Patrick Schnurbusch asked:


Summer is coming so now is the time to think about your HVAC unit, right? You could not be farther from the truth. Your HVAC system needs to be thought of and addressed every month of the year and once seriously in the spring and the fall. Confused? Then you need to read on.

Unless you feel like spending five ot ten thousand dollars every couple of years to replace the system that keeps your home and family comfortable year around, you need to make sure that your system is properly taken care of so it can take care of you.

What that means is that monthly, or semi monthly in some instances, you need to get in there and change your air filtration filter. Monthly if you just have the normal everyday house with maybe a shorthaired pet and carpeting. Twice a month if you have a couple pets, longhaired bread or hardwood or tile floors. This is because, for all intent and purposes, the area where the filter is becomes the mouth of your unit where it sucks in the air. ALL air will contain some contaminates and if you have certain conditions, it can contain a LOT of them. The good filters are great if you change monthly and the less expensive ones work great if you do it more often.

On top of the monthly or semi-monthly work, you need to have a regular HVAC company drop by and tune it up for you. They will check the Freon (the stuff that keeps it cold) and clean out the vents and the ductwork so that your unit can work efficiently and save you money while it is doing the job of cooling and heating your home. They will check things on the outside and the inside unit and make sure that there are no surprises lurking that will leave you without heat or air at critical moments in time. These check ups are like taking yourself to the doctor on a routine basis to make sure that everything is running well in your body. We all know that if we wait until there is a problem that it becomes exponentially more expensive to cure the problem that if we catch it before it becomes and issue.

There are tons of reasons that keeping your HVAC System maintained will be advantageous to you, but the top five of them that will make immediate sense to you are as follows for those of you keeping score.

1 – Increased Energy Efficiency, which is good for the environment

2 – Cleaner Inside Environment for you and your family

3 – Increased resale value on your house because your unit is in tip top shape

4 – Saving money over the long haul by better running system with less emergencies

5 – Peace of Mind knowing that you’re always going to be warm or cool

So the next time you hear your system kick in remember, it keeps working when you are not home, when you are sleeping and all the time the power is on. So why not schedule in a tune up visit for it so it can keep doing its job?



Goodman Gas Furnace

furnaceman.com asked:


For years, I have been a HVAC trainer, and troubleshooter. I now have an opportunity to do sales for a contractor and am wondering what a reasonable commission would be for selling such systems. Besides finding customers and selling the systems, I would also be doing all the heat losses and gains, system design and layouts, getting quotes from suppliers for system materials, and providing technical support during the installation.

So, the question is: What type of commission would be typical, assuming that this commission is my only income(no base salary)?

Residential Hot Water Heater

x_ped asked:


The mini split ac’s come precharged with freon. this allows one to just install the unit, and connect the lines. it states to purge, or evacuate the system after the lines are connected. the only air would be from the actual 15′ lines that were connected. will the ac run good without be purged or evacuated? this ductless system is new, and ive heard people installing them without fancy equipment. id like to know if i can get good cooling, without the hvac tools. what do you guys think?

Vertical Vinyl Siding

Roberto C asked:


best methid if learning hvac …i am in college need more …..

Bamboo Coffee Table

Johnny A asked:


I live in Wilmington NC and about to buy a nice home that needs a new hvac system. The home is 2000 sq feet and has seperate a/c units for upstairs. Thanks

Mitchell Fishing Rods

Kristin Kronstain asked:


Online communities are great for today’s business professionals. The web is no longer just a place for people to shop online or get the latest weather update, but a place for business professionals to exchange information and read about new technologies. Business owners and industry professionals who have undergone comprehensive training to excel in their careers can enhance their business strategies and stay up to date with current business trends simply by participating in online communities.

What is an online community? It can mean an online organization to bring together in the form of industry societies or formal groups, but it doesn’t have to be. Places such as forums and blogs provide additional contributions to an organization’s existing web site and places for professionals to connect with other professionals. A forum will allow a person to post a problem or question and get the opinions of other technicians in the field from all over the world. They may be able to offer new ideas that you or the people you work with every day have not considered. These tools are great for people in the HVAC industry.

What are the benefits of participating in an HVAC online community?

