Purl's Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Fresno’

Time to Prep for the Heat With AC Maintenance

Monday, March 21st, 2022

We’re experiencing extremely hot days in the Central Valley—days with true summer heat, and spring has only just started. You may have had to turn on your AC for the first time in several months to battle the heat. But your air conditioning system is going to need extra help to handle the continuing heat we’ll face through the middle of the year: professional air conditioning maintenance.

We always stress with our customers the importance of having their air conditioning systems professionally inspected and tuned up annually, preferably in spring to beat out the hot weather. The weather is already turning hot, so the time to call us to schedule your regular air conditioning maintenance in Fresno, CA is now.

Tags: Air Conditioning Maintenance, Fresno
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Understanding SEER, AFUE, and Other Efficiency Ratings for HVAC Systems

Monday, March 7th, 2022

Spring is approaching, and this is a time of year when many homeowners start to consider what upgrades or replacements they might need for their heating and air conditioning systems. You may have just gone through a winter with a furnace that was underperforming because of its age. Or you might know that your current air conditioning system isn’t up to handling another summer in the Central Valley.

You’ve come to the right people when it comes to great AC and heating in Fresno, CA. Our team can guide you through the process of replacing an older system if that’s the best choice for your house. One tricky part of getting a new HVAC system for homeowners is understanding the different efficiency ratings and what they mean. We’ll run down the three major ones you’ll need to know for heating and air conditioning.

AFUE

This is a rating used for furnaces. It stands for annual fuel utilization efficiency, and it’s expressed as a percentage. The percentage tells you how well a furnace converts its energy supply into heat. A gas furnace with 90% AFUE will turn 90% of the natural gas it burns into heat for the home, and the remaining 10% will escape the furnace as exhaust.

As of 2013, the minimum requirement for a furnace to receive the ENERGY STAR label from the Department of Energy is 80% AFUE. Many furnaces will score higher than this. High-efficiency condensing furnaces can have AFUE ratings in the high 90s, but they cost more to install. All electric furnaces have AFUE of 100%, but that’s because they don’t lose heat to exhaust. Electric furnaces will still cost more to run on average than gas furnaces because electricity is a more expensive energy source.

SEER

SEER (seasonal energy efficiency rating) is used for air conditioning systems and heat pumps when in cooling mode. It’s the ratio of the amount of heat a unit removes from the air in BTUs to the amount of electricity consumed in watt-hours, as measured over a full season of cooling. (There’s another rating, EER, which is done with only a single test.) The higher the SEER rating, the more efficient the unit. The current ENERGY STAR requirement for air conditioners and heat pumps is SEER of 14.5 or higher. High-efficiency units, such as variable flow refrigerant air conditioners, can have SEER in the 20s.

HSPF

This is a rating specific to heat pumps. Heat pumps work in two modes, heating and cooling, and have different ratings for those modes: SEER for cooling and HSPF for heating. HSPF stands for heating seasonal performance factor and is the ratio of the amount of heat brought into a house in BTUs to the amount of electricity consumed in watt-hours, measured over a full season of heating. HSPF is always lower than SEER for a unit, as heat pumps are less efficient in heating mode. The ENERGY STAR minimum for HSPF is 8.5.

The efficiency of any new system you have installed is important, but it isn’t the only factor. You’ll want the help of our professionals to find the ideal unit to provide comfort to your house as well as energy savings.

Call Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning when you’re interested in a new HVAC system installation. Uncompromised Quality & Customer Service Since 1952.

Tags: Air Conditioning Installation, Fresno, Heating System Installation
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Can I Save Money on Comfort by Closing Room Vents?

Monday, February 21st, 2022

Many room vents connected to a home’s ventilation system have shutters on them to alter the direction air enters a space. These shutters can also be pushed to close the vent, leading people to believe that they can shut off heating or cooling to a room this way and save money. If the vent doesn’t have shutters, they may try putting an object in front of it to block it and achieve the same effect.

We’ll explain below why doing this doesn’t work, and why it creates problems for your HVAC system. But don’t despair—we’ll have some suggestions at the end for how you can better control home heating and cooling to increase energy efficiency.

Tags: Fresno, Zone Control Systems
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Is It Too Late to Have Heater Maintenance?

Monday, February 7th, 2022

We’re now well into the winter, although recently we’ve experienced a warm weather stretch. Still, you’ve almost certainly had your furnace or other heating system running—and we hope that during the fall you remembered to call us for heating system maintenance in Fresno, CA. Routine maintenance is still the best way to prevent repair problems, drops in heater efficiency, early system replacements, and safety worries.

However, if you didn’t remember to have maintenance before the winter started (we understand that life gets busy!), please don’t think that you missed a window of opportunity and it’s just too late to have it done now. But it isn’t! There’s no such thing as an expiration date for heating maintenance—the only requirement is that it gets done annually. Call us to sign up for our Ultimate Service Agreement and we’ll see you get on the schedule for a maintenance inspection and tune-up.

Tags: Fresno, Heating System Maintenance
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How Does Electronic Ignition Work in a Furnace?

Monday, January 24th, 2022

The natural gas furnace has been common in homes since the 1940s. Until fairly recently, these furnaces used a standing pilot light to ignite the gas burners at the start of their heating cycle. The pilot light would maintain a small flame throughout the heating season so whenever gas flowed to the burners, the pilot would immediately ignite them.

There are still furnaces in use today that have standing pilot lights, but they’re becoming rarer each year. Most natural gas furnaces have changed over to using electronic ignition systems instead. The reason for the change is to make furnaces more energy-efficient as well as more reliable. A pilot light that burns for the whole winter is an additional drain on natural gas, while an electronic ignition system only needs to use power at the moment it ignites the burners.

