Why Is Annual Furnace Maintenance Important?
Grand Rapids, MI is an excellent place to enjoy the winter season. Our beautiful lakefront community provides a whole host of snow-covered fun. Enjoy some winter sports in peak season at Cannonsburg Ski Area or be sure to check out the World of Winter Festival that goes on every year from January all the way to March.
No matter what you choose to explore this winter, it’s no secret that our city will be chilly, and that’s why heating maintenance in Grand Rapids is crucial for ensuring your home stays comfortable all year long. Whether you’ve just put on your favorite fuzzy pajamas or are just coming in from making snow angels, you deserve the indoors to be a warm, safe refuge all winter long. If you’re in need of furnace maintenance in Grand Rapids, you can rely on GR Metro Heating and Cooling to keep your home comfortable this season.
What Goes Into Furnace Maintenance?
If you’re in need of furnace maintenance in Grand Rapids, our GR Metro professionals have you covered. It’s no surprise that your home can’t have optimal warmth without a heating system that’s working at its best. However, it’s important to know that the safety of your home depends on the functionality of your heating system as well.
The comforts and joys of day-to-day life that we enjoy simply wouldn’t be possible in the colder months without a dependable heating system. That’s part of the many reasons why annual furnace maintenance in Grand Rapids should be one of your top priorities this and every season.
Inspection
Once you schedule an appointment, an expert from GR Metro will come to your home and inspect your current system. This is a crucial first step to certify that there are no leaks releasing harmful carbon dioxide or other toxic gasses. If inhaled, these can be incredibly dangerous for your family and home’s well-being.
To prevent any incidents, our GR Metro professionals will meticulously clean the heating unit’s central chamber, which removes accumulated carbon. Left unattended, the build-up of soot in your unit can corrode its inner walls and cause it to deteriorate over time.
Filters and Moving Parts
Another crucial aspect of routine furnace maintenance in Grand Rapids is the replacement of filters. These filters catch allergen-causing debris while the system is running, and installing new ones annually is part of how GR Metro certifies the best air quality in your home. While we’re at it, we give great attention to all internal components of the unit. Moving parts must be lubricated to keep the unit performing without overstressing its mechanisms. Any worn or faulty parts will need to be replaced.
Before we go, we will inspect your unit one more time to certify that it’s in optimal shape even after a tune-up. This typically involves restarting the system and watching for signs that it’s under-functioning or requires further cleaning. Doing so allows us to guarantee your security throughout the winter months and will help you save on costs in the long run.
What Are The Reasons For Performing Routine Heating Maintenance?
Winter brings exciting changes to our environment that give us many different activities to enjoy. Without proper preparation, though, you may feel as though you’ve been left out in the cold. Trust GR Metro for heating maintenance in Grand Rapids, and you’ll have the confidence you need to face the season’s challenges and enjoy the magic it brings. Below we listed five primary benefits of furnace maintenance and repair:
- Maintaining the highest quality airflow in your home
- Avoiding big problems at a higher cost
- Keeping your energy bills low
- Enjoying the warmth and comfort of home
- Ensuring your home and family are safe and secure
Maintaining the Highest Quality Airflow in Your Home
Inside our homes is a refuge protecting us from chilling winds and falling snow. However, without the luxury of simply cracking a window open, you might wonder what the consequences of indoor life are on your home’s air quality. It’s true that allergens can come in from the cold inside our homes in the winter season. That’s why it’s crucial to have your air filters replaced and unit professionally cleaned as part of your routine furnace maintenance in Grand Rapids.
Avoiding Big Problems at a Higher Cost
Regular heating maintenance in Grand Rapids is relatively quick and inexpensive. However, without this annual routine maintenance process, you might be facing some big problems with your furnace down the line. Winter sports and holidays can mean the season is an otherwise expensive time. So, calling our experts annually will save you from the higher cost and inconvenience of a failing heating system.
Keeping Your Energy Bills Low
There are a variety of ways heating systems work in the many different households they serve. No matter what, though, they all require ongoing investment on the part of the homeowner. Scheduling regular furnace maintenance in Grand Rapids with GR Metro is undoubtedly one of the most manageable investments you can make and offers the highest return. A well-maintained heating system will work better for longer and use less of what fuels it over the course of the season.
Enjoying the Warmth and Comfort of Your Home
After you’ve just shoveled out the driveway or are returning from a wild sledding adventure, knowing the warmth of your home awaits you is crucial. Heating maintenance in Grand Rapids, done by the top-notch HVAC team at GR Metro, can give you the freedom to explore our community’s winter wonderland and then cuddle up on the couch with a hot cocoa.