Gives HVAC Technicians a Place to Exchange News and New HVAC Technologies

After HVAC technicians have completed their education at a heating and air conditioning school, they need to find other ways to keep up on the news and technologies that continue to develop within the industry. Schools do a great job posting articles in blogs to keep their graduates abreast of new ideas. The web is a place for other professionals to share their views on current economic trends affecting their profession. It’s a place for professionals to get the word out about new equipment models and tools that will be useful in HVAC maintenance and repair. These things can be very useful to technicians in their every day work. Did you know that there has been a shortage in HVAC technicians recently? Did you know that green building designs are affecting indoor air quality control and energy consumption by HVAC units? You would if you kept up with current blog postings.

Gives Technicians a Place to Share Experiences

There are some things that must be done in a logical order. For example, you always put your pants on before your shoes. Other tasks, we are able perform in different ways. Do you pour your coffee and then add sugar, or do you put the sugar in the cup and then pour the coffee? These variations in procedures can have varying results in the final products, although maybe not so much in coffee preparation. HVAC maintenance and repair techniques may have variations in it as well. Your method for completing tasks may be slightly different than another person’s and therefore you have differing results. Online communities are great places to share your experiences and discuss successes and failures with other people. They may have better ways of doing things. They may need a little help and guidance. These exchanges of information based on experience with different HVAC technologies are incredibly useful in helping people do their jobs better.

Fosters a Sense of Belonging among HVAC Technicians

We all want to belong to a community. This is part of the reason we join gyms, go to church, play basketball, and create online profiles on so many different sites. We enjoy getting to know people and seeing things that are similar and different between us. Going to school is helpful for this as well, but often it’s hard to keep up with those relationships once your education has been completed. It’s fun to establish connections with people who have similar interests, such as a career in the HVAC industry. It not only gives us a sense of identity, but also creates an environment for networking. Networking usually ends up being an integral part of the job searching process. We meet a person through school, through school job fairs, or simply through “knowing someone who knows someone” and these relationships could potentially turn into job offers.

Gives HVAC Technicians a Place to Get Information Regardless of Time or Place

Whether you live in Phoenix, Arizona or Anchorage, Alaska, you can participate in these communities. Whether you are someone who gets up at 6 am to spend time on the computer or likes to stay up until 2 am, you can participate in these communities when it is convenient for you. Time and place are no longer a factor in your ability to exchange information within your profession. You don’t have to go to a convention in another state in order to meet someone else in the HVAC industry to discuss a problem you’ve been encountering with a piece of equipment. You can post your problem on a forum and see who responds.

See what other people are doing in order to apply new ideas to your own life and work. These communities and online organizations have been helpful to so many industries. They can be useful to the HVAC industry as well.



Goodman Heat Pumps

Yodle asked:


So you’ve bought a new home and your home inspector turns to you and blithely says, “Oh, great new HVAC system.”

“A what?” you say in response.

“You know,” he says “a thermodynamic system that takes care of all of your heating, ventilation and airconditioning.”

So that’s what the acronym HVAC stands for you think to yourself.

Welcome to the world of climate control.  Even though most people know a little something about air conditioning and heating, few of us stop to think much about it.  We tend to take our comfort for granted until the furnace runs out of oil or the air conditioner’s compressor dies.  Then, suddenly, we wish we were experts on the subject.

What an HVAC Does

The primary purpose of an HVAC system is to regulate room temperature, humidity, and air flow within acceptable and safe limits to ensure that we are comfortable and healthy.

Room temperature - Room temperature regulation is accomplished by both heating and cooling the air in a room.  Simply put, on cold days the system adds heat to the air and on warm days the air is cooled.  Obviously the human body is not meant to be subjected to cold temperatures for long periods or hypothermia and perhaps death can occur. Conversely, consistently high temperatures can cause heat stroke or death.  Children and elderly folks are particularly susceptible to extreme temperatures because they are more likely to have immature or poorly functioning temperature regulation mechanisms.

Humidity - Too much humidity in the air is not only uncomfortable, but it encourages the growth of molds, some of which are harmful to our health. High humidity can also cause fatigue by decreasing physical strength.  Likewise, too little humidity creates moisture-deprived air that dries the membranes in our noses, throats and lungs making us more susceptible to disease.  The proper regulation of humidity in our indoor air, therefore, has both comfort and health implications.

