Have you ever wondered why annual maintenance is so important to your AC System? Most people run their air conditioners constantly during the hot summer months. As your air conditioner runs dirt can build up on the evaporator coil and in the filter. This dirt buildup reduces air flow and the amount of heat your coils can absorb. This decreases the efficiency of your system, and increases your overall energy cost. Changing your air filters regularly will slow down this build-up, but you should check your coil at least once a year to see if it needs to be cleaned. This is just one of the many things that a professional technician will check during your annual AC tune-up. Accutemp Heating and Air Conditioning is now offering a $49 Complete Air Conditioning Tune-up special, call today to schedule your maintenance check.
Archive for the ‘Air Conditioning’ Category
Why is Annual Maintenance so Important?
Friday, May 11th, 2012Tips to Make Your Louisville HVAC System More Efficient
Monday, May 7th, 2012Considering the fact that up to half of the energy used in a home goes toward heating and cooling the interior space, it is smart to make sound decisions regarding the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. Heating and cooling with your Louisville HVAC system can become a comfortable investment when it is done efficiently. Below are some tips to make your HVAC system more efficient.
Regularly Maintain HVAC Equipment
Annual tune-ups of heating and cooling systems can easily improve HVAC system efficiency. Some of these steps include:
- Ensure outdoor unit has proper ventilation, is free of debris or foliage growth, and is located in the shade
- Check thermostat settings for comfort while home and to save energy while away
- Tighten electrical connections and measure voltage and currents on motors
- Lubricate all moving parts
- Inspect and clean out the condensate drain on central air conditioning units
- Check controls of the system for proper operation
Change Air Filters
Many air filters should be changed every three months, but some as often as every month. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendation as well as simple common sense by checking the filters frequently during high-usage times and replacing as necessary.
Seal All Household Ducts
Heating and cooling ducts can be huge energy wasters if they are improperly sealed. These ducts can be in an attic, basement, crawlspace, or garage, and can be easily repaired with duct sealant, or metal-backed tape along seams and connections. As well, wrapping the ducts in insulation will keep them from overheating in the summer or freezing in the winter.
Install a Programmable Thermostat
A programmable thermostat can control how hot or cold a home is every hour of every day within a week. During the summer they can be set to higher settings while residents are away on vacation, and during winter they can be set to lower settings while residents are away at work or school. This is a great way to save on energy costs throughout the year, as keeping a more consistent house temperature also helps the HVAC system to run more smoothly.
Install ENERGY STAR® Certified Equipment
When an HVAC system is more than ten years old, or if it no longer works properly it is probably time for a replacement. Prior to replacing an entire HVAC system, it is prudent to check for air leaks in ducts, which can be a major cause for heating and cooling issues. If it is determined that it is time for a professional to come in and install a new HVAC system, the savings in energy will be quite dramatic indeed.
Use any or all of the above tips will make your Louisville HVAC system more efficient, while saving you money throughout the peak seasons of heating and cooling usage. Call AccuTemp Heating & Air Conditioning today if you need more information about any of these energy saving tips!
The Importance of Air Conditioner Maintenance
Friday, May 4th, 2012
Did you know that your air conditioner’s filters, coils, and fin all require regular maintenance just so your air conditioner can maintain its current efficiency? If you neglect maintenance, over time your air conditioner will use more energy and not cool your home as effectively. Not to mention needing more frequent repairs and having a shorter lifespan! Remember to change your filters every month and schedule a maintenance visit with an HVAC professional once a year. Take advantage of our $49 AC Tune Up special!
Having trouble with your AC?
Friday, April 27th, 2012
Air conditioners are built to last a long time, so if yours stop working suddenly, there are a few things you should check before deciding you need a major repair. Your high pressure limit switch might trip if it is very hot outside; you can reset it using a button located on your compressor’s access panel. You should also check to your fuses or circuit breakers. If you think a tripped circuit breaker is the problem, give your air conditioner a few minutes to cool down before you reset it. If you continue to have problems with your air conditioner, don’t hesitate to call a professional!
For more AC and home comfort tips look for the light bulb on our site. You can also visit our Tips and FAQs section. Is your home comfort system not running properly, need to schedule an appointment?
Louisville Air Conditioning Tips: How to Troubleshoot a Failed AC Unit
Monday, April 23rd, 2012In most cases, a failed air conditioning system may be fixed by going through some troubleshooting guidelines. If you would like one of our Louisville air conditioning technicians to help you get your AC unit running again, give AccuTemp Heating & Air Conditioning a call for assistance.
Here are some basic steps to try before you call for a repair.
Check All Controls and Fuses
When your air conditioner won’t cool your home properly, always check the thermostat to see if it is on “cool” and set for the right temperature. If the air conditioner has shut down, check to make sure that the unit is receiving power by looking in the fuse box for a flipped circuit breaker and also making sure it is plugged in properly. You can also inspect the visible wires and electrical components for obvious damages. Call a Louisville air conditioning technician if you see physical damage to the electrical components. Never try to fix this yourself.
