10 Reasons You Need Air Conditioning Maintenance

If you've got air conditioning in your office, shop, factory or other workplace, then you'll be aware of how much you rely on it, and how important it is to your staff and your customers.

Here's why you need to make sure that your air conditioning system is well maintained.

1. A planned Air Conditioning Maintenance schedule will make sure that your heating and ventilation system is working properly and that it still working at its best, still meets your needs, and meets the relevant regulations.

2. If your system suddenly breaks down then you'll need and emergency maintenance engineer to come and resolve the problem. By having your system looked at regularly, there will be much less risk of it failing, and leaving your staff and customers either too hot or too cold. This could mean that your building would have to shut until the system is fixed.

3. Any necessary modification and minor repairs can be carried out at your convenience when you have a maintenance contract. You won't be at the mercy of a busy engineer, who might not be able to visit you for weeks.

4. Like a car, air conditioning units need servicing regularly, so that that they are working as efficiently as they can, and to provide your staff and customers with the best range of temperatures to work in.

5. It's important to remember that an efficient heating and ventilation system will be more cost effective and better for the environment too. Perhaps your existing system could be replaced with a newer or more efficient one.

6. By choosing a reputable firm to carry out our heating and ventilation maintenance, you can be reassured that they will be professional, and take your business needs into account. They might be able to work out of hours, or at weekends in order to resolve your air con problems, and to deal with any waste products legally too.

7. A working air con system will provide a better atmosphere for customers or visitors, as well as for staff. In addition comfortable staff are more likely to be more productive too.

8. Like in most cases, prevention is better than cure, and it's better to get your air con looked at if you think that it's not working properly. It will save you both time and money in the long run. Can you remember when your heating and ventilation system was last serviced?

9. How often your system will need servicing depends upon how much it is used, and where it is used. A large server room for a multinational corporation will have more demands on their cooling systems than a meeting room that is very rarely used. Shops will also need to make sure that have adequate heating and ventilation, especially in winter or summer months. You'll need to decide how your staff and business would be affected if you had no air conditioning for a few days.

10. Having an appropriate maintenance schedule will be cost saving in the long run, and will reduce the likelihood of your air con suddenly failing, and the expense and disruption it will bring.

Now you know more about why you need the right cover, perhaps it's time for you to make sure that you've got the most appropriate air conditioning maintenance schedule.

Quality Air Conditioning Services From HVAC Contractors

Air conditioning is a major purchase with an ongoing impact on your comfort, budget and business operations. This is the reason why finding a quality Aircon service is so significant whatever is your purpose for having one. Of course, you need to get it right. What you want to do now is to look for Houston Air Conditioning and Heating Services that caters quality service and will do the job the right technique or just the exact way you want it.

If you are looking for a quality air conditioning service HVAC contractors will do the job for you since their full service HVAC experts are well-equipped and ready to serve you. There is nothing they don't know, and nothing they cannot do when it comes to air conditioning and ventilating services whether for your home or business. There is no doubt that their experienced tradesman will attend to your premises at a specific appointment time, which is suitable to both you and the person doing the business. Additionally, they can solve any problem with existing air conditioning systems, whether they be mechanical problems, design faults, or a combination of both, in residential or commercial applications.

So where can you find them? There are a number of ways you can get through them, and doing a search online is one of the most accessible methods of finding just the right service you are looking for. You can browse online and look for sites for a view of the company's range of air conditioners, refrigeration and air conditioning maintenance services whether for the residential or commercial applications. You can look for the HVAC contractors located near your area so that everything else will be accessible.

You may ask how long will the units will last? Well the lifespan of your unit greatly depends on age, condition, and whether it has been maintained. Find a contractor who uses customer assurance pricing where they quote a job up front and no matter how long it takes you to pay that price. The brand of AC does not matter near as much as the installation. The truth is a well installed off brand will always outperform a poorly installed named or known brand air condition every time. Now you can begin your search.

PTAC Air Conditioner 101: What They Are And Where To Use Them

If you have ever been to a hotel, you probably know what PTAC is. PTAC is an abbreviation for packaged terminal air conditioner. What does that mean? It simply means that it's an air conditioner all inside one case. A central A/C system is a split type air-conditioner with a unit outside and air handler inside. This is a very typical set up, but the PTAC has everything it needs right inside a 42 inch box.

PTACs are great at heating or cooling a single room or living space. Usually they are not used for multi-room homes or offices. That's why they're great for hotels or dorms or apartments. All have large single room living areas. Now you may think that PTAC is limited because it only heats or cools one space. But actually, this can be quite an advantage. Sometimes central units are busy cooling empty rooms with no one in them. This is a huge waste of energy and money. The PTAC on the other hand only cools or heats the room that it is in. And when PTAC's are used in hotels, they can be controlled by a main computer which tells the PTAC when the room occupants are gone, so the unit will immediately lower its settings and decrease energy usage.

