Why Pilots Lights Have Gone “Out of Fashion”

November 27th, 2023
natural-gas-burner

Once upon a time, when people discussed gas furnaces, they often talked about the pilot light. This flame burned through the winter in the furnace, ready to ignite the burners as soon as gas started to flow to them. Sometimes the pilot light would go out and need relighting—and this was often Troubleshooting Step #1 on lists of what to do if a gas furnace stopped working. 

But now the question people are asking isn’t “how to light a gas furnace in Fresno, CA” so much as wondering what happened to the pilot light. Some models may still use them, but not many. The pilot light has gone out of fashion, and for some good reasons.

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Hot Dog Dinner at Madera Fair 2023

November 22nd, 2023

Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning along with Randy and Sheryl Berry hosted the Annual Hot Dog dinner on Sept 4th from 5–7pm. We hosted a dinner for all the 4H and FFA Exhibitors and their families the night before the Madera District Fair opened to the public. The 4H and FFA kids arrive a few days before the Fair to work and prepare to show their livestock animals. The hot dog dinner is an annual tradition in Madera that everyone at Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning looks forward to attending. We cooked over five hundred hotdog dinners complete with drinks and all the fixings. It is a great way for us to get out in the community and support our local hardworking kids and the agricultural community.  

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Black Friday & HVAC

November 22nd, 2023

Heating and Cooling 101

Thanksgiving is a time to gather and be thankful for the things that have happened during the current year. Black Friday leaves many waking up early to journey to stores to purchase Christmas gifts for family and friends. Many people also shop for deals for their home for appliances, televisions, and computers.

If you are shopping for Black Friday deals on HVAC products, we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that HVAC Black Friday deals don’t really exist. The good news is that the pricing in our industry is already applied to your purchase at any time before the end of the year and some rebates are still available until Mid-December: Carrier Cool Cash Rebate.  

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Are There Drawbacks to Tankless Water Heaters?

November 13th, 2023
tankless-water-heater

If you’re considering getting a new water heater, then you have probably heard about the many benefits of replacing an old storage tank water heater with a tankless model. Tankless water heaters have several excellent advantages that appeal to customers, including:

  • Unlimited hot water
  • Lower energy consumption
  • Longer lifespans
  • Small size

However, we want to stress that—as with HVAC systems—there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” water heater for a house. Tankless water heaters are excellent systems, but they may not be the system for your household’s specific requirements.

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Sealed Combustion Furnace: What Makes It Different From a Standard Furnace?

October 16th, 2023
natural-gas-burner

How much do you know about the operation of your furnace? You may understand the basics of how a gas furnace runs: gas burners ignite, hot combustion gas collects inside the heat exchanger, the heat from the exchanger walls transfers to the air, and a blower pushes the air into the ventilation system. But there are some differences between furnace construction that can make a significant difference, such as whether your furnace is a sealed combustion furnace.

If you’ve never heard of the term sealed combustion furnace, we’re glad to explain to you what it is and why it’s different—and often superior—to a standard furnace. If you’re interested in sealed combustion heaters in Fresno as a choice for your home, we can assist you.

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Does Rust on a Water Heater Mean It Must Be Replaced?

October 2nd, 2023
water-heater-leaking

You never want to see rust or other types of corrosion appearing on important metal appliances or fixtures. It’s bad news because corrosion weakens metal and eventually causes it to deteriorate and flake away. 

Because a water heater is a mostly metal device that holds and circulates water, it’s in jeopardy of rusting. Thankfully, water heaters have special defenses built into them to prevent rust and other types of corrosion from getting an early hold on them. These defenses include the sacrificial anode rod that attracts rust to it rather than the tank; the expansion tank that keeps oxygen out of the main tank (corrosion requires oxygen to trigger the chemical reaction between water and metal); and a glass lining inside the tank.

Yet seeing that your water heater has rust on the outside can still happen. When you see rust on your home’s water heater, does this mean the water heater is finished? Is it time to call us for a water heater replacement?

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Is Electronic Ignition Only for Electric Furnaces?

September 18th, 2023
natural-gas-burner

You may have heard about furnaces switching to something called electronic ignition. If you have a gas furnace, you might think this doesn’t apply to you—after all, wouldn’t electronic ignition only apply to electric furnaces?

The keyword you might be overlooking is ignition, which means igniting something. Electronic furnaces do not use any type of combustion or burning to work. Instead, they allow electric voltage to flow through a series of heating elements, which then warm up through electrical resistance. The only furnaces that use electronic ignition are the ones that burn natural gas (or less common options like propane or oil). 

If you’re curious about how this works and how to light a gas furnace with electronic ignition, we’ll explain below. We’ll also look at why electronic ignition is a beneficial change from standing pilot lights.

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The Biggest Benefits of Arranging for Regular Furnace Maintenance in Fall

September 4th, 2023
furnace-with-technician-checking-it

We can expect high temperatures throughout September here in the Central Valley, so it may seem strange that we’d recommend you start to consider service for your furnace. However, the best time to take care of regular maintenance for a furnace is in the fall, preferably at a time when you don’t yet need the furnace. 

An annual furnace inspection and tune-up is as mandatory as mandatory as HVAC jobs get. We don’t want you to overlook it, and you can make arranging for maintenance easy as a member of our Ultimate Service Agreement. Below we’ll go over the best benefits of having your furnace given the full maintenance treatment this fall.

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Why Your AC Is Unevenly Cooling Your Home

August 21st, 2023
Air-conditioner-with-clipboard

A common problem people encounter with air conditioning systems during hot weather is when the AC is running, but not all of the house receives an even distribution of cooling. There will always be some fluctuations in temperature throughout a house because of factors like lower insulation and radiant heat exposure. But a professionally installed air conditioner should make these minor. If professionals accurately sized the air conditioner for the home when it was installed, the AC should deliver the necessary comfort to all areas connected to the ventilation system. 

What can cause an AC to struggle to provide even cooling? We’ll look at several possible causes and help you understand when you need air conditioning repair—or maybe even a full system replacement. When you’re searching for “AC repair or air conditioning installation near me,” Purl’s is the first company to call.

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Don’t Overstrain Your AC in Late Summer!

August 7th, 2023
woman-with-hand-fan

The summer heat in the Central Valley tends to reach its highest point near the end of the season. During this time, we want our customers to take good care of their air conditioning systems so their air conditioning systems will take good care of them during. Nobody wants to get trapped with a broken air conditioner when the temperature outdoors rises past 90°F.

We want to provide a different type of help in this post by drawing your attention to several ways you may be pushing your air conditioner harder than normal and placing it under greater strain. You can’t stop all AC repair troubles, but you can help prevent most if you know how best to treat your air conditioning system.

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