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Post by beaglemom on Sept 18, 2018 0:22:44 GMT
We have lived in our house since December. It's the first time we've had forced air. We have someone coming over to look over the system, but I would like some feedback from the Peas before!
How often do you change the filters on your system?
How often does the duct work need to be cleaned?
What does yearly maintenance generally run (when I was looking it seemed all over the place locally)?
Anything else I should ask about with forced air heating?
Thanks!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 1, 2024 8:47:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2018 0:31:39 GMT
We have lived in our house since December. It's the first time we've had forced air. We have someone coming over to look over the system, but I would like some feedback from the Peas before! How often do you change the filters on your system? How often does the duct work need to be cleaned? What does yearly maintenance generally run (when I was looking it seemed all over the place locally)? Anything else I should ask about with forced air heating? Thanks! The filter you choose to buy will have a "life" on it. THe cheap ones need to be changed monthly. Some of the more expensive ones will hold up for 3 months. How dusty your area is will also play a part in how often it needs replaced. I've never cleaned my duct work. But, your family has severe allergies you may want to do it every year or two. I also have never done a yearly maintence "just because" I'll have it looked at if something doesn't seem right for some reason... odd noises, smells or not working effeciently. |
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Deleted
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May 1, 2024 8:47:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2018 0:32:18 GMT
It is gas or electric?
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 18, 2018 0:35:20 GMT
That's part of what I'm trying to figure out. We have propane for hot water. I think the heat is also powered by propane.
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Post by Basket1lady on Sept 18, 2018 0:44:47 GMT
We change our filters every 3 months. If you don’t change them often enough, you will get lint on the metal grates over the filters.
I’m a believer in yearly maintenance simply because, as an established customer, you have priority over a new customer calling in. This can matter with a cold snap or a heat wave. I’ve taken advantage of that.
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Post by christine58 on Sept 18, 2018 0:48:50 GMT
I heat with gas and change the filter every 3-4 months. I also have it serviced in the fall and then again in the late spring (That's when they check the AC and make sure it's working)
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GiantsFan
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,287
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
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Post by GiantsFan on Sept 18, 2018 0:49:26 GMT
I thought this thread was going to be about the annoying duct cleaning telemarketers. They call almost daily! Grrr!
Most likely if your hot water is propane then your furnace is propane. We rarely use our furnace because we live in a somewhat mild climate and usually heat with our fireplace. We use the pricey 3M Filtrete Hepa filters. We change it at the beginning of fall. As for duct cleaning, I'm not sure I've ever had that done. Yikes, I should look into it.
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Post by MichyM on Sept 18, 2018 0:56:30 GMT
Both the houses I owned (23 years total) had forced air heat. We changed filters 4 times a year and had them each (one was quite old, the other in a brand new home) on a yearly maintenance schedule with the local shop.
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Post by mom on Sept 18, 2018 0:58:23 GMT
We change our filters every three months. Im pretty sure our Nest sends a reminder to Dh's phone. Our ductwork gets cleaned once a year normally - but we live in a very dusty area and DH has asthma that gets set off by dust.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Sept 18, 2018 1:18:09 GMT
We change our filters once a year - we've never cleaned the ducts.
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caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,444 
Location: So Cal
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Post by caangel on Sept 18, 2018 1:20:18 GMT
We have never cleaned our ducts. We change filters before turning on the heat in Nov/Dec and before turning on the AC in June/July. We try really hard not to use AC/Heat and live in a fairly mild climate. Our preference is to have windows open. We are in So Cal so it is doable most of the year.
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tincin
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,368
Jul 25, 2014 4:55:32 GMT
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Post by tincin on Sept 18, 2018 1:46:39 GMT
I’ve only had the ductwork cleaned once but I change my filters regularly. I have my heating guy check the furnace at least every other year.
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basketdiva
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,614
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Post by basketdiva on Sept 18, 2018 2:58:34 GMT
I’ve a maintenance contract. Equipment is serviced twice a year. I also get priority service and a 10-15% discount in any needed parts. I pay $15 a month for the service.
I have filters that do not need changing- they are hosed off every maintenance visit.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 18, 2018 3:59:51 GMT
Well we discovered that the systems are from 1993. We have two propane furnaces and they were nasty. Dh looked at both with them and the amount of caked on grime was digusting , the filters were black with dust and a couple were the wrong size. We also learned that the shady contractor that we used on our old house, who installed a new dryer vent on this house did it wrong. So vent fixed. And we'd been looking at new systems and they are giving us a great deal on two new furnaces and an air conditioner unit on the upstairs one. We've never had a/c and I am so excited!!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 1, 2024 8:47:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2018 4:10:30 GMT
If you have pets (especially any pets with fur vs. hair) change the filters out every month! We were changing them every 3 months and we noticed that there was a build-up on the vents + the a/c was working extra-hard and not cooling as efficiently as when the filters are brand new.
