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Anyone Can Become Knowledgeable About Hvac With These Easy Tips
The HVAC system in your home is a component to having a nice living space. If it's too hot or cold, or you having no air blowing at all, the only thing that follows is misery. You know how expensive it is to fix, so it is vital that you prevent these things from occurring. Below there are many good tips to help you keep up with proper HVAC maintenance.
When your contractor comes to fix your unit or install a new one, he should walk around your home and investigate what's going on with your current set-up. They should be looking for how much insulation you have, where your windows are and what quality they are and more.
Make sure the equipment you are buying is ENERGY STAR compliant. It may seem a small thing, but it isn't. Products that are ENERGY STAR compliant can save you a lot of money in energy costs over the year. It can be over $100 easily, sometimes a lot more.
Service your HVAC unit at least one time a year. The contractor should oil the parts that move and check the motor and freon levels. Doing this simple task can ensure that your system will be running for years with no problem!
Prior to choosing an HVAC customer, try to have an idea of what you want done. You can't get a decent estimate over a telephone, so disregard those numbers and wait until they view your system. It will be more difficult for him to assist you over the phone without the information readily available. This is information that you should have prepared in advance.
Do you hear a clicking sound when your fan is turning? This may mean that there is something in the way of the blades of the fan. If it gets so bad that the blade bends, you must replace it, just unbending it will leave the fan unbalanced and can cause further issues.
If you want to seriously extend the life of your HVAC system, as well as cut down your overall power bill, install ceiling fans in commonly used warm season rooms. Energy-star certified ceiling fans can sometimes cut your HVAC use in half. However, you won't physically notice a difference in temperature.
Go to people that you know and ask for recommendations when it is time for you to hire an HVAC contractor. People usually love to boast about the wonderful work they have had done, so you should be given great leads to follow. This will also help you to avoid undesirable companies.
Whether you have an air conditioner in a window or outside your home, be sure to keep it in the shade. The cooler the air around it, and the cooler the condenser itself, the easier a time it will have of keeping the air inside your home cool as well.
The energy efficiency of a unit should be taken into consideration when purchasing a new heating and cooling system. Although you should be concerned about the price of a unit, the efficiency of the unit will save you thousands over the lifetime of the heating and cooling system and should weigh heavily on your buying decision.
Every year hire someone to give your HVAC unit routine maintenance. This will ensure that it works properly throughout the entire year. It will also allow you to have lower heating and cooling bills. When your HVAC is running properly, it will use the least amount of energy and save you money.
If you plan on having a service on your HVAC unit, ask the technician what he will be doing. Any thorough service should consist of several things. The technician should check temperature levels, pressures, amperage draw, and coolant levels. They should adjust any belts that need it and clean the coils.
If the HVAC unit makes a clicking noise, look immediately to see if there is an obstruction. Most of the time such a noise is created by an object striking the blades of the fan in the system. Simply clear away the debris or remove any foreign objects and your problem is solved. Before you call a technician, look at it yourself.
When water condenses on your air conditioner, it drips into a pan and drains out. This drain should be inspected on a regular website basis. If algae forms in the drain line or if the drain line freezes, you could be in for some expensive repairs. The drip pan could overflow causing extensive damage to your ceilings.
Do not close your vents. Keep air vents open and unblocked at all times. Many people believe that closing off a vent will save them money on cooling costs. This is not true. It can actually damage your HVAC system. Closing vents can cause your cooling coil to freeze and damage the compressor.
Think about the air flow coming out of the air conditioner and where you want to place it for maximum comfort. If you're stuck with putting it in a corner, buy one that lets the air flow to be redirected so that it is not flowing towards the wall.
Consider how long a contractor has been in business before you hire them. The longer they've been in your community, the more likely they are to do a good job. Fly by night operations pop up wherever people haven't heard of them before, and they're just the firms you want to avoid.
Keep your evaporator coil clean. A dirty coil will cause the unit to strain when cooling air. You can clean the coil yourself easily. Simply remove the front panel to expose the coil and use a soft brush attached to a vacuum to remove any dust and debris that has accumulated on the coil.
Check the licensing of any HVAC company that you plan to hire. Start by making sure they are fully licensed. They should be in compliance with your state's business laws. Good HVAC companies should be fully insured. This is to protect their company, their employees, and their customers should anything happen when they are performing a service at the home of a customer.
After reading the above article, you now have a greater understanding on the importance of keeping your HVAC system in good working order. Remember the solid tips here as you know what to look out for, so no HVAC problems turn into major disasters. Study the tips and use them as you perform regular maintenance on your HVAC system.
Can the AC filter in your home, office or local mall protect you from Covid-19?
When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last week that malls in New York could not reopen until they installed high-efficiency particulate air filters capable of trapping the virus that causes Covid-19, Harvard environmental health researcher Joseph Gardner Allen was thrilled.
"I've been writing consistently since early February about how healthy buildings should be the first line of defense against the novel coronavirus," said Allen, who directs the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"I'm really grateful that we have a leader in the country -- somewhere -- who was finally talking about healthy buildings, ventilation and filtration," Allen said. "That hasn't happened before. It just hasn't happened."
A push to action
Allen was one of 239 scientists who wrote an open letter to the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies, asking for a change in their guidance to the public on how the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, can spread.
Current guidance only focuses on "hand washing, maintaining social distancing, and droplet precautions," according to the letter, published Monday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The health agencies are ignoring the tiny droplets of virus that sputter and spray from our mouths, become aerosolized and then float away into the air, the scientists said, as a likely means of transmission.
"They don't want to talk about airborne transmission because that is going to make people afraid," co-author Donald Milton, a professor of environmental health at the University of Maryland, told CNN in a prior interview.
"The best vaccine against fear is knowledge and empowering people to take care of themselves," Milton said. "Why wearing a mask is important is because it blocks the aerosols at their source, when it is easy to block them."
MERV ratings
In his edict to New York mall owners, Cuomo was talking about HEPA filters, which have the highest MERV ratings, between 17 and 20.
What's MERV? It stands for "minimum efficiency reporting value," and it's how filters are rated in their ability to trap tiny particles. The MERV ratings go from one to 20: Filters with higher MERV ratings are more effective than filters with lower ratings.
At the highest end, HEPA filters are used by hospitals to create sterile rooms for surgeries and to control infectious diseases, and are able to remove 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria and other airborne particles with a size as small as 0.3 microns. For comparison, Covid-19 is thought to be between 0.06 to 1.4 microns.
"Filters are rated at their worst performance, so 99.97% is the worst it will do," Allen said. "And that's rated for a particle size of 0.3 microns, but smaller and larger it actually does better. So the point is that it's capturing nearly all particles."
Unfortunately, most businesses and home owners may find it difficult to retrofit their existing system to accommodate a HEPA filter, or any filter higher than the rating recommended by the system's manufacturer.
Doing so can actually impair the system's performance: Smaller pores in HEPA air filters make it more difficult for it to push air. Using denser filters can affect the efficiency of the unit and strain the fan, while decreasing indoor air quality -- the opposite of what you desire.
"HEPA filtration is not always going to be feasible or practical," Allen said. "But there are other filters that can do the job. What is recommended now by the standard setting body for HVAC is a MERV 13 filter."
High-efficiency filters in the 13-to-16 MERV range are often used in hospitals, nursing homes, research labs and other places where filtration is important.
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