January 30, 2014


The services performed by a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) company should be enough to keep your home warm during the winter and cool in the summer.

An HVAC system that is not kept maintained and up to date will not be able to regulate your home’s temperature efficiently. Once this happens, you will not only notice a marked increase in your home’s utility bills, you will see more viral infections develop in family members as air quality regulators cease to work as well as you are used to. There are some steps that you as a homeowner can take to prevent these problems from manifesting.

Assessing Your HVAC System

An inspection from a reliable HVAC company should be your first step. They will come out and do an assessment of your entire system including the ductwork. If they detect any problems or note areas that could benefit from improvement they will let you know and usually give you a ballpark estimate of the cost. As a homeowner you should pay attention to their work and ask questions about any part of the process that you do not understand. The homes HVAC system is one of its biggest assets. While attempting repairs yourself is not recommended, gaining knowledge of how it works and how to determine if there is a problem is beneficial.

Cleaning and Repairs

In most instances efficiency problems can be solved easily with a cleaning and some minor repairs. An HVAC system that had previously been ignored for a period of time has most likely accumulated a good amount of debris on its moving parts. The certified HVAC technician will examine and clean all of the elements and replace any worn or non-functioning parts. Filters, which need to be changed frequently, that have been left in place for too long could be the culprit causing the increase of illness in the house. Those will be changed as well, usually with a quick lesson from the technician on how you should be doing this every month.

Recommending a Replacement

With an old or outdated HVAC system the technician may recommend its replacement. This is a large investment and should not be taken lightly. Replacing a centralized heating and cooling unit is a large undertaking that should only be performed by a certified and experienced HVAC technician. They will make the recommendations on what types of units are best suited for your home and family, but the decisions are ultimately yours. You, as a responsible homeowner, should do your own research to see what additional components, such as a whole-house humidifier, could also be beneficial to your family.

This would also be a good time to install a zoning system in your home. This is a digital thermostat operated system that allows you to control the airflow into different areas of your house by opening and closing dampers in the duct system.

HVAC technology is vast and improving each day. Utilizing an HVAC company that keeps up with current technology and shares the benefits of it with you is a great way for a homeowner to keep up to date on how to keep the home energy efficient.

Call Scott-Lee Heating Company at (314) 200-0788.

Photo credit:  pasa47