Thermostat Etiquette – Save Money AND Your System!

Here are a few simple tips in the realm of Thermostat Etiquette:

1)  For non-programmable thermostats, try to employ a “set it and forget it” attitude with your thermostat.  Between 72 and 74 degrees is optimal for heat pump operation.  The less you change the temperature on the thermostat, the less the system has to work to match your request.  When you do adjust the temperature, keep changes within an eight degree range (in other words, don’t move a thermostat from 74 to 64, as the unit will run a very long time to get the job done–money out of your pocket and strain on the system). 

2)  With programmable thermostats, setting a range of temperatures is fine, but keep the range within an eight degree split.  Let’s use a thermostat with “Wake, Leave, Return, Sleep” settings as an example.  Many of customers use the following settings, which use a six-degree split:  Set the thermostat to have the home at 72 degrees when you wake, 78 degrees when you leave, 72 degrees when you return, and 74 degrees while you are sleeping.  Most programmable thermostats (such as the Honeywell 8000 or Lennox’s iComfort) have an “intelligent recovery” feature, which allows the system to gradually achieve the various temperature settings.  It will typically start working an hour before the desired temperature change time.

3)  Keep in mind that one of the summertime functions of a straight AC or heat pump  is to remove humidity from your home.  Anytime you open a window, humidity can enter the home and send the system into work mode to get rid of it.  It’s actually best to keep your home “sealed up” throughout the summer to keep your dehumidification working in an optimal fashion.  Conversely, systems installed with a humidifer (highly recommended with any gas furnace) keep moisture in your home during the winter, and the same concept applies (although you are probably less apt to open windows in the dead of winter!)

Okay, the last topic wasn’t really thermostat related, but we slipped it in anyway!  Visit our website at http://www.comfortheatingandac.com/ for DIY tips and our exclusive “diagnosis dictionary!”  You are always welcome to call us at 540-373-8471….advice is free! 

Comfort Heating & Cooling
Fredericksburg, VA

BUYER BEWARE – HVAC INSTALLATIONS

Here’s the bottom line–your HVAC installation is only as good as your installer.

We’ve been in the HVAC business for over thirty years, which is wonderful for knowing that we will be there for you years down the line, but i unfortunately has ZERO to do with the actual installation of an HVAC system in your home. The experience you need to worry about is that of the installing technician.

Why? You can buy the best, most efficient system out there, and if the installation job is shoddy, that swanky system can easily fail in just a few years. As an example–if any moisture is allowed into your refrigerant lines (which can happen to inexpereienced techs in humid weather), the system will run fine at first. Over the course of a few years that system will eventually fail as the moisture keeps getting pumped through lines that are designed for freon only.

Our advice–not only look for the best deal & system, but look for the best install crews. Not only ask the age of the compnay you’re buying from (which is important), but also find out the experience and credentials of the actual crew that will be installing your system.

A simple solution to solve a very costly issue! Check us out at http://www.comfortheatingandac.com/ for DIY tips and our unique “diagnosis dictionary.” See you there!

3 Ways to Save!

3 Ways to Save with Comfort Heating & Cooling!

Do you find making much needed home repairs taxing or frustrating? In a large sea of “best value” and “lowest price” it may be confusing to pick a service company that is sincere and offers quality work. We are not going to talk about limited time offers and restrictions that may apply, we are just going to give you the facts, plain and simple, and let you decide if we are the company for you.

1. Quality Service

Comfort Heating & Cooling is owned and operated by a family, just like yours. We have been in the business for over 30 years and we are committed to making our customers smile. With our combined experience, our company has over 100 years of knowledge. We are experts in residential installations and will thoroughly explain the diagnosis before we make any installations or repairs. We want you, as a homeowner, to be able to make an informed decision after we present your options to you.
Our technicians come from diverse backgrounds and each one has an impressive skill set. Our technicians wear a professional uniform and follow appearance standards so that you cannot mistake them for anyone else when they show up at your door. We also drug test our technicians as a safety precaution. We understand as homeowners that it may be frightening to let someone you do not know into your home. We would not send anyone to your house that we would not be comfortable letting into our own.

2. Quality Products

At Comfort Heating and Cooling, we do not believe in installing poor quality equipment or practicing “planned obsolescence.” There are some companies out there who will complete the job with the absolute lowest material and labor costs so that they can enjoy the highest profit possible. We are not one of them. We will only sell you high quality, long lasting parts and they will be installed in the most professional manner. We want your repeat business legitimately, not because a product we sold you had a short life. It is important to us that our customers give positive recommendations about our company to other potential customers. In order for that to happen, we take care to deliver to our customers the products and experience that they deserve.

3. Guaranteed Flat-Rate Pricing

After diagnosing your system, we provide a fixed, guaranteed price for the repair or installation. No tricks. No gimmicks. There will be no surprises or hidden fees. Our prices take into account all the costs of operating a business, from servicing our trucks, to building operation fees, employee salaries, benefits, and more. Our prices are carefully calculated and never arbitrary. We believe in the right price for the right quality.

In conclusion–we are an HVAC service company, not a sales organization.  Our technicians have no sales quotas or upselling requirements–they repair your system with the most cost-effective solution possible.  We have frequently been called out for second opinions from companies that have condemned systems and receommended system replacement, and have found that the system could actually be repaired with years of life left on the unit.

Call us at 540-373-8471, or check us out online at http://www.comfortheatingandac.com/.  Our website has a lot of useful information, including DIY tips and definitions of HVAC components–come on by!

What in the world ARE “Capacitors” and “Relays?”

You may have gotten an HVAC service ticket with the diagnosis of a bad “capacitor” or a bad “relay.”  They are  one of the more common problems that we diagnose and repair.   

So what exactly are these things?

