Downtown Air and Heat Blog

What Factors Are Part of a Load Calculation?

March 20th, 2015

There are a number of factors that need to be taken into account to properly heat and cool your home or business, but one of the most important of these factors is correct sizing. You may hear that all you need to know in order to correctly size and HVAC system for your home is the square footage; this simply isn’t true. Why? Every property gains heat throughout the day via a phenomenon known as heat gain, and daytime heat gain can increase the heat in your property up to 10 degrees. If you don’t account for this daytime heat gain, you could purchase and install an HVAC system that isn’t the right size. The heating and cooling experts at Downtown Air & Heat know how important it is to correctly size an HVAC system for any property, which is why we offer load calculating services in Orlando and the surrounding areas. If you are planning to install a new heating or cooling system, and need help, call us today!

Factors in a Load Calculation

No one really thinks about the various elements that may contribute heat to a given property, mostly because the focus on the main source of heating or cooling: the HVAC system. But there are a number of ways a property can gain heat:

  • Through exposed walls
  • Solar gain through windows
  • Conduction movement through doors and windows
  • Latent gains from electronics, lighting and people
  • Fireplaces

So, in order to properly calculate how daytime heat gain affects your property, the following items need to be considered:

  • The orientation of the property
  • The location
  • Climate
  • Types and number of windows and doors
  • Floorplan
  • Number of stories
  • Number of rooms
  • Number of occupants
  • Insulation levels
  • Square footage

Once all these factors have been determined, your technician can perform the calculation. The calculation will yield how much heating and cooling you’ll need, and as a result, what size HVAC system you’ll need.

A number of problems can develop when you install an HVAC system that is too big or too small for your home or business.

Contact the load calculation experts at Downtown Air & Heat today and schedule an appointment for your Orlando property!

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How an Aprilaire Air Purifier Can Benefit Your Home

March 13th, 2015

We are headed toward spring, and while we all welcome the warmer temperatures, one thing that many people don’t welcome is the new wave of allergens. Spring is the season of pollination, which can be absolute misery for people allergic to different kinds of pollen. While you can’t filter pollen from the outdoors, you can filter pollen and many other contaminants from your indoors with the installation of an Aprilaire air purifier in your Orlando home. These air purifiers integrate seamlessly with your HVAC system, and can also integrate with other existing components, such as dehumidifiers. Why consider an Aprilaire air purifier? Let’s take a look.

Aprilaire Air Purifier Options

Aprilaire has been a leader in whole-home indoor air quality products since 1954. They have several options from which to choose:

  • Model 1000 series – this model is best for the removal of dust build-up. This series removes up to 94% of mold and pollen, 72% of fungi spores and bacteria and 56% of dust and pet dander.
  • Model 2000 series – the 2000 series air purifier products are best for dust-build-up and moderate allergy issues. The 2000 series removes up to 98% of mold and pollen, 96% of pet dander and dust, 97% of bacteria and fungi spores and 75% of tobacco smoke and smog.
  • Model 3000 series – the model 3000 series of products will help moderate allergy sufferers and remove moderate amounts of dust build-up. The model 3000 series purifiers have the same effectiveness at removing mold, pollen, pet dander, dust, bacteria fungi spores and tobacco smoke as the 2000 series, but these air purifiers come with a programmable thermostat.
  • Model 5000 series – the series 5000 air purifiers are top-of-the-line. These air purifiers are best for those suffering from asthma and severe allergies, and the purifier will remove significant amounts of dust. The effectiveness of the 5000 series is: 99% of mold and pollen, 98% of dust and pet dander, 98% of bacteria and fungi, 98% of tobacco smoke and smog, 80% of viruses and ultra-fine particles.

Benefits of an Aprilaire Air Purifier

Clearly, these air purifiers can help to greatly improve indoor air quality and health, especially for the allergy sufferers in your home, but they can also:

  • Put less stress on your HVAC system
  • Help you save energy

Interested to see what an Aprilaire air purifier installation can do for your Orlando home? Call the experts at Downtown Air & Heat today and schedule an appointment.

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Can I Do My Own Spring AC Maintenance?

March 6th, 2015

Maintenance for your air conditioner is important, and because it is important, you should always hire an expert to perform your spring air conditioning maintenance in Orlando. Our technicians get asked a lot by homeowners if they can perform the maintenance on their AC, and our answer is this: unless you have expert knowledge about your air conditioning system, including expert electrical knowledge, it’s always best to hire a trained professional to do the work. It’s hard to gain the benefits a maintenance appointment has to offer when the work is done by an amateur; you also run the risk of damaging your system and causing some serious problems. The bottom line? Always call an expert, like the ones at Downtown Air & Heat, to perform all work done to your AC, including maintenance.

What Does a Professional Have That I Don’t?

