Reliable Heating and Air » Care and Maintenance

Do you have room to expand?

reliable — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:48:39 +0000

by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air

A few weeks ago I received a letter from Cherokee County water department informing me they were installing a back flow preventer on our home and letting us know of a need to have a thermal expansion tank installed in our plumbing system to prevent possible damage to our home. All cities and counties have installed or are installing back flow preventers to stop the possible contamination of the water supply in homes. A back flow preventer is a one way valve installed at the connection of your homes water supply and it makes the home a closed system that has no room for expansion which occurs when water is heated. A thermal expansion tank is required to stop the possibility of an over pressure situation that can damage to the water heater and the temperature and pressure relief valve in your home. The letter from the county gave us 30 days to have a expansion tank installed before the backflow valve is installed in our subdivision.

It’s not just “routine” maintenance this time of year.

reliable — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:42:12 +0000

by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating, Air & Plumbing

Cold weather is right around the corner and you will soon be in need of heat in your home. Furnaces need a complete service and cleaning each year before they are turned on to make sure they are safe and efficient. Many times, a homeowner will make the assumption that just because a furnace ignites, it is safe to operate. This could not be farther from the truth. Modern day furnaces are a very safe appliance and when maintained, can give years of service. But it is important that the series of safety devices and components that make them safe are in good working order. All modern day furnaces are safe if they are maintained properly, but if neglected could cause a problem. Reliable Heating, Air & Plumbing employees 100 plus Nate certified techs to make sure all is in good shape for a long cold winter.

When it’s time, it’s time!

reliable — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:21:51 +0000

by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air

When it’s finally time to replace your old heating and cooling system, there will be many choices and different decisions to be made that will affect your comfort, efficiency and overall happiness with any new system selected. It would benefit anyone to become familiar with the different components and terms you will face when that day does arrive.

Reliable Heating & Air Summer 2011

reliable — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:20:12 +0000

Dan Jape, Reliable Heating & Air

Now that warm weather has arrived, it is very important that your cooling system is checked to make sure it is operating at peak efficiency. If your system is low on refrigerant or coils are dirty, it can cost you hundreds of dollars more each year to cool your home. Make sure you do not waste your money operating a cooling system that is not operating at peak efficiency.

Spring Cleanup List Begins with HVAC

reliable — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:28:42 +0000

Courtesy of HGTV.com

To keep your house in top shape, give systems an annual checkup.

Spring cleaning is a tradition, but there are some other chores that should be part of your springtime routine, too. Most of them take only a few minutes, so get started!

Home Automation Made Affordable and Easy

reliable — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:46:56 +0000

by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air

There is an exciting new Trane product we have available that will allow you to put control of your home in the palm of your hand and provide total comfort and total security from any remote location. The “LiNK” system allows you to monitor and remotely control the temperatures and energy efficiency of your home as well as controlling the door locks, security lights and even turn on cameras that show you what is happening in your home. Many different systems in your home can be controlled from your web enabled phone or laptop computer. Two hundred and thirty-one different systems can be connected to the LiNK system and all you need is an internet connection.

Goodbye, my old friend..

reliable — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:12:07 +0000

by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air

After a ten year phase out, Freon is now dead and gone forever and this change will have an impact on most every home and business in the country. Back in the early 1990′s, law was enacted that called for the phase out of CFC’s, halons, and HCFC,s due to the fact they destroy the ozone layer and are responsible for creating an ozone hole over the South Pole. Freon is an HCFC and whether you believe in the ozone issue or not, everyone who currently has an old air conditioner that runs on Freon will be affected by the phase out since the law mandated that no new Freon based a/c units can be built after January 1, 2010 and after January 1, 2015, there is a ban on the sale and use of Freon in residential use. As the production of new Freon is limited, the price of this gas is going up to the point to where if you have an old leaky a/c system that uses Freon R-22, it will be a better idea to replace your a/c system instead of spending hundreds of dollars fixing leaks and recharging the system with Freon. Freon is going to be expensive this summer and to keep adding more to a leaky system is not a good use of your money. The state of the economy has the price of new systems lower than ever before and warranties have been escalated to 10 years parts and labor making this the best of times to cut ties with your Freon based a/c system.

Read more on Goodbye, my old friend…..

Flooding and your Comfort Systems

reliable — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:24:20 +0000

by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air

The floods that struck Atlanta brought many tragic results included the destruction of life and home for many and my heart goes out to all those affected. Sometimes one is at a loss to understand why such occurrences happen and how they become so terrible out of something so necessary such as rain. The floodwater also can have long reaching affects on our lives and safety unless properly cleaned up and treated.

