At Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning, we’re always looking for ways to grow and offer new services to benefit our customers. Recently, we started to offer installation of whole-house fans. Although whole-house fans aren’t actually a new invention—they were popular in the 1950s and ‘60s before central AC was common in homes—they’ve made a comeback because they provide an energy-saving way of cooling and providing better ventilation throughout a house.
Purl's Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Blog: Archive for the ‘Indoor Air Quality’ Category
What Does a Whole-House Fan Actually Do?
Monday, September 14th, 2015Is It Time to Schedule Dryer Vent Cleaning
Monday, August 31st, 2015We’ve previously written about the reasons dryer vent cleaning is an important job to schedule for your home. Here, near the end of the summer season, we’d like to provide a friendly reminder about taking care of a task that so often slips people’s minds.
Reasons to Install a Whole-House Fan
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015What is a whole-house fan? It is a large fan installed into a home that draws air through open windows and then exhausts it out the attic and roof. A whole-house fan requires professional installation, since it must be appropriately sized in cubic feet per minute of cooling power to match the volume of space in the building.
What Kind of Air Filter Do I Need to Clean My Home’s Air?
Monday, June 8th, 2015If your home has a forced-air heater or central air conditioning system, then it is probably equipped with a filter located near the air handler. This filter consists of a mesh of fibers that traps contaminants coming in through the return air ducts, preventing them from entering the AC’s cabinet. This filter is designed to protect your air conditioner, which is an important job. But it is not designed to protect the quality of the air circulating through your house. If your home is suffering from an excessive amount of airborne pollutants that are triggering asthma and allergy symptoms among the people who live there, you need to have special filters or air purifiers installed.
How Do Electronic Air Cleaners Work?
Monday, April 27th, 2015There are many different ways to eliminate the pollutants that can circulate through your home’s air and lower its quality. One of the most effective ways to remove tiny particles, such as gas and odor molecules, is with an electronic air purifier. You can combine an electronic air purifier with a filtration system to provide and extra layer of air cleaning for your home. Ask indoor air quality specialists for recommendations on what kind of air purifiers and/or filter will work best for your household.
Why Regular Duct Cleaning Is Important
Wednesday, March 11th, 2015It is easy to forget about the ductwork attached to your forced-air comfort systems (furnace, heat pump, package unit, central air conditioner) since most of it remains hidden from sight behind the walls and in the ceilings of your house. However, this ductwork needs to receive routine maintenance service from professionals to keep it clean and free from the dust and debris that will naturally start to accumulate inside it. Duct cleaners will use special equipment and techniques to do a thorough job.
How often you need to have this service done depends on your home. Call Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning and our Fresno, CA duct cleaning experts will help you arrange a schedule to keep your ductwork in excellent shape.
Why you need to have routine duct cleaning
There are a number of important reasons to keep the ductwork in your home as clean as possible. First, ducts that become clogged with excessive amounts of dust, lint, and other debris will create a drop in energy efficiency for the HVAC system. Even a thin layer of dust will place resistance against the airflow through the ducts. As more dust and dirt accumulates, your forced-air systems will need to work harder, creating a rise in your heating and cooling bills. If you have detected an increase in costs to run your HVAC system, it’s often a sign that you are overdue for duct cleaning services.
Second, dirty ductwork can cause damage to your forced-air heater and central air conditioner. If debris enters the cabinet of a furnace, heat pump, or AC, it can cause problems with motors, electrical connections, evaporator coils, and more. This will lead to repairs and possibly a shortened life for the system.
Third, when the ducts have too much contamination in them, it will result in a decline in your indoor air quality. When you consider that the average 6-room family home can circulate 40 lbs. of dust through the HVAC system every year, you’ll understand why cleaning the ducts will do so much for helping reduce indoor air pollution. It’s especially important to keep the ductwork clean if you have people living in your home who suffer from asthma or allergies.
Contact us to schedule duct cleaning
At Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning, we offer professional duct cleaning for Fresno, CA and the surrounding areas. Our technicians are NATE-certified and EPA-certified, so you will know that you are receiving the highest quality work. Give us a call today to schedule service.
Why Dryer Vent Cleaning Is Important
Wednesday, March 4th, 2015What is one of the key steps you need to take whenever your transfer a load of wash from the washing machine to the dryer? You must check the lint catcher in the dryer to make sure that it is cleaned out. Unless the lint catcher is clean, the dryer will have a harder time removing heat from the clothing load, resulting in damp clothes at the end of the drying cycle.
However, issues from lint go deeper than the lint catcher. The vent to the outside of your home that exhausts the heat from the dryer will start to collect lint over time, and eventually the hose from the dryer and the vent will become congested with clothing fibers. It is important that you have routine dryer vent cleaning to remove these obstructions, as we will explain below. You can call Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning for excellent dryer vent cleaning in Fresno, CA. We will be glad to perform this crucial service for you.
A clean dryer vent will prevent fire hazards
The main reason you need to schedule regular dryer vent cleaning is to prevent the danger from fires. Clothing lint is highly flammable, which is why hikers often carry it to use as a catalyst for starting campfires. If too much lint collects inside the dryer vent, it can ignite due to the high temperatures of the exhaust, starting a fire that will spread rapidly. A large number of house fires begin this way every year, but with routine vent cleaning you can keep your home safe.
