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The following maintenance should be provided by a heating system professional. The boiler is the engine of your heating system regardless of the type it is. Like the engine in your car, it should be regularly serviced to maintain its efficiency and length of life.
All systems: Check the condition of your vent connection pipe and chimney. Parts of the venting system may have deteriorated over time. Chimney problems can be expensive to repair, and may help justify installing new heating equipment that will not use the existing chimney. Check the physical integrity of the heat exchanger. Leaky boiler heat exchangers leak water and are easy to spot. Furnace heat exchangers mix combustion gases with house air when they leak—an important safety reason to have them inspected. Adjust the controls on the boiler or furnace to provide optimum water and air temperature settings for both efficiency and comfort. If you are considering replacing or retrofitting your existing heating system, have the technician perform a combustion-efficiency test. Forced-air systems:
- Check the combustion chamber for cracks
- Test for carbon monoxide (CO) and remedy if found
- Adjust blower control and supply-air temperature
- Clean and oil the blower
- Remove dirt, soot, or corrosion from the furnace or boiler
- Check fuel input and flame characteristics, and adjust if necessary
- Seal connections between the furnace and main ducts.
Hot-water systems:
- Test pressure-relief valve
- Test high-limit control
- Inspect pressure tank, which should be filled with air, to verify that it's not filled with water
- Clean the heat exchanger.
Steam systems:
- Drain some water from the boiler to remove sediments. This improves the heat exchange efficiency
- Test low-water cut-off safety control and high-limit safety control
- Drain the float chamber to remove sediments. This prevents the low-water cut-off control from sediment clogs
- Analyze boiler water and add chemicals as needed to control deposits and corrosion
Clean the heat exchanger
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