What to Check Before You Turn on the Heat
Like it or not, winter is coming, and sooner than you think
Already, we’re beginning to see the leaves change into their beautiful fall colors. And changing leaves are a perfect reminder to schedule a winter preventive maintenance checkup on your facility heating units.
In Ohio, your heating system gets quite a workout, between the cold, the snow, and the bitter wind. Having a poorly operating heating system can mean not only dangerous breakdowns, but non-productive employees and increased energy bills due to overworked units.
GEM Energy’s HVAC experts will complete a preventive maintenance check of your equipment to determine system-readiness, perform any needed maintenance, and ensure your heating units are ready for winter.
The HVAC technicians will look for several critical factors to determine if your heating system is running at its peak performance and energy efficiency, including:
- Check condition of belts and pulleys and replace as needed
- Clear drain lines and pans
- Check electrical connections
- Check operation of fan and blower motor, adjust and lubricate if needed
- Inspect ignition and burner assembly
- Check operation of thermostats and other controls; calibrate if needed
- Inspect heat exchanger for cracks
GEM Energy serviced our retail stores’ HVAC equipment for over nine years. In that time, I don’t recall ever having an issue. The service staff just takes care of business. It was a great decision to have them take care of our buildings’ heating and cooling systems.
—Jim Hinkle, The Andersons
In addition, boilers typically get more use during the winter season, so to ensure their proper operation, our HVAC technicians will also conduct the following checks:
- Ensure water pressure gauges are calibrated correctly
- Examine flues for carbon buildup
- Analyze combustion to ensure the flames burn cleanly and efficiently
- Look for cracked heat exchangers
- Remove and clean burners
- Check expansion tanks for proper air cushion and to ensure they are not flooded
- Brush boiler tubes
For customers with a GEM Energy Preventive Maintenance (PM) agreement, system assessments are included as a part of your regular service agreement. Alternately, for long-term cost savings, a Comprehensive PM agreement will cover all repairs, which means you’re on-budget and won’t be dealing with surprise maintenance and outages.
All customers have 24/7/365 access to technicians. In addition, both PM and Comprehensive PM customers enjoy the guarantee of having a technician on-site within three hours of your call, should you have an issue.
Contact GEM Energy’s HVAC experts today to schedule your facility’s HVAC equipment maintenance.
If you have an immediate repair or service need, call 866.720.2700.
For more information about GEM Energy’s HVAC Program:
