Given that nearly 60% of people report having some kind of fear or anxiety about visiting the dentist, it’s important to take comfort into account in your office. Without proper heater maintenance, you’ll have people who feel anxious and uncomfortable in your dental office. Since this only makes people less happy to be at the dentist, you should consider a few tips to make things more comfortable.
Here are four tips to ensure you don’t have to work on chattering teeth.
1. Replace Filters Regularly
If you don’t have filter replacement scheduled into your regular office maintenance schedule, you need to add it. Along with your seasonal decor changes in your office, consider adding HVAC filter replacement to the list.
In the fall, you might enjoy the colorful changes to the leaves, but you’re also dealing with a lot of detritus and dead things in the air. That dust and dirt in the air, along with allergens and dander, all end up collecting in your filter, making things run inefficiently or ending up in your office. Your dental office should have clean and fresh air for your patients to feel relaxed.
In the winter, the air coming in is going to be less encumbered with dust and allergens but your blowers are going to be working harder. That means if you haven’t changed your filter, you’re going to be pulling in all that dust that’s stuck to your filter. To breathe in the cleanest air, all you have to do is to head to a hardware store for a filter that fits your vents.
Talk to the staff at your local hardware store or bring along your old filter. They’ll be able to find one to replace it as long as you have the make and model number of your old filter.
2. Remove Blockages
When you’re trying to get the most out of your heating system, you don’t want it working harder than it needs to. Not only will it make some parts of your dental office uncomfortable but it’ll also make a lot of noise as your system chugs along.
Having blockages in the way of your vents is going to cause you some trouble when it comes to your heating system. You’ll have to spend more time and money on maintenance when you put things in the way. Objects like furniture, storage containers, and bookcases could absorb the heat and make it harder for your office to be heated.
Clearing up your space will help to clear up the air and also eliminate the risk of fire, keeping your staff and patients safer.
Dust out your vents as often as possible. You want to get rid of the buildup collected there so that there’s nothing obstructing the airflow. When vents aren’t able to be opened all the way, you’re not getting what you need to be getting from your heating system.
3. Watch Your Thermostat
Before winter, you should run a test of your thermostat If you’re reading this in the heart of winter, it’s too late to make any changes, but you should still monitor your thermostat. Turn your thermostat on and make sure that you hear the system click on soon.
If you find that it takes longer than it should, it’s time to have the system looked at. It should turn on in under a minute and start running smoothly.
If you hear sounds that you don’t think you should, then you need to call a professional. A thermostat’s temperature should correlate with the temperature that you feel in the house. Place a thermometer out, not near a vent but near the thermostat, to check and see that you’re getting the temperature that your thermostat reads.
If you find large disparities between your thermostat and the actual temperature, check that your settings are correct. Older more traditional thermostats in some older offices are going to be dials that are based on metal strips. These systems are sensitive and can be disrupted easily over a long term of wear and tear.
Make yourself a checklist with some information online, to ensure that you know more about what to expect.
4. Make a Maintenance Appointment
Once a year, you should hire a professional to look at your HVAC system. Unless you’re a dentist and also an expert in the HVAC field, having someone look at your system ensures that you replace or repair anything faulty long before it becomes a problem.
Maintenance specialists will bring along tools and equipment to ensure that everything in your system is up to the standards it should be. When your system fails in the middle of the day, you could upset your patients or cause them unnecessary discomfort. Even a simple cleaning ensures that your system lasts as long as it should under ideal conditions.
When a serious cold snap hits, you don’t want to test a system that’s on shaky ground. If your system has been properly cleaned, lubricated, and tightened, you ensure that everything works when you need it. Cracks or damage to your system could cost you thousands, often due to negligence or missed repair appointments.
Having someone on hand to fix problems quickly ensures that you keep things running without any major snags. Since people want to feel comfortable when in a dental office, your HVAC system can make a big difference.
Heater Maintenance Is as Preventative as Dental Care
Much in the way that you get your teeth cleaned every six months, a little bit of heater maintenance is a preventative type of care that ensures a long heater life. If you’re careful about maintaining your heater, you can keep it running flawlessly for years.
With all the stress of running a dental office, check out our guide for tips on how to relax during your time off.