If you’ve lived in our area for even just a year, then you know just how chilly it gets, and just how important it is to have a powerful and efficient home heating system. There are a few ways to ensure that your heater does, in fact, work as efficiently, and therefore as affordably, as possible. Wondering how?
Well, it starts with maintenance. Routine heating maintenance allows our technicians to thoroughly inspect, clean, and adjust the components that need it. This not only helps the heater work as efficiently as possible but also as powerfully as possible, for as long as possible. Maintenance helps you avoid up to 85% of the repair needs that an HVAC system might otherwise need.
Maintenance is definitely not the only way to boost heating efficiency, though! Read on as we uncover some of our top heating efficiency tips.
We want to start off by saying if you hear clicking from your furnace as it cycles on and off, and the sound hasn’t changed since you’ve gotten your furnace, then you might actually be hearing your ductwork shift a bit as the temperature of the air inside of it fluctuates. This is normal, and as long as there is no change and you’re having your furnace professional inspected once a year through maintenance, you have nothing to worry about.
If you’re like the majority of homeowners in our area, you have a gas-powered furnace in your home to keep you and your family comfortable all winter long. A furnace is a great choice, as it is a powerful and efficient source of heating. Today’s furnace models have a higher efficiency rating than those of even just a decade ago, with the highest AFUE rating (AFUE stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) for a gas-powered furnace being 98%. Trust us when we say this is efficient heating!
It can, admittedly, be pretty easy to ignore some of the sounds that come from the systems and appliances throughout your home. You may even deny that anything is wrong, since fixing it can be an expensive hassle. However, there are some noises that simply shouldn’t be ignored. Like a rattle coming from your heater, for example–it could be nothing more than a loose panel on the cabinet, but alternatively it could be that you have a cracked heat exchanger, which could lead to a carbon monoxide leak.
When you live somewhere that needs heating systems as much as our homes do, you don’t want to sit around worried that yours could break down at any moment. Of course, unless you’ve never had professional maintenance done before and don’t know the signs that your heater is struggling, this probably won’t happen… but what if you don’t know the signs to look for that indicate your furnace is struggling?
Whether it’s 90°F outside and you’re blasting your air conditioner, or it’s a bitterly cold day in winter and you need your heating system to work flawlessly, there’s something these systems have in common. You want them to function as affordably as possible, right? Sure, affordability starts with the installation. You’ll want to work with a trained and experienced professional to ensure your home is matched with the right system, that system is properly sized, and it’s the most efficient for your specific home.
Did you know that refrigerant is the substance in your air conditioner that makes the cooling process possible? It shifts between gas and liquid in order to draw heat out of your home and bring chilled air in–which is putting it simply. Homeowners often don’t understand the importance of this chemical blend in their air conditioner, so hearing something like they have a refrigerant leak or their air conditioner needs to be “recharged” might seem odd. We’re here to give you a bit of a run down on refrigerant in your air conditioner and why it matters. Read on!
If you’re like the average Joliet area homeowner, you probably do not think about your HVAC systems’ ductwork a whole lot, right? That is until something goes wrong with it. This makes sense. After all, ductwork is mostly hidden from your view for a reason. It’s not exactly aesthetically pleasing. You really shouldn’t need to think about your ductwork a whole lot, but it is important that they get attention every now and then.