A furnace that stops in a snowstorm usually has a blocked vent or drain
Most Norwood Park homes have a high-efficiency gas furnace that draws air and exhausts through two plastic pipes in the side wall. When snow or frost closes either pipe, the furnace shuts itself off. The same furnace makes water as it runs, and that water leaves through a condensate drain. If the drain line freezes or clogs, the furnace also shuts off.
Environment Canada's 1981-2010 normals for the Peterborough A station record 151.2 cm of snowfall a year, with 40.0 cm in January and snow depths of up to 71 cm in March. Drifts that deep reach side-wall vents, including the vent on a high-efficiency water heater.
What you can check: go outside and clear the pipes by hand, then turn the furnace switch off and back on. Look for water pooling under the furnace. If the pipes keep icing up, the vent may need to be raised or rerouted, and a fall tune-up is the time to find that out, not a January night.
Some signs mean book a visit now, not at the next tune-up
Call if a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, if the burner flame is yellow and lazy instead of blue, if there is soot around the furnace or a draft hood, or if you smell gas. Leave the house first if the alarm sounds or you smell gas. The Ontario Fire Code requires a working carbon monoxide alarm next to each sleeping area of a home with a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage. Test yours when you book the furnace tune-up.
Other signs can wait a few days but not a season: a furnace that turns on and off every few minutes, a burning smell that lasts past the first cold morning, rooms that used to heat evenly and now do not, water around the furnace or the indoor coil, ice on the copper lines of the air conditioner, or an outdoor unit that trips the breaker. Those go to furnace repair or air conditioner repair.
Each kind of Norwood house needs something different checked
In the 2016 Census, 235 of the 560 occupied homes in the Norwood population centre were built in 1960 or before, and another 165 from 1961 to 1980. Most of the village is more than forty years old.
Older village houses around the Keeler's Mill lots were built for wood or coal and converted later. The furnace is often oversized for the house, the ductwork was added later and leaks at the joints, and the old chimney may need a liner for a modern appliance. A tune-up here looks hard at venting and draft, and the technician will point out duct or pipe wrap that may contain asbestos and should be tested before anyone disturbs it.
In the first phases of Norwood Park the usual work is the condensate drain, the trap, the side-wall pipes and the filter. In Phase 4 and other new builds the houses are tight, with small duct runs and a ventilation unit that brings in fresh air. Faults there tend to come from a system that was never balanced at start-up or from ventilation filters nobody has changed, so those filters are part of the visit.
The manufacturer warranty usually depends on regular service
Most furnace, air conditioner and heat pump warranties ask for yearly maintenance by a qualified technician, and some ask for proof. Read the warranty booklet or the registration page for your unit. Keep the dated service record you get after the tune-up with the booklet.
Work is performed by TSSA-certified gas technicians. That matters for the warranty and for the law: in Ontario a gas appliance may only be serviced by a registered contractor using certified gas technicians, and it is serviced to the CSA B149.1 installation code.
How a furnace tune-up is done
The technician asks what the furnace has been doing, then shuts off power and gas and opens the cabinet. The burners, flame sensor and igniter are inspected and cleaned. The heat exchanger is looked over for cracks and rust. The blower is checked for dirt and wear, and the filter is changed or you are shown which size to buy.
With the furnace running, the technician checks gas pressure, the flame, the safety switches and the temperature rise across the furnace, and tests for draft or vent leaks. On a high-efficiency furnace the condensate trap and drain are cleared and the side-wall pipes are checked for slope, sealing and height above the snow line.
If a part is worn, you get a written price and decide before it is fitted. If the furnace is at the stage where repairs keep stacking up, the technician says so and you can look at replacement on your own time.
How an air conditioner tune-up is done
Book it in spring, before the first hot week. Work is performed by 313A refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics. The outdoor coil is cleaned of cottonwood, grass and dirt, the electrical connections and capacitor are tested, and the fan motor is checked.
Inside, the indoor coil and its condensate drain are checked, the refrigerant pressures and temperatures are read, and the airflow is compared with what the system needs. Low refrigerant means a leak, and the technician will tell you where it likely is and price the repair in writing before anything is done.