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Two Products You Must Try If You Have Allergies

Andrea Uncategorized

Matt has worked in the HVAC industry for more than 20 years and there are two products he has in his own home that he does not want to live without. One is a UV Sterilization System and the other is a Micro Power Guard high efficiency air cleaner. As a life-long allergy sufferer, he is allergic to pollen, ragweed, animal dander, you name it. However he always says that when he is home, he doesn’t feel like he has allergies. “Growing up I was a mess. But now I can open my windows in my house, and because of the filtration that I have in my system, it’s actually helping clean the air out constantly, so that that’s where it really helps and I don’t suffer.”

Allergy Sufferers Keep Their Homes Closed Up

Homeowners, especially if they have allergies, are reluctant to open their windows. Therefore they are going from heat to air conditioning immediately because they they just cannot handle opening the windows because the suffering is not worth the economic savings that they’ll get by opening the windows and not running the air. This is a good call because that is exactly what the Mayo Clinic recommends if you have allergies. Here is the list of recommendations from the Mayo Clinic to combat the allergy season:

  • Use the air conditioning in your house and car.
  • If you have forced air heating or air conditioning in your house, use high-efficiency filters and follow regular maintenance schedules.
  • Keep indoor air dry with a dehumidifier.
  • Use a portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in your bedroom.
  • Clean floors often with a vacuum cleaner that has a HEPA filter.

If you keep your house closed up and do not have a high efficiency filtration system or UV sterilization system, it is like breathing in a bubble. Homes are built so tight we are all just sharing the same air over and over again and that would be the equivalent of me blowing up a balloon and then having somebody else breathe what’s in the balloon. We’re doing it every day in our homes. Gross. Let’s freshen up that air.

What Does An HVAC Professional Use In His Own House to Combat Allergies?

Two things. One is a UV (Ultraviolet Light) Sterilization System. The UV Sterilization System has two bulbs in it that produce two different types of UVC rays, which are used for killing germs and bacteria and viruses. This is the same type of light they are using at hospitals where they wheel it into a hospital room and shine UVC rays on the surfaces of the room that could potentially have bacteria. The UVC Light is there to kill bacteria and viruses. There is a seperate bulb inside the chamber that produces UVB rays which helps to take care of all of the chemicals that we have in our homes. So many items in our homes off gas chemicals and we breathe them. Think of anything in your home that has a smell: Glade plugins, candles, aerosols, detergents, beaches, even the paint on your walls and the glues in the carpet have chemicals in them and we breathe in those chemicals potentially triggering allergies and illnesses.

Second is a Micro Power Guard Air Filtration System

The Micro Power Guard takes care of the particles floating around our homes. There are particulates in the air such as dust, pollen, animal dander, smoke, etc. that regular air filters don’t do a great job at removing. Regular disposable air filters will catch the bowling ball-sized particles but will leave the finer particles that can effect your allergies. How the Micro Power Guard is so efficient is because it has an electronic polarized media. It uses the electricity to polarize or magnetize itself and turns it into a magnet for particles and it does it through a carbon insert. It uses electricity to pull the small the small fine particles towards it so that it definitely doesn’t get through for you to breathe. We’ve been putting these in four years now and they work better than anything else we’ve used. They’re amazing. They’re safe and reliable too. Our Micro Power Guards have a lifetime warranty. True Story: The only time we had a Micro Power Guard fail was when a customer submerged it in the bathtub in order to clean it. Other than that, they’ll work forever.

Air Envy?

Yes. It’s a thing. We’ve actually had cases of air envy where where one homeowner says, I don’t know what you did next door, but I want air like his. Whatever you did over there. That’s what I want. Once you experience clean air you will notice when it is not there in other homes or buildings. Matt doesn’t notice two cats in his house and he’s allergic to cats. Matt said “I’ve had I’ve had friends over for hours and later said ‘you have cats?’ and I say actually we have two of them and I’m badly allergic to cats. They cannot believe they didn’t notice when they came into my home.”

