Air Conditioning & Heating Blog | Articles, Updates, News & More

Beating the High Cost of Staying Cool: Our AC Tips!

April 5th, 2021

The cost of heating a home in Florida during the year can be steep. Not only do we have intensely hot summers, we also have high humidity that makes it even hard for people to stay cool. Our summers are also long, with hot weather stretching through both spring and fall.

We can’t work any magic that will make cooling your home free. But we can offer some advice about lowering how much it costs to get through a summer with your air conditioning in Tampa, FL. You may not have realized the way energy goes to waste and what you can do to turn it around.

Is This the Year You Get a High-Efficiency AC?

March 22nd, 2021

We can’t answer this question for you, not in a blog post. But if you are in the position of considering replacing your current mid-efficiency air conditioner with a high-efficiency one, we can help you with the decision. When it comes to an AC installation, you always want the assistance of professionals from early in the process. You must have pros to put the system in place and connect it so it works its best (as well as dispose of the previous unit). But you also need them to help you pick the ideal new AC for your needs and see that it’s correctly sized.

So let’s talk a bit about high-efficiency air conditioners. When you’re ready to take the next step, call our team for air conditioning service in Oldsmar, FL and we’ll get you headed in the right direction.

Good News: It’s About Time to Prep Your AC for Warm Weather!

March 8th, 2021

It’s true that warm weather could always be around the corner in Tampa Bay, even in January. We never experience deep cold winters. But we do have seasonal changes, and we’re coming to the point where we’ll start to enjoy warm weather almost every day. That’s great for those of us who love living in the Sunshine State.

And what better way to celebrate the coming of warm weather than to have your AC maintained!

Did You Get the Best Heating Efficiency This Winter?

February 22nd, 2021

The end of this winter season is extremely harsh for some parts of the country. Here in Tampa Bay, it’s standard late-winter-as-usual, which means the spring warmth is already arriving and many of us can expect to start using our air conditioning systems. As the season of heating comes to a close, it’s a good time to assess how efficiently your heating system performed.

It may seem hard to know that, especially when heating systems don’t do as much work during our mild winters compared to more northern states. But there are ways you can analyze your heating system’s efficiency and judge whether you need heating service in Clearwater, FL to improve it.

Common Repair Warning Noises From a Heat Pump

February 8th, 2021

Heat pumps are wonderful devices, especially in warmer climates like we get to enjoy here in Tampa Bay. A heat pump can deliver all the cooling a home needs through the long and hot seasons, and then switch over to energy-saving heating during the short periods of cooler weather. It’s all there in one system, and it can make a difference in energy costs compared to using a combination of an AC and an electric or even gas furnace.

But this marvel of comfort technology can still malfunction. Whether you have your heat pump in heating or cooling mode, it still operates in a fashion similar to an air conditioner and can encounter the same types of malfunctions as an AC. Many of these malfunctions make specific noises that will give you a warning that it’s time to call us for cooling/heating repair in Clearwater, FL.

The Trick About Electric Furnace Efficiency Ratings

January 25th, 2021

For homes that don’t have a natural gas connection, an electric furnace is one of the most common options for central heating. Even for some homes that do have natural gas, electric furnaces can offer several advantages.

But when people are shopping around for a new central heating system, they might feel confused regarding the energy efficiency of furnaces. The trick is that the efficiency ratings for electric furnaces look different compared to gas furnaces, even though they use the same measurement: annual fuel utilization efficiency, or AFUE.

We’ll explain below how to understand the AFUE of an electric furnace vs. that of other types of furnaces (including gas, propane, and oil).

How Long Can You Expect Your Heater to Last?

January 11th, 2021

You don’t want to replace a valuable central heating system in your home until you’ve gotten all the possible useful years of service out of it that you can. That’s just the basic logic of any important appliance. But how long will that heater in your house last? When can you expect to call us to schedule a heating replacement?

There is no one answer we can give you, because not only do different heaters have different life expectancies, but other factors such as use and maintenance come into play. We can make several generalizations that may help you if you’re currently on the fence about the future of your heating in Tampa, FL.

Don’t Ignore These Odd Sounds From Your Gas Furnace

December 28th, 2020

If you’ve lived with a gas furnace at any time in your life—and most people have—you’ll know what sounds to expect from it: the whoosh of the burners igniting, the clicking of the ignition as it comes on, the whir of the blower fan, the movement of air through the vents, and an occasional rattle as the metal vents expand with the heat.

If you hear other noises, it may be cautioning you that you need professional furnace repair in Dunedin, FL. And we do mean professional. Only licensed technicians can work on gas furnaces while keeping them safe, so please don’t try to go DIY to find out what’s wrong with your home’s heater and don’t let amateurs try their luck with it either.

Below is a list of common gas heater warning sounds and what they may mean.

Why Is My Heat Pump Only Sending Out Cold Air?

December 14th, 2020

One of the nice features of heat pumps is that they easily switch between heating and cooling modes. You don’t need to make changes to the heat pump itself when you need warmth from it after months of cooling. All that has to happen is an adjustment on the thermostat, and the thermostat signals the heat pump to change modes. That’s a reason heat pumps in Tampa, FL are popular options: we can quickly leap to heating during the short periods when we need it, then go right back to cooling.

But a heat pump can malfunction like any other device, and you might find that when you need heat for your house that the heat pump is still working in air conditioning mode and sending cool air from the vents. Why is this happening?

An Air Purifier: When Filters Aren’t Enough for Better Air Quality

November 30th, 2020

Our homes in Florida are often sealed up against the outside. During the summer, it’s to make sure the heat stays where it should and the air conditioner can run effectively. In the brief winters, it’s to trap heat and make sure our heating systems have to come on as little as possible. Having a home this sealed up, however, can create severe indoor air quality problems—the contaminants inside the house, which come from wood, paint, cleaning supplies, and many other places, start to build up. We recommend homes have air filters put into their HVAC system to help remove larger unwanted particles from circulating.

But what if those filters aren’t enough? Too many minute particles can slip through them, and putting in more powerful filters is rarely an option because that will stop airflow through the ventilation system. In this case, the answer is to have an air purifier in St. Petersburg, FL. Or more than one, depending on what types of contaminants you’re targeting.