Air flow - Simply adding or subtracting warm or cold air is not enough to accomplish effective temperature control.  It is also necessary to move the air around or distribute it evenly and efficiently.  The movement of air within a building or system and the exchanging of inside and outside air is a process called ventilation. Ventilation changes or replaces room air, subtracts humidity and filters out impurities such as allergens, odors, airborne bacteria and toxic gases. When ventilation is efficient, the airflow from room to room is equalized in such a way that a specified room temperature is achieved throughout the home, air quality is maintained at safe levels and stagnation of the interior air is prevented.

Components of an HVAC System

The basic components of a modern HVAC system are designed to work together as an integrated unit. The usual components are:

Furnace

Air conditioner

Heat pump

Humidifier

Air handler

Heat coil

Air filtration system

Programmable thermostats

Sensors

Duct system

Selecting an HVAC System

Most HVAC systems are initially installed by a HVAC contractor who contracts out equipment and installation services to a builder.  But if you are thinking about replacing your current heating/air conditioning system, you will want to gather as much information as you can on the pros and cons before purchasing a product.

If you are considering replacing only part of your current system such as an air handler or condenser, you should know that the industry recommendation is to replace the entire system to ensure reliability and efficiency; otherwise the efficiency rating, which is based on the entire working system, may be erroneous.

Efficiency Rating

What is an efficiency rating you ask?  It is a measure of the percentage of energy used efficiently.  The U.S. government, in an effort to provide consumers with the means to make informed decisions, requires an efficiency rating for all HVAC equipment.  Efficiency ratings vary by name depending on the type of equipment.  For example, air conditioning equipment is rated by the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER). Heat pump equipment is rated by the Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF) and gas furnaces are rated according to their Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE).  A high rating in any category means a high level of efficiency.

What Can a HVAC Contractor/Technician Do For Me?

There are many HVAC systems on the market affording you the liberty to choose the one that is right for your home.  However, selecting and installing a new HVAC unit is not a simple process.  If you are an average home owner, under no circumstances should you purchase a system yourself without the advice of a trusted licensed and insured HVAC contractor.

HVAC technicians can give you advice too, but their primary job is to service and repair existing systems, not install them.  Some companies have both contractors and technicians on board and others have repair technicians only. You will need to ask what services are offered by each company.  Always ask the contractor about his years of experience and for references.

Equipment Sizing

When planning to buy a new piece of heating or cooling equipment, you will want to know how many BTUs (British Thermal Units) per hour of heat the equipment must produce or remove to keep your home comfortable.  This is called the heat load.  The heat load calculation determines the size of your system.  Correct sizing is directly related to your comfort and the cost of operating the equipment.  For example, if the equipment is undersized, your home will not be adequately cooled or heated.  Too large and the system cycles on and off more frequently than it should which increases your operating cost.

Load Calculation

HVAC contractors can determine the size of the system that meets your home’s particular specifications by doing a load calculation.  A load calculation includes some of the following elements:

Square feet of home

Climate

Condition, number and type of windows (heat/cold retention)

Warm or cool air that may be lost through ceilings, walls and attics (insulation)

Inefficient ducts (location, distance from energy source, insulation, etc.)

Heat emitted by appliances, lights, and the residents themselves

Shrubbery, trees, and roof overhangs

Overall home design

Do I Need a New HVAC System?

The answer to this question is unfortunately not easily generalized because all equipment isn’t alike.  However, there are several rules of thumb you can take into consideration when deciding to go “new” or stick with the old.  Some experts will say that if your system is broken and the repair will cost more than $500.00 that the smart investment in the long run is to replace rather than repair.  The avearge life-expectancy of a furnace is a long 16-20 years, but if yours is better than 10 years old, you may want to begin considering replacement options.  The other factor to take into account in making your decision is the efficiency of your furnace.  An old furnace, even if it appears to be working well, may be cheating you out of dollars by extracting only 60% of the available heat from your heating fuel.  Newer models extract as much as 90% of the heat.  You have to balance the cost of your fuel against the output you are receiving.

The same holds true with heat pumps and air conditioners.  Older ones operate at a 60% efficiency whereas newer ones achieve 90% or more efficiency.  To illustrate in dollars and cents,  if your monthy fuel or power bill is $100.00 and you install a new system, you could see your energy cost drop to as little as $65.00/month, a savings of $35.00/month.  Multiply that by twelve months and you have a yearly savings of $420.00.

