Archive for April, 2011

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Can I Choose Environmentally Friendly Coolants?

Friday, April 29th, 2011

Air conditioners are indispensable in many parts of the country, but their environmental impact has long been a source of controversy. In particular, the coolants that were used in the earliest air conditioners, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have done quite a bit of damage to the Earth’s protective ozone layer.

When this affect was discovered, countries all over the world acted to have them phased out of production and use in air conditioning. While CFCs have not been produced since 1995, there are still many air conditioning units functioning today that use CFCs. As these units wear out, of course, the CFCs will gradually disappear from use altogether.

Another type of coolant that is commonly used in air conditioners is hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). These have a slightly lower environmental impact than their cousin CFCs, but they are still not ideal in terms of preserving the ozone layer and impeding the progress of global warming. HCFCs are gradually being phased out as well, and they will no longer be produced at all by 2030.

However, it is still possible to buy air conditioners that use HCFCs as a coolant, and if you can avoid this, you should. HCFCs are not nearly as environmentally friendly as some of the other options on the market, and if you are concerned about the effect that these types of chemicals can have on our environment, it is best to steer clear of air conditioners that use HCFCs.

So what coolants are considered environmentally friendly? Well, there are actually two options in this regard. The first are hydroflourocarbons (HFCs). Although they are quite similar to CFCs and HCFCs, HFCs do not contain chlorine and so do not do the type of damage that their predecessors were capable of. You can find air conditioners that use HFCs relatively easily by looking for an “ozone friendly” label on the box.

Refrigerant blends are also becoming a more and more popular environmentally friendly coolant solution for air conditioners as well. Although these types of coolants typically cost more to produce and so can drive up the cost of the air conditioners that use them, they should begin to come down in price as they are more widely adopted across the industry. Just as with HFCs, look for the “ozone friendly” label to identify air conditioners that use refrigerant blends as coolants.

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Save by Buying Low, Buying at the Right Time

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Buying a new HVAC system is a big step and a big investment. You know you will be spending a considerable amount of money, but it is worth it to get the right system for your home. However, that does not mean you should not shop around and compare prices before you buy. Prices in this industry are far from static, and you could get a great deal if you do some research and know what you are looking for.

Of course, you first have to have the luxury of being able to shop around. If your HVAC system has broken down completely, you will be much more limited on what options you can explore and how much you will pay for the system that you want.

But if you know that you are going to be replacing your existing HVAC system sometime soon, the best thing you can do is to start looking around at what is on the market now. Get a feel for the type of system that you want, the features that are important to you and what it will cost you to get all of that in one package deal.

You can also compare the prices for the same system offered by various retailers and installation companies. While it may seem like the same system should cost the same everywhere, this is often not the case. Also, different places may be offering special discounts or installation specials at different times, and you want to put yourself in the best position to take advantage of that.

The time of year can also affect the price of the system you are looking at. Buying a heating system in the middle of the summer, for instance, is often a good way to get a great deal. So if you plan ahead a little bit, you can make out big when you see the deal you were looking for.

Staying on top of the market is the best way for you to see how the prices on different systems change over time and you will be in a great position to grab a good deal when it comes up. You can also often get good deals on HVAC systems that are close to being replaced by a newer model. Just make sure that the newer model does not offer too much more than the previous year’s and you will likely come out ahead.

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Home Inspection 101

Monday, April 25th, 2011

When you are buying a house, you want to make sure you know exactly what you are getting. One of the most important things you should do before you agree on a deal is to hire a professional home inspector to come out and take a look. However, hiring these inspectors is expensive and you do not want to waste time and money on a house that is not worth it.

For that reason, it can be very helpful if you can take a look at a place on your own first to see if it is even worth making an offer on. Of course, you cannot complete the type of inspection that a professional would be able to do, but you can take a look for some important and easy to spot problems that will give you a good idea whether or not it is even worth taking the process on this house any further.

For instance, you should start by taking a look at the house from a good distance away. Make sure the house actually looks like it is standing upright and that it is even. Sometimes from a distance you can see that a house is actually leaning to one side when that is not obvious up close.

