It’s getting pretty toasty here in Orlando, FL, and the temperature is only going to go up. If you’ve turned on your air conditioner and noticed that it doesn’t seem to be blowing as much air as it should, there are a few reasons for this. Instead of trying to muddle through your system to discover the problem yourself, call the experts at Downtown Air & Heat. We can assist you with any AC repair you may have, and we have emergency service available around the clock. Call us today!
Downtown Air and Heat Blog : Posts Tagged ‘Orlando’
Why Doesn’t My AC Have Enough Power?
Monday, April 20th, 2015When Is It Time to Call for Ductwork Services?
Friday, March 27th, 2015When your home’s ductwork isn’t working properly, you can have problems with both your HVAC system and your living spaces. Why? Ductwork is the highway for the air being delivered to your home, and when the air blows through your ducts, it can pick and up take with it just about anything in your ducts. The result? Poor indoor air quality and less volume of air for your home. To help combat the problems that can develop with your duct system, Downtown Air & Heat offers comprehensive duct services in Orlando, including duct cleaning, duct sanitizing, duct sealing and duct repair and replacement. When is it time to call for help with your ducts? Let’s take a look.
When your energy bills are sky high.
Have you noticed a big jump in your monthly energy costs but haven’t changed the way you use your HVAC system? This can be an indication of air loss, which is a common problem with faulty ductwork. In fact, it’s estimated that faulty ductwork can account for up to 30% of your home’s total air loss, so if you are seeing sudden, high bills, call for help today.
When you are seeing too much dust and dirt in your home.
Your ductwork can accumulate a great deal of dust and dirt, especially if they haven’t been cleaned in a long time. If the build-up is large enough, the air blowing through your vents will start to bring the excess dust and dirt with it, and deposit it into your living spaces. This can be particularly bad for allergy sufferers.
When you’ve had an infestation.
No homeowner wants to think about “things” inhabiting the ductwork, but it does happen, and when it does, the ductwork needs to be thoroughly cleaned and it’s a good idea to also sanitize. Critters and insects leave a lot behind when they take up residence in your ductwork so it’s important to remove all traces of them completely so they don’t return.
When you need any kind of duct services in Milwaukie, OR, call the people you can trust: Downtown Air & Heat.
What Factors Are Part of a Load Calculation?
Friday, March 20th, 2015There 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!
How an Aprilaire Air Purifier Can Benefit Your Home
Friday, March 13th, 2015We 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.
Can I Do My Own Spring AC Maintenance?
Friday, March 6th, 2015Maintenance 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!
Types of Ignition Systems for Furnaces
Thursday, January 29th, 2015There 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.
Why Is My Furnace Booming?
Thursday, January 22nd, 2015It’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.
What Are the Benefits of Duct Cleaning?
Monday, January 12th, 2015Quick! When was the last time you had your ducts cleaned? If you can’t remember the last time you had your ducts cleaned, or if you’ve never had them cleaned, you likely have a big problem that you can’t even detect. Ducts serve a vital role inside the home, allowing central heating and air conditioning systems to circulate air throughout the living space. Without ducts, many home heating and air conditioning systems would not be possible. Unfortunately, ducts are also home to a lot of unsavory things that can lessen your quality of life. Read on to find out why duct cleaning is necessary.
Contaminants in the Ducts
The air in your home is actually filled with thousands of different particulates and microorganisms. Most of these are harmless, but there are several that can provoke allergy attacks and more serious illnesses. These contaminants include dust, pollen, bacteria, insect dander, viruses, mold, and many others. Though they can be found in smaller numbers throughout the house, the ducts are often the central hub for these contaminants. This is because the ducts are out of the way, and relatively undisturbed by human or animal activity in the home. The contaminants collect in the ducts until the heat or air is turned on, at which point they are blown out of the vents and throughout the house, where they come in contact with humans and affect their health.