A CAPACITOR is an electrical component that stores energy.  It gathers and stores power while the unit is in operation, and releases the charge when needed at time at start-up.  Capacitors control the start-up of your outdoor unit’s fan and compreesor.   If your system is blowing air, but it is unheated or uncooled–this could be indicative of a bad compressor (although other components could be the issue).   Capacitors are round or oval cylanders, and will bulge and even burst when they are going bad or are completely blown. 

A RELAY is an electrical component that basically acts as an on/off switch.  Relays control your indoor unit’s fan.  You may have noticed that when your system turns on, the indoor unit’s fan will energize shortly thereafter–that’s your relay at work!  Relays cometimes get stuck, causing your unit to either run continuously (if stuck in the ON position), or not at all (if stuck in the OFF position).  A blown relay will not allow the system to run at all. 

Check out our website at www.comfortheatingandac.com for DIY maintenance tips and other useful information!

The Most Important HVAC Tip EVER – Save Money, Change Monthly!

What’s the tee-total most important thing you can do to maintain your HVAC system?  Change your filters monthly!  It’s simple, it’s cheap, and it’s critical. 

I am still amazed at the deleterious effects of a dirty filter…yet I have a hard time remembering to do it in my home…a monthly note on my calendar has helped. 

A dirty filter equals a system that can’t breathe, struggling to get the air it needs to function.  As the system struggles more and more, strain is placed on…everything…within the system.

But wait, it gets worse–once a filter gets dirty enough, the particulate matter it is designed to catch starts passing through to your evaporator coil (which is the heart of your indoor uniit).  Dirt in this coil is bad…very bad.  Cleaning an evaporator coil isn’t cheap, and there’s always the possibility that too much damage has occurred and it has to be replaced completely.  I’ve actually seen filters that got so clogged that they folded in on themselves and got sucked right to the coil.  Not good….

 You don’t need to purchase the fancy jobbies that tout baking soda or allergen fighters (these additives can actually reduce the effectiveness of the filtration)–just basic poly filters will do.  With monthly changes it’s all you need.

Filter changes–it’s simple, it;s cheap, and it’s critical–same money, change monthly!  Visit us at www.comfortheatingandac.com for more DIY tips!

PETS – GREAT FOR THE HOME, BAD FOR HVAC!

For many people, pets make our homes complete.  Unconditional love and tons of fun, but unfortunately they can also kill HVAC systems.  With some simple preventative maintenance, these pet-related issues can easliy be circumvented.  Some basic points to ponder:

1)  Outdoor Units and Urine:  Dogs seem magnetized to outdoor units, finding them second-only to fire hydrants as fantatsic spots to mark their territory.  Unfortunately, pet urine on an outdoor unit’s coil isn’t good.  It corrodes away the delicate fins that are critical to the system’s function.  Solution – keep your outdoor unit protected with some kind of barrier (at least a foot away from the unit itself to allow it to breathe).  Latticework is a great solution for this, as it’s decorative and protective at the same time.  While we specify pet urine here as being problematic, it should probably be noted the human urine is just as bad…while we hope this isn’t an issue in your neighborhood, it’s something to keep in mind!  HA! 

2) Outdoor Units and Pet Hair:  Your outdoor unit is constantly sucking in air, and unfortunately pet hair also gets sucked up to the outdoor unit’s coil.  We’ve gone on some service calls where the outdoor unit resembles more of a big box o’ fur rather than an HVAC system.  The more hair that collects on the unit, the more the system struggles to get the air it needs to function.  Just like with a dirty filter in your home, this struggle to breathe will eventually culminate in failure of parts, even the entire system as a whole.  Solution:  Again, put up that latticework to help curtail the fur flow.  Also–LIGHLTY rinse your outdoor unit with water, keeping in mind that there are electrical components “close to the surface” that can be damaged if you douse the unit with a torrent of water.  As an alternative, you can gently pick tufts of hair off the coil, being careful not to bend the unit’s delicate fins. 

That’s about all it takes to pet-proof your HVAC system!  Simple solutions to solve what can become complex problems! 

Visit us at http://www.comfortheatingandac.com/ for more DIY tips! 

How Do I Choose the Right HVAC Company?

When our company was founded in 1980, the Fredericksburg VA area had three of four competing HVAC companies.  Thirty years later there are more than forty. 

So with all these companies to choose from, how do you decide what company to pick?  You’ll find that the rates for service calls and maintenance agreements run very similar betwixt all the competitors (beware the $50 or “free” service call, there have to be upsells to allow those companies to break even). 

The answer–”experience is everything.”  In the case of system installation, the question isn’t just a matter of price.  There are two other factors to consider:  how adept is this company at HVAC installation?  Just a few  installation errors add up to a lifetime of headaches.  The other factor: will this company be around (and respond) if I have problems with the system? 

We have unfortunately garnered a lot of business from homeowners that have been left high and dry after a cut-rate installation went sour.  Things to check when you decide on a HVAC contractor–are they licensed AND insured?  Are they bonded?  How much experience do the installing technicians have?  Does this company have a service manager that follows up after installations to do a Quality Control check? 

Aside from system installation, the same questions come into play when deciding on a HVAC company for service calls.  Again, “experience is everything.”  A fresh-faced technician that is new to the business can easily misdiagnose problems, where seasoned veterans that have real-world experience are less apt to be fooled into an incorrect solution.  While heat pumps and gas furnaces all share the same technology, each manufacturer has key differences in how they engineer their systems, and only experience gives a tech the ability to navigate all these critical  differences.  

In conclusion, the key to choosing the right HVAC company is experience.  Question the credentials of the companies you call–those that have the background you seek will be more than willing to give you the data you need to make an educated decision.  

Comfort Heating & Cooling – 30 Years and Going Strong