Summer's Over: Start Preparing for Winter Now.

Preparing for winter? You'll get around to it eventually, right? It's not even cold outside yet. The only time you think "furnace" is when your bedmate climbs into bed and you feel like you're cozying up to a radiator. But the truth is, there's another furnace in your house, and it needs your attention right now. As winter peeks around the corner (and with natural gas prices up 16% in the last two days), it's a good time to ask a few questions:

Has Your Furnace Had Its Physical This Year?

A build-up of soot is a sign that you need to call someone. But other efficiency sucking culprits may be lurking too. A regular furnace tune-up (once a year for oil-fired furnaces, every two years for gas-fired, and every 2-3 years for heat pumps) will ensure that a furnace is working efficiently, increase the life of the furnace, and keep carbon monoxide and other pollutants out of the air.

In addition to a routine tune-up, there are a number of retrofit opportunities that can dramatically increase the efficiency of your furnace, even if a high-efficiency replacement isn't in the cards.  Talk to your heating contractor about specific options for your heating system.

Does your furnace have a filter that needs replacing?

Not sure? There's no shame here.  Recently, a home performance professional told us that when he walks into the kitchen with a very dirty filter he expects home owners to feel embarrassed that they've let the filter go for so long, but most are not. Instead, they look at him blank-faced and say, "What is that thing?"

If you have a filter and it looks dirty you can either jot down the specs and replace it, or clean it (most filters have that information written on their frames).  Simply cleaning or replacing a dirty filter could save somewhere in the range of 5% of your total heating costs, or $30 to $44 bucks a year.  For 10-15 minutes of your time? Not bad. 

Do you have a Carbon Monoxide Detector? Is it still operational?

Carbon Monoxide is odorless, colorless, and deadly. If something goes wrong and carbon monoxide starts building up in your home - you want to know it. Install your monitor close to the floor, and check the date on the back. Not there? Install a new one, and put the start date on the back, for next time.

If you're more comfortable, call a professional to inspect your furnace. But do it now. Waiting until October is rather like ....  calling an accountant on April 14.