UV Sterilization System and Micro Power Guard Help With More Than Just Allergies

We’ve written before about how Micro Power Guard Air Filters also help with illnesses in your home. In a study done by Environmental Health and Engineering, Inc.* researchers set out to measure the potential exposure benefits of whole house high efficiency in-duct air cleaners. The study focused on sensitive subpopulations such as those who have asthma or severe allergies. The results indicated that the use of high efficiency in-duct air cleaners provide an effective means of controlling allergen levels not only in a single room, like a portable air cleaner, but the whole house. The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation recommends the use of portable air cleaners in bedrooms of asthmatics. While the use of portable air cleaners in the bedroom did prove to be beneficial in the study, the researchers found that in reality, the use of high efficiency in-duct air cleaners provide a more effective means of controlling allergen levels and the influenza virus not only in a single room, but the whole house.

Perhaps the most interesting result from the study…

Involves the estimation of the risk of influenza infection from an individual who remains in the home over the course of a five-day infectious period with someone who currently has the illness. Since influenza can trigger asthma, the researchers were interested in the effect of high efficiency filters on the transmission of the illness. The study assumed that the infectious individual spent one-half of their time in the bedroom and the other half in the family room, while a healthy individual spent 69% of the corresponding time indoors at the home during which they were exposed to the house-wide average concentration of quanta in air. For this scenario, the risk of infection by influenza was greater than 30% in the ventilation configuration with a portable air cleaner in both of the two rooms frequented by the infectious individual. In comparison, the risk of infection was less than 4% for the high efficiency in-duct system. The “high efficiency air cleaner” used in this study was a high efficiency electrostatic air cleaner with HEPA-like removal efficiency for aerosols. One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning has this product for your home as well as more options that add even more protection for the health of your indoor air.

What Is A Heat Pump?

Andrea Uncategorized , ,

How Do Heat Pumps Work?

Before you understand how a heat pump works you must understand how an air conditioner works. A heat pump works just like an air conditioner except it also runs in the opposite direction in order to create heat as well. In heat pump mode we are taking heat out of the air outside moving it inside.

With an air conditioning system, you have the unit outside and a unit inside (usually the furnace down in your basement). The furnace contains the blower which is our means of moving air. You also have a cooling coil located on top of your furnace. Inside of the air conditioner unit outside is a compressor we’ll think of it as a pump that pumps refrigerant between the indoor and outdoor units. Above the outside compressor is a fan.

In the spring and summer when your thermostat says “hey it is getting a little warm in here.” It sends two signals out. It sends one downstairs to the basement and it turns on the blower. The blower now comes on and it starts pulling all the air out of the house via your return air grills. (You see the return air grills usually high on the wall toward an interior wall.) It starts pulling all the air out of the house and it takes it down to the furnace and it then accelerates it and pushes it through that cooling coil.

The cooling coil is hooked up to the unit outside via the refrigerant lines. That the second signal the thermostat sends out is a signal to the unit outside in the yard. This turns on the compressor and it starts starts pumping refrigerant through the coil inside and circulates to the coil outside and back again. It just got this creates this loop of refrigerant going from inside the house to outside the house.

What we’re doing is were actually absorbing the heat out of the house and into the refrigerant. It is being circulated then outside to the coil where we’re circulating it through that coil and we’re releasing the heat outside in the yard. (If you’ve ever placed your hand above the fan on your outdoor unit you feel hot air. That is actually the hot air that was taken out of your house!)

On the inside portion of your cooling system, we’re taking the warm moist air out of the house. Then we’re blowing it through that cooling coil and chilling it making it cooler. Then that cool air gets blown back inside the house.

That’s how an air conditioner works.

A heat pump does that very same thing. Normally you wouldn’t know the difference between an air conditioner or a heat pump. They look exactly the same but unlike your air conditioner, it also starts up in the wintertime. In the winter time we need heat in the house. When you need heat, the thermostat sends out those same two signals. It turns on the blower downstairs and we start gathering all the air up and blowing it through that coil downstairs.

The thermostat also starts up the unit outside and gets the fan going and everything. However, the heat pump is literally running backwards than how an air conditioner works. The refrigerant flow is the opposite of what it is in the air conditioning mode.

