What do I have to do to my furnace for the summer?

Question

Bought an old house with old furnace and no lit on it. Do I turn off furnace somehow or pilot light?

Its a gas forced air furnace. Should the fan be kept going all year round

Answer 1

First of all, let me commend you in getting the termonolgy correct. Furnace= air; boiler=water/steam. If you have what is called a standing pilot, it should be lit even in the summer. It is similar to old style gas stoves with a pilot. You could also have a spark ignition or a hot surface ignitor. These last 2 do not need a standing flame, they ignite the furnace in a sequence of events. To the untrained eye it may be difficult to tell the difference but if you have a sparker or a hot surface ignitor, you need not be alarmed that there is no flame, it will wrk just fine.
The fan however also runs your central air. The same blower moves your hot air as well as your cool air. If you do not have central air, then dont' sweat the furnace. You wont be using any gas and you wont use any electricity.

Answer 2

Gas or electric unit, heating forced air or water or oil, circulation pump or no?? All questions that need to be answered before we can be of much help in this forum. First answer probably a wise one. If you don't know anything about your furnace, ask some of your neighbors who they use for heating repairs and call them to have an inspection done. It will pay dividends come this winter.

Answer 3

It's best to get established with a heating/cooling man & ket him check the furnace over, instead of waiting until winter, when the furnace goes out on a bone chilling winter night.