heater Archives

How to Increase the Life of your HVAC Unit

4 Mins Read

Both heating and cooling solutions have become an essential part of life. Regardless of whether you need HVAC units for commercial or residential purposes, they play an important role in maintaining the optimum temperature for us and our surroundings.

However, these units can be quite expensive and the last thing you want is extensive wear and tear resulting in a complete breakdown.

Ideally, you should maintain these units regularly before the worst case scenario or needing emergency HVAC repair services.

Some of the things you can do on a regular basis to increase the life of your heater or air conditioners are as follows:

1) Regular cleaning

Did you know it is possible that HVAC units can make your home dirtier than before? Yes, this is true considering these units have a number of parts including air filters, ducts, ventilation systems etc where dirt and other particles can accumulate.

As these particles continue to settle in various parts of your HVAC unit, the pressure on the machine starts to go up. It is not just about air quality but about your units ability to heat or cool itself.

Regular cleaning is the number one thing you can do to increase the life of your heater, furnace or cooler. Lets put it this way, if you do not get your HVAC units cleaned regularly, then you are most certainly setting up a date with a repair service.

Now, I understand that cleaning HVAC units is not an easy task and you really need to know how these machines work if cleaning yourself. Hence it is advisable to take the help of professionals for such jobs.

If you feel you have a simple HVAC unit at home and can clean it yourself, please make sure you follow all precautions and guidelines set by the manufacturer. Last thing you want is to accidentally damage a part of your unit and create a large repair bill.

2) Ease the load

Most experts in the field would tell you that although these units are capable of extensive heating or cooling prowess, it is best if you take the load of them whenever possible.

So for air conditioners, you do not always want to keep it at the lowest setting. Increasing the temperature by just 2 degrees Celsius can make a lot of difference. Sometimes you may want to have a fan to provide assist with the air circulation. Fans allow you to set the temperature higher for air conditioners.

Same goes with heaters. If not too cold, adjust the temperature to ease the load on the machine. Whatever you can do to take some load off, will end up increasing your HVAC unit’s lifespan.

3) Keep an eye on voltage and electric fluctuations

This is a point often ignored by most users. HVAC units are ultimately machines powered by electricity. If there is even the slightest power fluctuation or some issue with the wiring, then you will face problems.

Obviously all good HVAC units come with power stabilizers and can take some fluctuation to a certain extent. The commercial grade units come with higher capacity energy stabilizers.

However, you never know when the power unit of the HVAC unit gives out thanks to some sudden power fluctuation. It is advisable to check if power supply in your home or office is stable and if any old wiring needs to be changed, go ahead and do so.

This is something you do not need to do often. Maybe a check every few months or so should be fine unless there were power outages recently in your area.

Final thoughts

HVAC unit repair costs can be quite high. Buying new units would definitely dent any budget. Therefore, you need to ensure you maintain your heating and cooling machines as well as you can.

Simple, regular servicing of air filters, ducts, ventilation systems etc. is enough to keep your unit running nice and smooth. And remember, take the load of your HVAC unit whenever possible. This will not only result in a better lifespan but also lower electricity bills.

In Choose To Thrive

When Everything Around Your House Needs Repairs

5 Mins Read

I have heard people saying when one thing goes wrong, everything starts going wrong. However, today I actually experienced this and it was not just one of those bizarre days where I couldn’t get anything done properly.

This was a bit more serious for me. It involved several appliances around the house suddenly deciding it was time for a break.

It started with my refrigerator. All of a sudden the inside light stopped working. I was in panic mode and hoped against hope it was a simple light issue and not a machine fault. Apart from all the food getting spoilt, I was also really trying to avoid a refrigerator repair job as I simply didn’t have the time or budget for it. Of course the worst case scenario of buying a new refrigerator was completely out of the question.

After some frantic searching on the internet, I tried some troubleshooting. I unplugged the refrigerator, plugged it in again and ensured there were no power issues. I also used the old school method of simply putting my hand on the sides of the refrigerator to feel for the usual vibrations. I could feel it and the fact that even after a while things seemed quite cool inside the refrigerator told me it was not a machine issue.

Well after a few calls here and there, I had a friend bring in a new bulb for my exact model from the nearest hardware store. He helped fix the bulb as well and thank my lucky stars the light came on as soon as I switched on my refrigerator once again. It was unplugged before changing the bulb.

I felt a sense of relief as I can’t imagine not having the refrigerator working for days before it gets repaired. Unfortunately though, my sense of relief soon faded when I realized my heater in my small work from home office was not working as it should.

I have one of those portable halogen heaters that swivel around slowly and distribute heat evenly. It is a simple heating solution for a small space like my makeshift home office. However, when I sat for my work, I noticed the heater was not swiveling. The fan from the heater was also making an unusual noise and was quite loud.

The heater itself was working though as I could feel the heat but it was definitely not functioning as it should have.

Now for the worst part. I tried fixing the heater as much as I could going through tutorials online on my mobile. However, nothing helped and I thought its not really that cold so this can be something I can do later. Anyways the portable heater was meant only for my workspace which I built for my work from home situation.

However, as soon as I sat for work and switched on my laptop, well guess what. It wouldn’t come on or boot up. It stayed at the Windows logo with those dots going round and round but absolutely nothing happened. It was my worst nightmare. All my files, data, clients waiting for their designs. All held hostage by my non-booting laptop.