How does electronic ignition work? There are two general types of electronic ignition systems found in furnaces: hot surface ignition and intermittent pilots.

Tags: Fresno, Gas Furnaces
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Have You Had Your Dryer Vent Cleaned Yet This Year?

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021

dirty-dryer-vent — Interior of dirty dryer vent

An important service our team offers customers is dryer vent cleaning in Fresno, CA. This is a job we recommend homeowners have done at least once year. Unfortunately, people often forget to schedule this vital cleaning service—and that’s why we’re glad you stopped by this blog for a reminder. Dryer vent cleaning may not sound like it’s as important as other maintenance jobs like heating system maintenance, but as we’ll explain below, the safety benefits alone make it essential!

Tags: Dryer Vent Cleaning, Fresno
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Off to a Slow Start … Is Your Furnace Not Giving You Enough Heat?

Monday, November 1st, 2021

As we move into the colder months of the year, your furnace will begin running more often. You’ve probably already had it on a few times—and we hope you’ve called us to arrange for heating system maintenance. (If not, now is a great time to have it done!)

You may notice as the winter starts that your furnace isn’t living up to expectations. There are cold spots in rooms, the general household temperature feels lower, and you have to fiddle around with the thermostat to get enough heat. These are all warning signs you may need furnace repair in Fresno, CA, and we don’t recommend you wait long to call us to schedule them. What might seem like a small trouble can balloon into a larger one, and you also want to avoid any potential safety hazards.

Below we’ll look at why your furnace may be off to a slow heating start.

Tags: Fresno, Heating System Repair, Heating System Replacement
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October Is the Time for Your Regular HVAC Maintenance

Tuesday, October 19th, 2021

October is the month when people start to consider using their heating systems for the first time since, well, probably spring. That means it’s a good month for homeowners to schedule their annual heating maintenance visit.

Maintenance is one of the most important services we offer our customers, and we don’t want you to forget to arrange for it. We know you may be busy with Halloween celebrations and preparations, but the small amount of time it takes to schedule the work and have our technicians do it is incredibly valuable.

Tags: Fresno, Heating Maintenance
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Getting a Bigger AC Is Probably Not a Good Idea

Monday, October 4th, 2021

We’re accustomed to thinking that getting an appliance that’s “more powerful” is always for the best. But this isn’t the case—and it’s certainly not the best when it comes to a central air conditioning system.

Maybe you’re unhappy with your current air conditioning in Fresno, CA. This recent summer was hot, and when you lowered the thermostat to your standard comfort level, you didn’t feel as cool as you expected. The air conditioner just didn’t seem like it could handle the heat. Getting a bigger AC might sound like a good solution; it seems sensible. But it rarely is. We’ll talk more about air conditioner size below and how to get the right cooling.

Tags: Air Conditioning Installation, Air Conditioning Replacement, Fresno
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The Big Benefits of Regular Duct Cleaning

Monday, September 20th, 2021

Like most parts of your home, the ductwork requires regular attention. It doesn’t need annual maintenance the way the heater and air conditioner do, but it’s important to have the ducts cleaned every three to five years. Over time, ducts naturally accrue dust and other particles that move through the ventilation system. It only takes about a year for the first thin layer of dust to form along the interior of the ductwork, and after three to five years the build-up will start to have negative effects—that’s when it’s time to schedule duct cleaning.

When you have our professionals handle your duct cleaning in Fresno, CA, it can make a major difference in the performance of the HVAC system and the quality of your indoor air. Since homeowners often forget about duct cleaning entirely, we’ve put together a list of the major benefits of making this a regular service:

ONE: It improves the energy efficiency of the HVAC system

Think of the ducts like nasal passages. When someone has a cold, these passages become congested, making it more difficult to breathe. This applies to the ductwork: the dust and debris that build up inside the interior of the ducts causes restrictions against airflow through the ventilation system. The blower fan that pushes air through the ductwork to the rooms must labor harder to do its job, and this causes the HVAC system to lose efficiency. This applies to both the air conditioner and the furnace! You’ll pay more for the standard performance of your heating and cooling until duct cleaning restores the ducts to their original condition.

TWO: It protects the heating and air conditioning system

The strain placed on the HVAC system due to a build-up in the ducts can contribute to parts wearing down rapidly, more repairs, and even an early system replacement. All that dust and debris can also end up infiltrating the HVAC cabinet, which can inflict even worse damage on parts like motors, burners, and refrigerant coils.

THREE: It helps keep your household air clean

On average, a six-room house circulates 40 lbs. of dust through its ventilation system per year. That’s an enormous amount of dust that keeps running through a house without any easy escape. Each time you turn on your HVAC system when it has dirty ductwork, the blower fan will blast out the dust inside it into the living spaces. Not only is this unhealthy to breathe, it contributes to making the house much dustier. (If you’re struggling to keep your house dust-free, it’s often a warning that it’s time for duct cleaning.)

Rely on professionals for duct cleaning

Duct cleaning isn’t a job you can do on your own with a hose vacuum pushed into the vents. You also shouldn’t trust to amateurs who quote suspiciously low prices for it—they also won’t do much more than push a vacuum into the vents! Let our HVAC experts see the job is done thoroughly so you won’t need the service again for several years.

Call Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning for duct cleaning and other HVAC services in the Central Valley. “Quality Is the Cornerstone of Our Success” since 1952.

Tags: Duct Cleaning, Fresno
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