Ensuring Your Home and Family Are Safe and Secure
A malfunctioning heating system poses great risks, including those of noxious gas leaks and household fires. However, preventing these dangers to you and your loved ones is easy when left to the professionals. At GR Metro, you have our promise that furnace maintenance in Grand Rapids will be done right so you can enjoy the winter season with peace of mind.
Your Furnace Maintenance Experts
At GR Metro, we encourage you to enjoy all our community has to offer this winter to the fullest. Whether you’re racing down a snowy mountain or choosing to cuddle up with a good book, we want you to know that a cozy home awaits you. Let us be the company you reach out to for maintenance and heating repair in Grand Rapids. Don’t hesitate to give us a call and schedule an appointment!
It’s that time of year again! We like to give our customers a “PSA” on the importance of an air filter change, especially when the temperatures start to shift from hot to cold. We’re getting some chilly nights these days, which means our furnaces are running to keep our homes warm and comfortable. If you’ve got a furnace system, or some other forced-air heating system, then you’re going to want to change your air filter soon.
If you’ve never heard of dual fuel heating, or you’re just now learning about this term, then you’re in luck! Our team specializes in dual fuel heating solutions, and this blog post is going to be an informative guide on how to best invest in one, and when one might be good for your home. Not every house is going to be good for a dual fuel heating system, and not every budget can afford this kind of upgrade, so it’s important to do your research before making a huge commitment.
First off, if the answer to this question is undoubtedly “yes,” then we recommend taking some immediate action. Turn off your furnace, make sure your family is safe and secure, and call our team for emergency 
There’s a problem that we’d like to discuss when it comes to forced-air heating systems. When air is heated by a heating system and not through natural climate processes, it can create exceptionally dry air. If you think about it, you’re just taking cold air from the outdoors and heating it up. That cold air is already dry and even though it’s being heated, there’s no moisture being added to the air.
Let’s face it, as the snow is coming down and the cold is keeping us up at night this time of year, you depend on your heater. Whether you’ve got a gas furnace, a heat pump, or some other kind of heating system, it’s basically a member of the family at this point. No, you don’t need to buy it holiday presents next year, but you should consider changing some things about your lifestyle that might be doing harm to your heater.
If your furnace needs to be repaired, then there’s not much a simple tip or trick will do. Professional repairs performed by experienced technicians will be the best things you can get for your heating system, hands down. This blog post isn’t about avoiding furnace repair in that sense. It’s about avoiding 
For anyone out there with a heat pump, deep freezes can be a scary thing to encounter. They can freeze up your heating system to the point where it needs to run a defrost cycle, and then it’s going to pump cool air into your house. This can be bizarre and hard to understand for homeowners that are already trying as hard as they can to fight the cold.
An overheating furnace is no joke. They can quickly turn into a safety concern, or at least turn your house cold on one of the chilliest nights of the year. Why have a furnace if it constantly makes you nervous, unsafe, or uncomfortable?
Many homeowners have a preference between gas and electric furnaces. Some people we talk to think that gas furnaces are just more powerful and effective than electric furnaces. Other homeowners know that electricity is sustainable and cheap, so they opt for an electric furnace because they think it’s more efficient. Is there any weight to these claims?
We live in what we call the “information age.” Just a quick tap with your fingers on your phone and you’ll be able to find out any information you might need about a given topic. Your 
Heating season is upon us in Michigan, and it’s time to start looking towards a cozy and comfortable future. Winter will be here in a jiffy, so you’ve only got a few months to prepare for all the frigid temperatures we’re about to endure. That’s why the autumn season is the perfect time to invest in maintenance! Our team isn’t as busy repairing malfunctioning heaters and addressing “no heat” calls by customers since temperatures haven’t dropped to much yet.
The problem with our climate here in Michigan is that sometimes winter pokes its ugly head during what’s supposed to be our wonderfully beautiful springtime. You might notice warm weather one day, and a freak snowstorm the next. That’s why your 
You’re probably no stranger to this question. It’s probably one of the hardest things to answer when you’re a homeowner. Does your furnace need help? Is it okay in the condition that it’s in? Or perhaps it’s in dire need of repairs and you just haven’t realized that yet?
