With the first day of spring fast approaching (Tuesday, March 20), thoughts quickly turn to traditional annual spring cleaning chores like:
- Decluttering the home
- Window-washing
- Organizing the garage
- Putting away cold-weather items and bringing out warm-weather ones
Are you working on your spring cleaning to-do list?
As you put together your annual spring cleaning checklist, don’t forget to add home heating and home cooling maintenance to it with these important tasks.
Change Your Furnace Filter
Changing your furnace filter for spring HVAC maintenance makes good sense.
After all, your furnace has been running all winter and its filter has been trapping harmful pollutants like:
- Dust
- Pet dander
- Dirt
- Hair
So it’s wise to swap out a dirty one for a clean one once Old Man Winter goes away.
A Big Part Of Your Spring Cleaning HVAC Checklist: Duct Cleaning
Your ducts have one job to do, but it’s very important:
- To circulate warm air (in winter) or cool air (in summer) throughout your home.
Just like the furnace filters mentioned earlier in this blog, nasty contaminants can get caught inside your ducts, such as:
- Mold and mildew spores
- Spider webs/cobwebs
- Grime
Duct cleaning from ClimateCare boosts the indoor air quality of your home by sucking out and eliminating those harmful impurities.
And unlike your furnace filter, it’s impossible to actually climb in there and see what’s hiding.
So why take the chance of having, say, filthy debris blow around your home along with cool air from your air conditioner?
Replace The Batteries In Your Carbon Monoxide & Smoke Detector
A good rule of thumb is to test and change (if necessary) the batteries in your carbon monoxide detector and smoke alarms when Daylight Saving Time begins.
Here’s why this should be an important part of your spring HVAC maintenance routine:
- A properly working smoke alarm will alert your family to danger before it’s too late. In fact, a working smoke alarm can increase odds of survival in a fire by at least 60%.
- Carbon monoxide is colourless, odourless, tasteless, and very deadly. The only way to know of a potentially fatal CO issue is to have a working alarm (especially if you have a gas fireplace).
Finally, dust that’s caught within your smoke or CO detectors can prevent them from working properly.
That’s why – when changing the batteries – you should clean them using a handheld vacuum cleaner.
Clean Your Outdoor Air Conditioning Unit
Whether or not you covered your outdoor central air conditioning unit with a tarp, you should clean the unit before turning it on for the season.
There are 2 parts to this task:
Part 1: Clear Grass Growth Away From the Outside of the Unit
Even during the winter, grass and weeds continue to grow (albeit at a much slower rate than in spring and summer).
Any organic growth can inhibit the air flow efficiency of your AC. That, in turn, minimizes its effectiveness while increasing your monthly hydro bills.
Just remember; if you keep any growth at least 2’ away from your air conditioner, you should be fine.
Part 2: Clean the Condenser
Even if you covered your unit with a tarpaulin, the condenser could still use a nice, HVAC spring cleaning check-up. This goes double if you didn’t have it covered over the winter.
If you peek inside the condenser, you might see the following debris inside:
- Dirt
- Twigs
- Stones
- Leaves
- Litter
- Seeds
All of which can mess up the effectiveness of your air conditioner.
Cleaning the condenser involves turning the power off and removing the top of the unit. Contact your nearest ClimateCare member to take care of it for you!
Let ClimateCare Handle Your Spring HVAC Maintenance For You
Spring cleaning is a busy time of year. You’ve got plenty to take care of, top-to-bottom, throughout your home.
Your HVAC system should be a big part of your springtime maintenance. In fact, it should be the first thing you take care of.
That way:
- You won’t have to worry about it
- You’ll save money in the long-term
- You’ll have less cleaning, care, and maintenance to do later in the year
Start by locating your nearest ClimateCare member today. Contact them with your needs, questions, or comments. We’ll clean your HVAC system; so you can focus on other spring cleaning tasks which are important to you.