Also, this will give you a chance to check out the lay of the land around the house. Remember, you want water to flow naturally away from your house so that it does not get into the basement and cause a problem on a regular basis. That means that you want the ground to slope away from the house rather than be flat or slope towards it.

Check out all of the plumbing and be sure to run water, flush toilets and thoroughly inspect all bathrooms and the kitchen. You want to see high quality fixtures and good water pressure. Also, check to see how long you have to wait to get hot water at various locations throughout the house.

Be sure to find out what type of heating system the house has in place as well and how old it is. Even a system that works well will need to be replaced soon if it is more than 10 years old. While this may not necessarily stop you from purchasing the house, the cost of replacing that system can certainly impact the amount you are willing to offer.

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Save with Maintenance on HVAC

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

You can never save too much money by making improvements and taking steps around the house. Of course, it is hard sometimes to see exactly where the money saving opportunities are. That’s because you expect to spend a certain amount on various types of services when you own a home. You know you are always going to have heating and cooling bills, for instance. But are they higher than they need to be?

For many people, the answer to that question is “yes.” And it is not because they use their home heating and cooling systems inappropriately or because they have the wrong equipment. It is simply because they neglect to get their HVAC systems the regular care and maintenance that would keep them running at peak effectiveness and energy efficiency.

When your HVAC system is new, it runs well and can be remarkably energy efficient. However, over time that energy efficiency will gradually deteriorate. This drop off in efficiency is often not obvious at first, but if you compare your energy bills from the year you got your system to bills for the same time of year and same usage five years later, you will probably notice that the bill has gone up quite a bit, and not just because energy prices have gone up.

You can do a lot to prevent this loss of energy efficiency, though, if you simply have a professional HVAC technician come out once a year and give your system a tune up. During this type of maintenance service, the technician will check over your entire system looking for worn out parts and buildup that could be interfering with your system’s performance.

They can clean out any areas of your HVAC equipment that require it and they will be able to make any necessary repairs at that time. Often, a technician performing this type of maintenance will be able to catch minor issues before they are able to develop into bigger problems. And while you still have to pay for the maintenance visit, the cost is much less than what you would pay for an emergency repair.

It also represents a substantial savings over what you would be paying on your energy bills every month without it. Regular HVAC maintenance can preserve the vast majority of your system’s energy efficiency loss over time, and it is never too late to start. Even if it has been several years since you had your system installed, you will still be able to get back the vast majority of your original energy efficiency by starting with regular maintenance now.

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Whole House Air Quality System. What Is It? When and Why Do You Need It?

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

There are many ways to control the indoor air quality of your home. The easiest way to is to clean your vents and ducts. This reduces the number of pollutants like mold and dust that get into your air each day. In some cases, however, you may need something more powerful and that’s where a whole house air quality system comes in.

What Does Whole House Air Quality Provide?

There are many filters and purifiers on the market that can be operated in a single room such as your living room or the bedroom of your child. However, if you have a more substantial contaminant problem, a whole house system actually attaches to the source of fresh air.

Most whole house systems integrate directly into the ventilation ducts and fans of your house. This ensures the air is purified and cleaned as it enters your home, not after it has circulated for some time. Air cleaners are also integrated into ducts where UV lighting and ionizers can remove bacteria, viruses, smoke and exhaust fumes that come in from outside.

Your furnace and air conditioner will also be filtered above and beyond standard manufacturer filtering, ensuring there are less contaminants traveling through your ducts to start with.

When Do You Need It?

The upgrade to a whole house system isn’t just for those suffering from dust, pollen and pet dander. These can easily be removed with regular cleaning of your ducts and a HEPA filter in each room affected. However, if your home tests high for various gases, exhaust fumes, or molds that are beyond your control, a whole house system is a great way to protect yourself.

In particular, these systems are useful when the contaminants come in from outside. Most indoor contaminants can be removed with careful maintenance of your comfort system, but if your neighbor has a leaky exhaust pipe or if you live near a busy highway, you can’t do much about it other than to filter the air as it comes inside.

Choosing a whole home air quality system starts with knowing what you need to filter. So, proper air testing is highly recommended. After testing, make sure your current systems will integrate well with the new air quality controls. If everything works properly, you’ll be well on your way to fresh, clean air in no time.

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Why Install a Bathroom Ventilation Fan?

