I hear this all the time, “My system is only 3 years old and I don’t need heating and cooling maintenance on it because it’s working fine and I routinely replace the air filter”. Well what most people don’t realize is that the majority of the mechanical contractors installing furnaces, heat pumps or air conditioning systems don’t take the time to commission the system after start up. What this means is that almost any system can be installed to run but if certain parameters are not met or set than the system will most likely have an early failure and quite possibly cause damage to the home or the occupants.
Let me explain; when a furnace is installed there are many critical items that need attention such as gas pressure, combustion air, venting, air flow, heat rise and so on. If the gas pressure is too high you are wasting fuel, if the pressure is set too low is will run hot and possible damage the heat exchanger. If the furnace doesn’t have enough air flow across the heat exchanger than that too will damage the unit. If their isn’t enough combustion air than the furnace will most likely run too rich and soot up the inside of the heat exchanger and or have flame roll out. If the venting of the furnace is not sized correctly than this could cause carbon monoxide to come into the conditioned space and injure the occupants. The same goes for an air conditioning system or heat pump. These components run on electricity. If the refrigerant charge is not set by superheat or sub cooling than the air conditioner or heat pump most likely will cause a higher than normal electric bill and or not take care of the internal load it was sized for creating an uncomfortable home. The other situation it creates is an early failure of the system. If the system is slightly out of the refrigerant charge the occupants will not know about it for a couple of years and not realize that they could be saving a pile of money on their utility bills and prolonging the failure of the system.
That’s why preventative maintenance if done correctly will catch systems that were never commissioned and be able to put the system back on the right track. This makes the system last longer and perform at the manufactures specifications as designed by the HVAC contractor. It doesn’t matter if you live in Flagstaff or Sedona all systems need planned maintenance.