Here are some reasons why calling an expert is always the best idea:

  • Knowledge and experience – air conditioning professionals do this kind of work every day, so they know exactly what to do and what to look for, no matter the job.
  • Training and certification – your air conditioner is a complex electro-mechanical device; as such, it’s important to have someone with the right training and certification working on your system.
  • Specialized tools – professionals have all the tools they need at their disposal, and many of these tools are specialized; this means there is a good chance you won’t have the same tools readily available.

What Benefits Does Maintenance Offer?

Wondering why maintenance, performed by a professional, is so important? Here are some reasons:

  • Better comfort – maintenance is a full tune-up for your air conditioning system, and when the system works optimally, it won’t have any trouble reaching your desired indoor temperature.
  • Better energy efficiency – your AC was made to operate at a specific level of energy efficiency; when the system is carrying wear and tear from last year, it can be hard for the system to achieve optimal energy efficiency.
  • Prevents repairs – part of the maintenance appointment involves the thorough inspection of your air conditioning system, which allows the technician to find existing and developing problems; this helps get you ahead of potential repairs.

To ensure that you gain the benefits of spring air conditioning maintenance in Orlando, it’s critical to hire a trained professional for the work.

The experts at Downtown Air & Heat are here to assist, so if you are ready to schedule spring maintenance for your AC, call us today!

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Why Consider a High Efficiency AC System?

February 27th, 2015

Have you been looking for a way to significantly lessen the amount of energy you use annually for your home’s air conditioning? Are you in need of a new AC installation and have energy efficiency as a top priority? Then you may want to consider the installation of a high efficiency AC system in your Altamonte Springs home. What makes a high efficiency AC system different from other AC systems? The main difference is that high efficiency systems have SEER ratings of no less than 16 – a full 3 levels higher than the federally-mandated minimum SEER of 13. But proper installation, repair and maintenance is critical to enjoying the energy efficiency you can achieve with a high efficiency AC system, and this is where Downtown Air & Heat comes in. Our trained and certified AC specialists can help you with all of your air conditioning needs, so call us today!

Understanding SEER

Just as combustion heating systems are rated by AFUE, air conditioning systems are rated by SEER numbers. SEER stands for seasonal energy efficiency ratio, and it is a scale that tells you how energy efficient a given air conditioning system will operate. All air conditioners must be manufactured at a SEER rating of 13, as this has been the federal law since 2006. The SEER scale runs from 1 to 23, and for an AC system to qualify as high efficiency, it must have a SEER rating that is no less than 16. SEER is important because it tells you that a particular AC will cool your home the same as another, but the AC with the higher SEER rating will cool your home using less energy. However, high efficiency does typically come with a higher initial price tag. So where does the savings come in? With your monthly energy use. According to Energy.gov, every SEER point higher on the SEER scale can save you up to 10% on your annual cooling costs. This means that if you replace an existing AC system with a SEER of 11 with a high efficiency system with a SEER of 16, you can save up to 50% on your annual cooling costs.

Consult with a Professional

Is a high efficiency AC system in Altamonte Springs for you? The best way to assess how a high efficiency system can benefit you is to sit down with a Downtown Air & Heat expert and review the numbers. Call us today, and schedule an appointment with one of our AC experts!

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Why It’s Important to Consult with a Professional for an HVAC Installation

February 21st, 2015

Your HVAC system provides both heating and cooling to your home, and if it is poorly installed or incorrectly sized, your new home and your comfort can suffer. If you are building a new home, or doing a major remodel to an existing one, it is important to hire a professional design-build contractor for your Orlando home.

Size Matters

HVAC systems are not one-size-fits-all, and ductwork for an HVAC system also needs to be measured and installed correctly to ensure your home gets the air volume it needs to be comfortable. When it comes to the actual unit, your Downtown Air & Heat technician will do two calculations to help ensure that your HVAC unit will supply the right amount of heating and cooling for your home. The first calculation is the heat load and the second is the cooling load. Both calculations take into account the following factors:

  • Orientation of home
  • Floor plan
  • Number of stories
  • Number of rooms and occupants
  • Level of insulation
  • Types of windows and doors
  • Daytime heat gain

Ductwork Installation

Having a well-planned, properly-sized duct system is equally important for your HVAC to run properly and your comfort. First, the ductwork should be wide enough to accommodate the volume of air being delivered to your living spaces; if it is too small or too big, the delivery will be compromised. Second, planning a system with clean lines, i.e., little to no kinks, helps ensure that the air travels in as straight a line as possible for your home.

Assistance from Start to Finish

When you hire an expert to design and build your home’s HVAC system, you’ll have the help you need from start to finish. A design and build HVAC expert will handle all the heating and cooling calculations, review your HVAC options and then install the system.

If you plan to install an HVAC system in your new home or remodel, call the specialists at Downtown Air & Heat and schedule a consultation today!