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Your bathroom is one of the dampest rooms in your house. Without proper ventilation, you put it at risk of developing mold and mildew which can then spread and enter your home’s air supply. But, what kind of ventilation fan is best and how will it help you remove those unwanted allergens?
Choosing a Ventilation Fan
Step one is to find a ventilation fan that will remove excess humidity and moisture from your bathroom. When you take a shower, wash your face or run a bath, not only do you fill the room with a lot of water, you heat it up. With nowhere to go, that heat lingers and everything from tiles to wood fixtures will absorb the moisture. Over time, it leads to mold and mildew growth – some of it damaging to your bathroom, and much of it damaging to your health.
A ventilation fan must be efficient in removing the excess humidity in your bathroom and pushing it outside. But, that ventilation fan shouldn’t make your bathroom too cold or waste a great deal of the heating or cooling energy you pay so much for.
The best solution then is to get a fan that either connects to a central exhaust system to remove the humidity and air from your bathroom or use an energy recovery ventilator to keep the warm or cool air where it belongs. These systems will remove only the stale air filled with humidity and allergens.
Integrating with the Rest of Your Home
You can have a simple bathroom fan placed in your home that just blows air out of the room. This is effective and will reduce the risk of things like mold and mildew, but it’s costly to operate due to energy loss and it doesn’t integrate with the rest of your home well.
That’s why a good fan should be part of a larger exhaust and ventilation system. The type you need depends largely on the overall humidity of your home and your annual heating and cooling costs, but generally, a simple system that exchanges heat before air leaves your home will do the trick.
Most modern homes have bathroom ventilation already installed. If yours does not, take a closer look at the options currently available. You’ll find different sizes, types and brands designed to fit your particular needs. Whatever you choose, simple ventilation can do wonders for a previously damp and mildew filled bathroom.

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Downflow Gas Furnace Tips

Friday, April 15th, 2011

Proper care of a downflow gas furnace starts with proper installation and continues through routine cleaning and maintenance. But before you can even have a downflow gas furnace installed, you need to make sure it’s the right fit for your home.

Downflow gas furnaces are so named because of the direction that air flows through them. The cooler air is taken in at the top and directed downward, heating up as it travels, and then is expelled through the bottom of the furnace into ducts that feed the rest of the house. Because of this configuration, downflow  gas furnaces are typically installed in attics as opposed to basements.

If you have a basement and you’d rather install your furnace there, then an upflow furnace is probably the better choice for you. However, as many newer homes don’t have basements at all, downflow gas furnaces are growing in popularity and usefulness.

As with any other furnace, it’s important to have a downflow gas furnace professionally installed. This will ensure that the venting system is properly in place and that your house will be heated as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Of course, there are some other things you can do to help your furnace heat your home and keep your energy bills down. For instance, make sure you have proper insulation everywhere, particularly in the attic and crawlspaces where much of the normal heat loss in a home occurs.

You can also make your home more airtight in the winter by sealing up any unused windows and doors with plastic and making sure all storm windows are in place. Basically anyplace that a draft could develop, you could be losing heat and that costs you money. So to ensure that all of the money you’re spending to heat your house is actually going to that purpose, check periodically to make sure your home is still sealed up tight.

Also, just like any other type of furnace, a downflow gas furnace will require regular maintenance to make sure it continues to run efficiently and to replace any parts that may have worn out over time. Having a professional technician come out once a year to carry out this type of service will wind up saving you a bunch of money and can help catch problems before they are able to get out of hand.

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Attic Insulation – Does it Save You Money?

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

While you may not spend too much time up in your attic in the winter – or at any time of year for that matter – the conditions up there can wind up having a significant impact on the size of your heating bills. Fortunately, if you’re leaking heat out of your attic like crazy, there is something you can do about it. And it won’t even take you a lot of time or cost too much, but it will wind up saving you a ton of money in the long run.

So what is it that you can do to magically save so much on your heating bills? Well, the truth is that all you really need to do is insulate your attic properly. Since the attic isn’t typically a space that people occupy often, builders often leave these areas uninsulated. That means that they’re pretty cold in the winter. But if you’re not sitting up there, does it really make any difference?

