If you want to do some maintenance for your HVAC system, but you don't have a huge tool kit or experience working on HVAC appliances, it is still possible to do some very worthwhile maintenance. This article explains one of the easiest and cheapest do-it-yourself maintenance jobs for residential HVAC systems.

One of the most important things you need to do on a regular basis is clean the return duct and filter. A central HVAC system basically works by circulating air, whether it is heated or cooled, through a furnace. This means that air is not only heated and blown into the rooms, but it is also drawn out. The air travels through the return ducts en route to the furnace. Then, it is filtered, reheated, and recirculated. This is why not every air register in your home will have air blowing out of it. Some registers are where the air is sucked into the furnace. If you can identify and clean your air return ducts, along with the filters, you will help your furnace.

Keeping a Cleaner Furnace

First of all, if your air ducts are clean, your furnace will not become as dirty. The dirtier your furnace is, the less efficient and functional it will be. Essentially, if the vital components within your furnace, like the compressor, heat exchanger, and blower are dirty, then they will need to use more electricity to work.

Finding the Return Filters

Finding air return ducts is usually easy. The registers on air returns are usually bigger. If you aren't sure, you can just turn on your AC or heat. Any ducts that don't have air blowing out of them, are air returns.

Remove the registers from these returns so you can access them. You want to start by cleaning the registers thoroughly, especially on the inside. Obviously, if the register blades are blocked, they will not be able to suck in air as efficiently. You can clean out the air returns with a wand vacuum.

Replacing the Filters

The only other thing you need to do is replace return filters. Return filters are usually located in between the return duct, and the actual furnace cabinet. These filters are about the size of a pizza box and are very easy to remove from their brackets.

This is a simple job that you can do with just a vacuum and a handheld screwdriver, but reach out to an HVAC contractor if you need more assistance.