In heat pump mode we are taking heat out of the air outside moving it inside.

Then we release the heat from the outside air into your home inside. It is just the opposite of what the air conditioner does.

If it is already cold outside, how are you taking heat out of the air outside and moving it inside in order to heat your home?

Ah you are paying attention. Though it is 32 degrees outside It is outside feels cold to us. There is still usable heat in the air. Absolute zero is way way way below zero. So, on a 30-35 degree day, there’s plenty of heat that we can absorb out of the air outside and release it inside the home.

Pros and Cons of a Heat Pump

Heat pumps do a great job heating your home, however let’s say the temperature overnight gets down to zero. As it gets colder outside, there is less heat available outside. When it is colder outside, the air we are blowing inside will not feel as warm.

At 30-35 degrees there is plenty of heat available outside to heat a typical home. As it gets colder and colder and colder outside at some point the heat pump is going to be running all the time trying to keep up with the demands of what you need inside. Eventually it will need supplemental help. Supplemental help could mean a gas furnace or electric heat strip heat because it is just too cold outside.

The Economics of the Cost of Heating Your Home

For years here in Johnson County, Kansas City Power and Light would have a heat pump rate. There was a dramatic cut in the rate for electricity. In the winter months you would get a drastic cut off your utility rate. And so it was economically advantageous to operate that heat pump instead of burning natural gas. If you think back 10 years ago, natural gas prices were unstable. They would spike up one year, were would see a fifty to a hundred percent increase in gas prices from one year to the next, so it made it very advantageous to use the electric source to heat your home. When you’re using that heat pump you’re using electricity.

Right now we are in 2019. Kansas City Power and Light has taken away those incentives as far as electric rates. (I have a heat pump sitting out in the yard, but I do not use it.) I also have a high efficiency gas furnace and with the price of natural gas and the efficiency of my appliances, I’m better off just using natural gas to heat my home instead of electricity. Without that break in the electrical rate, there is no economic advantage in using the heat pump and personally I find the warmer air from the gas furnace more comfortable.

Now, some climates are perfect for heat pumps no matter the utility rates. There are places in the south were they don’t have weather that goes much below 40 degrees so only having a heat pump is a perfect solution to heating the home.

Also, as far as efficiency goes, with the all electric heat pump, you can think of it as always twice as efficient as that furnace. The furnace air feels warmer, however the heat pump is running twice as efficiently. It will deliver twice as much heat per dollar as the furnace does.

So it just depends on what your options are on weighing the pros and cons of using a heat pump.

How Do You Know if You Have a Heat Pump?

The dead giveaway is on your thermostat. You’ve got a few more switches on your thermostat if you have a heat pump.

With a regular air conditioner thermostat, there are heat | cool | off positions for your system. There may also be a blower switch which either says automatic or on. A heat pump thermostat has few more switches on it. If you have a heat pump you’ll see a term like emergency heat on the thermostat and you’ll have a heat | cool | off switch just like an air conditioner. The emergency heat is a setting that you can manually turn off the heat pump, and turn on the gas furnace or whatever you use for supplemental heat.

If something malfunctions a with the heating option on the heat pump, you can go to manually go to the emergency heat setting turn off the unit outside and still have a source for heat in that house.

What Is That Loud Noise Coming From My Heat Pump?

There are a few common noises that you may have with a heat pump.

Often you may hear a loud shaking from the outdoor unit. That is most often the heat pump going through a defrost mode. Depending on the weather conditions, there will be times when the heat pump has frost form on the unit outside. It is working normally but when the temperature drops outside the heat pump will ask itself every 90 minutes if there is frost on the outdoor unit. It has little sensors so it will know if there is frost or not. If frost is detected it goes through a defrost cycle. That sounds like a “whoosh”. What happens is in order to get rid of the frost the heat pump will reverse the direction of the refrigerant and run backwards. The unit is trying to use the hot gas of the refrigerant to defrost the unit outside.