Absolutely it does. The problem with having an uninsulated attic is that heat rises and so will quickly move to the highest point in your home. This is the attic, of course, and if the attic isn’t insulated, all of that warm air that you’ve been paying to heat will go right out the top of your house. Even if the door to the attic is shut up tight, you will still be losing heat into it.

And if the attic isn’t insulated, chances are that there’s no insulation anywhere above the ceiling of the top floor of your house. With heat continually rising and escaping out of the top of your home, you’ll find that your home heating system has to work much harder to keep the house at a comfortable temperature. And the harder your heating system works, the more you’re paying in energy bills each month.

Fortunately, adding insulation to your attic is relatively easy and won’t cost you much at all. And the savings you start to see immediately on your energy bills will more than make up for the expense of having the insulation installed. Even if your attic does have some insulation in place already, it may be worth checking to make sure it’s still working well. Some types of insulation simply break down over time and you might not be getting anywhere near the protection you thought you were.

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Chimney Inspection – Why Is This Important?

Monday, April 11th, 2011

Whether you use your fireplace on a regular basis or not, it’s always a good idea to have someone come out once a year or so to clean and inspect your chimney. Because the truth is that you have no idea what’s going on in that part of your house or up on the roof.

In general, you wouldn’t notice that there was a problem on the roof or in the chimney until it got bad enough to generate symptoms inside like a leaky ceiling. And if your chimney isn’t in good shape when you do go to use your fireplace, you could be creating a hazardous situation for yourself and your family.

There simply isn’t much about your chimney that you can discern with the naked eye or from the ground. In fact, the portion of your chimney that’s visible at all is really a very small percentage of the whole. There could be all types of structural problems hidden deep within the chimney that aren’t causing noticeable problems yet but that could begin to develop into larger issues if left untreated over time.

Just like with anything else, it’s best to get chimney repairs done early before they become larger problems. While a chimney may seem like a pretty straightforward piece of equipment, it actually has to retain a certain set of characteristics to make sure it functions properly and channels exhaust from a fire out properly.

The airflow through a chimney is carefully controlled and regulated. Any small defect or crack in the structure can cause smoke and other dangerous gasses to stay in the house rather than traveling outward. Also, just about anything can fall into your chimney during the year, and that may lead to partial or full blockages of the channel. If you don’t have your chimney checked before you use it, you’re very likely to wind up with an unpleasant surprise when you do want to curl up in front of a cozy fire.

Another side benefit of having your chimney inspected and cleaned is that it winds up getting a professional up on your roof looking around. Aside from chimney problems, they may also be able to spot damage or decay in part of your roof that you’ll be able to get fixed sooner rather than later.

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What Is a Cast Iron Radiator?

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Cast iron radiators are part of a type of home heating system that has been around for generations. While these types of systems have been largely displaced by newer forced air heating, they do still hold some distinct advantages over their more modern counterparts.

Cast iron radiators are heated as either hot water or steam is circulated through them from a furnace or boiler. As the cast iron heats up, it radiates the heat outward into the air and can thoroughly heat your home evenly and efficiently.

In fact, heating systems that use cast iron radiators are quite a bit more efficient at heating homes. They also don’t typically have the types of problems associated with certain types of forced air heating like hot spots, cold spots or generally uneven heat distribution throughout the house.

Cast iron radiator heating systems are also typically cheaper to install than forced air systems because they don’t require ductwork. Instead, a closed system of pipes links the radiators to the boiler, and those are much easier to put in place and generally take up much less space than ductwork does.

While radiators can also be made out of some other metals, nothing holds the heat as well as cast iron radiators do. It is also safer to heat cast iron to higher temperatures, so you don’t have to worry about keeping them on too long or running them in extreme circumstances. They also hold the heat extremely well, so they can continue to heat a room even after the heat has been shut off.

Of course, cast iron radiators are not a solution for keeping your home cool in the winter as some of the newer heat pumps and other central forced air heating and cooling systems are. If you have cast iron radiators in place, you’ll still have to invest in some type of air conditioning system if you want to keep your home cool enough in the summer.

Also, because they do get very hot, cast iron radiators can present a potential burn hazard, particularly to small children. However, there are many different types of radiator covers available that can both mitigate that risk and add a nice touch of style to any room in your home.

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