Preface: I'd really like to rewrite this page when time allows. Time hasn't allowed. :)

The bottom line is that getting your furnace checked once in a while is an absolute must. Doing so the way the multi-million dollar shops recommend? Not a must. Please do take regular advantage of the free safety inspection offered by PG&E and other utilities. The free inspection is a mixed bag. However, it's free. And have a good technician such as myself check it out out once in a while as well. But don't fall prey to the so called maintenance program.

Keep reading. This is still an informative essay. If you think you can handle it, the short and not particularly sweet version is here. If you're new to my site then that page may be a bit much to take. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;)

Over the years I've noticed three different views about what's being done on a residential furnace or air conditioning maintenance:
1) There's what the maintenance agreement says should be done.
2) There's what the customer thinks is being done.
3) Then there's what's actually being done.

The same goes for the benefits of maintenance:
1) There are the promises of those that market maintenance.
2) There are the perceptions of the customer.
3) Then there's reality.

And finally there's the frequency with which maintenance is performed:
1) There are the recommendations of "official entities".
2) There's the reality of what your equipment really needs.
3) Then there's what the customer actually has done.

It is my goal to merge these alternate realities into one common sense approach, even if it costs me business. In fact, it already has!

Maintenance have a very real value. But I insist that my customers know what that value is and not rely on the marketing of and/or old fashioned thoughts about maintenance. Here are just a few things you should know:

• New and even old equipment may be improved in only very minor ways with a maintenance. Or it may be improved drastically. In my experience even with
  in-depth maintenance the former happens more often than the latter. There are even occasions where literally nothing is changed as a result of maintenance. (Though in such circumstances my customers don't feel slighted because I make it a point to educate them in ways that saves them money down the road.) As a result it may turn out that the primary result you achieve with maintenance is peace of mind. Is peace of mind worth $180? That's up to you. Unfortunately you can't know if the only result of maintenance will be peace of mind until after you've had it done.
   
• Oiling of motors is one of the most common expectations that customers have of maintenance. However, most OEMs have gone to sealed motors which can't be oiled. Even on older equipment you may not want to oil the motors. IF the bearings are worn badly enough and have not been oiled on a regular basis then adding oil can finish them off. That is a concept that goes counter to the intuition of many customers and even some technicians. How can oiling a motor be bad? Yet it most certainly can be. Furthermore, there is not a practical way to predict whether or not your previously un-oiled motor will be helped or hurt by oiling. Given the fact that the fear of loss is usually stronger than the desire for gain, most customers have me leave their old motors alone.
   
• The cleaning of burners is also a very common expectation. However, for years furnaces have been using in-shot burners. Unlike old fashioned burners, in-shot burners sit outside the heat exchanger and shoot the flame in horizontally. Sometimes they do indeed need to be cleaned. But it has been my experience that it's just as often that they don't. A small percentage of them will actually go the entire life of the furnace without ever being cleaned and be none the worse for wear.
   
• The old timers out there will remember belt driven blower motors and expect that belt replacement is a part of maintenance. But these days belt driven motors are limited to commercial equipment. A residential furnace with a belt driven blower is an ancient furnace indeed. In fact, some of the newer furnace designs don't even make the blower compartment readily accessible. Some of them require considerable disassembly to access that part of the furnace - which is indicative of the furnace builder's belief that there's no reason to access the blower on a routine basis.
   
• It has been my experience that the majority of failures I've repaired over the years could not have been prevented or even delayed by maintenance. Some if not most failures just happen regardless of any supposed preventive actions you could have taken. In fact, the seeds of many failures were planted the day the contractor installed the equipment. The problems associated with incorrect installation can take years to manifest as a part failure. In many cases the only thing you can do that will actually prevent failure and extend equipment life is replace the furnace's air filter on a regular basis.
   
• When it comes to maintenance, the focus of discussion amongst most contractors is not about how maintenance benefits you or the equipment. Their focus is on how maintenance agreements (yearly contracts to service your equipment) will grow their business. The maintenance agreement itself is not particularly profitable. It's considered filler work for the slow seasons. But the maintenance agreement customer is very profitable. He or she gets treated to a twice a year sales presentation. Maintenance agreement customers are more likely to buy new equipment, accessories and IAQ services than their non-maintenance agreement counterparts. As such having you signed up on an agreement has become an all consuming goal for most shops. To that end they'll price the agreement way too low to hook you and then pressure their techs to hurry up.

To be perfectly clear, I am not devaluing real maintenance nor am I suggesting that you should not have it done. What I am doing is trying to bridge the gulf between misperception and reality. Do NOT take this as an implication of anything other than what I've stated explicitly. I will not be held responsible for some buffoon who uses this editorial as an excuse to ignore his HVAC system and gets himself hurt or killed.

To state it in more businesslike fashion: It is the company policy of High Performance Heating & Air to recommend regular maintenance on your heater and air conditioner. All recognized authorities on the subject recommend the same. However, as I have made clear yearly maintenance may not provide all that you think. Part of that lies in incorrect expectations. The rest lies in companies that don't do complete work. With proper knowledge you can take care of the expectations. I'll take care of doing a complete job.

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