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Furnace Frenzy!
6 Jan 2008 16:49Dissatisfied with the furnace's poor performance so far this winter, I determined to give the entire HVAC system a thorough examination. The fancy-pants electric filter on the air return duct was my prime suspect, so I began by removing the electrostatic unit. I'd pulled them out a few times before, and each time they'd come up more or less clean, which was why I was puzzled as to the continuing decline in the furnace's performance.
Then I looked up in the return duct. There are two metal grid filters sitting above that on a shelf that you'd never see unless you stuck your head into the duct. Whoah! I pulled them out... along with a giant heaping of dirt. Yuck! I cleaned the dirt with the hose, dried them off, and put them back in.
The rest of my inspection turned nothing else up, so I fired up the furnace. The whistling noise was gone! I'd thought the whistling was just a non-feature of the furnace, but nope--that was it desperately sucking air through small gaps in the system! There was so much hot air pouring out of the heat vents, it was amazing! The temperature in the house went up faster than I recall it doing previously. The gas bill for January '07 was $150; now I can't wait to see what it'll be for '08.
So--check and clean all of your filters.
Then I looked up in the return duct. There are two metal grid filters sitting above that on a shelf that you'd never see unless you stuck your head into the duct. Whoah! I pulled them out... along with a giant heaping of dirt. Yuck! I cleaned the dirt with the hose, dried them off, and put them back in.
The rest of my inspection turned nothing else up, so I fired up the furnace. The whistling noise was gone! I'd thought the whistling was just a non-feature of the furnace, but nope--that was it desperately sucking air through small gaps in the system! There was so much hot air pouring out of the heat vents, it was amazing! The temperature in the house went up faster than I recall it doing previously. The gas bill for January '07 was $150; now I can't wait to see what it'll be for '08.
So--check and clean all of your filters.
