Have you Had A Tune Up Lately?

Has anyone noticed the change in weather we are having lately? The mornings are a bit chillier and the cold season is moving in. Is your home ready for the upcoming late fall weather, and especially the frigid temperatures we are sure to be getting with the arrival of winter?

I am sure some of us have already begun to store away items that we use for lawn care. Items such as garden hoses come to mind. For those of you without frost proof hose bibs, you may have put the frost boot over the spigot already.

At this time every year there is a list of maintenance items that we all try to get done before it is too late. We all have our own list, mine is different from yours, and my neighbor has a different routine. What is your fall maintenance list like?

One thing that I focus on every fall is the yearly check up of my heating unit. I don't want to be caught in the dead of winter without it. It can be very cold around the middle of January, and the last thing you want to deal with is a broken down heating unit.

The best place to start is by changing the air filter, which we should be doing every 30 to 60 days the unit is in use. For those with oil burning units, you will need to change the oil filter between the fuel storage tank and the heating unit.

Most people don't give much thought to the furnace, they hit the button and away it goes. To make sure your heating unit is ready for the heating season; have it inspected before you need to use it.

I found a pretty nice product on a recent inspection and thought I would share it with everyone. Do your heating ducts clang and bang when you turn your furnace on. This is due to the contracting in the metal duct work, caused by temperature difference in the ductwork to air temperature.

The product that I found looked a black plastic patch that was placed along the outside of the ductwork. I did a little research and got some opinions from other home inspectors. Overall, it looks like a pretty good product. The name of the product is Duct V Max.  And if you click here, you can visit the website homepage.

I do not have ductwork in my home, but if I did and it was noisy, this may be a product I would consider. I hope everyone found this newsletter to be beneficial. Sorry for the delay in this months' home inspection newsletter. Look forward to next months' letter already.