If you’re fortunate enough to see this defrost mode, it is quite a show. Since it melts the frost off it turns to steam and so it literally looks like their outdoor unit is getting ready to explode.

Seriously, we have gotten terrified calls from homeowners witnessing the defrost mode thinking that something was blowing up outside.

Pro Tip For Being Kind To Your Heat Pump

If you are running your heat pump during winter storms, it is common to hear a rattling noise outside. Ice can form on the fan blades and possibly even get out of balance because there are ice formations on it.

Ice storms is another can be a problematic time for a heat pump. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to just go ahead and turn it off and run the furnace instead.

Why Does My Air Conditioner Leak Water?

Andrea Uncategorized
why-does-ac-leak-water

Many people ask: Why is my air conditioner leaking water or icing up?  If you see water leaking from your indoor coil or ice on your air conditioner it is having a problem.  The main causes for this are: restricted airflow due to a blocked filter or ice forming, and an incorrect refrigerant charge that can cause ice to form and blow the air to your blower.

The Magic of Refrigeration

When the air conditioner is working normally, it is taking all the hot air from the inside of your home and blowing it across the cold coil that is located near the blower of your hvac system. Included in that hot air from your house is all the moisture and dirt that was in that air as well.  When the air conditioner is working correctly that evaporator coil will condense that moisture and send it to the floor drain while the dry, cool air is sent back into your home making everything feel more comfortable.  The dust and dirt from the air will be blocked by the furnace filter.

Your Air Conditioner Functions as a Giant De-Humidifier

When we take the moisture out of the air it feels more pleasant and your home will feel less muggy.  Almost even more important than the temperature, a lack of humidity in the air makes your whole home more comfortable.

As that moisture is taken out of the air and blown across the cold coil, moisture can freeze to the coil turning it into a block of ice.  If a block of ice forms on your evaporator coil, that will eventually restrict the airflow to the blower causing the entire system to malfunction.

Why Would The Coil Freeze?

An improper refrigerant charge.  If you have an improper refrigerant charge it can cause the evaporator coil to become TOO COLD that will then cause the moisture taken out of the air to freeze to the coil instead of draining to the drain pan.  This then causes a block to the airflow causing the system to shut down.

You will know this is happening if you hear the air conditioner running however you do not feel any airflow from the registers.  That means there is a block in airflow.  It is best to turn off the unit to melt the ice so your service technician can figure out what caused the initial problem.  You can think of the block of ice as a symptom of a different problem that needs to be solved.

Refrigerant Leaks Cause Improper Refrigerant Charge

If your air conditioner was working fine last summer and this summer your refrigerant charge is off, that means there may be a leak somewhere.  Your hvac system should be a closed system where the refrigerant doesn’t go back, stale or run out.  If your system is low on refrigerant there is a leak. Oftentimes people want to fix the problem by recharging their air conditioner with more refrigerant.  However that is not a fix.  If you have an un-repaired leak and you add more refrigerant to your system, that means refrigerant is leaking out as soon as you put it in.

Recharging the air conditioner without fixing a leak is also not the least expensive repair option.  Refrigerant has become extremely expensive depending on type.  It is best to fix the leak first and then correct the refrigerant charge.

Restricted Airflow

An air conditioner can also “ice up” due to a blocked air filter.  If an air filter is extremely dirty and plugged up, it can cause the same effect as a bad refrigerant charge to make the unit operate too cold and will form a block of ice.

Often when you see water dripping from the unit it is because the ice that had formed is thawing when the unit shuts off due to lack of airflow.

Until you thaw out and observe it operating, you won’t know why it is malfunctioning.

Keeping Water Where It Is Not Supposed To Be Can Be A Challenge

Water can cause many problems with your air conditioner.  Another important issue is to make sure you are properly getting the water from your air conditioner to the drain in your basement.  There is a drain pan that is paired with your cooling coil. It is important to keep that drain pan clean and unrestricted.  If there is a clog in the drain pan or the hose from the unit to the pan that can also cause a water problem.

