SAN ANTONIO \u2013 With a cold front bringing gusty winds to San Antonio, residents finally have the opportunity to turn their heaters on for the first time in months. However, before getting too cozy, HVAC experts recommend a few simple steps to help keep your home safe and your system running efficiently.<\/p>\n
Gregory Git, a service technician with Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating, said one of the most important safety measures is making sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring that your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors have fresh batteries in them and that they\u2019re functioning, that\u2019s the first and foremost thing that we need to check inside the home,\u201d Git said.<\/p>\n
Another common oversight, Git said, is forgetting to change air filters regularly, ideally once a month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the filter gets really dirty or clogged up, it\u2019ll make the system overwork, and we don\u2019t want that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019ll shorten the life span of your HVAC system \u2014 not only that, but the stuff you\u2019re breathing in. This is the most overlooked thing, and it\u2019s one of the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Git said as homeowners turn on their heaters for the first time since last winter, it\u2019s normal to notice a faint burning smell. That odor typically comes from dust burning off the system\u2019s heating elements. <\/p>\n
However, if the smell persists for longer than 24 hours, he recommends turning off the system and contacting a technician.<\/p>\n
\u201cA more abnormal burning smell or any type of smoke coming out of your furnace should raise red flags,\u201d Git said. \u201cAnd if you ever smell gas, that\u2019s a definite red flag. Turn it off and call for help immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said homeowners often forget about another critical component, the ductwork and insulation, which can affect both air quality and energy efficiency.<\/p>\n
To keep your HVAC system in top condition, Git recommends scheduling professional maintenance twice a year \u2014 once in the spring and again in the winter.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 With a cold front bringing gusty winds to San Antonio, residents finally have the opportunity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12576,3961,82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-25673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-hvac","9":"tag-safety","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","12":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}