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

Can I Save Money on Comfort by Closing Room Vents?

Monday, February 21st, 2022
vent-register

Many room vents connected to a home’s ventilation system have shutters on them to alter the direction air enters a space. These shutters can also be pushed to close the vent, leading people to believe that they can shut off heating or cooling to a room this way and save money. If the vent doesn’t have shutters, they may try putting an object in front of it to block it and achieve the same effect.

We’ll explain below why doing this doesn’t work, and why it creates problems for your HVAC system. But don’t despair—we’ll have some suggestions at the end for how you can better control home heating and cooling to increase energy efficiency.

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Is It Too Late to Have Heater Maintenance?

Monday, February 7th, 2022
dont-forget-post-it

We’re now well into the winter, although recently we’ve experienced a warm weather stretch. Still, you’ve almost certainly had your furnace or other heating system running—and we hope that during the fall you remembered to call us for heating system maintenance in Fresno, CA. Routine maintenance is still the best way to prevent repair problems, drops in heater efficiency, early system replacements, and safety worries. 

However, if you didn’t remember to have maintenance before the winter started (we understand that life gets busy!), please don’t think that you missed a window of opportunity and it’s just too late to have it done now. But it isn’t! There’s no such thing as an expiration date for heating maintenance—the only requirement is that it gets done annually. Call us to sign up for our Ultimate Service Agreement and we’ll see you get on the schedule for a maintenance inspection and tune-up. 

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How Does Electronic Ignition Work in a Furnace?

Monday, January 24th, 2022
furnace-burners-CU

The natural gas furnace has been common in homes since the 1940s. Until fairly recently, these furnaces used a standing pilot light to ignite the gas burners at the start of their heating cycle. The pilot light would maintain a small flame throughout the heating season so whenever gas flowed to the burners, the pilot would immediately ignite them.

There are still furnaces in use today that have standing pilot lights, but they’re becoming rarer each year. Most natural gas furnaces have changed over to using electronic ignition systems instead. The reason for the change is to make furnaces more energy-efficient as well as more reliable. A pilot light that burns for the whole winter is an additional drain on natural gas, while an electronic ignition system only needs to use power at the moment it ignites the burners.

How does electronic ignition work? There are two general types of electronic ignition systems found in furnaces: hot surface ignition and intermittent pilots.

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Have You Had Your Dryer Vent Cleaned Yet This Year?

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021
dirty-dryer-vent
Interior of dirty dryer vent

An important service our team offers customers is dryer vent cleaning in Fresno, CA. This is a job we recommend homeowners have done at least once year. Unfortunately, people often forget to schedule this vital cleaning service—and that’s why we’re glad you stopped by this blog for a reminder. Dryer vent cleaning may not sound like it’s as important as other maintenance jobs like heating system maintenance, but as we’ll explain below, the safety benefits alone make it essential!

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Off to a Slow Start … Is Your Furnace Not Giving You Enough Heat?

Monday, November 1st, 2021
cold-man-and-woman-in-parkas

As we move into the colder months of the year, your furnace will begin running more often. You’ve probably already had it on a few times—and we hope you’ve called us to arrange for heating system maintenance. (If not, now is a great time to have it done!)

You may notice as the winter starts that your furnace isn’t living up to expectations. There are cold spots in rooms, the general household temperature feels lower, and you have to fiddle around with the thermostat to get enough heat. These are all warning signs you may need furnace repair in Fresno, CA, and we don’t recommend you wait long to call us to schedule them. What might seem like a small trouble can balloon into a larger one, and you also want to avoid any potential safety hazards.

Below we’ll look at why your furnace may be off to a slow heating start.

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October Is the Time for Your Regular HVAC Maintenance

Tuesday, October 19th, 2021
fall-checklist

October is the month when people start to consider using their heating systems for the first time since, well, probably spring. That means it’s a good month for homeowners to schedule their annual heating maintenance visit.

Maintenance is one of the most important services we offer our customers, and we don’t want you to forget to arrange for it. We know you may be busy with Halloween celebrations and preparations, but the small amount of time it takes to schedule the work and have our technicians do it is incredibly valuable.

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Getting a Bigger AC Is Probably Not a Good Idea

Monday, October 4th, 2021
air-conditioner-cabinets

We’re accustomed to thinking that getting an appliance that’s “more powerful” is always for the best. But this isn’t the case—and it’s certainly not the best when it comes to a central air conditioning system.