PTAC units are made by a lot of different manufacturers. You can find a PTAC from Amana, GE, LG, Trane, and more. You can find them online or locally. Just make sure to consult with your local HVAC expert before you make a purchase. Before you buy you have to know how big a PTAC to get. You want to get a PTAC big enough to heat and cool your room but not so big that it wastes energy. You've got to really hit the sweet spot there. If the PTAC is too small it will run constantly try to heat or cool an area that's too big. This can shorten the lifespan of the PTAC considerably.

PTACs cost anywhere from $500 on up to $1000 plus. Some are cool only models. And others are heat pumps which heat and cool. Some cool only models have heat strips which use electricity to heat the air passing across the strips to provide heating. Now, the models with heat strips don't heat as well as a heat pump, but they work well in moderate climates. Northern climates should use a heat pump. Warmer climates may opt for a cool only unit. Cool only units are a little bit cheaper so if you don't need heating functionality then a cool only unit might be an option for you.

The Importance of Home Air Conditioning During Hot Summer Months

In some areas of the country, the temperature can get up to 120 degrees during the summer. At these high temperatures, the heat can cause the body to experience dehydration or fever. This is the main reason why air conditioning is necessary when summer weather comes in. Once you understand how important home cooling is it's easy to see why people learn HVAC to become a HVAC technician.

Effect of Heat on Infants

In babies and young children, their skin to weight ratio is much larger than adults. Since they have more skin, they are most sensitive to high temperatures because their skin is absorbing excessive heat. As the baby absorbs more heat, their body becomes hotter and they can eventually have a heat stroke. Even if you think it is not too hot in the house, it might be too hot for your baby. Having an air conditioner will prevent these things from happening to your baby.

Effects of Heat on the Elderly

Elderly people are more prone to heat exhaustion and seizures than younger people are because their bodies don't work as they used to. When they experience high temperatures, their bodies have to work harder to cool off. They are also more quickly affected by the heat than those who are younger. Extreme heat can make them pass out or experience disorientation. With an air conditioner, the temperature can be controlled so that this doesn't happen.

Heat Stroke

Heat stroke is life-threatening and can cause damage to the brain and organs in the central nervous system. During a heat stroke, the brain will begin to overheat and will eventually fail if proper care is not taken. The brain can only properly function in certain temperatures so if the body becomes unable to cool itself off, the body's temperature will sky rocket. At this point, the person can experience hallucinations or even become unconscious. The best way to prevent heat stroke, especially in the elderly and young children, is to stay cool and drink lots of fluids. An air conditioner allows cool air to circulate in the room as opposed to a fan that only blows room temperature air.

Air Filtering Process

Air conditioners have special air filters that prevent foreign air particles from entering the air that comes out of the AC. Many types of allergies come from these foreign particles. Those with allergies will not have to worry about what kind of air the AC circulates into the room since the air will be cool and fresh.

Using the Sun and Heat to Help Power AC Units

Though excessive heat can cause a number of problems, the decreasing cost of photovoltaic (PV) panels is making home solar paneling an attractive option. Also, schools that teach AC maintenance and repair are now offering solar panel training to complement their other educations.

Heating and Air Conditioning Service Technician

A malfunctioning heat and air conditioning system is in dire need of a heating and air conditioning service especially with the extreme weather and its changes. This kind of malfunction calls for heating and cooling systems.

A heating and air conditioning technician is knowledgeable in terms of practicality on how a certain system works, in this case, the heating and cooling systems. Aside from heating and cooling systems, they also specialize in ventilation, support and even refrigeration. The technician aids in the installation, maintenance and repair of the air conditioning system. He or she may work independently or in most cases under a company that attends to environment regulation in industrial, commercial and residential areas.

In order to become a service technician, one must either take the academic path and learn all about mechanics and etc. in the academe, or he or she can take an internship in a service technician company and have the proper training needed. One must also take a standardized test to be a licensed service technician.

The usual tasks of a service technician on a regular day include various activities. The technician often deals with repairing equipment or even replacing it. One must also be familiar with electrical wiring. The technician often needs to handle the wires and other components of the equipment.

The technician also conducts many electrical equipment tests to assess electrical circuits and other components for maintenance. He or she also needs to be familiar with safety procedures especially in installing, maintaining or repairing equipment. He or she also needs to be able to comply with all applicable standards, procedures and policies.

