How to Properly Clean a Furnace

Your home’s furnace is composed of parts like the furnace filter, furnace blower, and furnace blower motor. These parts need to be cleaned to have a fully operational and efficient furnace.

Dust is one of your furnace’s worst enemies because it forces your furnace to work overtime causing it to waste fuel, electricity, and drastically lowers its efficiency. Your residential furnace should be thoroughly inspected before the beginning of the heating season.

We plan to lay out the cleaning process for your furnace, but advise you to call one of our professional HVAC technicians. A professional inspection ensures the proper maintenance of your HVAC system.

How to Clean and Replace Your Furnace Filter?

Your furnace filters can be:

  • Disposable Filters: Composed of cardboard frames and need to be replaced every time they become too dirty. Disposable furnace filters need to be replaced monthly.
  • Reusable Filters: Composed of fiberglass or metal framing. These are cost effective, but they require routine maintenance and cleaning.

Understanding the different type of Furnace Filters

  • Mechanical – Must be changed once a month
  • Electrostatic – Must be cleaned every three months
  • Electronic – Must be cleaned weekly

Replacing a Disposable Furnace Filter

  1. TURN OFF the HVAC System and find the service panel
  2. Wait a few minutes for your system’s power to completely discharge
  3. Find the furnace air filter it should be near the intake-outtake blower
  4. Check the filter, hold it up to the light, if it looks clogged, it is time to replace it.
  5. Make sure when replacing your filter you are taking into account the type of filter it is, and the size of the filter.
  6. Find the right type and size furnace filter and replace your worn out filter with a brand new one.

Cleaning your Electrostatic Furnace Filter

This method will work for your electronic and electrostatic filter

  • First, before you begin cleaning your furnace filter you want to give your filter a thorough 5-8 minute vacuuming on the air intake side.
  • Spray down your furnace filter with an all-purpose cleaner. Half the cleaning bottle spray of an all-purpose cleaner should be enough.
  • Let the solution sit with the furnace filter for about 5 minutes before washing it
  • Rinse it through with a low to medium pressure hose until all the cleaning solution is removed. Flip the furnace over and repeat this process again.
  • Let the filter drain, set it aside and tilt it slightly, maybe against a wall, or you can hold the filter with a slight tilt.
  • Let them drain for 45 minutes or your can tilt one side for 10 minutes and then turn it 180 degrees and let it drain on the other side for another 10 minutes to drain all the water out.
  • Once the filter is completely drained of water, you can safely place it back into the furnace slots.

Another Cleaning Method For Your Electrostatic Furnace Filter

  • You can fill a sink or a tub with about 4 inches of hot water and add a small amount of dishwasher detergent.
  • Put your filter in that liquid and give it a little wiggle and let it set for 10 minutes
  • Take the furnace filter out of the water and rinse it through making sure all the detergent comes off the filter.
  • You will then drain the filter of all the water by setting it aside tilted against a wall. Make sure all the water has been drained from the filter before putting it back into its slot inside the furnace.

How to Clean a Furnace Blower Motor?

  • When removing the blower motor from your furnace for cleaning it should be noted that everything must be returned to the exact spot after disassembling it from the blower assembly.
  • If you can remove the blower motor then proceed to wash the blower wheel and the blower housing. You should take caution with the water pressure as too much water pressure can damage the fins. Allow the blower wheel fins to dry completely.
  • Use a soft-bristled brush to clean the fan motor, carefully brushing off the dirt and debris. You will also want to vacuum the outer fan motor ends.

This cleaning process needs to be handled carefully as not to damage the entire assembly, so we always advise to call on of ourOne Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® of Elk Grove HVAC Technicians to handle the job.

We proudly serve the city of Illinois and provide on time heating and cooling services for every repair.

One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® of Elk Grove provide heating services for the cities of Elk Grove Village, Roselle, Park Ridge, Schaumburg, Chicago, and other cities in Illinois (847) 744-9447

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