This morning I went to the grocery store to get some things for breakfast. For years it has been a loosely-followed tradition that I make Sunday breakfast. Many of the people at the grocery store know me and ask me questions about their homes on a routine basis.
This morning the woman at the checkout counter asked me about furnace and air conditioning annual checkups. She was lamenting that she failed to read the fine print when she had her new furnace installed 18 months ago. It seems that for the warranty to continue, this woman must have annual checkups that cost $95 each.
My personal opinion is that it is unnecessary. There are several reasons for this. As for the equipment itself, most furnaces and air conditioners are built to run with very little maintenance. If you regularly clean or install new return-air duct filters, that is all you typically need to do to make sure your furnace operates well. The only people who must do annual work are those with oil furnaces. It is a great idea to install a new in-line oil fuel filter and a new atomizer nozzle to get maximum efficiencey. Natural gas or propane furnaces need very little service.
Think of your car's heater and AC. Each year millions of people get in their cars and turn on the heat and AC. Almost always they work fine. I have never had to have my car's AC serviced. If the connections are tight and the parts are reliable, it works. Your house AC is similar.
The bottom line is that if you do minimal care yourself, you can avoid annual checkup calls. I *guarantee* you this is a topic where there are vast differences of opinion. There are furnace people who will tell you an annual service call saved a life. This is true. Check your chimney for blockages, make sure the flue pipes are in great shape. Simply look over your equipment and see what it looks like. A service call perhaps every three years is often enough to catch things before they become problems.
Posted by Tim Carter at February 22, 2004 11:25 AM