Have the furnace, air conditioner or heat pump tuned up
Catches worn parts and refrigerant or gas problems before they strand you.
Who: A job for an HVAC technician.
How often: Each fall, before heating season. For: the furnace, air conditioner, heat pump.
Safety first
- Gas smell: don’t light anything; leave, then call 911 and the gas company.
- Electrical burning smell: turn the system off and call.
Your part
- Book the cooling check in spring (late February to early May) and the heating check in fall (late September to early November), before HVAC shops get busy. Gas heat in the Portland area: NW Natural offers a free inspection; book it in spring or summer.
- Gas furnace, once a month when you check the filter: look that the flue pipe is connected and slopes upward, the outdoor intake and vent are clear and at least 12 inches above expected snow, nothing is rusted or sagging, and the flames are steady and blue (natural gas: no yellow tips). Adjust nothing.
- Keep anything that can burn 3 feet from the furnace. Keep supply and return vents open.
- Gas furnace: test the carbon monoxide alarm nearby.
What the visit covers
- The thermostat, electrical connections and motor amps, lubrication, the condensate drain, and the controls and start cycle.
- Cooling: the coils, refrigerant and blower.
- Heating: gas connections, gas pressure, burner combustion and the heat exchanger.
- Gas appliances: a combustion analyzer.
- Heat pump: the charge checked in both heating and cooling.
Normal
- Heat pump: brief cooler air during a defrost.
- Frequent cycling on a very cold night.
Needs attention
- A flickering yellow or orange flame.
- Puddles at the indoor unit.
- Banging, screeching or rattling.
- Warm air interrupted by cool air.
- A breaker that trips again after a reset.
- Short cycling day and night.
Call an HVAC technician if
- Any of the signs above.
- A smell like formaldehyde.
- Flooded equipment: don’t touch it.
- The CO alarm sounds: everyone out, call 911 from outside, then have the furnace inspected.
Keep
- The dated invoice: Lennox may ask for proof of maintenance on a warranty claim, and its warranty is void without maintenance.
- NW Natural’s written inspection summary.
Keep track of it
Add your home to My homes: each piece of equipment gets this on its own schedule, with “Mark done” and reminders you can turn on.
Sources
- ENERGY STAR
- Trane
- Trane (owner’s guide)
- NW Natural
- NFPA
- Energy Trust of Oregon
- Bryant
- Carrier
- Trane
- Lennox (warranty)
- Lennox (heat pump user guide)
Your owner’s manual comes first: where it says something different for your model, follow it.
Still stuck?
Email us at hello@tradewrench.com. Tell us which page you were on and what you were trying to do.