Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House) -- The Furnace Requires Service

Gas and oil furnace manufacturers recommend that a furnace have professional service by an HVAC professional each year. That applies to a new furnace, after it has been in for a single year. That does not mean that it should be run for the first five years, then it gets on a regular maintenance schedule. If a home inspector is pretty sure that a furnace has not been serviced in the past year, he or she will recommend that the furnace be serviced by an HVAC professional.

I have had people (sellers) say: "why should I pay for a guy with a vacuum cleaner." That is wrong and the wrong attitude. I have been present at my home, and rentals, when proper HVAC service is done on the gas furnaces. The service person takes about an hour at each house. That individual will take apart many internal components that a home inspector certainly cannot access or view. Heck, some of the stuff they remove, an inspector would be lucky to get it all back in the right place if it was removed. The HVAC professional not only cleans and evaluates the performance but also carefully examines the heat exchanger, which is a critical part that is mainly not visible and can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning inside the home if there is a crack or hole in it. This specialist (while reluctant to do so usually) is in a better position to advise a buyer on how much more life expectancy the unit might have -- read that as an educated guess. One other thing, sometimes a furnace in a garage at a new house can be full of gunk because the contractors were sawing wood in the garage to get out of the rain.

I have a couple photos of furnaces below. The one on the left I did not even try to run, I could not hold my breath that long if I did. It was obviously shot, rusted out and a safety issue. The one on the right, well it certainly was a prime candidate for service. When motors and moving parts have that much lint, sludge and debris on them, it can lead to their wearing out in short order. For one thing, they cannot cool themselves adequately, when everything is all plugged up. This condition also lets the inspector know that not much of anything has been done in the furnace in a long time.

Thanks for looking.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspector