Reducing Exposure To Indoor Air Pollutants Your home may be a safe haven and a personal escape, but there are could still be indoor air pollutants lurking throughout your interior. The air in the building may not be as clean as you think it is. Fortunately, certain steps can be taken to reduce exposure to indoor air pollutants. Here are a few ways to reduce indoor air pollutants in the house. 1. Avoid Smoking One of the main steps residents need to take to maintain clean indoor air is to avoid smoking indoors, which will pose as health hazards, especially in rooms that have a lot of upholstery or carpet. When smoking outdoors, close all of the windows in the home to prevent secondhand smoke from transferring into the building. Cigarette smoke is tough to clean and to remove because it’s a strong odor that can linger for many years. 2. Avoid Using Household Cleaners Household cleaners may remove dirt and grime in the building, but they can also affect the air quality in the building due to the chemicals they contain. Household cleaners have been linked to respiratory issues in both children and adults, which makes it necessary to...
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How Your AC System Works A lot has changed in the 100 plus years since the invention of the first modern air conditioning system. However, today’s central air conditioners still work using many of the same basic principles. So how does a central air conditioner work? The Science of Heat Transfer The job of an air conditioner is to transform warm air in cool air, but it does not actually make cold air. Instead, it removes the heat and humidity from the warm air, transfers it outside, and then returns cooled air back into the house. This entire process is made possible through the science of heat transfer, refrigerant, and an air conditioner’s three main mechanical components: Compressor unit Condenser coil Evaporator coil Refrigerant is a special chemical that travels through the air conditioner’s tubing. As the refrigerant passes through to the compressor, it is put under pressure, which raises its temperature and converts it to gas. The gas continues to travel outdoors to the air conditioner’s condenser coil where the heat disperses across its aluminum fins. As the heat disperses from the refrigerant in its gaseous state, its temperature drops, and it returns to its previous liquid state. The...
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Benefits Of A Product Warranty Many newly purchased HVAC products come with a warranty. These warranties can provide a variety of advantages. Before you make your next big purchase, here are a few considerations regarding your warranty on the product. You Can Budget the Cost of Ownership There are different types of warranties, including extended and limited. A limited warranty only covers the product for a set amount of time or only in certain circumstances. In some cases, the warranty will only compensate you for a manufacturer’s defect, and the term can be as short as one year. If you want a longer protection time, you can always purchase an extended warranty. One of these can help you to budget the cost of the product over a longer period. Since extended warranties are usually fairly comprehensive, if a part breaks or the unit fails, you will not have the burden of large repair bills. Replacement Parts Most heating and cooling products are built to last for several years. If a part fails prematurely, the product warranty will normally cover it. However, parts that fail due to normal wear and tear are often not reimbursed. You will always want to check...
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Breathing Easy During Allergy Season Many people in the St. Louis area probably think of as a choice for heating and cooling needs. However, we know that there is more to home comfort than temperature. The quality of the air in your home matters to your overall health and well-being. This is especially important during allergy season. Common Allergy Season Impurities If you have seasonal allergies, you know when the trees, flowers, and weeds are producing pollen. Your throat gets scratchy. Your nose gets runny. Your eyes get itchy. You may have headaches and trouble getting a good night’s sleep. It is even worse if you are prone to respiratory issues like asthma. The allergy season can be an uncomfortable time of coughing and wheezing. Pollen is one of the worst irritants of the season. However, as the seasons change from spring to summer, new irritants crop up. The humid summer weather encourages household molds to grow and produce spores in damp areas. This moist weather also creates favorable breeding conditions for dust mites. After these little critters consume the dead skin cells around your home, they leave behind irritants that can cause an allergic reaction. Home Air Quality Solutions...
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5 HVAC System Sounds You Don’t Want To Hear Without repairs or maintenance, even a new and energy-efficient HVAC system will develop problems. This could lead to loud noises coming from the system. The following are just five possible noises you may hear. If you do hear any of these noises, it’s important to reach out to a technician right away. 1. Banging and Clanging Broken and disconnected parts will bang inside the system, oftentimes in the compressor and blower unit. The fan blades, in particular, may be hitting against another object. Loose motor mounts can be the culprit as well. 2. Rattling Loose parts will rattle, so this sound should not alarm homeowners as much as the banging. Rattling may also point to a loose air duct or panel. Parts that are loose or out of balance may also clank. 3. Screeching and Grinding The sound of screeching—metal against metal—shows that the fan motor bearings are going bad. Problems with the motor bearings and the fan belt may be reflected in a squealing sound. Blower motor units may squeal or screech if they are lacking in a lubricant. If the bearing is about to fail, it may produce a...
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Clean Air During Allergy Season Most of our customers think about as a place that can handle their home temperature needs. However, our trained technicians are experts in more than heating and cooling. They can also help you improve the quality of the air you breathe in your home. Indoor Irritants You have probably walked into a room when the sun was shining directly through a window. You could see the light reflected off all the dust particles floating in the air. Every time you breathe, some of those particles are going into your lungs. Of course, your body has some natural ways of filtering pollutants, but it is helpful to get them out of the air in the first place. This is especially important for people with allergies or respiratory problems. In the allergy season, the mix of dust, dander, and pollen in the air can trigger allergy symptoms. For people with asthma, this will aggravate symptoms and increase the risk of an attack. Simple Air Quality Solutions There are some simple things you can do to improve air quality. The main way to keep pollen and dirt particles out of the air is to keep them out of...
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What To Expect During HVAC Repairs The HVAC repair process can be frustrating for many homeowners. You want to have your unit fixed in a professional and timely matter. Fortunately, many companies have a simple process for finding problems and resolving them. Here’s what you can expect when you schedule a service call with a company like in St. Louis. Find a Simple Solution Technicians will first check the thermostat area in your home. The most common problems can be tied to a faulty thermostat. A broken thermostat is an easy fix for a technician. If the thermostat is fine, then the technician will check the power breaker box. These circuit switches can get stuck in the “off” position. In that case, they’ll need to be flipped on to restart the HVAC unit. Process of Elimination If the breaker and thermostat are working, then it’s time to move on to other components. This is known as the critical and error process. The technician will examine all the components for the cause of your issue. During this process, you should allow the technician to work without any interruptions. Get an Estimate When the technician has completed the inspection, you’ll receive a...
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3 Benefits of Financing a New Cooling System Are you considering getting a new cooling system for your St. Louis, MO, home, but don’t think you can afford it right now? If you want to replace the cooling system, there are several benefits available to you for financing your new cooling system. Here are three benefits. 1. Enjoy a Comfortable Home Sooner It’s not pleasant to try and sleep in a house when the temperature is uncomfortably hot. You don’t have to endure sleepless nights and uncomfortable days in your home just to save u p for a cooling system in the future. Living in a home that is too hot can cause some health conditions like heat stroke or breathing issues. By financing a cooling system, you can enjoy a comfortable and healthy environment. 2. Save on Energy Bills When you replace your old, worn out cooling system with a new energy efficient system, you will start seeing the effects on your energy bills right away. The savings might even help to pay for the payment of the new cooling system. Reducing the energy bill can help ease the pressure on your monthly budget. 3. Increase the Value of...
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Benefits To Financing Your Heating System If you believe that it’s time to upgrade to a new heating system but don’t know how you’re going to pay for it, you might want to think about financing the system. Doing so can provide you with an array of benefits, the primary of which is that you won’t need to make such a large payment to purchase the entirety of the system. Financing Will Help Lessen the Financial Commitment Financing options are oftentimes flexible for heating systems, which means that they can take your financial system into account. Because of how many costs are incurred when you’re a homeowner, you may have been unable to save up enough money for a heating system before your old one fell into disrepair. Using financing options allows you to make a down payment for the system, which is then followed by monthly payments until the unit has been fully paid off. However, the initial down payment is only a small percentage of the full cost. Allows You to Start Saving Money Getting a new HVAC unit via financing means that you can save money on your monthly energy bills. Older units that aren’t operating efficiently...
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What Is Included In Your HVAC System? HVAC is one of those terms you’ve probably come across if you’ve ever searched for heating and cooling services online. But what exactly do you get with an HVAC system? For starters, HVAC stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, which is basically everything you need to stay comfortable throughout the year. Keep reading to discover what’s specifically included with a typical HVAC system. A Heating Source If you live in St. Louis or any of the surrounding areas, you’re probably aware that the late autumn and winter days and nights can get cold. This is when you’ll be glad that you have the right heating source for your needs and budget. Heat is often provided by a furnace, boiler or heat pump. The most common is the forced-air furnace, with gas, oil, propane, and electric models available. Within these units are the burn chamber for fuel-burning models, the heat exchanger, and the circulating fan. Furnaces typically have a circulating fan built into the unit, which takes the place of an air handler. The job of an air handler is to draw air through the system and push it back out into your...
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