Sometimes when there’s extreme weather conditions in the summer, such as very high temperatures or high humidity levels, the high-pressure switch can get flipped and turn off the air conditioner. You can easily find the switch on most AC models in the compressor’s access panel. Check your owner’s manual or call us if you don’t know how to locate or reset the limit switch.
Check for Refrigerant Problems or Condensate Pan Leaks
Refrigerant problems caused by the wrong amount of refrigerant can keep the AC unit from cooling your home properly, and you can usually tell if there’s a refrigerant issue by looking for frost or icing on the evaporator coil. When there’s excess coil icing, it means that there isn’t enough cool air being delivered to your home. If you see thick frost on the evaporator coil, a technician will most likely need to charge the refrigerant, or there could be a leak in the refrigerant line.
Condensate leaks into the condensate pan can also cause an air conditioner to fail. The condensate drip pan is installed underneath the air handler to catch condensate leaks if the drain system gets clogged. Most of the time, a small clog in the drain line can be easily cleared. Also check the condensate switch for issues; sometimes these can be defective and cause your air conditioner to shut down.
At AccuTemp Heating & Air Conditioning, we want to be the only Louisville air conditioning contractor you’ll ever need. Call us any time to get troubleshooting advice for your AC system.
Louisville Air Conditioning Guide: Outdoor Components
Monday, April 16th, 2012As long as all the parts are working well, our Louisville air conditioning is a modern convenience we can easily take for granted and overlook. Cool air makes our lives simply better, but is a complicated process based on an old theory and modern technology.
No matter the size, in every unit, the basic purpose is one of extracting heat from the conditioned space and moving it to the outside, leaving cool air in its place. This process easily divides into indoor and outdoor components.
Air Conditioning 101
Heat naturally moves towards colder temperatures, so an air conditioner uses compounds know as refrigerants, which are able to rapidly change from gas to liquid form a low temperatures, to alternately absorb and release heat. You air conditioner is a closed loop system in which the refrigerant can change form again and again.
Having expanded to a vacuous state with plenty of room between molecules to absorb heat, the refrigerant is compressed tightly, condenses back into liquid form and releases the heat to the outdoors.
In the Box Outside
Placed on a small slab on the ground alongside many homes or on the roof of large buildings, air conditioning units contain the compressor and condensing coils that enable the main (and noisiest) function of the process.
The refrigerant is contained within a closed loop, entering the compressor as an expanded gas full of heat. Under pressure, that heat is released when the molecules are squeezed so tightly together the refrigerant returns to its liquid state.
Then passing into the condensing coils, a series of delicate fins, the released heat is allowed to dissipate through the fins into the air where a small fan blows it away. Water is also a by-product of the condensation and drains into a pan and eventually into the ground.
The condensing coil ends at the exchange valve where it is held to create just the right pressure for the evaporating coil indoors to operate at its maximum efficiency.
Annual Maintenance
When maintained on a regular basis, the system requires little attention and over sight beyond scheduled appointments with a Louisville air conditioning company. If you need to schedule your annual maintenance visit, give AccuTemp Heating & Air Conditioning a call!
Earth Day at the Louisville Zoo!
Friday, April 13th, 2012Celebrate Earth Day with the Louisville Zoo! The entire month of April the Louisville Zoo will be hosting “Party for the Planet: A Month-long Celebration of the Earth”. Each week is jam packed with events for Zoo visitors of all ages. Admission will be only $2 on Earth Day, and the “Zoo will have in-depth displays on hand which highlight its conservation efforts throughout the year and the good work the Zoo’s Eco-Partners are doing across the globe”.
You can celebrate Earth Day at home by changing the air filters in your HVAC system. Changing your air filters once a month, or as needed, can increase the efficiency of your HVAC system. Scheduling a yearly maintenance visit will also help maintain performance levels. Overall, you should keep your heating and cooling system clean and free of debris in or near the vents and air ducts to ensure that there’s adequate airflow. Lack of airflow causes the system to work harder and less efficiently.
Your Louisville HVAC System and Ventilation
Monday, April 9th, 2012The vent system in your home is vital to the operation of your Louisville HVAC system. Without successful ventilation, your home won’t have the necessary clean air to keep you and your family healthy. So, what does proper ventilation require and how can you ensure your home has it? Here are some quick tips.
Install the Right Parts from the Start
Proper ventilation should result in even air pressure in your home to avoid problems with gas pilot lights. It should also be as energy efficient as possible and provide clean air through proper filtration and cleaning of the air that comes in. The best way to ensure your home has the ventilation needed to stay comfortable and safe for your entire family is to check the total size of the home and then measure the concentrations of certain pollutants like dander, pollen and smoke. A Louisville air conditioning contractor can provide these services for you.
