Your Furnace: Don't Fall For The Myths

With so many myths going around about furnaces, it can sometimes be difficult to know what the truth is, and this can make it hard for you to recognize when you should have someone come out to repair your furnace. Learn about some of the more common myths about furnaces that you may hear so you won't fall for them and cause even more issues with your furnace.

Fix your ducts with duct tape

Many people believe that fixing ducts is a cinch. Since it's called "duct" tape and it's sold in most stores, they feel it only makes sense that it is intended for homeowners to use to fix separations and cracks in their ducts. However, even though it is called duct tape, it is actually not great when it comes to duct repair, and you really shouldn't try to repair your ductwork yourself anyway.

You should have an HVAC repair technician come out to take care of any duct issues you have so that you know that the repair is done correctly and will last. Plus, many times other problems can be found by the technician while they are working on your system. Contact an HVAC contractor if you need furnace repairs done.

Turning the thermostat to "high" will heat the house quickly

In theory, it seems that putting the thermostat on a hotter setting would cause the furnace to work harder to heat things up. However, there is nothing that you can do to rush the heating cycle because the furnace works at a steady pace to achieve the desired temperature. All you will do is end up with a hotter house, but you won't end up with it any quicker.

You want to make sure your furnace always turns on when the temperature dips to where it should kick on and turns off when it should. If not, get someone to look at the thermostat.

Changing temperatures overworks the furnace

You might like to set the temperature higher at night when you are sleeping and keep it turned down a bit during the day when you are moving around more, but you may have heard this overworks the system. This is not true, and your furnace can handle ups and downs just fine, so go ahead and do what feels comfortable. Should you find you aren't able to achieve the temperatures you set it to, have someone come look at it.

Annual maintenance isn't a necessity

Some people think that there is no reason to have annual servicing done to a furnace if there aren't any signs of things possibly being wrong with it. However, the whole point of servicing the furnace is to make sure it continues running well, and waiting for signs of issues is counterproductive.

Always have your furnace serviced at the beginning of winter before you start using it in order to keep it running well.

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