Cleaning your home furnace should be done once a year and you can do this job easily yourself to save money. Most furnace repair companies charge from one hundred to two hundred dollars to clean your furnace, so if you do it yourself, you can save money and do a better job to boot. To clean your own furnace only takes about one to two hours depending on how dirty your furnace is to begin with. You will need to get together a list of items needed before you begin the actual job.
Clean Your Furnace Items needed List:
- Vacuum Cleaner with longer extension end.
- Lots of cotton rags, lint free kind.
- Screw driver with multiple heads and or small socket and ratchet set.
- Tooth Brush to clean in tight places to loosen dirt to be wiped or vacuumed up.
- Small flash light to see into areas as corners better.
- Pen and paper to takes notes on possible wiring removed.
- Gloves as could be sharp edges.
Now that you are ready to go ahead with cleaning your furnace, you start off by doing these simple steps.
- Turn off electrical to the furnace, at power box or may have an off on switch usually located close to furnace.
- Turn the gas to the furnace off, follow directions on your furnace.
- Now remove the furnace front access panels, one piece or the usually two pieces, top and bottom.
- Turn the gas valve switch to the off position.
Note: You should have directions right on your furnace how to turn off and turn on your furnace, always follow those directions.
You will now need to remove the furnace blower motor to get access to clean the blower motor wheel and in and around the motor itself. You first start by removing about four screws that hold the motor in place. When those four screws located usually two on the top and two underneath are removed you can just slide or pull the blower motor right out of the furnace case. There may a few electrical connections you may have to remove to pull the motor out, just be sure to write down the location of each wire so can put them back correctly.
When you have pulled the blower motor out you can now clean the blower wheel of grime with a tooth brush, then wipe off or vacuum up the loose material. Then with a damp rag wipe the blower motor outside casting so is free of dirt which can cause over-heating. Avoid wiping any electrical connections. Now clean the area that the blower motor was removed from by wiping, vacuuming etc. Then replace the blower motor back into the furnace casing exactly as it was before removal, including hooking up any electrical wiring.
You now can finish by cleaning the top portion of furnace where the burners, gas valve etc are located. Vacuum and wipe clean all areas being careful not to hit any wiring. Also unless you know what you are doing, avoid cleaning the burners, pilot light and so on as you may cause a problem if not experienced. After done cleaning If re-starting the furnace turn the electrical back on and re-start furnace as directed on your furnace. When all done put your furnace front access panels back on.
Now would be a good time to replace your furnace filter with a new filter. Always use a good quality filter do not cheap out in this area. I recommend 3M furnace filters as have never had a problem and they filter great. To finish up your furnace cleaning, wipe down the outside of the furnace and vacuum dust and dirt around the floor area of your furnace.
If you take the time to do some furnace service yourself, as in a yearly furnace cleaning, you can save yourself some money and know the job was done good.
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