Ever Wonder Why?

We will cover a variety of Topics about your Home Heating and Air Conditioning. If you want to see something not listed, email us and we will list it. Get answers on HVAC Maintenance, repairs, upgrades, efficiency, outdated refrigerants and why them become outdated. Does your system need to be recharged time to time?

 

 

COMMON QUESTIONS:

What does the term HVAC Stand for?

HVAC stands to Heating, Ventilation, and Air conditioning, all of which we at Tri-Cities Heating & Air Co are well experienced in. This term can easily apply to residential as well as commercial. Your ventilation could be as simple as an exhaust fan or as complex as an Energy Recovery Ventilator or a Heat Recovery Ventilator. It is used to take in outside air, warm or cool it naturally by convection, filter it, and put it into your home, all for the purpose of removing stale air.

What Kind Of Filter should I buy?

In most heating and air conditioning systems, without specialty filters, if you install a filter with a greater than Merv 6 rating, you run the risk of poor airflow and overtasking your Furnace, AC or Heat Pump fan. In this, we also do not recommend less than a Merv 5 or Merv 6. What you cannot filter gets run through the home, it gets lodged in you AC coils and fans and all this creates restriction, poor airflow and damage to your equipment. Regardless, professional maintenance is important. At Tri-Cities Heating & Air Co we can help with that. Coils should be periodically cleaned. And Quite possible ducts cleaned as well. If you desire better air filtration an air purification filtering system can be installed at your air handler. They may not be as near as expensive as you may think, but those require professional maintenance at least 2x’s per year.

How often should I replace my filters?

I just changed it and it already looks dirty! Oddly enough, as a filter starts to get dirty, the dirtier it gets, up to a point of course, the better it filters.

• Homes with pets, allergies, or high dust levels should replace filters monthly.

• Standard households can replace them every 2–3 months.

• High-efficiency HEPA filters may last 6 months or longer, but check the manufacturer’s recommendation.

Should I Repair or Replace my Old System?

Industry experts suggest the “Rule of $5000“—multiply the cost of the repair by the age of the unit. If the result is over $5000, a replacement is often more cost-effective. I am not so sure I am in 100% agreement with this all the time. However I will say this, technology is constantly improving and changing. Keeping your 15 year old unit will probably cost you more to run than a new unit, and that does not account for repairs that will definitely come in 15 year old systems. In many cases, the cost savings in your monthly bill will help to offset some of the monthly replacement expense, of course that is if you decide to finance.

So Now What? How do I decide?

Does AC or Heat Pump Maintenance matter? How Often should I have it done?

I guess I will go to the analogy of your health. Do you go for annual blood work and annual check ups or do you wait till something is broken? Most of us may feel like two times a year may seem like a lot. But if start tracking your blood pressure and see it rising, you can change things before you need open heart surgery. Your AC is similar. Parts wear out. A trained technician can catch those burned boards, or the contactors that are pitted, and the weak capacitors. They can hear the fan motors squealing. The damage they do is not just in themselves, they wear on the whole system.

Our Recommendation at Tri-Cities Heating & Air Co is, at the minimum one check up per year. Twice a year at the beginning of the heating and cooling season is better!

Why are some rooms hotter or colder than others? 

This is a common problem. Sometimes there is no easy solution. It may mean investing in window treatments or blinds. Depending on the age of the home, sometimes a replacement window with Low E glass makes huge differences. In many cases your HVAC contractor can try to balance the air best as possible by adjusting the vents on the HVAC system that serves in that room. Sometimes a different style vent may help. Different thermostats with remote averaging sensors that can be put in rooms also can help with hot rooms. Lennox has one that pair well with the Lennox system. Honeywell, and Ecobee as well are two common thermostats that offer this. At Tri-Cities Heating & Air Co we can help you find the solution.

What is the Best Temperature to set my Heating or Air? 

This really depends on both your home, your insulation, and what you can or cannot afford in the way of utility cost. For one person, 68 degrees may be fine. For another 74 is ideal. Its about comfort, efficiency, energy usage, and loss. If the temperature you choose in the summer makes you system run most of the day, it is probably set too cold in eth summer. Ideal, for energy conservation and comfort, a cooling setting of 72 – 76 is ideal. Heating can be set the same, but most people feel the effect differently, so setting those colder is typically recommended, Ideal setting for heat is 68-72. If your thermostat has an AUTO change-over setting, we recommend a minimum of 2-3 degrees between your heating and your cooling temperatures. In these cases, always set your cooling temperatures higher than your heating temps.

My AC broke on Saturday Night, what do I do?

At Tri-Cities Heating & Air Co we do offer emergency services, but we do not advertise it. In Many cases, the repairs require parts. Your cost to fix it, if we can get it on Saturday night will probably be at least double than if you wait till Monday. In some case the parts need to be ordered and you will need to wait. The open up fees will still need to be paid and all after hours costs incurred will remain. For this reason, we don’t advertise it or recommend it unless you really must. Just remember, after hours, all costs are at least double.

My AC system needs more FREON. So how long does the FREON last? 

Freon is a term many people use for refrigerant. Basically all refrigerants are FREON. Now how often before we have to add more? NEVER! Your AC system is sealed, meaning refrigerant is not something that gets “used up”. However we live in a broken world where things break. Leaks develop. If you are low on FREON, you most likely have a leak. Leaks must be fixed. They do not get better, only worse, And FREON is expensive and is known to be dangerous to our environment. At Tri-Cities Heating & Air we can find the leak, fix it, and re-charge your system. But sometimes, it is not a leak at all, rather dirty components that act similarly to a leak by causing system inefficiency.

What are the different AC brands, you may say, I have TRANE, It’s the best, but is it?

Are some brands better than others, I would say yes, for sure. The most recognized and top tier brands are Trane, Carrier, and Lennox. Followed by Daikin and Mitsubishi on the Mini-split lines. There are a ton of brands. Trane’s common lower tier brands is American Standard, Run-Tru, Ameristar and Thermo King. Carrier’s common lower tier brands are Bryant, ArcoAire, Heil, Comfortmaker, Day and Night, Payne, Keeprite, Tempstar, which are all ICP products. Lennox also owns Allied Air. Of the three major brands, all the top tier brands have multiple lines and levels of equipment. Their lower Tier brands do not have many options. But you say, what does it matter? I say does it matter what you drive. You can drive a Lexus, a Hyundai, a Ford, a BMW or a Cadillac. They all may get you where you want to go, but they all have different maintenance cost, performance cost, comfort levels, and they all have far different prices. Within reason, you get what you pay for. When you buy a higher end Air Conditioner or Heat pump unit, you are paying for an engineered product. At Tri-Cities, while we can get many brands, we stand strongly with Lennox Industries as they have proved to us reliability, comfort and a quality product!