u/Strong-Newspaper9614

I'm planning to book an HVAC service because my furnace keeps cycling every few minutes and the heating bill keeps going up, the house still gets warm so I'm hoping it ends up being something that gets adjusted or replaced instead of the whole furnace, I think an inspection makes more sense before I spend money on bigger repairs, the furnace is older but it still heats the house, so I'm trying to see what usually causes this before I book someone, the filter gets changed on time and the thermostat seems to work fine, I just want to know what other people ended up finding before I schedule the visit, for anyone who had the same thing happen, what turned out to be the cause and what fixed it for you?

I have two dogs that shed all year and I am thinking to get a new high efficiency air filter, I like the idea of better air inside the house and I figure it will catch more hair and dust, I am thinking of getting my filters through cates heating & cooling, I am just trying to work out if that means I will end up swapping filters way more often than the usual schedule, I will probably stick with the same system for a while so I want to buy the right filters from the start and plan for it, for anyone with dogs and high efficiency filters, how often are you replacing them and what schedule works for you? EDIT: Thanks for the replies, I should have mentioned I'm trying to balance better air quality with reasonable maintenance costs.

I am about to swap my old thermostat for a smart one and I keep seeing people say it helps cut heating costs, the price of the thermostat is enough that I want to know if the savings actually add up over time, my heating runs a lot during winter so I am trying to figure out if it makes a real difference or if the change on the bill ends up being pretty small, for anyone who made the switch, what kind of drop do you see on your heating bill and how long does it take before the upgrade pays for itself?