Understanding the Signs of Low Refrigerant

Low refrigerant in your central air conditioner may begin with an assortment of initially insignificant symptoms.

As the refrigerant charge drops, however, these minor issues can turn into major dysfunction, eventually shutting down the system completely. Refrigerant absorbs heat from the airflow inside your house at the system evaporator coil, then conveys it to the outside condenser coil where it’s released into the air. The level of circulating refrigerant is a very precise specification.

If it declines below that amount, you may note any of the following signs:

Cooling shortfalls. When the refrigerant charge drops, the air conditioner can’t extract enough heat to keep the house cool. The unit will run increasingly longer cycles to meet thermostat settings, eventually running non-stop. Higher costs. Extended A/C cycles mean increased electricity consumption, which typically shows up in higher monthly bills. If other causes are ruled out, an air conditioner running too many hours per day due to low refrigerant may be the reason. Increasing humidity. Humidity extraction is an important part of the A/C cooling process. As the refrigerant charge drops, the evaporator coil doesn’t condense water vapor effectively and indoor humidity rises. The comfort level in the house, meanwhile, declines as …

IAQ Tips for Painting Indoors

A fresh coat of paint can quickly breathe new life into your home’s interior. Make sure you aren’t compromising your health in the process, however. Indoor air quality suffers if you don’t take the right safety steps. Here are ways to diminish IAQ concerns when painting interior surfaces.

Use the Safest Paints

Many types of paint include harmful chemicals, called volatile organic chemicals or VOCs. These can have a direct impact on health.  When painting the interior, only choose paints that are intended for indoor use and, whenever possible, use paints that are labeled no or low VOCs.

Keep in mind, however, that even the safest paints can emit some harmful chemicals during their application and afterward. You can diminish the impact by ventilating your home.

Ventilation

Ventilating the home while painting can be as simple as opening exterior doors and placing a box fan in a window. The goal is to bring in as much fresh air into the home as you can while drawing the harmful elements outside. Make sure you aren’t just recirculating the bad air throughout other rooms in the home. …

Why Replacing Insulation is Important

Insulation is an essential but often overlooked component of your heating and cooling system. While many homeowners know that it helps keep warm air out of their homes in the summer and retain indoor heat during the colder months, they have no idea that a time comes when it’s crucial to start replacing insulation.

The Need to Replace Insulation

Several factors make it necessary for you to replace your home insulation:

Loss of effectiveness — Insulation deteriorates over time. Consequently, it could allow heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. Maintain structural integrity — Your attic insulation can damage your home’s structure. If you ignore it for long, old insulation can facilitate mold and rotting of beams. Health — Rodents can make old or damaged insulation their home and leave behind harmful contaminants. These contaminants can spread to other areas of your home and put your health at risk. When to Replace Insulation

So how do you know it’s time to replace insulation? The tips below will help:

When replacing your roof — You should replace your attic insulation together with your roof. Your home is too warm or too cold — If your house gets …

How to Save Money and Energy in Summer

While you’re probably looking forward to the fun days of summer, there’s a good chance that you’re absolutely dreading the uptick in energy usage that plagues many households during these warmer months of the year. To ease your stress a bit, here are a few simple techniques that will help you get your HVAC summer energy bills under control:

Schedule Regular HVAC Maintenance

It is always advisable that you schedule annual maintenance with a qualified HVAC technician once per year to keep your equipment in tip-top shape, but regular check-ups will help provide the best performance. Plus, caring for your system in this way will make it last longer.

Invest in New Air Conditioning Equipment

No matter how fantastic your air conditioner has performed in the past several years, it will eventually get to a point where it’s breaking down or in great need of repairs. Although the expenditure might be something that you would prefer to avoid, newer HVAC equipment is more energy efficient and reliable than many predecessors, which means the added cost will even itself out due to lower energy bills.

Periodically Replace the Air Filter 

Your air conditioner’s filter should be replaced every 1-3 months, depending on …

Should You Buy an HVAC System Online?

These days, it seems you can buy just about anything via the internet. Even buying an HVAC system online is now a reality. Online HVAC sales are slowly but surely growing. But should you hop on the bandwagon?

Cost Savings

You can save substantially by choosing to buy a furnace, air conditioner, boiler, or any other similar product from an online retailer. Or, at least, it seems cheaper because you purchase the equipment only, not the labor of installing it properly as well.

Equipment Delivery

Most online HVAC retailers offer free equipment delivery. While that’s great news, you should know that your equipment is likely to be left outside your house. It will be up to you to move it into your basement, garage, or wherever you want it installed.

Some companies charge for delivery. You’ll pay a higher fee to have the equipment delivered to your preferred room and unpacked than having it dropped at your front door.

Quality Concerns

Online transactions take contractors out of the HVAC system design process. Therefore, you can easily choose a system that’s not right for your home. An air conditioner or furnace that’s too large for your home will operate inefficiently as …