Upgrading Your Kitchen Ventilation

A kitchen remodel is a perfect opportunity to install or upgrade kitchen ventilation. Why do you need kitchen ventilation? So many reasons — from preventing mold and mildew, to lowering your home’s overall humidity so you don’t feel so warm and have to crank down the air conditioner. Also, a kitchen vent system helps remove odors and smoke from cooking so you have better indoor air quality.

Installing kitchen ventilation is a plus, not only for your comfort, but adds to the resale value of your home.

So here’s what’s involved:

Has Your Home Had Kitchen Ventilation in the Past?

If you have an older home, it may have had ventilation in the kitchen in the past. Perhaps the ductwork is in place and is vented to the outdoors, but it’s not attached to your range hood. Or, you may have a ventilation system that just recirculates the stale air, pulling it up into the system, and sending it back into your home’s interior. Another scenario might involve a ventilation system that is ducted into spaces between joists in the ceiling, or into the attic.

Any of these situations should be corrected during your upgrade.

If …

Resetting Your Thermostat to Run on Schedule

When a programmable thermostat starts to malfunction, it can result in wasted energy, increased heating and cooling costs, and loss of HVAC system efficiency. Here are some of the reasons why your programmable thermostat might lose its scheduling function and what you can do to fix it:

Programmable Thermostat Scheduling

Programmable thermostats’ ability to precisely schedule the operation of your air conditioner, heat pump, or furnace is the main reason they are popular with residential and commercial customers. By using pre-programmed schedules called set points, you can reduce HVAC operation when it’s not needed, such as when you’re out of the house for the day. Other set points can automatically turn on your HVAC system to ensure your indoor areas are comfortable by the time you get back home. In total, this improves HVAC system efficiency and significantly cuts overall energy costs.

Resolving Scheduling Issues

If a programmable thermostat cannot maintain these set point schedules, the benefits of having a programmable model are lost. Some of the main reasons why the scheduling function might not work include:

Weak or run-down batteries: If the batteries in your programmable thermostat are weak or running low on power, the thermostat won’t be able …

Pets and HVAC Technicians: The Importance of Behavior Training

Whether you need routine HVAC maintenance or repairs for your air conditioning this summer, it’s important to make sure your pets can handle having a technician around. HVAC technicians are there to ensure that your system is working as it should, but they need to be able to do so safely and without distractions.

Reasons to Train Your Pet

Your pet should know how to behave around technicians in your home for a few important reasons. Having pets that are calm allows technicians to do their job without having to worry about being jumped on, lunged at, or bitten. Well-behaved dogs also don’t distract technicians with constant barking, which lets them work on your HVAC system in a timely manner and without interruptions. If your dogs are relaxed around HVAC technicians, they’re also less likely to get in the way and cause problems while work is going on.

How to Train Your Pet

If your pets need a bit of training to be calm around HVAC technicians, you can do so with some simple steps. Just keep in mind that you should start working on this training with them before HVAC technicians are scheduled to come by. This gives them …

How UV Lights Improve Your Indoor Air Quality

Depending on unique factors in your home – including various things causing dirty indoor air and the vulnerability of individual household occupants – you may want to ramp up your efforts to improve interior air quality. One effective tactic is to install a germicidal ultraviolet light system. UV lights can neutralize and/or eradicate many of the tiny airborne organisms that threaten you and your family’s health.

While air filters and purifiers can remove many of the non-organic particulates in your air, including household dust and debris, they are less effective against micro-organisms such as mold spores, bacteria and viruses. Yet, these are the particulates most likely to trigger respiratory issues and allergies, or make them worse. Germicidal UV lights are designed to attack these micro-organisms.

How Do UV Lights Enhance Indoor Air Quality?

Ultraviolet lights can be installed inside your ductwork, positioned so they shine UV light on household air as it’s circulating through the home. As the air repeatedly moves through the duct network, the UV rays gradually neutralize organic contaminants. Though the technology isn’t quite this simple, ultraviolet light essentially breaks down the DNA of micro-organisms.

Another way that UV lights can improve indoor air quality …

Surge Protectors for Storm Preparation

When you think about a surge protector, you might picture a device to protect home electronics like computers and televisions. While these items definitely need safeguarding from power surges, the mostly costly equipment in your home deserves it too: the indoor and outdoor components of your air conditioning system.

Why Are Power Surges a Concern?

A “power surge” in the electrical current in your home occurs when there’s a short stop-and-restart in the flow, or when the current is sent backwards through your electrical wiring. Such surges can differ greatly in intensity, from a minor five-to-ten volt disruption when you plug in an appliance in your kitchen, to a massive surge of thousands of volts when lightning strikes a transformer. Although lightning strikes are by far the most powerful and damaging cause of surges, they and other storm-related events like power outages and tree limbs contacting power lines are responsible for only about one-fifth of voltage fluctuations in an average home. The remainder originate within the home’s own electrical system.

Why Are Air Conditioners Vulnerable to Power Surge Damage?

Years ago, air conditioners were comprised of mechanical equipment without built-in electronics.

Today’s energy-efficient A/Cs typically contain various electronics and …