Homework: furnace inspection before winter

Don't wait until the first frost to find out that your heating system is not working properly. Now is the time to get your furnace up and running.

Three heating experts -- Joe McDonald, vice president of marketing at Petro, which serves Long Island; and Michael Matarese, technical service supervisor, and Ed O'Connor, president, both of O'Connor Brothers Fuel in Freeport -- agree that homeowners should have an annual tune up on oil- and gas-fired equipment by a qualified service technician from a reputable company. Doing so, they say, will ensure that the burner is adjusted properly and that the unit is running at peak efficiency. "We do not recommend that homeowners attempt this annual maintenance on their own," McDonald says.

Two of the most common heating furnaces on Long Island are oil and gas. Here are some tips for each type of heating unit that homeowners can do safely as part of the regular maintenance before they have the annual tuneup by a qualified professional.

Oil heat burns 95 percent cleaner now than 20 years ago, due to the latest ultralow sulfur products and biofuels. New York State has gone one step further -- as of July, all heating oil sold in the state is ultra low sulfur heating oil, which is environmentally friendly, burns cleaner and has fewer emissions than traditional heating oil.

Conventional gas furnaces work by taking in cold air, cleaning it with a filter, heating it up with a gas burner and distributing warm air with a blower motor through a home's ductwork.