Maybe you’re unhappy with your current air conditioning in Fresno, CA. This recent summer was hot, and when you lowered the thermostat to your standard comfort level, you didn’t feel as cool as you expected. The air conditioner just didn’t seem like it could handle the heat. Getting a bigger AC might sound like a good solution; it seems sensible. But it rarely is. We’ll talk more about air conditioner size below and how to get the right cooling.

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The Big Benefits of Regular Duct Cleaning

Monday, September 20th, 2021
duct-cleaning-before-after

Like most parts of your home, the ductwork requires regular attention. It doesn’t need annual maintenance the way the heater and air conditioner do, but it’s important to have the ducts cleaned every three to five years. Over time, ducts naturally accrue dust and other particles that move through the ventilation system. It only takes about a year for the first thin layer of dust to form along the interior of the ductwork, and after three to five years the build-up will start to have negative effects—that’s when it’s time to schedule duct cleaning.  

When you have our professionals handle your duct cleaning in Fresno, CA, it can make a major difference in the performance of the HVAC system and the quality of your indoor air. Since homeowners often forget about duct cleaning entirely, we’ve put together a list of the major benefits of making this a regular service:

ONE: It improves the energy efficiency of the HVAC system

Think of the ducts like nasal passages. When someone has a cold, these passages become congested, making it more difficult to breathe. This applies to the ductwork: the dust and debris that build up inside the interior of the ducts causes restrictions against airflow through the ventilation system. The blower fan that pushes air through the ductwork to the rooms must labor harder to do its job, and this causes the HVAC system to lose efficiency. This applies to both the air conditioner and the furnace! You’ll pay more for the standard performance of your heating and cooling until duct cleaning restores the ducts to their original condition.

TWO: It protects the heating and air conditioning system

The strain placed on the HVAC system due to a build-up in the ducts can contribute to parts wearing down rapidly, more repairs, and even an early system replacement. All that dust and debris can also end up infiltrating the HVAC cabinet, which can inflict even worse damage on parts like motors, burners, and refrigerant coils.

THREE: It helps keep your household air clean

On average, a six-room house circulates 40 lbs. of dust through its ventilation system per year. That’s an enormous amount of dust that keeps running through a house without any easy escape. Each time you turn on your HVAC system when it has dirty ductwork, the blower fan will blast out the dust inside it into the living spaces. Not only is this unhealthy to breathe, it contributes to making the house much dustier. (If you’re struggling to keep your house dust-free, it’s often a warning that it’s time for duct cleaning.)

Rely on professionals for duct cleaning

Duct cleaning isn’t a job you can do on your own with a hose vacuum pushed into the vents. You also shouldn’t trust to amateurs who quote suspiciously low prices for it—they also won’t do much more than push a vacuum into the vents! Let our HVAC experts see the job is done thoroughly so you won’t need the service again for several years.

Call Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning for duct cleaning and other HVAC services in the Central Valley. “Quality Is the Cornerstone of Our Success” since 1952.

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How Has Your AC Held Up This Summer?

Monday, September 6th, 2021
air-conditioner-with-dirty-coils

Did you remember to have AC maintenance in Fresno, CA in the spring? If you did, then you gave your air conditioning system the best beginning to the summer. (If you didn’t … it’s not too late to schedule it!) But as wonderful as maintenance is, it can’t prevent all air conditioning problems or stop an AC from eventually wearing down.

As we move toward the fall, we recommend you think about your air conditioner’s performance over this last summer, especially if the system is more than 10 years old. If your air conditioning system is showing signs it needs repairs or it’s ready for retirement, have the service done as soon as possible. (Fall is a good time to replace older air conditioners because HVAC technicians have more open schedules.)

Let’s go through a few basic air conditioning considerations to see how well your cooling system held up.

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5 Reasons an AC May Start Short-Cycling

Monday, August 9th, 2021
air-conditioning-system-grill-top-down

An air conditioning system runs in cycles where the compressor turns on to provide cooling for the house, then shuts down until the thermostat registers it needs to turn back on. These cooling cycles should last at least fifteen minutes.

If you notice your AC shuts down after only a short time, then turns on again soon after, it’s short-cycling. This malfunction makes it hard for the air conditioner to fully cool a house. It also wastes energy (compressor start-up draws on large amounts of electricity) and wears down the AC components rapidly. Below we’ve listed five frequent causes of this problem.

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