The technician needs to be proficient in reassembling equipment especially after doing the repairs. The service technician also does the inspecting of equipment, making sure it complies to the plan and to locate any kind of malfunction. He or she needs to be able to read blueprints where the equipment plans are located.

Hiring a tech can be quite expensive, so before calling one over to your home you can do a few steps to check your air conditioning system just to be sure there is a malfunction. Check if your condenser (outdoor unit) and furnace (indoor unit) is working properly. Check your fuses and breakers; check if the thermostat is set to cool your air. You should also wash your condenser coil regularly. And if all else fails, hiring a heating and air conditioning service technician is the best possible solution to your problem.

Are High Efficiency Filters Killing Your Air Conditioner?

With all of the information circulating on the internet today concerning indoor air quality one primary way to control what we breathe in our house is to filter our air very well. Most air-conditioning systems installed today in new homes use standard disposable filters unless the homeowner has specified a higher grade of filtration at the time of the air-conditioners installation and paid for this feature. Well-meaning consumers having learned of the value of better air filtration on indoor air quality flock to home improvement centers to buy better quality filters for use in their heating and cooling system. The problem is these filters may be killing both your air-conditioning and your electric bill!

Air-conditioning systems are designed in an ideal environment on a set of blue prints by an engineer who calculates the exact CFM or cubic feet per minute of air that is required to enter a room to maintain it at a set temperature and encourage air movement. This design of the air distribution or duct system is perhaps the most understated aspect of having a comfortable and healthy home. The design of the engineer in an office rarely if ever translates from the drawing to the reality of the actual installation in the field due to a multitude of variables. In residential homes the space in an attics, between floors, and crawl spaces is often filled with electrical wiring, gas piping, plumbing, ventilation systems, and structural supports that require all trades to reroute their materials to deal either with the preceding trade that worked on the home or the design of the structure that may not have been accurately reflected in the blue prints.

Most air-conditioning contractors understand this dilemma will be faced in the field by their installers and so they have a tendency to over design the duct system for maximum performance if the installation varies from the drawn prints. The problem occurs in that many homes built throughout the years have never had their air distribution system tested to see if they fell within the parameters of the design by the engineer. Even though engineers make over design to compensate for installation issues the installers may also have to make compensation for not being able to run the duct work as originally designed.

This creates even more air friction which reduces the efficiency of air delivery into various areas of the home. Poor installation techniques along with damage done to the air distribution after the inspection by the municipal authorities overseeing the construction of a home may lead to leakage in the ductwork that also creates problems with the air distribution system. Air distribution systems that are not delivering the proper CFM throughout the home typically indicate an inadequate airflow through the blower assembly, leaks or restrictions within the air distribution system, or a compromise of the initial design. Sadly however, most homeowners will never know whether their duct system functions as designed by the engineer.

Now what you may ask does this have to do with the type of filter that I choose for my home improvement center to install on my heating and air-conditioning system? It has an enormous impact! If in their distribution system the blower is not moving the proper amount of air then there is a strong probability that on the air-conditioning side the system is not charged properly with refrigerant. Almost all charging charts from the manufacturers for refrigerants are based on the assumption that the blower unit is moving a specific CFM within a given tolerance of error. If this is not the case then the charging recommendations from the manufacturers are never correct.

If the air distribution system was already operating with a cheap disposable filter at a marginal design level, then the introduction of a higher quality filter, which while possibly improving the air quality may also reduce the airflow, will exacerbate the problem creating even a greater challenge for a service technician to properly balance the refrigerant charge in and air-conditioning system. Improper refrigerant charge in an air-conditioning system is the leading cause of premature compressor failure, excessively high utility bills, and an uncomfortable environment within the house due to the poor performance of the air-conditioning system.

Many tract homes were built with a single central air conditioning and heating return. In this case adding a higher filtration filter can dramatically impede the airflow as the filter surface loads between the times that it is changed by the consumer or the air-conditioning contractor. Surface loading is where the face of a filter loads with dust and as it does airflow across the filter drops creating even less air for the blower unit to move to other portions of the home even though the efficiency of the filter increases because of the increased surface area that the air has to pass through.

Since higher quality air filters, not air cleaners, reduced to varying degrees the amount of air flow through a heating and air-conditioning system it is imperative that you understand the impact of utilizing a higher efficiency filter such as a pleated filter, electrostatic filter, or even in some cases a bag filter before you go to a home improvement center purchase one and then added to your air-conditioning or heating system. Filters that are advertised as HEPA filters typically have a much higher impact on airflow than other types.

