Posts Tagged ‘Furnace’

Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality

October 26th, 2011

The air inside your house is said to be 4 x dirtier than the air outside, and this dirty air can be one of the many things that contribute to a decrease in the energy efficiency of the heating and cooling system. If this is true, it only makes sense that someone replacing old and inefficient equipment would also want to purchase that best indoor air quality products available to them.

Air Quality should Matter to Everyone

Indoor air quality products are most commonly purchased by to those with medical issues, and they are seen as unnecessary by those without medical concerns. The fact is the air in your house is dirty enough to cause damage to the new equipment, and once you make a big investment like that, you should want to do everything to protect it from harm. The other major concern consumers have is energy efficiency and the cost of their utility bills. This is often the reason why homeowners upgrade their equipment in the first place. However, the efficiency of the new unit is adversely affected by the poor indoor air quality. » Read more: Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality

Conserving Energy without Sacrificing Comfort

October 24th, 2011

More and more Americans are becoming energy conscience from both a conservation and a cost standpoint. A generation ago our grandparents would have sacrificed comfort to save a few dollars, but today’s modern family looks for better more efficient ways to keep energy usage and energy cost down. Most homeowners look for the products with the ENERGYSTAR logo when purchasing household appliances. You can find the ENERGYSTAR logo on items such as high efficiency furnaces and air conditioners also.

High Efficiency Furnace and Air Conditioners

Today’s furnace and air conditioner models conserve more energy which in turn leads to a lower cost on your energy bills. You no longer have to sacrifice comfort, and instead you can look for other ways to make your home more energy efficient. For the interior of your home, you can either buy a high efficiency furnace, or you could save a few bucks and just add attic insulation to your home. » Read more: Conserving Energy without Sacrificing Comfort

Customized Furnace Sales Pitch

October 19th, 2011

Most of us learn from the mistakes that we make. We do something wrong and then make a point to change something in the future to prevent a repeat mistake. Some homeowners, however, keep making the same HVAC mistakes over and over and it isn’t necessarily their fault. The problem lies with the HVAC contractor that installed the furnace and air conditioner in their home.

A Common Mistake

The salesman who recommended the unit that was installed fell into the all too common trap of recommending a unit based on the preexisting model that is in the home. For example, he recommends a 20,000btu furnace just because the furnace that has been heating the home for the past however many years is a 20,000btu unit. This can create problems if the old unit isn’t actually the right unit for the home. You deserve a customized sale that involves assessing your needs and the requirements of the home. » Read more: Customized Furnace Sales Pitch

Protect Your Family, Home, and Health

October 5th, 2011

Heating tune-ups help prevent breakdowns and potential hazards, and a through furnace cleaning done correctly can save you money and time, and it can also improve the efficiency of your current system. What we don’t know, can hurt us, and this is defiantly true when it comes to the condition of your furnace heating system. Most people never think about their heating unit until it breaks down. This is due to the fact that most gas furnaces are very reliable, and they are often keptout of sight, out of mind.”

Catastrophic Failures

The problem is, despite its reliability, a catastrophic failure of your furnace could occur at any time, and that failure could result in a gas leak, fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. The only way to prevent that type of disaster is with regular inspections of your heating system. » Read more: Protect Your Family, Home, and Health

Lennox Furnaces Stand the Test of Time

October 3rd, 2011

People are always asking, “Who is the best HVAC manufacturer?” There really isn’t a straight forward answer to that question because no matter who made your furnace, it will not be its best without proper installation and yearly maintenance. With that said, we recently dealt with a customer who was very satisfied with his Lennox furnace. He had scheduled a serviceman to check over the system for the season, and though it was found that the unit needed to be replaced, the customer couldn’t have been happier with what he had gotten out of his unit over the years.

37 Years of Service

            This customer’s Lennox furnace was installed back in 1974. This made the unit 37 years old, and when you consider that the typical furnace will last 20 to 25 years, this unit truly did stand the test of time. When we asked about the history of the unit, the customer was proud to tell us that over the years he only had one minor repair done to the system. The thermocouple was replaced about 15 years prior, and when you consider the number of expensive things that can fail on a furnace, this one low cost repair was truly remarkable. » Read more: Lennox Furnaces Stand the Test of Time

Put a Stop to Reoccurring Furnace Problems

September 26th, 2011

Every year as the weather turns colder and people turn their furnaces on for the first time and many discover that the unit doesn’t work. After all it has run for most of the previous winter along with the entire summer without being tuned up, so you have to ask yourself, “What did I expect?”

