A question that heating professionals often hear is whether natural gas furnaces are safe or not. It’s understandable that people might worry about the safety of a gas furnace, since CO poisoning is a major health concern. However, the modern gas furnace is manufactured with safety as the uppermost concern. Gas furnaces have multiple safety features that help to protect homes from dangers due to combustion and toxic gases.
But furnaces require help from professionals to keep up their safe operation. This is one of the reasons that furnaces must have annual fall inspections and tune-ups. Call our office today to schedule your fall furnace maintenance sooner, rather than later.
How We Keep a Furnace Working Safely
There are numerous ways that a fall furnace maintenance visit will keep the unit operating with minimal health hazards:
- Locating heat exchanger cracks: One of the ways a furnace can start to leak toxic carbon monoxide is through cracks in the heat exchanger. During a furnace tune-up, professional technicians closely examine the heat exchanger to find places where strain and corrosion can create a risk for cracks. If there are dangers from cracks, the technicians will arrange to put in a new exchanger. (In cases of aging furnaces, it may be better to have the furnace replaced.)
- Spotting gas leaks: Technicians carefully inspect the gas lines to find if there are any leaks.
- Testing the limit switch: One of the key safety measures on a furnace is the limit switch, which shuts down the burners and fan if the furnace starts to overheat. Technicians test to see if this is mechanism is working correctly.
- Inspecting the flue: Furnaces exhaust toxic gases from the combustion process through a flue and chimney. During a tune-up, the technicians will see that the flue is clean and unblocked so that combustion gases will not back-up in the system and enter the house.
Oasis Heating, A/C & Refrigeration offers furnace services in Alexandria, VA. Family-owned and operated since 1998!