If you’ve never heard of a dual fuel system, or you’ve been hesitant to look up this technology, then you’re in the right place. People tend to think that these types of heating systems are reserved for specialized homes, or buildings that need multiple heating systems, but that’s simply not true. Dual fuel heating systems are just another alternative that many homeowners are starting to turn to now that technology is becoming increasingly more effective and efficient.
How are you ever supposed to fix a computer if you don’t know what a processor is? Or, how are you ever going to figure out the blueprints for that new deck you want to build if you don’t know how to build it up to code? Our society puts a lot of pressure on people to just “know” things without telling them exactly where to find that valuable information. Unless you pay a lot of money to go to a special school, it might be hard to find good, reliable, trustworthy information on the web.
You might be reading this and thinking, “why would we need to talk about refrigerant, it’s freezing outside!” And while that might be true in regards to AC refrigerant, heat pumps are still chugging away making sure homes are warm with the help of refrigerant. Refrigerant is vital when your heat pump is heating your home, and if you’re suffering from a refrigerant leak, then you could see major problems in staying comfortable.
Heat pump technology still hasn’t caught on as much as we wish it did. Sure, many homeowners are diving into their first heat pump purchase, but we still have lots of homes that would be better off with a heat pump instead of a furnace and central air conditioner. The truth is that homeowners like what they’re used to, and it’s hard to change when you don’t know what that change might bring. You could say people are a bit afraid of what they don’t know.
Can you believe it’s here already? It feels like we blinked our eyes for a second this spring and now we’re all of a sudden days away from 2021. While this is a phenomenon we’re all getting over, we need to act like this new year is still coming, even if it feels surreal. For many homeowners, this year will signify a big change—paying more attention to their HVAC systems.
Alright folks, it looks like we’ve got a puzzle in front of us. If you’re a fan of logic puzzles, or a “guess what’s missing in the picture” types of puzzles, you’ll love this post. We’ve got two scenarios in front of us that we’ll need to pick apart piece by piece, so we can better understand the benefit of choosing a great technician from a reputable 
We get it, your first response to this blog post is probably, “how should I know, at least my heater is running!” Well, that’s great! The most important aspect of heating is that you feel the heat throughout the winter. After all, what’s the point of a heater if it doesn’t keep you comfortable?
Furnaces are the most common heater in America. So common, in fact, that we spend months of our time here in the winter repairing and replacing them. They’re responsible for keeping homes comfortable and cozy in Michigan, and we’d like to keep things that way.
It gets cold here in Michigan, which means we’re used to a whole different set of problems than other homeowners around the country. Cold and dry winters and falls bring along with them a whole host of issues that we need to be prepared for. Part of being a homeowner is being proactive and ready for anything that’s bound to come your way. Sound daunting? Let us help!
We’ve all been there—the chill of fall begins to make us shiver so we start turning on our heaters for the year. The excitement fills you as you get ready to feel nice and cozy, only to smell a certain strange odor in the air as your heater turns on. What the heck is that smell?
Spring is ALMOST here, and we can’t help but feel excited! Before you know it, flowers will be blooming, bees will be buzzing, and the sound of air conditioners whirring will be heard all over the state of Michigan! However, just because spring is arriving doesn’t mean that we can just go off and forget about our furnaces!
When it comes to heating, there are a few things you ought to know. For instance, it’s important that you change out your air filter every 1-3 months. It’s also important that you schedule maintenance on a routine basis. And, of course, it is important that you know just how vital your ductwork is to the overall performance of your heating system!
Brrrr! It’s cold out there!
You depend on your furnace to keep you and your family warm and toasty all winter long, so of course, when yours stops blowing warm air, it’s definitely a cause for concern! See, the last thing you need when temperatures dip into the ’30s is another air conditioner!
There’s no denying that purchasing a brand new heating system is a great feeling, especially when temperatures outside begin to drop! But, guess what? Your brand new heater is only going to be great so long as you’ve got a great thermostat controlling it!
Fall has officially arrived! Before you know it, apples will be a regular topic of conversation, warm sweaters will follow you everywhere you go, and pumpkin spice will take over every coffee shop in town! Of course, though, the arrival of fall comes with the arrival of chilly temperatures, meaning you’ll be turning on that heater sometime soon!
Temperatures here in Michigan have not yet felt so “spring-y”, however, our calendars state that the first official day of spring was March 20th, which means that warmer temperatures are on their way. Of course, the start of spring gets all of us thinking about summer, a time when there is not much need for our furnaces. We aren’t recommending you shut down your furnace just yet, as it is still quite chilly outside, but it is still worth knowing what to do with your furnace when the time finally does come.
