HVAC Blog | Heating and Air Conditioning News

Ways We Can Improve Your Home’s Ventilation System

October 19th, 2020

The ventilation system in the walls and ceilings of your house is often neglected as part of the overall comfort system. People focus on the heating and air conditioning, but ventilation misses out on the upgrades, tests, and repairs it needs. A poor ventilation system can ruin the best AC or heater, create massive energy waste, and harm indoor air quality.

What can you do about it? In fact, is there anything wrong with your ventilation system?

We can answer the second question easily with duct testing services. This will give us the data about the state of your ventilation system we need to know so we can decide what else needs to be done. Below are three major services we offer to improve your ventilation system.

3 Reasons to Consider a Heat Pump

October 12th, 2020

Are you considering a new heater before winter comes? Granted, it doesn’t get that cold around our area in comparison to other parts of the country, but still, you want an effective and efficient heating system when you do need it, right?

And if your air conditioner is also on its last leg after all these heatwaves, you’re probably left prioritizing which is more worth your money… replacing your air conditioner or your heater. What if we told you that you could do both, with one system?

We’re talking about the heat pump! These are great systems that keep your indoor climate right where you want it, all year long. Read on as we uncover 3 of the biggest benefits of having a heat pump installed in your home.

How Can I Tell If I Have Leaking Air Ducts?

October 5th, 2020

Leaks in the ductwork of a home are a major problem, and they are unfortunately one of those problems that often goes unnoticed or unrepaired for far too long. The consequences of leaking air ducts can be extremely high, so it’s important to know if your house has duct leakage. You can then arrange for a professional to seal the ducts and restore the integrity of the ventilation system.

Of course, that leads to the question of how to detect if you have duct leakage in the first place. The ducts are well-hidden within a home, so you can’t visually inspect them. But there are other signs you can watch for:

A drop in airflow from the vents

One of the immediate effects of leaks in the ductwork is that it lowers the air pressure in the ventilation system. Ducts must be kept airtight to maintain air pressure, and the consequence of a drop in air pressure is that the airflow from the vents will also drop. If you put your hand to the room vents and notice the airflow is weaker than normal, it may be duct leaks.

Uneven comfort around the house

Lower airflow will also mean rooms cool down/heat up slower, which will lower comfort around the house. This will happen unevenly: certain rooms will still feel normal, while hot and cold spots will appear in others. Duct leaks aren’t the only cause of uneven comfort, but it’s a serious problem no matter what the source.

Odd odors from the vents

Leaks in the ducts will allow air from closed-in spots of the home to infiltrate the ventilation system, such as between walls and from the attic. This will carry a musty and sometimes moldy odor to the rooms.

A rise in energy costs

The biggest chronic effect that duct leaks have on an HVAC system is that they place more stress on the blower, heater, and air conditioner. Around 30% of the air moving through the ductwork can disappear through leaks, and this is air you’ve already paid to heat/cool and push into the ventilation system. The HVAC system will need to put in extra work to overcome this deficit—and that means energy bills will rise. If you see steeper bills to heat and cool your house and you can’t account for the change, you probably have duct leaks.

Solving the Problem

If you suspect duct leaks, the next step is to contact our professionals. We will test the ventilation system to find out if it has leaks and how extensive they are. If you do have leaky ducts, the next step for us is to seal the leaks. We use a range of methods to ensure your ducts will be restored to airtight condition once more. (By the way, store-bought duct tape isn’t a method we use. This “duct tape” is not actually useful for ducts.)

To schedule duct testing and duct sealing in Modesto, CA, call our professionals. We’ll help you live green and save green.

Greenhart serves Modesto, CA and offers duct repair services for leaking air ducts. Live Green, Save Green!

Do You Need Professional Drain Cleaning?

September 28th, 2020

If you’re like most homeowners, you probably don’t think about the drains in your home very often. If we had to guess, we’d say you never think about them, until something goes wrong. You know, something like a clogged drain leaving you standing ankle deep in water in your shower.

Sometimes, you can take care of a clogged or slow drain on your own with nothing more than a plunger and a little bit of “elbow grease”? Sometimes it takes a little something more… like professional drain cleaning.

“Can’t I just clean my drains myself?”

Before you reach for that bottle of store-bought drain cleaner consider this: These solutions are caustic, and actually do more harm than good to your plumbing system! Instead, you should call on a pro. But how do you know when it’s time?

Understanding Air Conditioning System Efficiency Ratings

September 21st, 2020

We aim to help our customers save money while enjoying comfort. We put it in our slogan: “Live Green, Save Green.” One of the ways to save money while helping the environment is to invest in HVAC equipment with improved energy efficiency. The more efficient a device, the less energy it consumes to provide comfortable temperatures for a household. There’s also less energy taken from power plants, which helps everyone to live greener.

