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Frequently
Asked
Questions
on heating and air conditioning |
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Customers often ask if they should close the
registers in rooms that are not being used on a
regular basis... |
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Answer:
NO.
Closing registers and shutting off
rooms blocks the system's designed airflow
and greatly reduces its efficiency. If properly
installed, each system is designed to cool a
certain number of square feet. Contrary to
popular belief, closing off registers and
shutting doors does not save an appreciable
amount of energy. It causes the air
conditioning system to cycle more often and work
harder to cool less space. |
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My NUMBER
1 telephone question is:
"What size heating and air conditioning
system do I need?" |
Answer:
An
oversize system will pop on, satisfy the
thermostat and shut down before it can
adequately remove sufficient moisture from the
air - this phenomenon is more physically
noticeable during the cooling season because you
feel cold (not cool) and the excessive moisture
in the air causes you to feel damp and sticky.
Failure to remove sufficient moisture
from the air can also lead to property damage
such as mold and mildew in the summer months and
dry-rot in the winter months. What's more, the
stress of short-cycling (too many starts and
stops) also greatly decreases the life of the
system while greatly increasing your
monthly energy bills.
On the other hand, a system that is
too small cannot heat or cool adequately,
especially in extreme weather conditions. The
air conditioner will run constantly in the
summer and the furnace will do the same in
winter. Once again leading to decreased
life-span and increased energy usage.
A
correctly sized heating and cooling system isn't
based on square footage alone. It's based on
structure. Many factors go into determining
the size of the system including the: design of
the house; materials used in the exterior walls;
type and sizes of windows; insulation above,
below and in the walls; basement and attic
conditions; house orientation; and so on.
Most people make the mistake of
replacing the existing system with the exact
same size system. What if the old unit was
sized incorrectly? You'd simply be replacing
one mistake with another mistake. The absolute
best advice I can give you is to have a trained
professional visit your home or business and
take detailed notes and measurements to
determine the correct size heating and cooling
unit. |
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"What do you recommend and what should I
look at for heating and cooling my home?" |
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Answer: This
home heating and cooling map indicates
we're located in zone 3 midway between the
blistering heat of south Florida and the sub-freezing
winters of faraway Maine. The heat pump offers an
energy-efficient alternative to conventional fuel-fired
furnaces and unattached central air conditioning systems
or unattached air conditioning window units. |
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The heat pump works on the same
principle as a refrigerator. It uses electricity
to pump or move heat from a cool space into a warm
space, making the cool space cooler and the warm space
warmer. During summer months, the heat pump acts exactly
like your refrigerator moving hot air from the inside to
the outside lowering the temperature and cooling your
home. In the winter months, the heat pump reverses
itself, pumping heat from the outside and moving it
inside to raise the temperature and warm your home.
Because it moves heat rather than generating heat from
burning fuel or heating elements, the heat pump can
provide up to 4 times the amount of energy it actually
consumes. Click here
for more information on electric heat
pumps. |
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"I'm really confused! What is the
difference between units measured in BTU's and
those measured in tons?" |
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Answer:
HVAC
units come in a wide variety of
sizes and most are measured in tons. A
ton, in this instance, is not to be confused
with weight. One ton is equivalent to 12,000
BTU's (British Thermal Units) because it takes
roughly 12,000 BTU's to melt a ton of ice over a
24 hour period. Mathematically, a 1 Ton
HVAC Unit is equivalent to 12,000 BTU's, a 2 Ton
HVAC Unit is equivalent to 24,000 BTU's, and so
on. |
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"I found a really good deal online!
It's for a 3 ton heat pump, brand new and I can
buy it for half price. What do you think?" |
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Answer:
I think you should click here and read this before you go any
further with this purchase. Your good deal
may not be as sweet as you think. |
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"My heat pump is freezing up outside. What
do you think is wrong with it?" |
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Answer:
If your outside unit is beginning to form ice
and freeze up such as the one pictured here,
your system's Freon level is low or it has a bad
check valve. Other issues are
involved in less than 1% of my service calls.
Turning the unit off and allowing it to thaw
will allow me to repair the unit in less time.
Click on the picture to enlarge. |
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"What is SEER? What does it mean?
What's that all about? What is
HSPF? Is that the same thing?" |
Answer SEER:
SEER is an abbreviation for
Seasonal
Energy
Efficiency
Ratio.
It is the correlation between the cooling output
of an air conditioning or heat pump unit and
it's input (power consumption). Units with
higher SEER RATINGS simply consume less energy
than those with lower ratings. A simple
comparison is automobiles and mpg's: the higher
the mile-per-gallon rating, the farther the car
will travel on a gallon of gasoline. For
more information on SEER ratings -
click here.
Answer HSPF:
SEER is used to rate cooling capacity of the
heat pump described above during the summer
months and HSPF (Heating
Seasonal
Performance
Factor)
is used to rate the same heat pump during the
winter months while it's in the heating mode.
The higher the HSPF number, the greater the
energy efficiency. |
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"What is the best brand of heating and air
conditioning equipment?" |
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Answer:
I sell, service and
install several different major brands of
heating and air conditioning equipment. I
cannot tell you one brand is better or
outperforms all other brands on the market.
Your budget is a factor. Your personal
preference from past history is another factor.
My personal choice
is based on warranty, track record, operating
efficiency, up-front cost and a host of other
relevant factors. It is NOT based
on catchy radio jingles, slick TV commercials or
high-pressure, fast-talking salesmen and you
shouldn't base your decision on such nonsense
either. |
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"There's a lot of talk about programmable
thermostats. I'm told they save energy.
Should I install a programmable thermostat on my
heating and air conditioning system?" |
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Answer:
A few years back, I did
some work as a satellite television
installer. The VCR front-panel light
was flashing in ninety percent of the
homes I entered. Programmable
thermostats are okay for the gadget
adept but if you’re one of those folks
who watched a VCR flash for two years
because you didn’t know how to set the
time, a manual thermostat may be more
suitable. Also, programmable
thermostats
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are generally not
recommended for heat pumps. In its
cooling mode, a heat pump operates like
an air conditioner, so turning up the
thermostat (either manually or with a
programmable thermostat) will save
energy and money. But, during the winter
months, when a heat pump is in its
heating mode, setting back its
thermostat can cause the unit to operate
inefficiently, thereby canceling out any
savings achieved by lowering the
temperature setting. Maintaining a
moderate setting is the most
cost-effective practice if you heat and
cool your home with a heat pump. |
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“My home is
roughly the same size as my friend’s home but my
electric bills are more than double. My heat
pump is only 3 years old and it appears to be
running okay but do you think I need to replace
it anyway?” |
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Answer:
Judging from past experience, I’d say your unit
is okay. Make sure your filter is clean and the
outside unit is not obstructed by vegetation.
Next, check for leaky
ductwork – you could be heating and cooling
the crawlspace, attic or both of those areas if
the ductwork is not sealed properly. Also,
improving a home’s “envelope” or
“shell” by sealing up air leaks and adding
insulation can lower utility bills, while
improving comfort and energy efficiency. The
absolute very best details I’ve found for
do-it-yourself insulating and sealing are in
a brochure provided free of charge by the US
Department of Energy. |
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Jeff Helms doing
Heating and Air Conditioning the
Helmsway
in Monroe, North Carolina
NC HVAC
License # 28630
704-201-1790 |
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