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Some of the Unusual Movies Released for Valentine’s Day

February 14th, 2015

Hollywood has always tried to match movies up to the seasons to draw droves of viewers to the theaters: October is packed with fright-offerings, while the winter holidays skew toward warm and pleasing family films (as well as Oscar hopefuls). Valentine’s Day falls in an odd spot when it comes to the movie release calendar, however, since February tends to be a slower time for the film industry. The studios are as likely to slot strange movies that don’t fit anywhere else in their annual schedules into the Valentine’s Day weekend as they are films with powerful romantic appeal.

So, while the second weekend of February has featured hugely successful romantic comedies like Hitch, The Wedding Singer, and (of course) Valentine’s Day, some truly weird choices have debuted in this weekend as well. And a few have even gone on to tremendous success despite the bizarre match with the holiday. Here are a couple of the odder Valentine’s Day movie releases:

  • Dracula (1931): Yes, this Halloween perennial and the start of Universal Studio’s Classic Monsters actually came out on Valentine’s Day! But perhaps this makes some sense, as the Dracula legend has often received a “doomed lover” approach in the many years since Bela Lugosi made the aristocratic vampire a screen icon.
  • The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Does any film seem less appropriate for Valentine’s Day than this unnerving and sometimes very violent psychological thriller? What’s even more astonishing than the film’s release date is that The Silence of the Lambs eventually nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture, an almost unheard of occurrence for a movie released so early in the year.
  • Daredevil (2003): This Marvel comic adaptation featuring Ben Affleck as a blind superhero does contain a romantic subplot, but the stronger connection to Valentine’s Day may just be that Daredevil wears a bright red costume.
  • A Good Day to Die Hard (2013): The least successful of the Die Hard film franchise, this is an excellent example of a studio dropping a film into a weekend where it doesn’t fit in the hopes that it works as counter-programming. (It didn’t.)
  • Wayne’s World (1992): Now here is an example of counter-programming that clicked with audiences. This comedy based on a Saturday Night Live sketch turned into one of that year’s biggest hits and spawned a sequel.

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day with a trip to the movie theater, or you have your own special plans, everyone here at Downtown Air and Heat hopes you and your loved ones have a wonderful weekend.

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Signs of Low Refrigerant in Your Air Conditioner

February 5th, 2015

Refrigerant is vital to your AC because it continuously cycles through every single component. Refrigerant is a chemical blend that can easily convert from a gas to a liquid under pressure and back to a gas again. Heat dissipates from the refrigerant as it moves outside to the condenser unit, but the refrigerant itself is not meant to dissipate from the system. When refrigerant leaks from the air conditioner, it’s never a good sign, and it may result in some costly repairs if it’s not taken care of ASAP.

Learn to recognize the signs of low refrigerant, and call Downtown Air & Heat at the first sign of trouble. Our team of skilled technicians are trained to locate and seal refrigerant leaks or take care of any other home air conditioning repair in Central Florida.

Loss of Cooling

The main problem you’re most likely to notice from a loss of refrigerant is if there is not a lot of cool air entering the home. Refrigerant is vital to the heat exchange process, and as more and more begins to leak out, heat cannot absorb into the refrigerant effectively, and temperatures may remain high in the home, or it might just take your system longer to cool a space. Either way, immediate repairs are necessary as other parts may become overworked and break down as a result.

Frozen Coil

If you happen to get a peek at the inside air handler portion of your AC, you may notice a set of coils. The evaporator coil cools down as refrigerant runs through and converts into a gas, and the blower fan sends air over it to bring cool air into the home. The warm air blowing over the coil should keep it from freezing, but only if there is the right amount of refrigerant running through it. A frozen coil won’t actually keep you cooler, and your unit may shut down entirely.

Failing Compressor

This last symptom is one you’re a lot less likely to notice, but it’s certainly one of the most important reasons to consider maintenance every year. The compressor is designed to process a certain amount of refrigerant in every cycle. If there is not enough refrigerant the compressor will struggle, and it may fail, which usually results in replacing the entire outside unit.

Speak with the friendly professionals at Downtown Air & Heat for quality air conditioning repair in Central Florida at the first sign of trouble.

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Types of Ignition Systems for Furnaces

January 29th, 2015

There was a time not too long ago that there was only one type of ignition system for furnaces. Indeed, the same kind of ignition system served pretty much every type of combustion based heating system. That system was the standing pilot light, which was used for many decades. More recently, however, there have been a number of innovations that have risen up to challenge the standing pilot light for supremacy. Let’s take a look at the different kinds of ignition systems for furnaces, and which one you should look for when installing a new one.

