Across Ontario, school buses are back on the roads in the mornings and afternoons. The sun is rising a little later and setting a little earlier. There’s plenty of warmth left in the air…but that won’t last forever. Summer weather will fade and be replaced by the softer autumn season. There are still a few weeks before sweater weather arrives and pumpkin spice drinks fill our streets and offices again. It’s the perfect time to be proactive by ensuring your home’s heating system is ready to go for the chillier weather ahead.
As surely as the first snow prompts a flood of calls to local mechanics and tire shops, the first frosty evening signals the heating season for most of us…and a very, very busy few days at heating servicers across the province. The phones don’t stop ringing with requests for urgent repairs and tune-up appointments alike. To avoid the delays caused by this seasonal spike, book your annual tune-up now with your local ClimateCare professional! If you’re not maintaining your mechanical appliances yearly, at least turn on your furnace or heat pump (in heating mode) early, just briefly to test it. If there’s any issue, be sure to call right away and make sure you’re at the front of the line!
WHY SHOULD I MAINTAIN MY FURNACE OR HEAT PUMP?
Heating systems are mechanical appliances. They’ve got motors, belts, bearings, and electronic components – just like your car. And like today’s vehicles, many still use gas, while some are fully electric. Yet, despite these similarities, many people don’t treat them equally. It’s an irony the heating and cooling industry has been working to combat for decades. If most people treated their cars the way they neglect their home’s mechanical appliances, the tow truck industry would be a lot busier! And while everyone seems to know to keep fuel in their car, change its oil, and seek advice when something doesn’t sound or feel right – many of these same people won’t call their heating contractor until the furnace won’t start and the house is cooling down quickly. To avoid getting stuck, have a licensed professional maintain your home comfort systems every year.
WHO SHOULD DO THE MAINTENANCE?
If you’re using gas, they’ll need a gas licence from the TSSA. If your home is heated with a heat pump, make sure your contractor has a 313D Residential Air Conditioning Systems Mechanics licence and is qualified to work on this type of equipment. If you’d like to ensure your systems run at peak e ciency, last longer, and are less likely to fail your family by breaking down, yearly maintenance is key. Whether your system is tuned-up before the big season, or just after it’s over, the benefits are the same. There’s no need to call when it’s busy! And you don’t need to pay full price for a professional to visit, either.
With ClimateCare’s WeCARE maintenance plans, you can do this and save money – not to mention reap other benefits like discounts, front of the line emergency service, and more.
ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS TO CHECK FOR FALL INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Whether you love the colourful foliage of autumn, or prefer the sun’s warmer summer rays, we can all agree that feeling our healthiest feels best. We also know that the cooler weather arriving in just a few weeks, and the return of children to schools and daycares means germs will spread at peak rates. Many of us don’t prepare for cold and flu season proactively; we hope we don’t get afflicted, but if our throat gets scratchy or our sinuses feel pressured, we reach for a warm drink, a little extra rest, and often a quick trip to the pharmacy. While a healthy diet will always be critical to your health, you might be surprised to learn that your home comfort system plays a big role in it, too!
Most of the air we breathe is indoor air. The EPA has suggested that indoor air can be 25 to 100X denser in pollution than outdoor air. We also know that poor indoor air quality can lead to a bevy of health problems, including chronic respiratory diseases. It can also be less worrisome, but it still has unwanted symptoms like headaches, dry eyes, nasal congestion, nausea, and fatigue. It’s a key way to spread germs like the cold and flu viruses. Luckily, your home comfort system can help protect you! Here are a few ways to stay ahead of the curve of seasonal sickness this year.
1. YOUR FURNACE FILTER
Whether it’s heating or cooling season, and you use a furnace or heat pump with an air handler, the filter placed beside that unit is your first line of defence against airborne particles. In many cases, it’s also your only defence, so it’s critical that it’s working well. Several different quality filters are available, each with a Minimum Effciency Rating Value or MERV rating. The higher the value, the better the filter. ClimateCare recommends using a MERV 11 or higher rating filter, which should filter out about 95% of particulates like lint, pollen, dust mites, mould spores, pet dander and smoke. Moving to a MERV 13 rated filter filtration should increase closer to 98%. It’s worth noting, too, that not all filters are built equally. The “1-inch” thick filters you buy from the hardware store aren’t optimal and should be inspected at least monthly, more frequently if you’re doing renovations around the home or have pets that shed hair.
PRO TIP: Ask your local ClimateCare professional about media cabinets that support 5” filters that only need to be changed once or twice, a year and can often easily be retrofitted into your existing furnace or air handler’s ductwork.
2. AIR EXCHANGER
If your home was constructed in the last 20-30 years, there’s a very good chance that it has an air exchanger system. The most common is a Heat Recovery Ventilator or HRV. This unit has a motor and a small, usually round, duct system that lives in your mechanical room. It brings fresh, outdoor air into your system, and during the winter, it works to retain the heat from the stale indoor air it expels and exchanges. If you’d like to retain humidity too, you should look at a similar system known as an Energy Recovery Ventilator or ERV. If you have an older home that doesn’t include such a system, worry not – your ClimateCare professional can do a retrofit installation with ease.
PRO TIP: Have your HRV or ERV system serviced and cleaned periodically. Particularly because it deals with humid air, annual cleaning and maintenance will ensure that your ventilation system is running smoothly and effciently.
3. HUMIDIFIER
Modern homes have very tight building envelopes; they’re well-sealed and avoid a lot of the ineffciency and discomfort associated with older, drafty buildings. One challenge this creates is the lack of consistency in humidity between the seasons. When you’re heating in the winter, and bringing in cold, dry air from the outdoors through the HRV, your home’s humidity can dip. Most experts agree that about 30-40% relative humidity is ideal for indoor environments during the winter months. If you’re seeing numbers below this range in your home, or see symptoms like dry, itchy skin, or nose bleeds in extreme cases, be sure to ask your heating professional about installing a whole-home humidifier. It’s probably a lot less expensive than you’d expect and can have a huge impact on your well-being and health if you’re breathing overly dry air!
PRO TIP: A central humidifier also has a “filter” or pad, like your furnace, that needs to be changed. Generally, once a year is fine; be sure to set a note in your calendar as a reminder to change it.
4. UV-C
Whether you’ve got a basic furnace filter or a full HEPA system, these systems are designed to remove particulates from the air you breathe. For people who want to go a step further, we recommend UV-C lights. UV-C effectively controls mould and bacteria growth on your air conditioner’s indoor coil – a surface that normally has the two things mould likes most – darkness and moisture. Surface treatment with UV-C light is a proven way to keep your air conditioner’s indoor coil clean.
PRO TIP: Keep your paint cans and other chemicals away from your mechanical room! Far too often we see these items kept right beside the furnace. Paints and other chemicals contain volatile organic compounds. These VOCs can be dangerous to your health. Please store them somewhere else that’s not so close to the lungs of your home’s air circulation system!
PROTECT YOUR COMFORT AND HEALTH THIS FALL
Getting your home ready for fall is simple with the right proactive steps. From checking your furnace to improving indoor air quality with filters, humidifiers, and UV-C technology, a few small actions now can lead to big benefits in comfort and health when colder weather arrives. If you’re not yet enrolled in a maintenance plan, consider joining ClimateCare’s WeCARE program for reliable service, savings, and peace of mind all season long. Connect with your local ClimateCare expert today to keep your home comfortable and healthy as autumn settles in!
