Getting Ahead of Winter in Iberia Parish
New Iberia doesn’t get the brutal winters that people up north deal with, but that actually makes heating maintenance more important, not less. When your furnace or heat pump only runs 10 to 15 days a year, problems hide. You won’t know about a cracked ignitor or corroded flame sensor until the first real cold front blows through and your system refuses to start.
A fall tune-up finds those problems in October or November, when there’s time to fix them on a regular schedule instead of an emergency call at midnight.
The Full Inspection
Our heating tune-up is a comprehensive check of every component your system needs to run safely and efficiently.
For gas furnaces, the inspection starts with the heat exchanger. This is the barrier between combustion gases (including carbon monoxide) and the air your family breathes. We check for cracks, rust, and separation at every seam. From there, we test gas pressure, clean burner assemblies, check the ignitor, clean the flame sensor, verify all safety switches, inspect the flue pipe, and test for CO at your supply registers.
For heat pumps (which are more common in New Iberia’s newer construction), we test the reversing valve, check defrost controls, verify refrigerant charge, inspect the outdoor coil, test auxiliary heat strips, and calibrate your thermostat.
Every tune-up also includes checking the blower motor, inspecting electrical connections, and verifying the system’s overall amp draw against specifications.
What Eight Months of Humidity Does to Your Heater
New Iberia sits along Bayou Teche in one of the most humid corridors in Louisiana. That humidity doesn’t stop at your front door. It gets inside your furnace cabinet, your air handler, and every electrical connection in the system.
Here’s what we typically find during fall tune-ups in New Iberia homes:
Corroded flame sensors. The flame sensor is a small metal rod that sits in the burner flame and tells the control board the burner is lit. When it corrodes (and in this climate, it will), the control board doesn’t see a flame and shuts the gas valve. Your furnace tries to ignite, runs for a few seconds, and shuts down. Cleaning the sensor during a tune-up prevents this cycle.
Dust-caked burners. Months of airborne dust settle on the burner assembly. When the furnace fires for the first time, that dust can cause delayed ignition, a small “boom” as accumulated gas ignites. It’s not just startling. Repeated delayed ignition stresses the heat exchanger and shortens its life.
Oxidized electrical connections. High-humidity corrosion loosens wire terminals and creates resistance. Resistance creates heat. Heat damages components. We check and tighten every electrical connection during the tune-up.
Critter Intrusions
Homes along the bayou and in the more rural areas of Iberia Parish see more wildlife-related issues than most. Mud daubers nest in exhaust vents. Mice build nests around blower motors. Lizards find their way onto control boards. A blocked exhaust vent is a serious carbon monoxide hazard, and our technicians specifically inspect for this during every fall visit.
The Carbon Monoxide Check
This is the part of the tune-up that people don’t think about but matters the most. We test CO levels at your supply vents with a calibrated meter. A properly functioning furnace produces negligible CO at the registers. Elevated readings point to a heat exchanger issue, a venting problem, or incomplete combustion, all of which need immediate attention.
If you have a furnace that’s over 15 years old, this test alone justifies the cost of the tune-up.
When to Schedule
Book your tune-up in October or early November, before the first cold front. Waiting until December puts you in line behind everyone whose system already failed. We serve all of New Iberia and the surrounding Iberia Parish communities, including Avery Island and Delcambre.
For year-round coverage that includes both spring AC maintenance and fall heating tune-ups, check out our maintenance plans.
Call F & R Air Conditioning at (337) 893-5646 to schedule your fall heating tune-up.