As far as the duct cleaning, I'd ask whomever sold you the house. Not too sure about that. We live in a 3/2 apartment and we only change out the filter and I try to keep all of the vents clean. I also vacuum around the a/c unit in its room (off the laundryroom) for any extra dust. HTH.
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maryannscraps
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,729
Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
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Post by maryannscraps on Sept 18, 2018 12:32:37 GMT
Depends on the type of furnace and filter. We just got new furnaces last fall, and the filters only need changing every 6 months. They're pretty expensive, but they're about 4 inches thick and collect everything. I've really noticed a reduction in dust in the house since we put them in.
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Post by littlemama on Sept 18, 2018 13:55:07 GMT
We change the furnace filter every 2-3 months and we have never had maintenance done on it. It is original to the house and is about 25 years old.
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Post by mom26 on Sept 18, 2018 16:13:17 GMT
We change our filter about every 2 - 3 weeks since we have 2 long-haired cats and a Sheltie. We have a maintenance check done prior to the beginning of summer as you do NOT want A/C problems if you live in Florida.
We had our ducts cleaned once and I wasn't impressed. Hardly anything came out of them.
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Post by kamper on Sept 18, 2018 17:29:04 GMT
I just paid for a service call because, I thought my A/C was low on Freon. The first thing he said was lets look at the furnance (they share the same blower). He pulls out the filter and says "Here's your problem." I was using one of those fancy filters that is supposed to take out all the dust and allergins. Turns out it was just blocking too much of the airflow. He showed me what to buy on Amazon (MERV rating of 5 or lower). They are sold in a 12 pack and he said to replace them once a month. So that is what I will be doing from now on.
I've never had duct work cleaned.
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anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,830
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
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Post by anaterra on Sept 18, 2018 17:58:03 GMT
We live in wide open dusty west texas... so even with the doors n windows closed we still get a fair amount of dust... we change our filter the 1st of every month... I buy them 3 at a time and use a marker to write the month it goes in...
We have yearly maintenance on the unit n duct work
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Post by fridaycat on Sept 18, 2018 19:42:45 GMT
I just paid for a service call because, I thought my A/C was low on Freon. The first thing he said was lets look at the furnance (they share the same blower). He pulls out the filter and says "Here's your problem." I was using one of those fancy filters that is supposed to take out all the dust and allergins. Turns out it was just blocking too much of the airflow. He showed me what to buy on Amazon (MERV rating of 5 or lower). They are sold in a 12 pack and he said to replace them once a month. So that is what I will be doing from now on. I've never had duct work cleaned. I'm not seeing an MERV 5 or lower on Amazon. Can you link it here? Thank you! |
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~Susan~
Pearl Clutcher
You need to check your boobs, mine tried to kill me!!!
Posts: 3,258
Jul 6, 2014 17:25:32 GMT
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Post by ~Susan~ on Sept 18, 2018 20:06:28 GMT
I change our filters once a month. Pollen here is crazy, even with regular vacuuming. We have never had our ducts cleaned.
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Post by kamper on Sept 18, 2018 21:06:03 GMT
Search for EZ Flow air filters link This is what I got. |
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Post by internetmama on Sept 18, 2018 21:07:45 GMT
Duct cleaning: we only did it once recently in our 11 year old house. One cat, one medium dog, 5 people, dry high desert environment. The cleaning company honestly told us it’s needed only about every 4 years.
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MorningPerson
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,504
Location: Central Pennsylvania
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Post by MorningPerson on Sept 18, 2018 21:55:53 GMT
My goal is to change the filters every 2 months or so, but I'm not very good about remembering. We've never had our ducts cleaned, but I imagine that would be a good thing.
We do have the systems cleaned and checked every fall without fail. It would suck to have something go wrong in the middle of a cold spell. I think we pay somewhere around $80-100.
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Post by flanz on Sept 18, 2018 23:48:43 GMT
Well we discovered that the systems are from 1993. We have two propane furnaces and they were nasty. Dh looked at both with them and the amount of caked on grime was digusting , the filters were black with dust and a couple were the wrong size. We also learned that the shady contractor that we used on our old house, who installed a new dryer vent on this house did it wrong. So vent fixed. And we'd been looking at new systems and they are giving us a great deal on two new furnaces and an air conditioner unit on the upstairs one. We've never had a/c and I am so excited!! This sounds like an awesome upgrade! We renovated our house 18 yrs ago and had all new ductwork installed along with an electronic air cleaner on along with A/C. It has helped my allergies quite a lot. I have never had the ductwork cleaned, DH doesn't think it's necessary, but I think we're way overdue and I'm going to go ahead and schedule it. There are no filters to replace with this system. The filters are these large metal boxes that we wash in the dishWASHER 1-2 times a year. |
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