When the cold winter season arrives, your top priority will be to keep your family warm. Therefore, you'll need an efficient furnace to maintain comfortable temperatures in your house during these times. Regular expert maintenance and timely repairs are the best ways to ensure the furnace is always in good working condition. 

However, most homeowners ignore the need for professional repairs since their machine is still working. That poses certain risks to you and your loved ones. Read on to find out why it is dangerous to ignore signs of heating equipment damage. 

Exposure to Carbon Monoxide Gas

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas, and it is not recommended to breathe in the gas for extended periods. That's why gas furnaces have a heat exchanger that removes harmful gases from heated air moving in their system. As the temperature changes, the heat exchanger will either expand or contract. Over the years, the expansion and contraction process will cause cracking in the heat exchanger. 

These cracks will allow harmful carbon monoxide gas to sip out into your house. This gas has no smell or color and can easily go undetected. 

Reduction of Air Quality

Apart from carbon monoxide poisoning, a damaged furnace can also reduce the air quality in your house. These machines have filters that help clean out the heated air before circulating it in your house. However, these filters accumulate a lot of debris and need to be cleaned out or changed after a while. If you don't take furnace maintenance and repairs seriously, you'll probably ignore these filters until it is too late.

 Air will then pass through these clogged filters, collecting dust and allergens. This polluted air will then circulate inside your house and cause various health issues. 

Increase in Repair Costs 

Ignoring the need to repair your heating equipment in an attempt to save money will only cost you more in the long run. If you notice minor issues with the furnace, but it is still working okay, you'll likely ignore them. However, you might not realize that these problems are slowly developing the more the machine runs. Therefore, your machine will finally face extensive damage and will stop working or malfunction completely.

 That will force you to get expensive repairs or replace the entire furnace. Moreover, problems with your unit reduce its efficiency. That forces the furnace to use up more energy, increasing your energy bills. 

It is important to take care of your furnace if you wish to keep your home comfortable and avoid the problems above. If you are unsure when to call the heating professionals, hire an experienced HVAC contractor to maintain your unit and ensure it is always efficient.