Common Heating Errors

It is very important to know the ins and outs of heating a home or workplace. If you aren’t careful, you can see a spike in your heating bills – and not for the better! Read these tips on how to avoid common heating errors.

Many people believe that keeping a constant temperature in a building is the best way to save energy. This is quite the opposite. It is important to adjust your temperature periodically throughout the day to save yourself from high energy bills. This can include setting the temperature to be lower while you are at work for about 8 hours a day. You’ll be surprised in the difference you will see in your bill. Another common error is closing off vents in rooms you don’t often use. This in turn actually makes your heating system run inefficiently. Sealing your ducts is a way better move to save energy in the winter time.

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Basics of Your Furnace

Many home owners rely on a steady working furnace to heat their home during the winter months. While we all enjoy the comfort of our home when the furnace is working properly, not all know how the heating process works. Here are the basics on how your furnace safely heats your home.

A thermocouple can be found in all gas and oil furnaces that rely on a pilot light to start combustion. The thermocouple acts to regulate the flow of gas to the pilot light. In this regard, it is best understood as a part of your furnace’s safety system. Should the pilot light go out, the thermocouple will close off the valve that supplies it with gas, thus preventing raw gas from leaking out into the atmosphere of your home.

If your house is not properly being heated, make sure to call Heating Repair in Mechanicsville MD.

A Beginner’s Guide To Hybrid Heating

As its name would imply, a hybrid heating system involves the combination of a traditional gas or propane furnace with a heat pump. The heat pump used may be either an air source (ASHP) or a ground source pump (GSHP). The idea of such a system is that, when the weather is relatively mild, the heat pump can accomplish most of the home’s heating tasks. Yet when the temperatures dip down below freezing, operation can kick over to the furnace, which is able to provide much quicker and warmer results.

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Staying Cool While Waiting for the Air Conditioning Contractor

One of the toughest parts of hiring a professional in air conditioning service in Ocala FL is the simple fact that a lot of these individuals are not going to be able to make the necessary repairs right away. They might have full schedules. During the summer in particular, many of them will be extremely busy.

1. Set up fans so they will reinforce each other's cooling patterns.

Using even one fan could help. However, setting up fans around the room will create a much stronger effect. Sitting between two fans that have a decent amount of distance between them can allow people to feel as if the room is being cooled thoroughly from both sides.

2. Use blackout curtains on the windows.

The blackout curtains can shield the room from the heat of the sun more effectively than lighter curtains during the day. When combined with other methods, they can help to maintain or lower the temperature of a room.
A home might still feel too warm even if people use all of these methods, but waiting for the air conditioning contractor would be more difficult otherwise.

What You Need To Know About Air Conditioning Repair

1. The repairs won't always happen right away.

     Even when people do successfully get in contact with the HVAC specialists and even when they're able to arrange for an appointment right away, they still won't always get the services that they really need. The specialist might inspect the area, but people might still need to make another appointment in order to get everything fixed.

2. Emergency repair services are expensive.

     When people arrange for repairs on short notice, they can expect to pay more money for services that would have been much less expensive under other circumstances. Still, depending on the nature of the emergency, people should still usually get everything fixed as quickly as possible.
Getting air conditioning maintenance can make situations like this less likely. However, these kinds of difficult situations can still happen to anyone.

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Keep Pests Away From Your AC Unit

Keep Your Unit Covered When Not In Use

It is a good idea to cover any exterior portion of an air conditioning unit or system at times it is not in use. Air conditioner covers can be purchased from your installation service or from a home goods store. To secure the cover in place, use duct tape around the edges. This will ensure rodents and insects do not wriggle their way under the cover and into your machine.

Use Materials To Make The Area Unattractive

Birds and rodents will shy away from areas where they feel their lives are threatened. Consider placing large plastic birds of prey in an area within view of the air conditioner to help keep these pests from getting too close to the home. They will be likely to vacate the area completely. Shiny objects will also scare away some birds and mice.

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Tips When Without Air Conditioning

Customers might end up without a working air conditioner during some of the hottest parts of the year. There are certain things that they can do in order to make things easier at home while they're waiting for the appointment with the AC service in Birmingham AL.