Duct Cleaning
The primary reason for duct cleaning is to eliminate as much of these airborne contaminants as possible. Depending on the type of ducts you have, an HVAC technician can either suck all the debris out of the network with a specialized vacuum or carefully clean each area with a set of brushes. By cleaning the ducts in your home once every year or two, you can substantially increase your air quality and health. If you neglect your ducts, however, you provide a haven for these germs and other contaminants from which to infect you.
If you haven’t had your ducts cleaned in a while, call Downtown Air & Heat. We provide duct cleaning throughout the Orlando area.
Can’t I Install a Dehumidifier Myself?
Monday, January 5th, 2015High levels of humidity can be quite a pain both inside the home and out. Humidity can cause you to feel hot and sticky and can keep you from enjoying some of the activities you partake in every day. And at this time of year, you never know whether it’s going to be a cool, temperate day, or if moisture in the air will drag you down.
Thankfully, you can purchase a dehumidifier so that you and your family can feel more comfortable inside of the home and so that you can prevent the nasty effects of a potential buildup of moisture. Many people decide to get simple single-room dehumidifiers which they can plug into the wall themselves in order to remove some moisture from a single room. But these don’t take care of moisture in every area of the home.
It’s important to have a dehumidifying system throughout the home if the air in your house is prone to holding moisture. While a single-room dehumidifier can make you feel cooler, it’s unable to reach moisture in parts of the house where it may actually do some damage. When water collects around the walls or on ceilings, it could cause permanent damage to the structure of the building. And what’s worse is the potential for mold growth which could actually make you feel ill. Mold particularly affects family members with asthma and allergies, but it can easily start to take a toll on other household members as well.
It’s important to have whole-home dehumidifying capabilities to prevent moisture from ruining the structure of your home, keeping you uncomfortable, or even making you feel sick. But can you install a whole-house system by yourself? Well, this task will be difficult to complete without the right expertise. A whole-house dehumidifier is located in the ducts and works with your HVAC system to collect and drain moisture. You’ll need professional tools to enter the ducts, often slicing through it or replacing a portion of ductwork. And afterwards, you’ll need to make sure the ducts are sealed properly to prevent air leaks from decreasing the overall efficiency of your unit.
Call Downtown Air & Heat whenever you need a trained professional to install a new dehumidifier in Orlando.
Reasons to Schedule Heating Maintenance
Friday, December 19th, 2014Usually, when you call a technician to your home, you have a pretty good reason for it. Perhaps your heating system is making some particularly strange noises, your heater struggles to switch on, or you just want to upgrade with zone heating or a new thermostat. But you may not know that there are plenty of very good reasons to call a technician when there are no apparent problems with your heating system.
Here in Orlando, we go for a long time without running our heating systems. This means that you may not know if there is a lurking problem with the components of your heater. And with a defunct heating system, you may leave yourself vulnerable to a few different problems that can affect your comfort, your bills, and even your safety.
There are a few good reasons to call a technician for maintenance on a regular basis. We’d like to remind you that it’s not too late for a heating maintenance visit this season, especially since you may end up with the following benefits afterwards.
- A more comfortable space: Maintenance includes an inspection, cleaning, and adjustment of some of the most crucial components to the operation of your system and some of the seemingly minor ones as well. This helps to make sure your unit is in top shape, as a unit runs at its very best well all of the components are in an optimal condition.
- Energy savings: When parts are loose, out of place, bent, or dirty, they have to run for longer and use up more energy to get the house to the proper temperature. This costs you more than expected every month, and a maintenance visit may actually offset the extra cost in some cases.
- Peace of mind: Finally, heating maintenance gives you peace of mind that your system will not breakdown any time soon. And with a gas furnace, you’ll feel confident that there is not a safety issue that could lead to a gas leak.
Call the experts at Downtown Air & Heat to make sure you get a thorough and complete heating maintenance in Orlando. We offer a twice yearly tune-up as part of our maintenance program with discounts on parts and services as well.
