Return air is an often overlooked part of great duct design. Air return duct systems can be configured in two ways: Each room can have a return duct that sends air back to the heating and cooling equipment. This is the ideal configuration. Return grills can be located in central locations on each floor. Air...
AFUE – Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency; A measure of a gas furnace’s efficiency in converting fuel to energy. The higher the rating, the more efficient the unit. For example: A rating of 90 means that approximately 90% of the fuel is used to provide warmth to your home, while the remaining 10% escapes as exhaust....
Check credentials- Before making your selection, call the Better Business Bureau to make sure the contractor is reputable. Also, find out if the contractor is a member of a local or national association such as the Air Conditioning Contractors Association of America. Make sure the contractor is affiliated with a nationally known manufacturer. Contractors should...
If you are building a new home, or just doing some remodeling, you may have concerns about mold and its possible health effects. Besides expensive damage to your property, mold growth can contribute to poor indoor air quality in your home, potentially resulting in dangerous health problems. Mold concerns have been getting a lot of...
Your home comfort system is in the background, running all day long, on and off, for most of the year. It keeps you comfortable, catches your dust, and zaps those nasty cold viruses. It needs to be properly cleaned and maintained. If it isn’t, it can get clogged, parts will stop working and there will...
Facts: A furnace works to keep a home warm in the winter and plays a critical part in the operation of an air conditioning system. Furnaces produce heat through the combustion of natural gas in the furnace’s burner. The heat produced from this process then passes through a heat exchanger. Air from your home’s return...
Central air conditioning helps keep your home cool and reduces humidity levels. By transferring heat from air located inside your home to the outside, conditioned and cooled air is left to be re-circulated. Using electricity as its power source, the compressor inside an air conditioning unit pumps coolant, or refrigerant, back and forth to gather...
Simple maintenance can pay big dividends for comfort, efficiency and safety. When it comes to furnaces (we’ll focus on natural gas), an ounce of prevention truly is worth a pound of cure. To help you avert the hassle of your furnace dying or simply not putting out enough heat– just when you need it most....
Air conditioners lose capacity with use. The coils become plugged, filters get dirty, belts slip and often there is a refrigerant leak. While comfort is lost, energy costs soar. A 20% increase in operating cost is not uncommon. You may not recognize this problem until comfort is lost and, by then, the extra dollars are...
To most people’s surprise, airborne dirt and household lint cause the most problems with your system. Even if you change your filters every 30 days, 90% of the airborne particles go through your throwaway air filter. These particles will collect on your blower motor, blower wheel, and indoor coil. Air cleaners help but particles still...
The air temperature leaving your register should not be less than 85 degrees. Even though the air temperature coming out of the register is 85 degrees your body temperature is 98.6. The 85-degree air will feel cool. The problem is not the air temperature but the location and type of register being used. Sometimes a...
There is no certain temperature that will meet everyone’s comfort level. The system is designed to maintain 70 degrees inside when the outside temperature is 10 degrees colder in the winter. It is also designed to maintain 75 degrees when it is 95 degrees outside. The whole point in having a system in your home...