One easy tip is to keep the windows open at the right times. Leaving the window open during the hottest parts of the day probably isn't going to make much of a difference. It might even make the interior of a home warmer. However, leaving the window open at night might be a better strategy. Letting in the cool night air might help.

Commercial HVAC Tips

Air conditioning and heating for your home is expensive. Air conditioning and heating for your business (depending on the size of your office space) typically costs even more. Here are some tips to keeping your commercial HVAC bills low:

- Think about what your space absolutely needs before purchasing any new machinery. Your unit(s) may simply need a repair, and you should check before replacing it.
- Get a quote from a Lansing MI commercial mechanical contractor before you purchase anything. Make sure the service is within budget before deciding to take any action.
- Make sure you have energy-recovery vent systems in place. This way, your air streams work properly and the air in your work space is clean.
- Get a dehumidifier. This is especially important if your office space has valuable merchandise that could get ruined when becoming too moist.
- The same thing goes if you are in an extremely dry environment; get an evaporator cooler.

For more tips and tricks on maintaining your commercial HVAC system and maximizing efficiency, keep following our blog!

Three Signs Your Heater Might Be Broken

Just because you're chilly in your home does not necessarily mean you need to call a Mayfield Heights OH heating repair specialist. However, there are a few telltale signs that your heater has stopped doing its job and needs to be fixed or replaced. Here are some ways to tell if you should call for help:

- Your heater is not producing any heat. This seems obvious, but there are places to check before determining if you need help or not. Check the circuit breaker and the thermostat, and make sure that the heater is connected to power. If everything looks normal in those areas and there is still not heat coming out, it's time to call a professional.
- Loud noises. Unless your heater is very old, it should not be making unusual or loud noises. There may be a broken fan belt or a crack in the heat exchanger.
- Unusually high power bills. A sudden increase in a particular section of your power bill can indicate that your heater is not working properly because it might be draining power to overcome a break.

For more information on maintaining a properly working HVAC system in your home, keep reading our posts!

Getting an Air Conditioning Tuneup After Summer

Getting an air conditioner tuneup after summer is important for the survival and health of your AC unit. It's best to call air conditioning contractors when they're less busy. If the summer is nearly over or entirely over, air conditioning contractors will no longer have as many appointments. As such, they will be able to handle an individual air conditioning tuneup or air conditioning repair job much more quickly than they would otherwise.

Even if people are no longer relying on their air conditioners every day because it's getting cooler outside, delaying the air conditioning repairs certainly does not solve the problem. If you need an air conditioning service in Orlando FL, click the link to speak with a professional.

Forget Your Furnace...

Cool weather is upon us, and you're suddenly remembering how weak your furnace was before Spring hit. Before picking up the phone to call a professional in furnace repair in Summit NJ, consider replacing your furnace with a heat pump system. They differ from furnace systems in that they do no create heat by burning fuel, but rather transfer heat from one area to another. Therefore, they use much less energy than traditional furnaces or boilers. Under the perfect conditions, a heat pump system can reduce your home's energy consumption by up to forty percent. Ground-source, or geothermal heat pump systems use underground heat as an energy source. You should first make sure that a system like this is compatible with your home. If you live in a region where the temperature drops below freezing, it will not be effective. Heat pump systems work much better on homes that are in mild or moderately cold climates.

Extend the Life of your Air Conditioner

Like most objects, air conditioning units don't stay working forever. However, properly taking care of your unit can extend the life of your unit tremendously. There are several things you can do to maintain your air conditioning unit. First, it's important to give your unit a rest from time to time. If it's constantly running, it will wear out more quickly. Turn your unit off whenever you leave your home or go to sleep. It's also important to clean your unit whenever you can. Clean out any dirt, dust, and leaves surrounding your outdoor unit, as well as the air ducts. This will keep your unit working at optimal capacity, and lower the chances of a breakdown. It's also important to have regular tune-ups. Contact a Shrewsbury MA air conditioning professional to come tune up your unit in the spring, right before the summer months.