The ability to change the temperature in your home with just a tiny, wall-mounted device is actually quite incredible. By hitting just a couple of buttons you can make your home warm and toasty in the winter and cool and comfortable in the summer. The invention of the thermostat in 1883 forever changed the way in which homeowners maintained comfort inside their homes, and since then, technology has come quite a long way.
Of course, the last thing any homeowner wants in the middle of winter is a fussy heater, and although they are built to last, they are not invincible. Occasionally, you will experience issues with your heater, and when this happens, the best thing to do is schedule your repairs as soon as possible. Sure, dealing with any heater problem can be quite a nuisance, as it is almost never convenient for your schedule or your budget. However, waiting to schedule your 
You depend on your heater to keep your warm and cozy during the winter, which as we know, can be quite cold here in Michigan. But, did you know that your heater also depends on you? Waiting until something goes wrong to schedule
Your nose is like a mini HVAC technician, able to detect furnace issues that you might have otherwise been unaware of. Your nose can pick up unusual smells coming from your furnace, which should prompt you to contact a professional right away. There are a number of potential issues that could cause certain smells, and they should never be ignored.
If so, then you have a problem of some sort on your hands. The tricky thing about short cycling in particular, though, is that there are multiple potential causes of the problem, and not all of them are terribly serious. However, the problem could be serious, so just assuming it’s nothing to worry about can really come back to haunt you when you discover that real damage has been done. That is why, in today’s post, we’ll explore short cycling a bit more closely.
The best thing that you can do for your home heating system, regardless of what type of system you may use, is to schedule routine heating maintenance with trained professionals that you can trust to do the job right. Heating maintenance must occur each and every year. If you don’t have your heater tuned up annually, then there is just no way in which you can hope for it to function at peak efficiency and performance levels. There’s one step you yourself have to take, though.
Is it early in the heating season? Yes. Is your heater working its way through the coldest weather of the year already? No, of course not. Is it too early, then, to be talking about 
Wait, I just scheduled annual heating maintenance last year. Why do it again this year? 
We agree that it would be great if key systems in your home lasted throughout the length of your homeownership. Unfortunately, dishwashers, washing machines, and some of the most important systems—like the furnace—will not last forever. Even if a repair is possible for your furnace, it’s not always the wisest choice, as the mismatched components may only wear down faster.
Thank goodness for central heating. It may be cold outside, but it’s so simply to just go to the thermostat, raise the temperature, and pretend that your home is a tropical getaway. It works almost like magic, so you might not give much thought to the heating system that is doing all the work.
When it comes time to purchase a new heating system for your home, it’s a good idea to spend some time thinking about what you want in terms of efficiency and special features. First and foremost, though, you’ll have to figure out one major factor in the installation: will your new heater run on natural gas or electricity? And does it really matter?
While there is a variety of types of heating systems in our area, there’s still one system that reigns as the most popular system throughout the country: the furnace. In particular, the natural gas furnace is convenient to install in most home setups and operates safely and efficiently with proper installation. For the most part, you don’t need to know too much about the inner workings of your furnace, as a qualified technician is the only person who should handle any repairs or installation.
There are a number of problems a heating system can run into over the course of its life. We recommend getting any heating issue under control ASAP, including an odd sound or reduced heating performance, as it could only get worse with time. But there’s one issue we don’t have to remind you to fix: when the heater breaks down completely.
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems can differ quite a bit in build, fuel type, special features, and efficiency rating. But one difference between systems is perhaps more important than any of that—but often overlooked by homeowners. People want the cheapest, the most efficient, or the system with the best automated features. What they don’t often discuss is sizing.
In years past, your heating system has not truly delivered the way you would like. This year, you’re ready for a change. Whether or not you’re ready to completely update your heater, there may be upgrades you can make to keep you more comfortable, to save some money each month, and to increase your safety.
When you need a new heater, you might be surprised to learn about how many options are available. The standard 
If you feel like you’re spending too much money on heating, you’re not alone. For most people (in cold climates), heating takes up the highest portion of energy bills in a month. We cannot go without it during the winter and fall, but that doesn’t mean it has to cost an arm and a leg.
When something goes wrong with your heater, you’re likely hoping that the system can be repaired. After all, it’s typically much less expensive to make a repair for your heater than to replace such a costly system. That is, unless you’re making repairs that won’t stand the test of time. Sometimes, it’s simply impossible to repair an older heating system. Other times, it may be possible to repair your heater, but it won’t hold up, meaning you pay spend more money with time.