To understand the impact of a higher quality filter on an air distribution system think of what happens if you apply a sheet of paper across the back grill of a floor fan. The airflow coming out of the fan will be dramatically reduced thus creating a greater load on the fan motor which increases its electric consumption and at the same time creates unneeded wear that will reduce its operational life. At the same time since the fan is designed to move a specific amount of air in attempts to draw air from any available area to get around the blockage. In a duct system this means that areas of leakage in the duct system that were previously considered small will now be increased in magnitude as the system tries to pull as much air as possible past or around the higher efficiency air filter. In some cases air quality in the home drops as particulates are sucked into the duct system downstream from the filter through duct leakage due to the high resistance of the new air filter.

Custom-built homes that utilize multiple returns throughout the house may suffer a lower incidence of duct leakage, excessive utility bills, and premature compressor failure with the addition of higher quality filtration, but it still requires good judgment and the knowledge of whether or not you're air distribution system is functioning as designed.

Many well-meaning air conditioning contractors recommend higher quality filtration system to be added onto an air conditioner or heating system at the time that the system is replaced without giving adequate consideration to the duct work that already exists in the home. If you are considering changing your air-conditioning system then you should insist that your contractor provide a test and balance of the air distribution system after the installation of the replacement heating and cooling unit. This procedure ensures that the air delivery across the blower unit as well as into each condition space within the home meets the design requirements of the engineer.

So how to I increase the quality of filtration in my home without sacrificing all my utility bills, or risking future damage to my air-conditioning or heating system? The answer lies in having qualified Service Company test and balance your air distribution for your home so that it meets not only the manufacturer's requirements but also the design of the original air-conditioning design. During this process additional return air ducts may need to be added if necessary to see that increased filtration does not reduce the amount of air flow required across the heating or cooling unit. In some cases your home may be too old for the original design to even be available. In this case a reputable air conditioning and heating contractor can create a design based on the parameters of your home and then match your air distribution systems performance to that design. This may require changes in duct work, sealing of leaks that have occurred over the years in your duct system, and even weatherization of your home in order to ensure that the air distribution system is functioning properly.

Even though it may sound attractive to purchase a higher quality filter and put it in our air-conditioning system to improve the air that we breathe in our home, due to the competitive nature of home building the design of an enormous amount of air-conditioning systems in use today is marginal at best. Adding a restrictive device to the airflow straight will create problems in the future that may far surpass the perceived health value of a better filter.

Higher quality filtration is indeed a necessity to improve air quality in your home. But before running out to your nearest retailer or home improvement center, or even asking your air-conditioning contractor to provide you with better filters, make sure that your duct system is designed to handle the increased load that a higher efficiency filter will put on it. Doing so may save not only your air conditioner, but your wallet as well by avoiding unnecessary utility consumption and breakdowns.

DIY Maintenance for Your Ducted Air Conditioner

Conventional air conditioners are known to need cleaning and maintenance every three months, but ducted air conditioners require little maintenance throughout the year. The return air grille needs to be cleaned every six months or when it becomes dirty. Some controllers display a filter on the screen to remind you of the air conditioners maintenance every six months.

Ducted air conditioners are used almost anywhere: offices, homes, malls, hotels, shopping complexes, and multi-storey buildings. They are installed in the roof and this can be done easily as they are fixed; they do not occupy space on the wall. The air is spread evenly through ducts in rooms where the unit is installed. What's good about this type of air conditioning unit is a single machine is enough to control the temperature of an entire house or even two stories.

When the climate is extremely hot, a ducted air conditioner can provide dehumidification and cooling. During winter or on cold weather, it can heat a room up. Zone motors can be installed in different rooms and ducts to make the cooling and heating feature flexible and depending on your requirement.

For do-it-yourself cleaning of the filter, you just need to turn a screw, pull back the clips, and the grille will pivot down. You can vacuum the filter or remove the filter first and clean the grilled with soapy water. Always remember not to dry the ducted air conditioners filter under the sun if you decide to clean it with soapy water, because this will cause the filter to deform.

Filters can be cleaned once every six months unlike other types of air conditioning units but if the air grille becomes noisier then it's a sign that it needs thorough cleaning. The outdoor part of the unit is mostly maintenance free, and water dripping from the drains of the ducted system is not a negative sign. It simply means that the unit is running correctly.

Always make sure that you keep the fans clear of sticks and debris, then apply a film or spray on the outdoor unit to avoid rust - this is important especially if you live in a tropical place or coastal area. Check with the unit's service center or manufacturer if they have any substance that can help avoid or slow down tarnish in your outdoor unit.

Taking care of your air conditioning system can extend its life span to an additional three to five years. Always have an expert inspect the system to avoid major wear and tear.