Standing Pilot Light

The standing pilot light is the oldest of the ignition systems, and is still used by many furnaces across the country. It consists of a small burner assembly attached to a gas line. The assembly and gas line are connected to a flame sensor called a “thermocouple.” The thermocouple keeps a valve in the gas line open as long as the flame is lit, to keep gas flowing to the flame. If the flame goes out, the thermocouple closes the gas valve as a safety measure. Standing pilot lights are always supposed to be lit, and are only out if there is a problem. While they are a fairly reliable ignition sources, standing pilot lights are not very energy efficient, and waste a lot of fuel by being lit all the time.

Intermittent Pilot Light

Intermittent pilot lights were invented in an attempt to solve a lot of the problems associated with standing pilot lights. They consist of a much more complex electrical system, instead of gas, culminating in an electrode instead of a flame. When the thermostat sends a call for heat, the electrode generates a spark that ignites the system. When not needed, the intermittent pilot remains dormant. This solves the two biggest problems with standing pilot lights: having the flame blow out and wasting energy.

Heating Element Pilots

Heating element pilots are another type of electrical ignition system. Rather than throwing off sparks to ignite the burners, however, heating element pilots use similar heating elements to a lightbulb wire. Instead of giving off light, however, most of the energy directed into the heating element is expelled as heat. This heat eventually gets high enough to ignite the gas and start the burners. This also avoids the standing pilot light’s two biggest issues. However, the actual heating elements do eventually burn out and require replacing.

If you aren’t sure what kind of ignition system would fit your furnace best, call Downtown Air & Heat. We provide furnace services throughout Orlando.

 

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Why Is My Furnace Booming?

January 22nd, 2015

It’s a pretty unnerving thing to hear your furnace make a loud booming noise during operation. Don’t worry, though, your furnace is not going to explode. It does very likely have a problem that needs to be addressed, however. There are a couple of different things that can contribute to a furnace making booming noises. Let’s take a look at these issues, and help you determine whether or not you need to call a professional.

Delayed Burner Ignition

A very common cause of furnaces booming is something called “delayed burner ignition.” This is caused by a buildup of carbon on the burner assembly over time. Carbon builds up on a burner assembly because it is a byproduct of the combustion of natural gas. Though virtually all combustion byproducts move through the exhaust flue and out of the house, carbon particles are heavy enough to settle on the burner assembly instead. This buildup can eventually get so high that the burner has issues getting enough oxygen to actually light the gas being supplied through the gas line. When the burner finally does ignite, it tends to ignite all the excess gas at once. This is what can cause a sudden BOOM without any sort of warning.

Duct Flexing

Another common cause of a booming noise coming from your heater is the ducts in your house expanding and contracting. As the warm air moves through your ducts, they react to the heat by expanding. Sheet metal tends to make a good bit of noise when it flexes, which can be a cause of that booming sound. This is especially true in colder climates, where the contrast in temperature results in a greater fluctuation in the ducts.

So which of these two causes applies to you? That will require a professional HVAC technician to actually examine your furnace and ductwork. The duct flexing isn’t really a problem, as long as everything is secured properly. The delayed burner ignition can get progressively worse, however, and may end up in that burner not being able to ignite at all.

If your furnace is making a booming noise, contact Downtown Air & Heat. We provide furnace repairs throughout Orlando.

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Why Is Sizing Part of Heating Installation Service?

January 15th, 2015

Properly sizing a heater is a very important part of installing a new heating system. Though homeowners almost never think about this when shopping for a new system, the size of the heater will drastically affect how well their home is actually heated. You may be tempted to think that the old adage “bigger is better” would apply here, but that is not the case. A heater that is too large can be just as bad for your home as a heater that is too small. Let’s take a look at what can happen if you ignore sizing during your heating installation.

Oversized Heaters

Oversized heaters often waste a great deal of energy by putting out more heat than the home actually needs. This doesn’t seem like that much of a disadvantage, but the picture becomes clear when you consider specific systems like furnaces and boilers. Any combustion based system is equipped with what is called a “limit switch,” which is responsible for monitoring the central heater’s internal temperature. If that internal temperature gets too high, the limit switch activates and shuts down the system as a safety measure.

An oversized heater will naturally provoke the limit switch, due to its heat output being much higher than the limit the system is naturally set for. This causes the limit switch to shut down the system in order to stop what it reads as the heater overheating. Once the heater has cooled off a bit, it will start up again and provoke the limit switch to shut it down again. This endless on/off cycle is called “short-cycling,” and wastes a great deal of heat while shortening your system’s life.

Undersized Heaters

Far from provoking the overheating safety measures, undersized heaters simply lack the ability to heat the entire home to a satisfactory degree. Instead, they will turn on and stay on for longer and longer periods of time, trying to reach the thermostat temperature when it is completely beyond them. This leads to early burnouts and breakdowns for the heater, as well as wasting quite a bit of energy.

If you’d like to know more, call Downtown Air & Heat. We provide heating services in Winter Park.

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