Four Gas Furnace Safety Tips to Keep in Mind

If you use a gas furnace in your home or business, consider these four gas furnace safety tips to keep in mind to ensure the health and safety of everyone in the building.

When fuel is used to power an appliance, we must be mindful of following best practices for safety and wellbeing.

As HVAC professionals, our team at Beebe Heating & Air Conditioning are experts in gas furnace safety. We have provided a list of crucial tips to keep in mind so you can safely enjoy the warmth and coziness your gas furnace provides.

Follow Gas Furnace Safety Tips by Installing Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Gas furnaces can produce carbon monoxide as a by-product of their combustion process. When the heating system is working correctly, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are vented safely outside your home.

However, leaks can happen if the furnace is damaged, and therefore it’s critical to install carbon monoxide detectors on every level of your home and near all sleeping areas.

Carbon monoxide can cause serious and potentially deadly health effects by lowering the oxygen level in your blood. Remember that we can not detect carbon monoxide through our senses. Therefore, installing carbon monoxide detectors on every level of the home and near every sleeping area is crucial to catching a leak.

Schedule Regular Maintenance

HVAC professionals performing scheduled maintenance inspections once or twice a year can catch any problems that need resolution before they become costly repairs or turn into dangerous situations. There are many parts to a functioning gas furnace, and the best way to ensure your furnace is functioning properly, and therefore safely, is by calling in an HVAC expert.

At Beebe Heating & Air Conditioning, we recommend scheduling regular maintenance inspections at least once a year, and ideally, once in the fall and once in the spring.

Keep Furnace Area Clear of Debris and Storage

You may feel tempted to store items near your furnace to save space. Storing items near your furnace is not wise due to the potential for a fire this scenario can cause. Always keep the area around your gas furnace clear of debris or storage.

Even if you have your furnace in a larger room that you use for storage, such as a basement, make sure that you allow several feet between the furnace and any other objects. Doing so lowers the risk of a fire starting and maintains clear and easy access to your furnace for maintenance, inspection, and repairs.

Watch for Discolored Gas Furnace Flame

The gas furnace flame should burn blue. You need to quickly call an HVAC technician to diagnose and repair a problem if you notice yellow, orange, or green streaks or a complete color change.

Changing flame color means the furnace is not burning at the correct oxygen and gas mixture. Of particular note, if you notice a yellow flame there is a buildup of carbon monoxide through incomplete combustion.

The buildup may be small enough not to cause health effects but always err on the side of safety and call in an HVAC technician. If you notice a discolored furnace flame and feel any early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning like headache, nausea, fatigue, or dizziness, you should vacate the home until an HVAC team can fix the problem.

Follow Gas Furnace Safety Tips and Schedule Maintenance with Us Today

Preventative maintenance is always key to best practices for ensuring efficiency, longevity, and safety.

If you live in Kansas City, follow our gas furnace safety tips and schedule a maintenance call today with our expert team at Beebe Heating and Air Conditioning.

6 Signs it’s Time to Replace Your Furnace

If you are noticing performance issues, you may be wondering what the signs are that it’s time to replace your furnace. While high-quality furnaces can last up to 20 years of service, they will eventually age out, and it will be time for a replacement. The Kansas City HVAC professionals at Beebe Heating & Air Conditioning have the expert answers you need.

Notice These 6 Signs it’s Time to Replace Your Furnace

Below, we have provided the tell-tale signs that your furnace requires replacement. These signs include the age of your system, varying and inconsistent temperatures in your home, higher-than-expected heating bills, excessive noises, and a yellow pilot light flame.

Your Furnace is over 15 Years Old

The average service span of most high-quality furnace heaters is about 15 to 20 years. If your furnace is at least 15 years old, you may want to start thinking about hiring an HVAC professional to install a new furnace.

If you are not experiencing any problems with your furnace, you may not yet need a replacement, but make sure to perform regular maintenance inspections and be on the lookout for any of the below-listed signs.

Inconsistent Temperatures in Your Home

If you notice that your house has cold spots and heats irregularly, then it may be time for a heater replacement. Particularly dramatic and noticeable shifts in the temperature of your home can especially be a sign that your furnace may be failing.

Often, older heaters near the end of their service life will fail to distribute heat throughout the house.

If you notice this sign we recommend that you schedule a service call to diagnose the issue and determine if the problem is repairable or if the furnace requires replacement.

6 Signs it’s Time to Replace Your Furnace: Higher Heating Bills

One particularly frustrating sign of a furnace that may need replacement is an increase in your monthly heating cost. If your furnace is breaking down, it will not run as efficiently and will have to work harder to heat the home. It will waste more fuel in the process, thus increasing your monthly heating bill.

Excessive and Loud Furnace Noises

Regardless of the type of furnace you have, you should not notice excessively frequent or loud noises. It’s time to call in a professional if you hear loud rattling, banging, and screeching noises.

Chances are some serious mechanical damage may be occurring to your furnace. If your furnace is already older than ten years, it’s often more cost-effective in the long run to replace it with a new model.

Yellow Pilot Light Flame

A properly functioning furnace should have a blue pilot light flame, always. If you notice that the pilot light flame is yellow on your furnace, then you need to immediately call in an HVAC technician.

The yellow flame is a sign of a ventilation problem with your system and incomplete gas combustion. This incomplete combustion can lead to an elevation of carbon monoxide levels in your home.

Indoor Air Quality Decline

While you can potentially address indoor air quality decline through cleaning parts of your HVAC system, it can also be a sign that your furnace requires replacement.

Your furnace may be damaged or aged to the point that it is not heating efficiently, combustion correctly, or properly diverting combustion gases away from your home.

Call Us Today If You Notice the 6 Signs it’s Time to Replace Your Furnace

Our experts at Beebe Heating & Air Conditioning can set up a time to diagnose your furnace and determine if we can perform a cost-effective repair or if we recommend replacement.

If you live in Kansas City and have checked off these 6 signs of a possibly failing furnace, contact us today.

Saving Money on Your Energy Bill: Space Heater or Furnace?

Winter is here and all the snow, blustery winds, and bitter cold that comes with it. It’s always a smart idea to prepare your home for winter. One of the most important winter preparations is deciding how to heat your home. If you’re dissatisfied with your current heating system or having small heart attacks every time you see your heating bill, you’ll want to check this out. Heating your Kansas City home through the winter shouldn’t mean that you have to break the bank to do it.  Keep reading to learn more about using a space heater verses your furnace. Continue reading “Saving Money on Your Energy Bill: Space Heater or Furnace?”

How to Heat an Older Kansas City Home More Efficiently

There’s nothing wrong with living in an older home. If your Kansas City home is on the older side and has seen better days, there’s still a lot you can do with it to modernize it and make it more liveable. Many homes in Kansas City are over 100 years old as the city was founded in 1880. As you might have guessed, there have been a lot of advancements and improvements in the way we heat our homes in the many years since 1880. Continue reading “How to Heat an Older Kansas City Home More Efficiently”