I waited for more than 10 minutes before I forced shut the machine and tried booting it again. Same issue. Back to searching for a solution on my mobile. Most suggestions said to boot windows in safe mode and go from there. However, my laptop refused to even get to the safe mode screen. I waited and waited and waited.

Now I was really cursing my luck. First my refrigerator, then my heater and just when I thought things could not be worse, my laptop.

However, I read that sometimes when a windows update is going on it can take even couple of hours for the machine to boot and I remembered there was an update when I was shutting down the machine the previous night. So then I waited for a couple of hours patiently. Well – it did nothing. Still the dots going around in a circle.

This time though, I can again forced shut the machine and booted it once more. Thankfully this time I got the windows update notification with a percentage showing up. This went on for few minutes and finally my laptop was back on. It was crazy. The relief was incredible. I had no time to relax though as I had missed most of my work day and had to frantically get back to working.

So finally, after a day where it felt as if everything in my house needed repair, I am now back on the couch with my herbal tea, almost afraid of thinking what is going to go wrong next.

Also if you are wondering, the heater is not okay and has now stopped working completely.

In Home and DIY Projects

Is Your HVAC Unit Making Your Home Dirtier?

5 Mins Read

HVAC units are brilliant for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. However, when they develop faults, they can be responsible for making your home a dirtier and dustier place.

If things go wrong here, it’s important to act fast, because it’s been proven time and again that dust in your home can make residents sick if it’s left long enough. Fortunately, you can get ahead of the curve quite easily here.

Consequently, here are some tips on what you can do to make sure your HVAC unit isn’t making your home dirtier.

Introduce The Right Filters

The first course of action will be to check your HVAC system and select the right filters for it. For example some systems use MERV 13 filters. If you are using lower quality or clogged filters, then before long they’ll be working against you rather than with you, blowing lots of dirt and dust all over the place. Therefore, it’s important to switch them out as soon as their usefulness comes to an end.

Consider buying some top-quality filters from Filterbuy, which offers a range of MERV filters at various standards, so you can find the right ones for your unit and needs. The company helps you buy them in bulk on prearranged orders, which means this ordeal practically handles itself. It’s totally easy, whereas combatting dust and dirt after it has made itself at home is not quite so! Maintaining your home can be a long-winded task but opting for services that organize themselves is a great way to remove some of the bother. A lot of companies are offering discounts and offers to customers that prefer to shop on a subscription basis.

Remember, if you have pets or allergies, then you’ll likely find yourself replacing filters more often than those without. Consequently, it’s important to keep your lifestyle in mind to give you a rough idea of how often changes will be necessary. It would help if you also considered a higher MERV rating to capture larger particles.

Check Airflow

If you were too late to change the filters, then problems may have arisen elsewhere in the HVAC unit. That’s why it’s so important to check in on the filters on occasion. If they have been faulty or dirty for a while, then chances are that other parts of the unit have started to become affected also.

Dust can accumulate on your furniture when there’s not enough airflow wafting through your house to stop it from settling. Unfortunately, faulty filters restrict the flow of cold air inside the machine and can lead to uneven cooling problems. Obviously, you don’t want to be grappling with airflow problems in the midst of another alarming heatwave in the States, so it’s best to keep an eye on things here regularly. Give it all an occasional inspection, and things should be okay.

But how does this correlate to dirt and dust? Well, dust settles in any environment where there isn’t at least some airflow, so your HVAC unit could well be preventing the stuff from building-up in your home when it is fully operational. Therefore, checking this aspect of the HVAC, along with the filters, will help you keep your home cleaner.

Dusty Ducts

Even if your filter is working, the HVAC can still spread dust and dirt through your home if the there are gaps in the ducts of the unit. Still, at least this situation will inform you on how important the filters really are!

Check the ductwork sealing and ensure that everything is sufficiently closed up. Otherwise, not only will the air conditioning or heat escape, but any dust or dirt rattling around in there will too. Run your hands over the ducts, and if you feel air escaping, then that’s where much of your dust will be coming from because it isn’t going through a working filter first.

If you discover these faults or suspect them, call a seasoned professional out so that they can inspect and repair the unit to get it back in good working order. A sealant solution might do the trick if you’re wanting to put things right yourself, but it’s best to call the people in the know for peace of mind.

Examine Air Registers and Vent Covers

A lot passes through the ducts; dead skin, pet hairs, and anything else of that variety. Left to lurk around long enough, other things like mold will begin to form and present problems, as bacteria love to feast in unexpected places undisturbed. So, it’s best to inspect everything to see where the dust and dirt is most prevalent.

If grubby filters really have left everything else in the lurch, then it’s quite likely the registers, and vent covers will be covered in some fresh hell of yucky grossness. Problems can snowball quite easily with these kinds of issues, because if things still aren’t addressed, then you’ll find all sorts of surprises spewing out of these places and right into your home in time.

If you want to see how bad things have gotten, check the registers and vent covers. In the worst of times, one good luck at them will be enough to teach you a lesson in replacing the filters.

Final Thoughts

If your HVAC is making your home dirtier, then you need to focus on sorting the issue out as quickly as possible. Most of the potential problems come from a failure to regularly replace air filters, so as long as you’re on top of that side of things, a tidy and dust-free HVAC unit and home you shall have!