Your Spring HVAC Preparation To-Do List

The arrival of spring signals that it’s time to get your HVAC system ready for the coming cooling season. Preparing your HVAC before the heat and humidity settle in primes it to run efficiently and reliably, so you can enjoy a comfortable home all summer long. Here are some key spring HVAC tasks to tackle:

Replace Your Air Filter

A clean air filter helps maintain the airflow that keeps your HVAC system working properly. Going forward, check the filter every month, and replace when you see any debris accumulation, or every three months at minimum.

Clean Up Around Your Outdoor Unit

Good airflow through the condenser coil is crucial to the heat exchange process, so tidying up the area surrounding your outdoor unit is an important spring chore. First, rake up and remove any yard debris that has collected over the winter. Then, clear away overgrown grass and weeds, and trim nearby plants and shrubs to allow two feet of airflow clearance all around the unit.

Check Your Ductwork

Ductwork that’s damaged, leaking or uninsulated can waste up to a third of the conditioned air produced by your HVAC system. To curb that energy waste and increase your comfort, have …

How Furniture Can Affect Your HVAC

Technology has advanced to the point where energy efficient furniture does exist. It can store and release energy to charge batteries, run lights, or provide the same HVAC effects your furnace or A/C does. While it’s not ready for the market yet, it shows that furniture is, and will continue to be, a part of the home that can contribute to your comfort.

Comfort and Heat

Some products used in homes offer more comfort than others, especially with regard to thermal management. Upholstered (with padding) furniture is far more comfortable year-round than hard plastic chairs. The fabrics and internal padding absorb heat and moisture, keeping you warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. A hard plastic chair, for example, does not absorb moisture. It feels cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

Insulating Value of Furniture

Even the wood that furniture is made from has some insulating value, which is a property that contributes indirectly to comfort, especially when it’s cold. Wood products that are less dense and lighter in weight. They can hold more air than dense wood. The ability to retain air in small pockets is a basic characteristic of most insulation products.

Color …

What’s Involved in Laundry Room Ventilation?

Adequate laundry room ventilation makes a difference in this humid climate, especially as the weather heats up and the humidity builds and doing the laundry creates plenty of both. Between the warming weather and the conditions in the laundry room, it could become uncomfortable and unhealthy.

Dryer Venting

The first step in assessing the condition of the laundry room is to look at the dryer’s venting. The hose should vent to the outdoors and be no longer than 25 feet. The current building codes require solid metal vent pipes for dryers and the old corrugated vent hoses are now obsolete.

Check the vent annually or more often if you do a lot of laundry and remove the lint. It’s even more important to clean the vent and lint screen if you use dryer sheets. They create a residue that coats the vent and the lint screen., reducing the airflow. When the lint screen develops a coating, even less air goes into the dryer and it will run much hotter, which could start a fire.

Using Fans

An exhaust fan will pull the heat and humidity from the laundry room as long as you can vent it to the outdoors. Although …

How Does Color Affect Temperature?

For centuries, people have equated colors with temperature effects. Darker colors represent the cooler months when we need to supplement home heat. Light colors reflect heat and are the colors of spring and summer when heat reflection and dissipation is desirable.

Colors and Degree Days

Over the last five years, the Peachtree City area has needed more home heating than cooling by about one-third. The Weather Service collects temperature highs and lows, along with degree days. They use equipment to measure the temperatures 24/7 and apply a formula that tells them how many total degrees your house needs heating or cooling based on temperature fluctuations during that 24-hour period. The base temperature is 65 degrees F. If the air stayed at 65 degrees for a 24-hour period, it would be a 0 heating or cooling degree day.

Since the heating degree days outnumber the cooling degree days, the colors for your home should lean more toward the dark versus light. Instead of a light exterior, you might save more energy by using a medium-brown hue. Light homes are far more common in Florida where cooling degree days dominate the weather and the temperature effects of dark colors raise cooling costs.

…

Sporting Equipment May Raise These IAQ Concerns

Your home gym gives you a convenient way to exercise and improve your health. To reap the full benefits, you likely took extra care choosing sporting equipment and make the effort to fit in regular workouts. Another priority should be the air quality of your exercise area, because of the adverse effects it can have on health.

Reasons for IAQ Concerns With Home Gyms

IAQ can be a serious issue in home gyms for two main reasons. First, these workout areas are often situated in seldom-used spots where air circulation may not be ideal – like a garage, basement or spare room. Second, during workouts, the body instinctively inhales deeply and more rapidly to draw in sufficient oxygen. When combined, these factors can amplify your exposure to unhealthy contaminants, pollutants and allergens like:

Mold and mildew growth that flourishes in warm, humid conditions. Microscopic dust mites that live on shed skin cells. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by rubber equipment components and exercise mats, carpets, and stored items such as cleaning supplies, paints and solvents. Gasoline fumes from equipment and vehicles. Rodent, insect and other types of pest droppings. How to Boost Your Exercise Room IAQ

If you have concerns …