There’s something very pleasant about walking out of the cold winter air and into a nice warm building. Often people get so used to comforts like this that they forget that there’s a complex system working in that building to make sure it stays warm. If that system is a gas furnace, then it’s crucially important to keep up with maintenance. Furnace maintenance is vitally important for a number of reasons. If you were to look inside a furnace you’d see a small, controlled flame which is produced by a combustible gas flowing into the building. Neglecting such a system can have costly, dangerous, or even deadly consequences.
First of all, furnace maintenance keeps the system working at its optimum efficiency. That means that it is using the smallest amount of energy to create the largest amount of heat. A poorly maintained furnace is less efficient and costs more money to operate.
Second, regular furnace maintenance extends the life of the furnace. A well-maintained furnace will have fewer issues that need to be repaired. Fewer problems also mean that you are less likely to need to replace the furnace, which can be very costly.
For that reason many manufacturer warranties require that you can prove that you had furnace maintenance done regularly for the warranty to be valid. Putting off maintenance can easily mean voiding the warranty, which leaves you in a bind if something goes wrong.
But the most compelling reason to properly maintain a furnace is safety. All furnaces create a small amount of carbon monoxide, which is vented outside the building, but a poorly maintained furnace can produce larger amounts and vent it less effectively, allowing for a build-up of odorless and tasteless deadly gas.