home owners - please share your must-do-chores

[boolady]

geo, yes!

what a furnace filter? we haven't done anything about anything related to the furnace since moving in in sept

so we are behind

do i call a plumber? can we do it ourselves?

What type of heat do you have. I know the house is old...do you have radiator heat? If so, you don't have a furnace filter, probably, but it sounds like you have central air, so do you have forced hot air that runs on the same HVAC system as your air conditioning? If so, don't hire a plumber. There should be a panel on the furnace/blower unit for the a.c. that comes off and you will see a flat filter that filters dust and stuff out before the blower blows the air around your house via the vents. We always use a certain kind from 3M...you just buy them at Home Depot or Lowes. Make sure you write down the size/type you need, because when you get there, there will be lots of different ones.

You want to change them fairly frequently...we change ours 4 times per year. I know some people change theirs once a month or once every two months. Eh, we don't. Also, I'm sure people may disagree, but we had been using a heavier hypoallergenic kind, and when we needed our blower replaced, our HVAC guy, who I trust, told us not to use those because they make the blower work harder...just use standard ones and change them more often.

[kijip]

There is a website called manage my life that has great tips on seasonal chores for homeowners. I get their emails and we see if we need to do that chore in our house, very helpful for us as non handy first time homeowners. It is free. We also got a book for diy home maintenance for newbies, trying to remember the name if it, my husband enjoyed it a lot and it seems to have helped. If I think of the name I will post it.

[lmh2402]

What type of heat do you have. I know the house is old...do you have radiator heat? If so, you don't have a furnace filter, probably, but it sounds like you have central air, so do you have forced hot air that runs on the same HVAC system as your air conditioning? If so, don't hire a plumber. There should be a panel on the furnace/blower unit for the a.c. that comes off and you will see a flat filter that filters dust and stuff out before the blower blows the air around your house via the vents. We always use a certain kind from 3M...you just buy them at Home Depot or Lowes. Make sure you write down the size/type you need, because when you get there, there will be lots of different ones.

You want to change them fairly frequently...we change ours 4 times per year. I know some people change theirs once a month or once every two months. Eh, we don't. Also, I'm sure people may disagree, but we had been using a heavier hypoallergenic kind, and when we needed our blower replaced, our HVAC guy, who I trust, told us not to use those because they make the blower work harder...just use standard ones and change them more often.

oh my gosh...you just asked a bunch of question that i don't really know the answer to

the heat i do know is steam. we have radiators

and then we installed high velocity AC before we moved in

so we have vent/duct things in all the rooms..but they are like little holes in the ceiling or floor (on the first floor they are in the floor coming up from the basement)

[lmh2402]

There is a website called manage my life that has great tips on seasonal chores for homeowners. I get their emails and we see if we need to do that chore in our house, very helpful for us as non handy first time homeowners. It is free. We also got a book for diy home maintenance for newbies, trying to remember the name if it, my husband enjoyed it a lot and it seems to have helped. If I think of the name I will post it.

thank you!

[indigo99]

There should be a return for the air somewhere. You can usually just open it up and see the filter. Go buy a new one the same size and stick it in. Our return is on the wall downstairs and on the ceiling upstairs. Our old house had a furnace, and we had to go into the basement to put the filter on the thing.

ETA: The air return will be larger than the vents where air comes out. It basically looks about the same on large scale though.

[YouAreTheFocus]

I just wanted to thank you for posting this thread. We are currently condo owners and one thing that has made me reluctant to transition to an actual house is the increase in responsibility and fear of the unknown This is a great source of info (as always!).

[geochick]

what a furnace filter? we haven't done anything about anything related to the furnace since moving in in sept

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Filtrete-6-...5558308&sr=8-1

You basically open the little cover on your furnace, pull out the old filter/cardboard thing, and place one the same size in it's place. Our furnace guy says to do it every month, and the furnace will stay clean, and will last longer between break downs, and cleanings. The size is listed on the old one, and is usually something like 20x25x1 or 20x20x1...basically the dimensions of the filter.

Once a month for us. You can get them at Walmart, some grocery stores, Costco, ...

[geochick]

And if you have steam heat, you don't have a gas furnace, so don't worry about filters.

[vonfirmath]

Change those panels in your heating system from time to time.

Filters.
Need to be changed monthly (or every three months) depending on what filter you put in

Consequences? Higher energy bills, fires

Dryer filter: turns out the dryer going outside of the house needs to be cleaned once a year where we live or the dryer stops drying!

[boolady]

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Filtrete-6-...5558308&sr=8-1

You basically open the little cover on your furnace, pull out the old filter/cardboard thing, and place one the same size in it's place. Our furnace guy says to do it every month, and the furnace will stay clean, and will last longer between break downs, and cleanings. The size is listed on the old one, and is usually something like 20x25x1 or 20x20x1...basically the dimensions of the filter.

Once a month for us. You can get them at Walmart, some grocery stores, Costco, ...

This link shows exactly what I was talking about. I think for most people, they are in their furnace or blower. I know (b/c I grew up in a house with radiators) that it obviously wouldn't be in the furnace for you, so it's either got to be in your high velocity HVAC thingy in the basement or wherever the blower is that distributes the air around the house or in a return, as another poster noted.