gas furnace maintenance?

[gabagoo]

Whats involved in maintaining my own gas furnace? Outside of changing the filters 4 times a year and doing an annual vacuuming of inside the filter area and around the furnace. I also check the flame to make sure it is burning a yellow blue. I check the humidifier (april air) .

Outside of that I am not sure what else needs to be checked if it is working fine

[HayZee518]

when you do your inspection look for cracks in the heat exchanger. carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can kill you!

[gabagoo]

Yes I should do that. I have a carbon monoxide detector just outside the furncae room and another up in the family room...just in case

[paul52446m]

Whats involved in maintaining my own gas furnace? Outside of changing the filters 4 times a year and doing an annual vacuuming of inside the filter area and around the furnace. I also check the flame to make sure it is burning a yellow blue. I check the humidifier (april air) .

Outside of that I am not sure what else needs to be checked if it is working fine

I am all for a furnace owner doing all he can to maintaining he equipment, but what you have just said is about all you can safely do for your self. I don't know how old your furnace is , but most of the furnaces for many years now have a tube type heat exchangers. You can not look at this type of heat exchanger to see if there are cracks or bad welds. If this type exchanger get dirty you have to replace it. So it is real important that the burners are burning right. Gas valves can slip and not pass enough gas or pass way too much. If a furnace is keep in good shape it will last a lot longer. So what i am saying that a pro might find things that you would not find, so i feel that the check up ,done right, will pay for itself. The carbon monoxide tester we use in service work is a $500.00 tester and it will find a problem before it becomes a danger. Later Paul