Purl's Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Fresno’

It’s Not Too Late for Your HVAC Maintenance for Winter!

Monday, November 20th, 2017

hands-opening-heating-cabinetIt looks like we’re going to enjoy a warm—or at least moderately cool—Thanksgiving here in the Central Valley. We can’t expect this to last, of course. By the end of December, the heating systems in our homes will be working regularly, and they’ll keep up their hard work through until April.

The takeaway from this is that you still have time left to have major problems with your heating system fixed before the heater gets down its the hard winter work. And, if you haven’t yet scheduled regular fall maintenance for your heating system, it’s still fall and not too late to have it done. Simply put, you shouldn’t miss your heating maintenance for the year. It’s better late than never, and right now it’s definitely not too late.

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Electronic Ignition in a Furnace: Why It’s Better Than a Pilot Light

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017

inside-a-gas-furnaceIf you’ve had the same furnace in your home for many years, you’re probably accustomed to it having a pilot light. If you have newer furnace, or you’re planning on having one installed in the near future, it probably doesn’t use a pilot light at all. Instead, an electronic ignition system ignites the burners. In fact, you rarely see standing pilot lights on newly manufactured furnaces anymore. Why did this change happen? Let’s take a look.

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Selecting the Correct Heating System Type

Friday, October 13th, 2017

home-basement-furnaceAre you looking into having a new heating system installed this fall? It’s a great season to schedule this kind of major HVAC job: you’ll be ready in time for the winter cold, and it’s easy to have it arranged with our installers at a convenient time.

Picking the right new heater can be a bit tricky, however. Let’s take a look at some of the choices we’ll help you make when shopping for a heating installation or replacement.

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Ways Your Local HVAC Contractor Can Help You in the Fall

Monday, September 25th, 2017

autumn-backgroundTemperatures are still warm and sometimes hot here in the Central Valley as we enter into the official beginning of fall. You’ll need to keep a close watch on your AC during this time to catch repair issues, but this is also a period to begin preparing for the colder days of later fall—and the winter after it. We’re here to help you with whatever you need for HVAC in Fresno, CA. In fact, we have a couple ideas for how we can be of service to you this season.

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What to Do if Your Air Conditioning System Is Leaking Refrigerant

Monday, August 28th, 2017

air-conditioner-units-near-grassRefrigerant loss is one of the major problems an air conditioning system may encounter during its service life. And it’s not only a problem that occurs in aging, over-the-hill ACs. An air conditioning system that’s been in service for around 5 to 6 years can develop corrosion along its refrigerant lines because of exposure to formaldehyde in the air. It’s wise to always watch for indications that your AC, no matter how old it is, may be losing refrigerant to leaks:

  • A decline in cooling capacity
  • Hissing sounds from the cabinets
  • Ice developing along the indoor evaporator coil
  • Short-cycling (i.e. the compressor turns on and off repeatedly over a short time)
  • Hard starting
  • Liquid dripping from the indoor cabinet

These symptoms can point to other problems, but no matter the cause, they need professionals to look into them to see what air conditioning repairs will remedy the problem.

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Are You Paying to Cool Your Attic, Not Your Home?

Monday, August 14th, 2017

ductwork-in-atticThe question in the title may at first sound a bit strange. Why would you cool your attic at all? You almost never go up there, and there’s no reason to provide cooling (or heating) for it during the year.

But the truth may surprise you—because many homeowners are accidentally paying money during the summer to send conditioned air up into their attics. They don’t mean to do it; it’s the result of a problem that’s alarmingly common in modern homes, which is ductwork suffering from air leaks. The ductwork passing through an attic (one of the easiest places to install ducts so they don’t take up space elsewhere in a house) often loses the conditioned air in it through gaps and holes. That means cooling power goes into the attic, where it’s no good to anybody in the rest of the house.

So it’s possible that right now during our hot later summer here in the Central Valley that you’re paying to cool down air that’s going right into the attic rather than to the living spaces. The people in the household will receive some of the cooled air, but less than they should. (According to government studies, the loss of cooled air to duct leaks can be up to 30%.) The air conditioning system will run more often to make up for this loss, causing electrical bills to climb and placing a higher toll on the AC.

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The Benefits of Zone Control

Monday, July 17th, 2017

vent-registerOne of the services we offer our customers is complete zone control installation and replacement. A zone control system allows a homeowner to manipulate which parts (“zones”) of a home receive conditioned air from the heating and air conditioning system.

The standard HVAC configuration in a home distributes conditioned air to every room connected to the ventilation system—regardless of whether the room requires climate control or not. This is convenient, but not exactly practical. Imagine having ­every light in a house come on when one switch is flipped. True, all the areas that need light would have it. But all the areas that don’t need light would also have it, and that’s a huge energy waste.

Zone control is an effective tool to restrict airflow to empty rooms without creating air pressure spikes inside the ventilation system. (This is what happens if people attempt “zone control” by simply blocking or closing room vents.) The system uses a series of dampers fit inside the ducts that connect to a network of local thermostats and a central thermostat. Local thermostats can make requests for heated or cooled air, and the system adjusts the thermostats and the operation of the heating/air conditioning system to meet those requests.

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Allergy Season and Your Indoor Air Quality

Monday, May 8th, 2017

woman-with-allergiesNow that it’s May, we’re deep into the allergy season. This time of year can be miserable for people who suffer from pollen and grass allergies, leading to the dreaded “hay fever.” Even for people who don’t have specific allergies like these, the high pollen count in the air can add an extra level of irritation to the day from an itchy nose to mild headaches.

You don’t have to suffer during allergy season. There are ways to reduce the problem, and we’ve recently looked at how installation of indoor air quality products in your home can make a big difference in how allergy season affects people in your household. Talk to our professionals to find out more about our indoor air quality services in Fresno, CA and throughout the Central Valley. We’ll find a solution for you!

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Why Is My Furnace Tripping the Circuit Breaker?

Monday, February 13th, 2017

natural-gas-burnerHere’s a heating malfunction that might happen in your home during the winter:

The temperature outside is dropping, and it’s time to fire up your home’s furnace to keep everyone cozy. You go to the thermostat and adjust the temperature for warmth. But as the furnace comes on, it abruptly shuts down. You check on the circuit breaker panel, and find that one of the breakers has tripped. You re-set it, turn on the furnace again… and it once more trips the circuit breaker and shuts down.

What’s going on? And what can you do about it?

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Avoiding Fire Hazards with Dryer Vent Cleaning

Monday, January 2nd, 2017

As you settle into the new year, you are going to start searching for various improvements to make to your home as well as routine services that some of your appliances will need. One of the services that we recommend is to have professionals perform air duct cleaning. It’s a great way to give your entire HVAC system an easier year ahead, which means lower utility bills and fewer repair issues. You’ll even enjoy improved air quality.

But when you’re scheduling air duct cleaning, there’s another service we strongly recommend that you include: dryer vent cleaning.

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