One thing to keep in mind is that your coil is in a cool, wet, dark place.  It is very easy for the water draining from the evaporator coil to turn into very slimy stuff.  You may have heard of “pan treatments” during your routine maintenance visits.  A “pan treatment” will treat the water that sits in the drain pan that will help the drain line, hoses and pan cleared from plugs.  The drain pan has an algaecide to combat the algae and will allow the water to drain properly.

A De-Humidifier Will Help With Unwanted Water On The Ductwork

When the air conditioner is running, the ductwork is cold and dark surrounded by warmer air.  When the moisture from your home comes into contact with the cold ductwork, that can cause moisture to form on the outside of the ductwork.  This problem can be solved with a whole home dehumidifier.  A whole home dehumidifier can be attached to the ductwork or directly to areas that have the biggest moisture problems.

Moisture in a home knows no boundaries.  If storage room is humid it’s getting into the rest of the house.  If you dry out humid spots, it helps the whole house.

Dehumidifiers also give your air conditioner a break from bearing the sole responsibility of removing humidity from your home.  With a dehumidifier you do not need to run the air conditioner as much to maintain a comfortable temperature.  You can also keep your house a few degrees warmer and not run ac as much with a dehumidifier since a dehumidifier makes the air feel cooler.  Since the dehumidifier runs independently from the air conditioner, on days where it is not hot, but humid, the home can be kept comfortable and yet not use the air conditioner at all.

Why does my furnace turn on, but not heat?

Andrea Uncategorized
furnace-comes-on-no-heat

Why does my furnace turn on, but then not heat? There could be a variety of possible problems.  Most furnaces will default to just running the blower if it senses a malfunction.  Furnaces have an array of sensors that will detect overheating and automatically shut off the heating element if it senses a possible safety problem.  This is why you will experience your furnace “running” but not heating.

This is one of the most common questions we hear.  Although it is a common problem, there could be many possible reasons why your furnace would turn on, but not heat.  Ramon Blachly, an industry expert for more than 35 years, discusses in the video below how and why this may be happening to you.

Gas pressure: a possible, but very rare problem

On extremely bitter cold days, during a time of day where most people would be home, gas pressure could suffer.  Lower gas pressure could cause your furnace to lock itself out and stop heating.  If you turn everything off, then ask your thermostat to call for heat again and it comes on, this may have been the problem.

Check your filter

High efficiency air filters do a great job at collecting dirt that would otherwise be sent into your furnace and out into your home’s air.  However, if they get too dirty, they could cause a malfunction with your furnace.  If your furnace stops working, it may be due to overheating caused by your dirty furnace filter.  If you find that your filter is packed with dirt, that may have been the problem.  We recommend you change your filter every month if you use a disposable filter.

It is probably not the pilot light

While a pilot light going out used to be a very common reason for your furnace to run, but not heat, it is not a typical problem anymore.  If you have a furnace that was installed in the last 15 to 20 years, chances are your furnace does not ignite with the use of a pilot light at all.  Instead most furnaces today use electronic starters that eliminate the need for a standard pilot light.

It is possible your thermostat got reset

We’re not going to point any fingers, but it is possible your thermostat got reset without you being aware that it happened.  If you wake up and it is cold in your house, it could be that your thermostat was accidentally put in a mode where it is not calling for heat when it usually does.  Try resetting your thermostat and see if that was the problem.

Listen for the sequence of operation

If you suspect your furnace is not operating properly, you can listen to the following sequence of operation to determine which component of your furnace is malfunctioning. Note: This is how most furnaces function. Yours could be different.

1. Your thermostat will call for heat

2. Your inducer fan should come on.  The inducer fan is tied to your venting components.  If the inducer fan doesn’t come on there could be a variety of venting issues.  Maybe there is a bird nest somewhere or an ice block somewhere…it would take some detective work to figure this out.

3. After about 20-30 seconds  your ignitor will light.  You’ll see a glow like a lightbulb.

4. Then the gas will come on.  You’ll see burners light and then the ignitor will go out.  The furnace will warm up for about 30 seconds.

