures greater than what the unit was designed for and can cause premature failure of some of the components such as the heat exchanger. One of the most common problems with heat exchangers over time is cracking or rusting. If a crack occurs the issue becomes more serious because there is the potential for carbon monoxide (CO) to leak into the airstream and into the house. I always advise my customers to purchase a good CO detector if they have any gas appliances in their house. A thorough visual inspection of the heat exchanger will normally expose any deterioration or cracks. The venting system is another important component that needs to be inspected for proper discharge of flue gases.
The design of furnaces has changed dramatically since 1973 when I started in the business. The furnaces were in the 60% efficient range. Wow! Have things improved over the years. Now we have furnaces up to 97% efficient with 2 stage heat and variable speed blower operation. Along with this new high efficiency, high tech equipment, the industry now requires a higher level of technical ability from service technicians. In the old days all you needed was around five hundred dollars to stock a service truck with tools. Now, I spend between six and eight thousand dollars for diagnostic tools for every service van. Our technicians (including myself) spend many hours in training each year to keep up with this ever changing industry. I have the highest respect for a true, certified service technician because I know what they have gone through to earn the title. They are worth their weight in gold.
My advice to you when you decide to have your system serviced is to learn a little about the company you are about to call. Visit their website, make sure they have performed criminal background checks and drug testing on their employees. Visit the Better Business Bureau to see how many, if any, complaints have been filed against them. Don’t be afraid to ask questions that concern you. Make sure you have peace of mind. My mom and dad always told to me to listen to my gut. If it did not feel right, don’t do it! What wonderful words of wisdom.
I hope that you guys have already had your furnace or heating system checked out for the season. If you haven’t you may want to call and schedule it because no one wants to be left in the cold, especially during the holiday season.
May you all enjoy the holidays! Who knows, maybe we’ll get some snow and you can have that long awaited snow ball fight or some homemade snow cream. Take a little time to reflect on the old memories and make new ones today. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Bring it on!
Tony Blinson is the president of Blinson Service Company, Inc located at 7228 Becky Circle in Raleigh. For more information or for any HVAC needs, please call 919-881-0915 or visit www.bschvac.com
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