gas furnace service and gas water heaters

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

really? a natural gas furnace?

Any type of furnace.ANY.Why take a chance,a simple inspection could reveal a major problem.

[BigFish]

I am a licensed oil burner tech.....every 2 years is sufficient. Its like when they tell you change your vehicles oil every 3000 miles....every 5,000 is good enough! But hey...everyone has their own opinion so pick your fruit from the ripest part of the tree!

[5/0]

Your water tank is just one of those appliances you just run till they brake,if you really have hard water and want to do preventative maintenance you can go to any plumbing supply house or on line a get a DE liming kit there pretty pricey.It i will come with a bucket a quart or two of de liming solution fittings and a pump.The other alternative you can manually drain your tank but I would purge it several times to brake up any scaling,you can also add cider vinegar to brake up deposits but make sure you flush it repeatedly!

As for your gas furnace I would recommend a yearly visual inspection(before the season starts)turn the heat up, look and listen for anything out of the ordinary.If you can't fix it yourself call around to different HVAC Co's.Talk with them and decide which one you want to do business with, have them come preform a PM,this will be cheaper than getting hit with a service call.
First off I would look for basic sequence of operation first stage, draft inducer and cooling wheel operating with out major squeaks second stage make sure the silicon carbide or silicon nitride igniter(or standing pilot is lit) is working and that there aren't any white fracture lines on it(do not touch this part)It will over heat from the grease/oils on your fingers.Most design temps are 1200 degrees,look at the flame sensing rod make sure it's not black and pitted you want a nice polished look to it so it can send a grounding current back to the gas valve,after the unit fires up make sure the limit switches are operational, pull off one of the hose's to the switches make sure the unit turns off,check for (IBM)main blower comes on in 30-120 seconds after the burners lite up.

Change your filter regularly,(if your lazy buy the cheap three pack fiber glass filters) if the filter gets packed from debris, pet fur or just old, air flow will be restricted and can cause the high limit to trip,most units will reset and try three times, after the third failure the unit will lock out on limit for 1 hr.and then repeat.

Stay warm!!!!