Tag Archives: AC Replacement

Preparing Your Home for Winter Season Starts in Early Fall

Preparing Your Home for Winter Starts in Early Fall

To make sure you and your family stay cozy and stress-free this winter, there are some chores you should attend to long before the snow starts to fly. Early fall is the best time to prepare your home for winter; the weather is still nice enough to easily get things done both inside and outside, and you’ll be confident that you will stay warm long before you feel cold. Practicing good home-owner maintenance now will make for a much more enjoyable winter season later.

Heating System Tune Up

One of the most important things to prepare long before winter hits is your heating system, making fall a great time to have a professional come to your home to inspect your furnace. Hire someone trustworthy like the professionals at Complete Heating and Air to make sure your system is clean and functioning properly. They will make sure your HVAC is working efficiently so that you will stay warm all winter long.

Reverse your Fans

Contrary to what you may believe, your ceiling fans are good for much more than keeping cool in the summer. You can use your fans to make the most of your heating and cooling by maximizing your use of that cool or warm air. In the fall, reverse your fans so that they rotate in a clockwise direction. This will cause an updraft and push the heated air down from the ceiling and into the room. By moving the warm air from the ceiling back down into the room you will stay warmer and even save money on your utility bills.

Inspect your Roof

Winter is the last time of year you want to be worrying about a problem with your roof. Get ahead of any potential repairs by examining your roof in early fall for any problems with your shingles or other visible signs of damage. It may even be worth it to hire a professional every few years to do a more thorough check.

Check your Air Filter

While you are taking care of the various maintenance items around your home in early fall, be sure to check your air filters. If they are clogged be sure to change them as soon as possible to avoid reducing air flow and avoid other problems with your HVAC system. Ideally, you should be changing (or at the very least, checking) your air filter each month.

Get Duct Work Cleaned

Along with a tune up of your HVAC system, you should make sure your air ducts are clean and clear to improve efficiency and air quality. Hire a professional to give them a thorough cleaning by clearing your vents, cooling coils, fans, and heat exchanges of dust and other debris.

Seal Cracks

Stay warm and cozy this winter by making sure you’re not losing warm air through cracks or leaks around your windows and doors. In early fall you should inspect your home for things like worn weather stripping or cracks in caulk. Get these replaced or repaired as quickly as possible.

If your heater has any problems or for a system tune up, contact Sandy Heating and Air this fall to prep your heating system for winter.

Replace Your Air Filters Regularly

Why You Should Replace Your Filters Regularly

Replacing your air filters regularly is something that is recommend for all homeowners. But how necessary is it really? A new air filter can cost as little as a few dollars, which may make it seem like an unimportant chore. It just so happens that simple looking square plays a very important role in the health of your family, the efficiency and welfare of your system and even impacts the environment. No matter what type of filter you buy, and no matter the cost, here are four reasons why it is important to replace your filter regularly.

1. Better Indoor Air Quality

One of the best ways to improve your indoor air quality is to regularly change your HVAC filter. Your filter stands between you and the contaminants in the air. If they are already dirty they won’t be able to properly trap all of the dust, allergens, mold and other pollutants that you want to keep out of your home and lungs. This is especially important if you have young children or pets in the home, who tend to be more sensitive to these kinds of pollutants in the air. Avoid health issues and breathe easy by changing your filters regularly.

2. Prolong Equipment Life

A dirty air filter can only catch so many particles; eventually, that debris will build up inside your system. A clogged filter also makes it more difficult for the air to move through your HVAC system. This restricted airflow will force your system to work harder. With a dirty system that is working extra hard, it’s only a matter of time before your system breaks down or fails completely. By regularly replacing your air filter you can ensure that your system is working properly, and avoid unnecessary damage or repairs. Replacing your filter is part of the standard maintenance care suggested by HVAC professionals like those of Sandy Heating & Air Conditioning.

3. Save Energy

As mentioned above, a dirty air filter will make your system work harder by reducing air flow. When your system works harder it uses more energy. By eliminating any restricting on air flow, your HVAC system won’t have to work as hard and will use less energy. Not only is this better for your machine but it will be better for your wallet as you watch those monthly balances on your utility bill drop.

4. Be More Green

Do you have a goal to be more green? Good news! When you regularly change your air filter, you lower your carbon footprint. In addition to saving energy as mentioned above, replacing your filter reduces the strain on your HVAC system and lowers the amount of pollution it creates. It’s a small act, but it means lower carbon emissions.

Despite your best efforts to properly maintain your HVAC system by doing simple tasks like replacing your filter regularly, problems with your system may arise that need to be addressed by a professional. If you find yourself in this situation call Sandy Heating & Air Conditioning for in-depth knowledge and exceptional customer service.

Why You Should Keep Your Vents Open This Winter

Why You Should Keep Your Vents Open This Winter

If you’ve ever thought about saving some energy or money as the weather gets cooler, you may have thought about strategically using the vents in your home. Maybe you don’t use a room or bathroom very often; it would make sense then, to close the vents off to that room and prevent warm air from unnecessarily heating it up. This would then save you energy and money in the long run. While it makes sense logically, that’s actually not the case. In fact, you could be using more energy with some of your vents closed than you would with all of them open! To learn why you should keep your vents open this winter, keep reading.

 

Air Still Moves

Whether your vent is open or not, the warm air is still going to try to push through to each vent. When the vents are closed the air won’t be able to come easily through the vent. Instead, it will be forced through any crack it can find in the duct work or other areas that aren’t sealed properly. In the end, if it can’t find a way out through the vents, the warm air will be forced back into the basement or perhaps the floor cavities where you definitely won’t be benefitting from the warmth.  

The cold air returns in your home are going to pull in cold air. If it’s not from the room, it will come from cracks around doors or windows and other unwanted places. If you’re going to pay to heat any air, it might as well be the air in the rooms of your home.

HVAC Damage

Closing off vents and doors to certain rooms create and build up pressure unnecessarily. Your HVAC system is designed to balance the pressure and temperature of air in your home. When that balance and temperature is interrupted, it hinders your system rather than helps it.

With all the extra work your furnace and HVAC system does will eventually take its toll. The type of HVAC system you have is determined by the size of your home and the calculated cooling and heating needs. When you close vents and block air from going to certain rooms, you are making your system work harder than it needs to, and harder than it was designed to. In extreme cold, the lack of warm air in your duct work may cause freezing to occur. Don’t shorten the life of your HVAC system unnecessarily by closing off your vents.

If you really want to save some cash on your bills, keep your vents open and allow the air to flow freely throughout your home, but consider lowering the temperature a few degrees. You probably won’t notice a temperature difference, but your system will be happier without the closed vents and you will be saving money.

If you feel that you are wasting energy in certain rooms of your home by heating them in the wintertime, talk to an HVAC professional about other options. Your HVAC system may need a simple tune-up, and the guys at Complete HVAC can help!