Lafayette Rental Furnace Tune-Ups Before Aug Move-In

If you own rental property near Purdue in the 47906 or 47907 ZIP codes, you already know the August 1 calendar. Students out by July 31. New tenants in by August 15. Sixty days of cleaning, patching, and painting. Somewhere in that window, most landlords don't touch the furnace — it's summer, nobody's thinking about heat, and the unit is out of sight in the basement or utility closet.

That's exactly why August is the right time to service it. Here's the case for why, and what a proper tune-up actually covers.

The August Window: Best Timing You're Probably Not Using

Indiana heating season runs roughly October through April. A furnace that gets serviced in August has seven weeks before it needs to run in earnest. That lead time matters for two reasons:

• If we find a problem — cracked heat exchanger, failing ignitor, venting issue — you have time to schedule a repair before the first cold snap, not during it
• Parts availability is better in August. In November, ignitor lead times stretch out. Everyone's waiting on parts.

The Lafayette rental market turns over faster than most markets in the state because of the Purdue academic calendar. New tenants typically have no context for the equipment in their unit — they didn't watch it run last winter, they don't know its quirks, and they won't think to call about heat until it's cold and it doesn't work. Setting that unit up for success in August means your maintenance call comes in the off-season, not at 10 PM on a November weeknight.

Why Landlords Skip Furnace Maintenance

We've serviced enough rental properties to know the pattern. The furnace gets skipped because:

• Tenants don't complain about a furnace that runs — even one that runs inefficiently or with a marginal heat exchanger
• Out of sight, out of mind — tenants aren't opening the utility closet door to look at the equipment
• The cost feels avoidable in August when there's no immediate symptom
• Landlords are managing turnover costs across multiple units simultaneously

The problem with this logic is that deferred maintenance on furnaces doesn't stay invisible. It shows up in a no-heat call at midnight in January, an emergency service premium, and a tenant who's documenting the failure for the state of Indiana. The reactive cost is always higher than the preventive cost.

Your Legal Obligation: Indiana Landlord-Tenant Law

Indiana Code 32-31-8-5 requires landlords to maintain rental units in a habitable condition, which includes providing functioning heat. Specifically, the unit must be capable of maintaining 65°F when outdoor temperatures require it. A furnace that fails to heat isn't a minor maintenance item — it's a habitability violation.

Tenants in Indiana have the right to repair-and-deduct if the landlord fails to fix a habitability issue after written notice and a reasonable repair period. A documented furnace failure in January, combined with a documented history of no maintenance, is exactly the fact pattern that creates legal exposure. An annual service record is your defense — it shows you exercised reasonable care.

What an August Tune-Up Catches

A proper furnace tune-up at a Lafayette rental covers the components that fail first and cost the most when they do:

• Flame sensor: The flame sensor rod gets carbon buildup over the heating season. A dirty sensor causes intermittent ignition failures — furnace lights, then shuts off, then tries again. Tenants describe it as "the heat comes on but goes off after a minute." A $12 part cleaned or replaced prevents a no-heat service call.
• Ignitor: Hot surface ignitors are silicon carbide or silicon nitride. They crack after repeated thermal cycling. We test ignitor resistance at the August tune-up — if it's reading outside spec, we replace it before it fails at 11 PM in February.
• Heat exchanger inspection: Cracks in the primary heat exchanger allow combustion gases — including carbon monoxide — to mix with supply air. This is not a minor issue. We do a visual and combustion analysis inspection at every tune-up. A cracked heat exchanger is an immediate recommendation to replace the furnace.
• Flue and venting: Bird nests, wasp nests, and debris accumulate in flue terminations during summer. Blocked venting causes the furnace to trip a pressure switch or roll out flame. We check the full venting path.
• Gas valve and pressure: We verify manifold gas pressure is within manufacturer spec. Over or under pressure causes combustion problems and efficiency losses.
• Blower motor and capacitor: The run capacitor on the blower motor is the most common single-point failure in an older system. We test it at every tune-up. A $30 capacitor caught in August doesn't become an emergency repair in November.
• Electrical connections: Vibration over years of operation loosens terminal connections. Loose connections cause intermittent failures that are frustrating to diagnose in cold weather.

The Filter Handoff

Do this every single turnover: show the new tenant where the filter is, demonstrate how to remove and replace it, and leave three new filters in the utility room. Write the replacement schedule on a piece of tape on the furnace door — "Change filter every 90 days."

A clogged filter is the single most common cause of preventable furnace failure. It restricts airflow, trips the high-limit safety switch, and causes the furnace to short-cycle or lock out entirely. It also voids most manufacturer warranties. Tenants who have never changed a furnace filter before — which is most Purdue students — won't know to do it unless you show them.

CO Detectors: Indiana Law

Indiana Code 22-11-21 requires carbon monoxide detectors in all residential rental units. One detector is required per level that contains a sleeping area. That means a two-story rental needs a detector on each floor if bedrooms are on both levels. Battery-only detectors need to be tested at each turnover — the alkaline batteries in a CO detector left from the previous tenants may or may not have charge.

At turnover, we recommend:

• Test every CO detector with the test button — if it doesn't alarm, replace it
• Replace detectors older than 7 years (the electrochemical sensor degrades)
• Consider hardwired combination smoke/CO detectors on a plug-in with battery backup — easier to verify they're functional

A CO detector failure on a rental unit is a serious liability exposure. Don't assume the detectors the previous tenant left are functional.

Documentation: Your Written Defense

Get a written service report from every tune-up. The report should include:

• Date of service
• Technician name and company
• Equipment make, model, and serial number
• All measurements: gas pressure, temperature rise, combustion analysis readings if performed, blower amp draw
• Any findings — parts replaced, items noted for monitoring, recommendations

This documentation does two things. First, it gives you a maintenance history that demonstrates reasonable care — useful if a tenant ever alleges habitability failure. Second, it creates a baseline. When we service the same unit in subsequent years, we can compare measurements and spot trends before they become failures.

Keep service records with the property file, not just in your email inbox.

Squadron Maintenance Plan for Rental Properties

Our Squadron Maintenance Plan is $189 per unit per year. It covers a spring AC tune-up and a fall furnace tune-up — both of the seasonal service visits, documented, with priority scheduling. For a rental property, the plan makes sense: you're covered for both visits at a fixed annual cost, you get priority scheduling (which matters during the fall service rush when everyone calls at once in October), and we maintain the service history on your equipment.

For landlords with multiple units, we can schedule all of them in a single August block. Call us at (765) 894-0047 to set it up. $189 per unit per year is less than the emergency service premium on a single after-hours no-heat call — and you're getting both seasons covered, not just one.

Frequently Asked Questions