An easily added, inexpensive programmable thermostat will help save dollars too, especially if no one is home during the day.

Other factors that may point to the need to consult an HVAC specialist are:

Some rooms are too hot and others are too cold

You have humidity problems (too humid in the summer and too dry in the winter)

Your home seems to be excessively dusty

Your cooling system is noisey

Selecting the Right Contractor

As mentioned earlier, your HVAC contractor should be licensed, bonded and experienced in the type of equipment you want installed.  Ask for references and ask how long the contractor has been installing HVACs.  Select someone with whom you feel at ease, who listens and who is an effective communicator.  Ask for a detailed written proposal that includes all the costs.  The proposal should decribe each step in the process including what will be done, the materials that will be used and a time-line for the completion of each step.  Periodic maintenance will be important in keeping the system running smoothly once it is installed so ask your contractor if he offers an annual service contract and what service is included.  Does he offer price reductions on repairs or deliver priority service to customers installing a new system?

Regulating the HVAC Industry

In the past, the HVAC industry was regulated by the manufacturers of HVAC equipment, but now there are a number of organizations that provide regulation and standards such as The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASRAE) www.ashrae.org, Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) www.smacna.org, and the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) www.acca.org.  The Uniform Mechanical Code, a source of codes for HVAC professionals, sets forth requirements for the installation and maintenance of heating, ventilating, cooling, and refrigeration systems.

Tax Credits

If you need an incentive to begin investigating a replacement system, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 may stimulate you to purchase sooner than later.  Tax credits are available at 30% of the cost, up to $1,500, in 2009 & 2010 (for existing homes only) for some HVAC components.  To be certain your planned improvement qualifies, check with your tax professional, HVAC specialist or watch for the new federal energy-savings guidelines to be released soon.

Aside from saving money, receiving tax credits and conserving energy, the most important reward for buying a new HVAC system or overhauling your current one is the peace of mind you will experience knowing that the health and safety of your family is protected.



Ventless Gas Fireplaces

Old School asked:


My HVAC unit seems to be failing. It starts up, make a very high pitched sound. The fan does not appear to be hitting anything. The air handler is not blowing any air, as I suspect it’s waiting for the outside unit to produce heat so it does not cold air.

any thoughts? The unit is about 3 years old.

Thanks!

PVC Plumbing Fittings

henry johnson asked:


As the summer heat creeps into the atmosphere, it’s time for residents of a certain community to start thinking about finding HVAC Chambersburg PA providers. HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. HVAC equipment is essential to the modern convenience of climate control, but we often take it for granted in our busy lives. It’s important to grasp the importance of your system as Chambersburg, PA transitions from spring to summer.

The importance of comfort

Let’s look back in HVAC Chambersburg PA

Thank goodness we don’t have to tolerate these concerns anymore! HVAC equipment enables us to stay warm in winter, keep cool in the summer, and control wavering temperatures thru ventilation systems in the autumn and spring. HVAC is based on the laws of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer, keeping your home warm in winter, temperate in the spring and fall, and cool in the spring.

There are some different types of standard heating systems to keep your toes warm in winter. Central heating consists of a boiler, furnace, or heat pump in a central furnace room pumping hot air or water to all areas of the house. It is commonly used for personal homes and public buildings. Radiators are mounted on or behind a wall to heat individual rooms. Ductwork is also used to send heated air through the house. Ductwork is also used for air conditioning in the summer. There are central and split forms of aircon, which supplies refrigeration thru the removal of heat.

Ventilation keeps the air quality high and consistent throughout the year, working with the heating or air-con systems to maintain high indoor air quality. Mechanical forms of ventilation include mechanical exhaust systems that control odor and humidity, and fans that circulate the air. There are also natural forms of ventilation, using windows and doors to circulate air.

With the modern conveniences of HVAC Chambersburg PA residents don’t need to sweat and suffer in the summertime or freeze in winter. HVAC systems are sure to keep you comfortable at any time of the year.

.



Discount Kitchen Faucets

American_Nawaab_786 asked:


The HVAC unit in my attic is leaking. The drip pan / condensation pan is leaking. I need to have it replaced. What should I expect to pay?

Scented Gel Candles