The weather in Southern California this winter has been more consistently cold than we’re often used to. It’s not so much that we’re experiencing much colder temperatures, but that the colder weather has hung around for longer stretches with fewer warmer periods like we’re used to. We’ve also had plenty of rain, which is good news for dealing with drought and subduing wildfire season.
Although the colder and rainier weather may be good long-term, in the short-term you’ve probably had to run your heating system more frequently than usual. This can bring out some malfunctions you may not have noticed and lead to other malfunctions because of the strain. Let’s take a moment to check in with your home’s heating now that it’s February.
It’s hard to say goodbye to old friends. You probably don’t think of the HVAC system in your house as an “old friend,” even though it has provided your house with years of comfort. It’s not a flashy piece of equipment, and most of it is hidden. But saying goodbye to it does mean paying for a new one—and you don’t want to do that until it’s necessary.
One of the odd troubles we face in Southern California when it comes to home heating is that it’s easy to let a heater stay around for far too long in a house. When people don’t rely too often on a system like a gas furnace, they often don’t consider when it’s old enough that it needs to be replaced.
