How to Maintain a Healthy Home
Inside every house there is a healthy home.
A healthy home is a comfortable, safe place for you & your family.
A place to keep you cozy warm on the coldest of nights and keeps you cool & comfortable during the hottest days of summer.
Below is a rough estimate of the life of some of your homes equipment:
| Household Fixtures and Products |
Average Life Span |
| Furnace | 20 years |
| Central Air Conditioning |
6 to 10 years |
| Water Heater |
8 to 15 years |
| Plumbing | 30 to 60 years |
| Garbage Disposal | 5 to 10 years |
| Bathroom Sink |
10+ years |
| Faucets | 8 to 12 years |
| Toilet Mechanism |
5 to 10 years |
Many of the appliances within your home have life spans. Appliances & home fixtures such as water heaters, furnaces, air conditioning units, & plumbing will eventually need replaced. Home tips to save you time & money.
- Change or clean furnace & air-conditioning filters once a month. To determine how dirty the filters are, hold them up. If you easily see light through them, then they are still clean.
- Get a yearly HVAC maintenance check on equipment. All safeties, controls & filters will be checked.
- Inspect blower for worn, shiny, or sagging belts. Worn belts cause stress on the fan motor of furnace.
- Never run your air conditioner when outside temperatures are below 60 degrees F. Coils may frost up which will restrict airflow.
- Wait at least 5 minutes before restarting your air conditioning unit; this relieves stress on the compressor.
- Keep drapes, curtains, & furniture away from register & return, this helps airflow & makes your home more comfortable.
- Keep vegetation, grass clippings, & leaves away from your outdoor air conditioning unit to help maintain its efficiency.
- Clean permanent filters once a month with dishwashing detergent, rinse thoroughly & let them dry before putting back into unit. This allows a free airflow, & also keeps coils clean leading to lower operating costs.
- Water heater maintenance, drains & flushes the tank, & check all pressures & safeties once a year.
- Having high water pressure may shorten the life of your faucets.
- Digital thermostats save energy through pinpoint accuracy.
- Make sure to have your steam boiler checked & skimmed once a year, vents & traps should be checked & replaced as needed.
- Conserve energy; keep your windows & storm windows closed for summer & winter.
- Move lamps & lights at least 5 feet away from thermostats, the heat from them can influence the thermostat & your comfort.
- For optimum performance, humidifier water panels should be replaced once a year. The typical humidifier will only run when the furnace is on so it’s important to make sure we can get as much humidity into the home as possible.