LESLIE: HVAC maintenance is on Eileen and George’s minds. What can we do for you?
EILEEN: I was wondering – I have to maintenance my furnace. It’s a new house that I have; about three years old. What do I need to do? Why do I need to do it?
LESLIE: OK.
TOM: (chuckling) OK. Eileen, I guess suffice to say you’ve never done any maintenance work to this furnace before, huh?
EILEEN: Well, no. Actually, my mother used to do it. She’s no longer – she’s passed. (ph)
TOM: OK. What kind of furnace is this? Is it gas?
EILEEN: It’s electric heat and air with a heat pump; brand new.
TOM: Oh, it’s a heat pump. OK. Alright. Well, if it’s a heat pump, then you may actually not need to do too much because the service for the heat pump is essentially the same as the service for the air conditioning. The heat pump is essentially an air conditioner that’s got a reversing mechanism so that it can actually heat in the winter and cool you in the summer. It’s not like having a gas furnace where, you know, you have to run that in the winter and it gets dirty and needs to be cleaned separate from the air conditioner.
EILEEN: (overlapping voices) Right.
TOM: But have you – did you have the air conditioning system serviced this summer?
EILEEN: Yes.
TOM: Well, I think you’re probably OK then. There’s not much else you need to do.
EILEEN: So I don’t …
TOM: No. Just because it’s turned to the heating season, you don’t have to actually do something extra because it’s the same service. You essentially have a compressor. Now, you know, the only other thing that you might want to make sure you’re doing is changing those filters on a regular basis or installing an electronic air cleaner.
EILEEN: Right, I did that.
TOM: But other than that, there’s not much you need to do.
EILEEN: OK.
TOM: Alright?
EILEEN: I thank you very much for your help. Appreciate it.
TOM: Alright, well good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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