5. Then the main blower will come on.

6.  At the end of the heating cycle, the opposite will happen.

If you listen for all of the above you can loosely diagnose what the problem is.  Does the inducer fan come on, but the ignitor doesn’t light?  Bingo we’ve narrowed it down.

Is this a serious problem?

Sometimes a freak problem will happen and your furnace will function properly after resetting the thermostat.  However, most often, if your furnace malfunctions once, it will probably do it again.  Furnaces are made to detect safety issues before they become dangerous and shut off the furnace. It may be safer and more convenient to have a professional come out and fix the problem before it happens again.

How to help your furnace help you in the winter months

Your furnace is already working extremely hard to maintain a comfortable temperature while the temperatures outside feel arctic.  There are a few things you can do to be more friendly to your furnace while it is working overtime.

  1. Don’t let your house cool off while you are not there or at night. 
    Many of us economically-minded folks try to have our furnace run as little as possible so our utility bills will be lower.  Oftentimes while we are not at home we will let our house get colder and then heat it up more when we get home.  Ordinarily that is not a bad idea. However when it is frigid outside, it is best to just leave your thermostat at a comfortable temperature even when you are not there.  Your furnace will struggle to make up the difference in temperature and may it be impossible to recover the temperature in the amount of time you expect.
  2. Open cabinet doors to let the heat in.
     This will warm up your plumbing and make your house a more comfortable and consistent temperature.
  3. Keep your furnace clean and serviced
    It is remarkable how few of our customers will have a breakdown after they have their furnace maintained.  The best way to ensure your furnace will be running smoothly is to clean and check all those components in your furnace that could cause it to malfunction.  While you can certainly change your filter we recommend leaving the cleaning of the inside components of the furnace to a trained professional.

Watch the video below from Ramon with even more information.

How To Protect Your Air Conditioner From Power Outages

Andrea Uncategorized
ac-lightning-strike

Nobody wants to replace their air conditioner before they absolutely must.

Power outages, even for a few seconds can sometimes destroy your air conditioner or severely damage it. By installing a surge protector, upgraded contactor, and a hard start kit, your air conditioner will be protected from lightning strikes and power outages that wreck havoc on your most expensive appliance: your air conditioner.

We can get some wicked storms in the Midwest.

In 2011 our office building was struck by lightning and caught fire. We experienced a total loss of our office and had to rebuild. While nothing could have stopped the fire from happening, we did become aware of how often lightning and simple power outages can severely damage your furnace and air conditioner. After our experience and realizing that many of our customers would have problems with their air conditioners after power outages, we put together a simple package of products that will protect your hvac system in case of lightning strikes or power outages.

There are three things we recommend to protect your air conditioner:

1. Surge Protector

Be honest. Do you have a surge protector to protect your $300 television, but not to protect your $10,000 air conditioner? We see it all the time. Here’s what happens: it is the middle of summer with about 1000% humidity so your air conditioner is working overtime. Your lights go off for a brief moment then come back on. All clear? No. If the power outage happens while your air conditioner was running the power outage forced the hard-working air conditioner to stop suddenly then immediately turn itself back on.

2. Hard Start Kit

Starting up is hard to do.

The compressor is the heart of the air conditioner. When it tries to start, it uses a lot of amps which is very hard on the components used to start the system. The more difficult it is for a compressor to start, the more wear and tear is happening to your air conditioner. If a compressor fails to start altogether, no air conditioning for you. A Hard Start Kit is a type of capacitor that gives your air conditioner extra help when it is struggling to turn on. This is a component that does not come standard on most air conditioners so we recommend adding one to your system.

3. Upgraded Contactor

The contactor is a switch for the air conditioner that turns the system on. Most standard capacitors are not capable of monitoring the amount of power going into the air conditioner. Your cooling system needs sufficient power to turn on and if it tries to turn on without sufficient power, this can hurt the system. A better, upgraded contactor will automatically stop the air conditioner from trying to come on if there is not enough power to do it harmlessly.

As we said before, the hardest task you ask your air conditioner to do is to start. The easier you make the starting process with a hard start kit, and ensure it does it with enough power by using an upgraded capacitor, your air conditioner will last longer and run better.

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