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Our experts at realize that winter may not be the ideal time to get a new furnace. But you can likely concur that installing a new furnace in the winter will provide a better outcome than the discomfort and potential home damages our Carlsbad customers face if the furnace isn’t working functioning properly.

To provide your furnace with a long, efficient life span, Best Solutions HVAC suggests regular maintenance. Despite providing your heating system with lots of attention, a furnace will reach a certain age and it won’t be cost-effective to perform repairs. So, what happens if the time comes during the Carlsbad winter? Don’t panic! Our qualified technicians will be here to take care of you, and make sure your family’s home comfort is met.

What factors will help you determine if it’s time for a replacement furnace? First, think about the age of your furnace. If it’s 15 to 20 years old, it’s probably nearing the end of its life span. Many times, it doesn’t make sense to put money into repairing a furnace that’s so old.

Next, take a look at your energy bills. If they seem greater this season over previous years, your furnace may be having a hard time keeping up. Furnaces lose efficiency over time. When this happens, you’ll definitely see an impact on your utility bills.

Another sign that it may be time to replace your furnace is if you’ve had to schedule several repairs. Further repairs may not be the best way to go. It might be in your best interest to replace your furnace with a new, more energy-efficient model. Investing in a newer model will likely save you money in the long run.

Did you know there are actually tens of steps you can take to winterize your home for maximum efficiency? Not only will some of these strategies help prevent ice and snow damage, but they’ll also save you a bunch of money!

1. First of all, if you haven’t already gotten a furnace tune-up done…
Know that the best time to do it is before you turn your furnace on at all. But it’s not too late!

There are a few things our techs do that you could do yourself, such as replacing your air filter. But we also check the motor, fan, blower, and gas pipes. Those are things you want to entrust to our professionals, with a professional tune-up.

But here are some DIY tips that everyone should do to prepare for cold months:

2. Trim tree branches that come perilously close to your house, especially if they would hit your roof if they fell off.
This is a pretty good rule of thumb all year long, but of course in winter the ice and snow make branches heavier and more dangerous. So yes, in this sense, trimming trees is a form of winterizing!

3. Switch the way your ceiling fan is running.
Yes, unlike sealing air leaks or getting insulation in your attic, this is a super SIMPLE winterization tip! On your ceiling fan, there should be a switch that reverses the fan. You want it to be rotating clockwise instead of counterclockwise. Why, exactly? Because the warm air will be pushed down; you know heat rises and if you can push it back down, that’s savings off your heat bill, baby!

4. Check and detect!
It’s more important during the winter to check your smoke detector and carbon monoxide (CO) detector, more so than in any other season.

What is CO? It’s a colorless, odorless gas that is extremely toxic to breathe. It’s caused by incomplete burning of carbon-based fuel such as gas. That’s definitely something that can happen with a faulty gas furnace!

And why is it more important to check your CO detector in winter, than any other time of year? It’s because you see more fires and also more cases of CO poisoning in the winter. People have their furnaces/boilers working harder than at any other time of year, and so they’re more likely to malfunction!

5. Put together an emergency winter supplies kit, in case you’re stranded at home without power.
Yes, part of having a winter-ready home is battening down the hatches with storm door and window insulation, wrapped pipes, etc., but it’s about the items in your home, too!

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