5 + 4: Harrisonburg HVAC Checklist - Before the Service Call

Imagine for a moment that something has gone wrong with you climate control system at home – maybe the AC seems to have conked out, or maybe you’re facing a heating fail. You might well have to place an emergency call to your friendly Harrisonburg HVAC contractor. But before you pick up the phone, says Jay Monger, heating and cooling manager for Harrisonburg’s Excel Heating and Cooling, consider the following preliminary steps to pave the way for a smooth and speedy service call – or help you avoid the hassle and expense of that service call in the first place.

1. Make sure the air filter is clean. If it isn’t, replace it with a new one and give the system a few hours. If nothing improves, go ahead and call. Nothing, though, says Monger, frustrates technicians and homeowners like an emergency service call to simply replace a dirty filter. Regular filter checking and replacement is the number one cardinal rule of HVAC maintenance. Get in the habit.
2. Check the breakers and switches that send power to the AC or furnace. Maybe a kid or someone doing electrical work switched them off but not back on, or maybe something tripped a breaker (perhaps an indication of a larger problem), but check this out. It could be an easy fix.
3. Make sure all your registers are open and not blocked by furniture. Duct systems are designed to work best when all registers are open and unblocked, and your in-home comfort can be affected more than you’d think if this isn’t the case.
4. This applies only in winter, and only for oil or propane systems, but make sure you have fuel in the tank. If you’re on empty, your first call needs to be to the fuel supplier. Afterwards, maybe you’ll need an HVAC technician to help you bleed the lines and get things up and running again. But don’t waste your money by calling in an expert to diagnose a simple out-of-gas situation.
5. Final caveat: if you are a tenant, regardless of what’s going on, your first call should be to the landlord or property manager. A reputable HVAC company, Monger says, won’t service equipment without a go-ahead from an owner.

If you’ve run through this checklist and things still aren’t in order, it probably is time to call professional. Before that person arrives, there are a still a few things you can do to make life easier for all, says Monger.

1. Tidy up around your indoor and outdoor units, electrical panel and attic access, if someone has to go up there. Give the technician at least a three-by-three foot unobstructed space everywhere they’ll have to be.
2. If you have an outside unit, trim back all shrubs, bushes and grass. You should be doing this anyway as a matter of routine maintenance, but it’s especially important during a service call. It’s not just a matter of technician comfort, either. Plants and obstruction around the outside unit affects its performance, and thus, affects a technician’s ability to diagnose and fix the problem.
3. Get your pets under control or put away. Not everyone likes dogs, and big ones especially can be intimidating.
4. Have questions, concerns and observations ready when the technician arrives.

“The technicians appreciate it when the equipment is accessible and the homeowners are prepared,” says Monger. “Those little things allow them to do their job, and to do the best job they possibly can.”

This content about  Harrisonburg Ductwork was originally posted at LiveHB.com, a website focused on Harrisonburg Real Estate.