A clean dryer vent means shorter drying times
If you keep the lint catcher clean, but it still seems that you have to keep the clothing in the dryer for longer periods to properly dry them, you probably have a clogged dryer vent. You will continue to encounter problems with lengthy drying times until you have the vent professionally cleaned.
A clean dryer vent reduces wear and tear on the dryer
A congested dryer vent will make a dryer work harder. This will both increase your energy bills and also shorten the dryer’s service life. To make sure that you receive many years of quality and energy-efficient performance from your dryer, arrange for regular dryer vent cleaning.
The trained technicians at Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning can clean your dryer vent quickly using powered vacuums and air cleaners. You can set up a regular cleaning schedule with us to ensure that the work always gets done when necessary. Call us today to arrange for dryer vent cleaning in Fresno, CA and the surrounding areas.
Why Duct Sealing Helps Protect Your Heating System
Wednesday, March 5th, 2014Your duct system is attached to a centralized HVAC system and acts to move conditioned air throughout your home. Braches can sometimes develop in the ducts along the fitting of different sections, which can prove very costly to your system. Here in Madera, duct cleaning services can seal duct breaches for you, restoring your system to its optimum efficiency. But how beneficial is that?
Here’s why duct sealing helps protect your heating system:
Theoretically, the duct system should be completely self-contained in order to keep the conditioned air at its current temperature. When a breach occurs, one of two things will happen: outside air will get in or inside air will get out. In both cases, it will affect the conditioned air: making it warmer or cooler than you want it to be. That forces the HVAC unit to work harder to make up the difference, creating greater strain on the system and forcing your heater or air conditioner to spend more energy to do the same job.
Furthermore, a breach can also result in dust and debris getting into the system. Because of the nature of ducts, that dust will quickly spread to every corner of your home. That will lower the quality of the air and may exacerbate allergies in sensitive family members. In the worst cases, it might even create blockages in the ducts, reducing the flow of air.
Sealing the ducts can correct those issues. A trained professional will examine the ducts and either reconnect it or use a high-end patch to ensure that the leak is sealed. That maintains the integrity of the conditioned air and ensures that your HVAC unit doesn’t have to work any harder than necessary to get you the comfortable home that you need. It also keeps the quality of your indoor air high, reducing the risk of allergic attack and keeping your household cleaner. For more on why duct sealing helps protect your heating system, or to schedule a duct cleaning in Madera, contact the experts at Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning. We’ll make sure the problem is fixed the first time, every time!
New Construction Subdivision
Monday, September 23rd, 2013Purls Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning has launched into another big project with a residential subdivision in Madera, CA. Take a look at the photos below for a glimpse at the work we have done so far. The images show ductwork, plenums, and return air vents that have been constructed and installed by Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning. We are very proud of our team for their hard work and the quality they bring to all they do!
Spring & Summer HVAC tips to help you reduce your energy bills and save money
Thursday, May 9th, 2013There are several ways to reduce energy bills, save money and avoid costly repairs. Here are 10 ways from Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning to help you reduce your spring and summer cooling costs in Madera and Fresno, CA.
- Schedule your air conditioning system to be serviced and ready for the summer season. This will ensure you are running at peak efficiency. Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning has a NATE certified and trained team of service technicians to help you get your air conditioning system ready for the HOT summer in Fresno, CA. When your cooling system does not have to work extra hard it will save you money. The best time to have your air conditioner serviced in Fresno, CA is before the hot temperatures become extreme.
- Install a programmable thermostat to help reduce energy costs. Set your thermostat for your family’s home comfort level when you are home, and decrease temperatures in the when you away. If you don’t have a programmable thermostat, raise the thermostat level in your home by several degree’s while you are away to cut energy consumption. New advances in technology offer Wi-Fi capable thermostats for additional cost savings. For a full line of energy saving thermostats, visit the experts at Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning in Madera, CA.
- Change the air filters for your HVAC system regularly. A dirty air filter can increase energy consumption and damage your equipment leading to poor performance or early failure. Make sure your air filter is the sized properly for your system.
- Keep the shades and window coverings closed to reduce radiant heat from the sun.
- Consider sealing your cooling ducts in the attic. Sealing your duct work can improve air flow and increase the efficiency of your HVAC system by as much as 20 percent. Purl’s Sheet Metal specialists can test your duct work for airflow leakage and seal the duct work if needed.
- Turn off electronic appliances when not in use. Use the dishwasher, washing machine & dryer in the evening and in “off” peak energy hours.
- Plant trees or shrubs to shade the southern facing windows.
- Keep the ducts and vents in the house open to assure good air flow.
- Check the weather stripping around the windows, doors and attic. Seal any area’s where air may be leaking.
- If you have older cooling equipment, (10 yrs. or older), you might consider replacing it with a new high efficiency cooling system. If your system is not keeping your home comfortable, contact our professional team at Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning to find out what new options are available. In Fresno CA, the hot weather can be extreme and last for months. Upgrading your home cooling equipment is a great way to cut your annual energy bills. In the summer months there are often great factory rebates and financing options available.