Best HVAC Maintenance Tips Every Homeowner Should Know

As a homeowner, there are plenty of things you have to take care of to ensure everything in your home runs smoothly. It takes a lot of work to make sure everything’s up and running, too. One of the many tasks you have to take care of is your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Your HVAC system is responsible for maintaining consistent temperatures and airflow throughout your home so you’re comfortable and breathing fresh air every day. 

However, not many people know how their HVAC systems work, let alone how to take care of them properly. Ensuring your HVAC system works the way it should helps you save money on costly repairs and continue to enjoy the high-quality air that circulates throughout your home. There are many tasks you can do to guarantee the consistent functioning of your HVAC system, which you’ll learn about here. 

Clean the Area Around Your Outside HVAC Unit

One of the most underrated maintenance practices you can perform on your HVAC unit as a homeowner is to clean the area around your outside HVAC unit

Here’s a list of things to do to ensure your outside HVAC unit is as clean as possible:

  • Clean leaves, dirt, sticks, and other debris away from the fans once per month
  • Remove anything that obstructs the coils and connections going inside your home
  • Wipe off any noticeable dirt or dust from the casing of the HVAC unit
  • Trim any shrubs or bushes to keep them from growing around your HVAC unit and crowding it
  • Sweep away any sticks or other dirt from the base of your unit to keep it clear and unobstructed

Having a clean outer HVAC unit prevents dust, allergens, and otherwise unclean air from getting inside your home and circulating throughout it. Cleaning the outside of your HVAC unit also makes sure it doesn’t have to work as hard to get outside air inside your home. 

Remove Clutter From Around Your Inside HVAC Unit

This maintenance tip is similar to the last one, except you’re cleaning your indoor HVAC unit! While you likely won’t have dirt and grime that sticks to your indoor unit, it’s easy for the space around it to get cluttered and cramped. Additionally, the more things you have sitting close to your indoor unit, the greater likelihood that dust will accumulate in those areas and circulate inside the HVAC unit. 

Having the space around your HVAC unit clean also makes it easier for you and your technicians to perform maintenance on the unit. Clutter around the unit can also be a fire hazard, especially in the winter when you have heat consistently circulating throughout the area.

Perform Visual Inspections Every Season

Before turning on your furnace every winter and turning on your air conditioner every summer, we recommend you perform a visual inspection of your entire HVAC system. Look for things like cracks, broken pieces, dislodged parts, dust, and similar things. This ensures that everything is sealed how it should be sealed and can be turned on. 

If you notice anything broken, dislodged, missealed, or cracked, call the crew at Rowbel Services to help you out. We’ll perform repairs as soon as possible so you don’t have to wait to use your HVAC system. While we’re there, we can even inspect the inside portions of your HVAC unit and perform tests to make sure those components work too. It’s better to have repairs performed as soon as you notice something wrong, than wait and have to have even more repairs implemented. 

Check the Batteries in Your Thermostat

This maintenance tip is something that many homeowners overlook. Make sure to check your thermostat’s batteries each season and change them at least once a year. This way, your thermostat properly remembers the settings you program it with and adequately cools or heats your home. 

If you ever notice that the temperatures in your home never stay consistent anymore, the first place to check is your thermostat. Oftentimes changing the batteries will do the trick and your thermostat resumes working properly. If you change the batteries and still notice a difference in temperature, there’s likely another underlying cause you’ll need HVAC repair personnel to check up on and fix.

Monitor Your Energy Bills

One tip to see if your HVAC system is functioning how it should is to check your energy bills and compare them from month to month. Although you may see fluctuations as you enter a new cold or warm season, you shouldn’t experience strong spikes or decreases in your energy bill. If you notice that your energy bill never seems to hover around the same amount monthly, something in your HVAC system doesn’t work how it should and needs to be fixed. 

We understand how frustrating it can be to receive inconsistent energy bills. If you’re in need of diagnostic testing and HVAC system repairs, Rowbel Services would love to help you out and figure out what’s going on. We’ll implement thorough fixes to help make your energy bills go back to normal again.

Have Regular Maintenance Performed

One of the best things you can do to properly maintain your HVAC system is to have regular maintenance tune-ups performed. 

Here are just some tasks that an HVAC technician will do during routine maintenance:

  • Visually inspect and test each HVAC component to ensure it works
  • Change all your filters
  • Clean the tubing and valves on your HVAC unit
  • Inspect your ductwork
  • Fire each component up to listen for irregular noises

It’s recommended that you have regular maintenance performed on your HVAC system at least once per year. Many people even opt to have tune-ups twice a year; once in the spring before summer weather and once in the fall before winter weather. Regular maintenance may seem like a hassle but prevents you from spending more money on energy bills and costly repairs if you catch issues before you need to use your HVAC system. It also lengthens the lifespan of your HVAC unit so you don’t have to get pieces replaced as often. 

Change Your Air Filters Regularly

An important maintenance task you can do as a homeowner is to change your air filters regularly. It’s a simple process that only takes a few minutes max. All you need to do is ensure you purchase the right size air filter, pop open any vents or covers, take the old one out, and put the new one in. Some homes have multiple air filters. If this is the case for you, ensure you change all air filters instead of just one. 

It’s recommended that you change your air filters once every three months. If you or someone that lives with you has allergies, you can change them sooner to keep clean, allergen-free air circulating throughout your home.

Have Your Vents Cleaned Regularly

Cleaning your air vents is another good practice you should follow as a homeowner. Over time, dust, allergens, dirt, and debris get clogged up inside vents. The longer you go between cleanings means the longer that the contaminants are circulating throughout the air, which can pose a health risk if left untouched for too long. Additionally, the longer you go without cleaning your vents means the greater the risk that mold grows inside them. Black mold is especially dangerous to humans and animals, and should never be ingested or breathed in, as it causes serious health issues. 

As a general rule of thumb, either you or a technician you hire should clean your air vents every time you change your air filters, just to ensure everything is clean and good to go. Cleaning your vents regularly also lightens the load on your HVAC system as a whole. The cleaner it is, the less it has to push to circulate clean air throughout your home. This saves you money on your energy bill and prevents costly repairs due to clogged vents. 

Need Help? Consider Rowbel Services

Do you need a trusted HVAC technician to come to your home and perform a tune-up, maintenance, or install an entirely new HVAC system? Rowbel Services can do all that for you and more. We service your entire metropolitan area in Maryland and offer state-of-the-art customer service to each and every client we have. Our trusted technicians have years of service in the HVAC industry performing repairs, installations, and troubleshooting problems, so you have nothing to worry about. Rowbel Services has your back and would love to welcome you to our HVAC family. 

We’re so much more than just another HVAC repair place. We put passion and hard work into every project we complete, no matter the size or time it takes. With an average Google Rating of 5/5 stars, we have many happy clients that attest to our excellent services. Rowbel Services can’t wait to have you on board with us. Kindly click the link here to receive a free estimate or schedule maintenance help!

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