This is why we encourage looking into high-efficiency air conditioning in Modesto, CA. We’re going to examine the efficiency ratings of modern air conditioning systems and what they mean—as well as how to ensure they make a difference for you, since a high-efficiency rating isn’t a guarantee of savings, although it puts you on the right path.

Does Your Home Need Water Softening?

September 14th, 2020

In our previous blog post, we talked about the various signs that your water quality needs help and explored the various water treatment systems that can do the job. We’d like to expand a bit more on one of these systems–the water softener–and explain how and why your water may need softening.

Duct Cleaning: The Difference Professionals Can Make

September 7th, 2020

You may have heard cautions about duct cleaning, and some of these are well-founded. Unfortunately, there are many non-professionals who solicit homeowners to hire them for “duct cleaning.” What they provide hardly merits the name—they can charge a low price because they don’t do much work, and the ducts are rarely much cleaner afterward than before.

But duct cleaning is an important service that residential homes need done every few years. But the cleaning must be done by professionals who have the right tools. This isn’t just a quick vacuum job that takes less than an hour. Professional and certified duct cleaners use powerful blowers to change the pressure inside the ductwork and agitate dust and other debris from the walls. A special vacuum system then removes the particles from the ventilation system. Separate rotary brushes are used to spot-clean areas around the house.

Why This Is Helpful

Professional duct cleaning is beneficial to your house in several ways. Here are the main reasons we recommend scheduling duct cleaning in Modesto, CA every few years.

HVAC System Efficiency: Even a thin layer of dust collected along the interior walls of flexible ductwork creates resistance against airflow. As dust, lint, and dander continue to build up inside ducts, the airflow resistance increases and causes the blower of the HVAC system to work harder and drain more power. Running the heater and AC in a home will become more expensive after years of missing out on duct cleaning.
HVAC System Longevity: The extra strain placed on the HVAC system from airflow resistance will cause the parts to age faster. Worse, all that extra dust and debris inside the ventilation system can get into the HVAC cabinet and cause damage to motors, the evaporator coil, and the heat exchanger. Cleaner ducts mean a healthier and longer-lived HVAC system.
Better Indoor Air Quality: Think of the ducts as a reservoir of dust and lint. It’s not an easy place for you to clean, so unlike the rest of your home, the dust remains year after year. When the HVAC blower turns on, it sends out this debris into your home, where it circulates. This can make for a home that’s dustier and which also can be unhealthy for people who have asthma and allergies.

When to Call for Duct Cleaning

Not certain if you need to have the ducts in your house cleaned? We recommend this service at least every five years, so if you’ve already lived in your house longer than that and haven’t had duct cleaning yet, it’s time. You can also make a visual check: open the register for one of the vents in your house, then put your hand down into the duct shaft and take a picture with your smartphone. If the image you see looks like a clogged air filter from a car, call us to schedule duct cleaning.

Our team has the top industry-approved tools for this job, and our technicians are experts at thorough duct cleaning.

Call Greenhart to schedule duct cleaning services for your home. We help you “Live Green, Save Green!”

3 Signs That You Need Better Water Quality

August 31st, 2020

A lot of us really take our tap water for granted. While a weekend retreat to a campsite with jugs of water in tow certainly has its charms, fact is that no one would want to live without running water in this day and age. Just because you have running water, even if it’s from a municipal supply, doesn’t guarantee great water quality, though. In fact, your water quality may be a lot lower than you realize.

Don’t worry. As usual, the professional plumbers on our team have your back. We install and service a number of great water treatment systems, and we’ll make sure that you have the right one for your needs. There are a lot of water treatment systems in Modesto, CA, to choose from. Before you can choose the right system for your home, though, you need to recognize the need!

The Air Filter on Your AC/Furnace? It’s NOT to Make Your Air Healthier

August 24th, 2020

Air filtration systems are one of the standard ways we can help a home enjoy healthier air free from the majority of large contaminants circulating through the HVAC system. But often when we bring up air filters, homeowners are confused. “But I already have an air filter. It’s in the HVAC cabinet, and I change it every few months with a fresh one. Isn’t that helping with air quality?”

We understand why people are confused about this. The truth is that the air filter on your AC and furnace is not designed to improve indoor air quality. It may have a minor effect on it, but to enjoy tangible benefits to air quality requires having professionals install dedicated air filtration systems in Modesto, CA.

Heed These Signs You Need Repiping

August 17th, 2020

How old is your home? Did you know if it’s more than a few decades old, it might have corroding pipes? This is because the material used to create these pipes doesn’t necessarily last forever–over time they can sustain damage that leads to corrosion and subsequent leaks. As a result, you may find yourself in need of partial or even whole-home repiping.

But how do you know if this is the case? After all, it can be hard for the average homeowner to spot problems in their mostly hidden plumbing system. Read on as we uncover what you should look for in determining your repiping needs!

Ways We Can Improve Your Home’s Ventilation System

3 Reasons to Consider a Heat Pump