Preventing Inconvenient Breakdowns

How can you prevent this unexpected and inconvenient situation from continuing to happen? Its simple, just have regular maintenance preformed on your furnace and air conditioner every year. According to industry leading experts, regular maintenance of your equipment extends the life of the systems, helps to prevent untimely breakdowns, and allows them to use less energy. All of this adds up to having a system that is saving you money while it keeps you warm. » Read more: Put a Stop to Reoccurring Furnace Problems

A Safe Furnace

September 19th, 2011

Everyone wants a safe furnace. No one wants to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of a smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector going off. Yet there are those among us that never have their furnaces cleaned or safety checked. Cleaning a furnace is basically the same for thirty year old furnaces as it is for two year old furnaces. Yes the new the furnaces have more sensors that need cleaning than their older counter parts, but things like burners, blowers, sensors and heat exchangers all get dirty. Age doesn’t mater. A dirty burner will not burn as cleanly or as efficiently as a clean burner. The same is true of sensors, dirty sensors are more likely to fail compared to clean ones. The need for cleaning and adjustment of all furnace components is necessary for trouble free operation.

Cleaning and Safety Checks

Safety checks are the most important part of the yearly furnace clean and safety check. If your furnace breaks, you don’t have heat, but if the furnace becomes unsafe, you could have much bigger problems. Newer furnaces have more sensors and safety devices than the older ones. These new sensors and safety devices were not put in your furnace so the manufacturer could charge more for their furnace. They were incorporated in the design to protect you from catastrophic failures. Having these safety devices checked annually will insure the safe operation of your furnace. » Read more: A Safe Furnace

Get in for Your Furnace Cleaning!

September 14th, 2011

We may have one or two more warm days on the schedule but for the most part, fall weather has arrived and winter’s chill is soon to follow. As we enjoy these few months of HVAC free comfort, it would be easy to forget about these important systems all together. However, you don’t want to find yourself testing the furnace or boiler for the first time when the temperatures start to drop. Instead, take this time to dedicate some of the money you are saving on your energy bills from not using the system and spend it on your yearly maintenance check up.

The Consequences of Procrastination

            Many homeowners find themselves in a bit of a pickle when they put off having the furnace cleaned early in the fall. HVAC companies prepare for an onslaught of calls once the first frost hits and every year without fail, they are not disappointment. Thousands of people across the country scrambling to have their heaters looked at because they neglected to have them checked when the weather was more mild. Those that don’t have a problem with the unit find themselves forced to work around the very tight schedules that these HVAC companies are now operating under. If they had simply called a few weeks prior, they could have had free pickings of their preferred date and time. Instead they must change their schedule to fit in with what the company can now offer. » Read more: Get in for Your Furnace Cleaning!

Carbon Monoxide Safety Tips

September 12th, 2011

So much has been written about carbon monoxide it makes my head spin. Most everything you see on the internet is meant to scare you, but here are a few facts that I haven’t seen on the net.

4 Carbon Monoxide Safety Tips

1. Carbon monoxide detectors can have a life span of only a few years, and most are dead after ten. If you don’t have paper work on your CO detector contact the manufacturer to see what the life of your CO detector is. Just because it lights up and goes beep when you push the test button does not mean it is detecting CO. I have seen it a number of times where the customers CO detector does not go off and my meter shows elevated levels of CO. » Read more: Carbon Monoxide Safety Tips

Make Your Contractor Fight for Your Business

September 7th, 2011

 If you are one of the many homeowners that are currently looking for a new HVAC system you may feel like it is you against the HVAC contractor that diagnosed your unit as faulty. It would be easy to simply take them at their word and replace the system with whatever they have to offer, but wouldn’t you rather take control of the sale? Well, you can. All you have to do is get a few estimates. Many homeowners don’t want to bother with the hassle of having 3 different companies out for an estimate on a new furnace or air conditioning system, but not doing so could cost your hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars.

Taking Advantage of a Desperate Situation

The first way you loose money by not getting multiple estimates is by purchasing the unit right off the bat from the company that diagnosed the system as faulty. Many times the unit breaks down when we need it most and in our desperation for comfort we may agree to anything. Some companies will take advantage of this desperation and do little to nothing to save you money on your system. Instead, step back, take a breath, and give it some thought. Don’t jump into a sale without assessing all of your options. » Read more: Make Your Contractor Fight for Your Business

Your source for feedback, News, and anything else Heating and Cooling Heating and Cooling