Duct Cleaning
Your ducts are how the air in your home circulates, so professional duct cleaning is important to help keep your air clean and healthy. Dust, pet pander, and other contaminants can build up in your ducts, which can make your HVAC system work harder and your home unhealthy for people with allergies. At your next HVAC tune-up, ask your contractor to take a look at your ducts to see if they need to be cleaned.
Supplements to Ventilation
Proper ventilation should not only provide fresh air, but it should also ensure your home has clean air. The air outside may be fresher, but it can be filled with pollutants like pollen, dander and smoke. These should be removed before they get inside and into the lungs of your loved ones. To do this, you need a full sized air cleaning system that removes particles from the air down to 0.3 microns.
HEPA filters can do this, as will electronic air cleaners which can ionize and remove smoke and gas particles. Make sure you discuss filtration and cleaning with AccuTemp Heating & Air Conditioning when they visit your home.
Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sblackley/3489380984/
Norbourne Estates HVAC Question: What Happens if You Put Your Air Filter in the Wrong Way?
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012Air filters are important pieces in your Norbourne Estates home’s comfort system. They keep unwanted debris and sediment out of your indoor air and they help your system run smoothly for years to come. However, if you’re not careful, an air filter put in backwards can lead to quite a few problems with your heating and cooling system.
The Most Common Problems
The most common problem you will face with a backwards facing filter is simple inefficiency. If your furnace is forced to blow air through the non-porous end of a filter, it will take more energy to do so. The blower will be overworked and you will pay more money for your heating. The same is doubly true for an air conditioner which has multiple filters in place to keep outdoor contaminants out of your indoor air.
Beyond the cost of improper filtering, you will likely suffer from a decrease in indoor air quality. The filter is designed to remove a lot of unwanted debris, but only when installed in a certain direction. If you set your filter up backwards, the normally collective end of the device will not face the air supply. In effect, your filter will help keep debris in the air.
This results in a clogged filter and improperly cleaned air when it reaches your lungs. If you have a home indoor air quality system it will help to supplement this problem for a while, but the clog will eventually become too much for your system.
Avoiding the Problem
There are two ways to avoid improper installation. First, you can have a professional install the system for you. Whenever you need a new filter ask someone to come and take care of it. When they do, though, pay close attention to how they set the filter and any other steps they take. By carefully watching you can ideally learn what it takes to do this step yourself and hopefully keep your system running smoothly for years to come.
If you have any questions about maintaining your heating and cooling system, give AccuTemp Heating & Air Conditioning a call!
Essential Components of a Prospect Home Comfort System
Monday, December 19th, 2011Indoor comfort is defined by several factors: temperature, humidity, and air quality. If any one of the three is out of the “normal” range it can affect the quality of life for in your Prospect home.
The ultimate goal of any heating & cooling contractor is to ensure that customers are comfortable – meaning that all three factors are addressed when servicing, replacing, or installing new equipment in a home. This equipment includes furnaces and air conditioners but also extends to humidifiers, dehumidifiers, ultraviolet (UV) lighting, etc.
Obviously, the essential component for most U.S. households is a furnace. Air conditioners may not be essential for all parts of the U.S., namely the northern states, but are still considered an integral part of any home comfort system. Add-ons like de-humidifiers and electronic filters are important for controlling the air quality.
Let’s look at the furnace first. There are several choices but most can be found in two different classifications: single-stage or variable speed two-stage. Your choice depends on the indoor square footage, your own comfort needs, and possibly the cost of energy units (gas or electric for example). Forced air is a common method of moving heated air to all parts of the home via an air handling unit and through a duct system. But gaining in popularity is radiant heat (electric), which does not utilize a duct system.
Air conditioners also come in a variety of sizes, including window/room air conditioners or central air conditioning, which is likely a “split” system including an outdoor unit and indoor coil. The size of the air conditioner is determined by square footage, which is part of a load calculation performed by qualified heating & cooling contractors while planning the equipment replacement or new installation. An oversized air conditioner may produce high humidity levels and an undersized unit may not provide enough cooling to all areas of the home. High humidity levels contribute to higher indoor temperatures in the summer, and can also lead to respiratory problems.
If someone in your home has allergies or is sensitive to certain pollutants in the air, it may be important to include extra filtration in your heating & cooling system, such as electronic filtration and UV lighting mounted in the buildings duct system, to kill germs and contaminants.
And speaking of an essential component, duct systems are keys to maximizing efficiency and comfort. Properly sized, insulated, and sealed, the duct system is a key to comfortable, healthy indoor air – and energy efficiency. It is also important to keep your duct system clean, too.
As always, it is best to consult with a qualified and licensed heating and cooling contractor who can offer the best solutions for your home comfort system.
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