Being a Friend to Your Commercial Furnace

By Matthew Beaton – Associate Branch Manager, Cleveland, OH

It’s that time of year folks, the days are getting shorter, and fall is on its way. Before you know it, temperatures will drop, and it will be time to put your heating system back to work. But we still have a little time before that happens and we recommend putting that time to good use by having your commercial furnace serviced.

At General Parts Group we pride ourselves on being a one-stop-shop that can look after your commercial kitchen service needs from rooftop to kitchen floor. Gas heaters are not something we talk about a lot, but it is in fact a piece of equipment we work on frequently and over the years we have learned that a maintenance check now can save an equipment failure down the road, and the headache that goes with it!

What Does a Gas Furnace Maintenance Check Comprise Of?

We strongly recommend that you test fire your furnace to check if it runs. From there a trained maintenance person will be able to check the ignitors, spark cables, blower belts, fan and most importantly the heat exchanger, which should be checked for cracks.

Gas Heat Exchanger Safety Tip – A cracked exchanger will leak carbon monoxide into the air ducts and can also produce flame rollouts, which is un-combusted gas igniting inside the exchanger which in turn can further damage the unit. For safety, a cracked heat exchanger will need to be replaced.

Gas Heat Exchanger Care Tip – Regularly change your air filters. Clogged air filters reduce the amount of air flowing over the heat exchanger which results in the unit becoming too hot and cracking!

Once these checks have been completed, your furnace is ready for winter, yay, but……. you may have other equipment that needs to be checked or winterized. If you are using a boiler for heating that should also be serviced to ensure it can meet the increased demand winter temperatures will bring. If you have water lines on your roof it is a great time to make sure they are fully insulated. If you have water lines that will not be used, for instance an evaporative cooler, also make sure to drain the lines.

If you do not have a trained maintenance person available and need support or just have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your nearest General Parts Group location at (888)498-1238

More information about our locations can be found by clicking the following link.