What’s a filter for? Not what you think…

reliable — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:38:01 +0000

As the warm spring weather arrives, homeowners frequently ask me if there is anything they can do to ready their cooling system for summer. There are a few simple steps that one can take to assure their system will be ready to take on the hot muggy days of summer. Over the next few months I will go in depth about some helpful cooling tips I have discovered over the years.
This month I would like to give you some insight on the first and most important step in summer cooling preparation-making sure to properly change the furnace air filter. This should be done every month during the months when either the heating or the cooling is operating. At under $3.00 a piece, it’s the best investment you can make in your home’s heating and cooling system, considering the fact that over 75% of the service calls we receive in the first thirty days of the cooling system involve a dirty or improperly-sized filter. Over three-quarters of the time, our technicians are cleaning dirty cooling coils, blower wheels and clogged condensate water drains caused by homeowners not changing their air filters.
Most of our customers incorrectly believe that the job of their furnace filter is to remove airborne dust, dirt and pollens from the air their family breathes. An even larger segment of our customers also incorrectly believe that the job of their furnace filter is remove pet dander, bird feathers, fish tank smell, cat pan stinks, small toys that junior threw down the floor grills and smoke from uncle Harry’s cigar at Christmas. Well, they are all wrong! The job of a properly designed and installed furnace air filter is to keep the cooling coil/radiator clean and efficient during the life of your system. Inside the duct work above your furnace is a cooling coil/radiator called the evaporator coil, and outside of your home is a device called the compressor/condenser. The job of the coil/radiator is to remove the moisture and the heat from the air in your home and just like the coil/radiator in your car, your home’s cooling coil needs just the right amount of airflow going though its tightly packed fins. Just as your car will overheat if your fan belt breaks, your air conditioner will overheat and stop working if coil becomes clogged with dirt.
The fan blades that provide this airflow are in your furnace and they are also protected and kept clean by a regular furnace filter changing. If your furnace blower or your cooling coil becomes clogged with dirt, a professional repairperson with have to be called as this cleaning requires removal of both components and is very costly.
A dirty coil/blower wheel will cause reduced airflow and possible icing of the compressor/condenser and cooling coil. This icing causes many problems including the complete destruction of your compressor/condenser. A unit with a dirty coil or furnace blower will run longer generating higher power bills and will not be as efficient in transferring heat as a clean coil and blower.
It is very important to use the correct size filter so that all the incoming air is directed through the surface area of the filter. Do not bend or fold a too large filter and make sure your filter is properly held in place by a wire retainer or clip. Remember there is up to 2000 cubic feet of air blowing through your filter and it will be pulled out of place unless firmly held in by a filter retainer clip. I can’t tell you the number of times I find a furnace filter all mangled up and torn by the blower and dirt just blowing right on the coil. It’s very hard to get the filter springs back in place after you change the filter. Try lying down on the floor and with a flashlight in hand partially crawl in the blower area to observe the filter spring clip holder. Keep at it until it latches in place. If you are lucky enough to have an external filter rack or holder, be sure and reinstall the door correctly to make sure no air leakage occurs.
If you are using those 99-cent blue fiberglass throwaway filters, STOP RIGHT NOW. Those filters are designed to stop dirt particles the size of junior’s toys he throws down the grills and they do a darn good job of it! But everything else smaller flies right through them and builds up on the surface of your cooling coil where it joins with condensate water to form a product “coil scrounge”. Invest in the MERV 8 1″ pleated filters that cost about $3.00 a piece at your local home improvement store. Make sure you buy a dozen at a time to make it easy to do. You will never remember to go to the store every month. If you have an air cleaner or a hard to find filter size do not give up. Give me a call and I will give you the name of a wholesale supply house in your area that WILL sell to you. I have spoken to the manager and they will be glad to help you directly. In the past I have heard from homeowners that supply houses will not talk to them unless they are “in the air conditioning business”. I will gladly give you the name and number of this one supplier you can purchase a full array of air cleaner and media filters at a very reasonable price.
By changing your furnace filter often and correctly, you can rest assured that you have done one of the most important functions in assuring continued comfort, efficiency and life span of your home’s heating and cooling system.

Your condensate pump is your friend!

reliable — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:35:52 +0000

There are a few simple and easy steps any homeowner can perform on their heating and cooling system that can help keep their equipment operating at peak performance. Last month I went over the importance of keeping a proper sized, clean filter in the air handler/furnace. This month we will go over one of the most overlooked parts of your air conditioning system, the condensate drain. The condensate drain system is one of those things that is out of sight out of mind until it fails and overflows potentially causing thousands of dollars of damage to your home and furnishings. With just a few simple steps this flooding and damage can be avoided.