Central heat

[PP Mguire]

Ive Googled and cant seem to find an answer to my specific question so i was hoping a home owner here could lend a thought.

The central heat in this house hasent been turned on in probably a few years. Im sure it probably works but i just wanna make some precautions before trying it. With that being said, anybody know anything i should do before turning it on?

Its a double wide mobile home.

 

[nosbusch2005]

How to Inspect and Start Your Gas Furnace
That's a pretty good article to read. Gives pointers on what should be inspected before starting a furnace. It is for a gas furnace though so if you have something different you might want to look at something different.

 

[-RockMan-]

3 ways to do this.

1.By a 40.00 heater that does not over heat and is FCC regulated.
2.Build a Pentium 4 3.2ghz pc with 2gb and 60gb with windows vista and 2gb ram and hook it up to the heater and let it warm your mobile home with a gauage...

3. Or just buy some hot spicy chicken buffalo wings bags for next 5 months and keep the door and windows shut tight and bare with it and manage... easy.

All that said as a little joke, try to get a professional to help you out so you don't blow up your only home and treasures...

 

[Trotter]

Not a lot you can do other than just turn it on. It will burn the dust off the elements, so don't freak out of you smell it. If you see smoke, shut it off and call the fire department (seriously).

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I agree with trotter, dust will accumulate on the coils like crazy, even if not in use, best thing to do, if it's electric, and you have access to the coils, CLEAN them, and replace the air filter with a high quality one, open a window up, and turn it all on.

A burning smell at the start of winter on a regularly used heater is normal, as that's the dust on the heating element burning off, but, if you can see smoke, call the fire department, and leave the home after killing power to the unit.


Oh, and replace the filter like a few weeks later, as the dust in those vents and intake trunk will clog up the filter rather quickly.

 

[PP Mguire]

Ive lived in a mobile home with central air the past 11 years so i know about the smell, dust on the coils, and whatnot. Deal is, this place hasent had the heat on in years and i put filters on it when i moved in. Before that, no telling how long its been sucking in straight air. Just wanted to see how i could avoid a possible fire or if there was a way of completely cleaning the coils to prevent said possible fire. This isnt my house YET and i dont wanna burn it down before its mine.

BTW this is an electric central system.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Just pop the side panel off, and take a vacuum to it, that's about all you can do other than hiring out to a company that does the same thing, except they usualy do all the ductwork also.

 

[PP Mguire]

Since the ducting isnt in direct contact with the heating elements those are fine. We all just sat in the living room (minus my gf, cause she is working) and when nobody but me is here im gonna clean out that little area and vacuum the coils and give it a whirl. Heres hoping.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Still, make sure to check the filter, it's gonna be dusty for awhile

 

[PP Mguire]

There are no filters on either side of the unit which is why i know after sitting for years with the AC constantly on the thing has to be mighty dirty and i cant get in there with our current vacuums hose and bristle.

Here are a few snapshots of the unit. Pardon the quality, the battery is almost dead so didnt have time for the tripod.