Last week we wrote about the importance of maintaining your furnace each fall. This week, we’re turning to a more extensive version of furnace maintenance: replacing a furnace with a new one. A time will come when continuing with regular tune-ups and scheduling repairs are no longer the best option for a furnace. We’ll look into whether this is the fall when you should arrange to have a new furnace installed.
The Great Fall Furnace Replacement Debate
September 26th, 2016Furnace Maintenance: You Need It Done Every Year!
September 19th, 2016If we have to guess what type of furnace you have working to keep you and your family warm during the winters here in Illinois, our first guess would be a natural gas-powered furnace. And the odds are good we would be right, because gas furnaces are still the most common type of heating systems found in homes throughout the U.S. Gas furnaces are powerful, able to overcome the most intense winter chills, and the lower price of gas compared to other heating oils and electricity makes them attractive for cutting down on energy costs.
A Seasonal Maintenance Q & A
September 12th, 2016The early fall is the best time of year for homeowners to prepare for the winter ahead. One crucial task for cold weather preparedness is to schedule heating maintenance from a professional HVAC technician. (And yes, as we talked about last week, this must be done every year.) Maintenance provides numerous advantages: energy savings, protection against emergency breakdowns and repairs, and extended equipment life. But some homeowners still feel on the fence about signing up for a regular maintenance program. We’d like to address some of the common questions that people ask about one of these programs.
Do I Need to Have Heating Maintenance This Fall When I Just Did It Last Year?
September 5th, 2016Yes! Absolutely! Maintenance for your home’s heating system isn’t something that you only have done every “couple of years.” It’s something that you need to schedule each and every fall. To make it easy, you can sign our Residential Maintenance Agreement, and we’ll notify you at the start of the fall that you’re due for maintenance.
Why a Dirty Outdoor AC Coil Is a Problem
August 29th, 2016We’ve recently written about some of the more common issues that an air conditioner may face as the end of summer approaches. All the stress of the previous months of outdoor heat can add up to a malfunctioning cooling system—even if the system received professional maintenance. We’re going to take a closer look at one of these late-summer problems in this post: the dirty outdoor condenser coil.
Tips for Keeping Your AC Healthy Through the End of Summer
August 22nd, 2016Air conditioning systems perform the most work during the tail end of summer. Temperatures are still high during August, often hotter than they were in July, and the air conditioner already has a large amount of stress accumulated from steady work since May. As the end of summer approaches, we recommend that you takes steps to help your home’s air conditioner continue to work at its best and avoid malfunctions—even breakdowns.
Why Do I Need Generator Maintenance?
August 15th, 2016We’re still enjoying the summer weather, but now is also a good time to think ahead toward the end of the year and period when you may need to rely on your whole-house generator in case of an extended power outage. Sometime during the next few weeks is an excellent period to arrange for your annual generator maintenance.
Worried Your AC Won’t Make It to the End of Summer? Here’s What You Can Do
August 8th, 2016It’s August, which means the end of summer is still more than a month away and your air conditioner has already undergone a great deal of stress. If you have concerns that your AC system might break down before the cool weather arrives in fall, there are a number steps you can take that will help. Some are simple, others more complex. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Fixing a Hard-Starting Compressor in an Air Conditioner
August 1st, 2016The hardest-working part of your air conditioning system is the compressor. You’re probably familiar with the sound it makes—it’s the whirring noise that you hear each time the AC starts the cooling cycle—and it’s essential for providing the comfortable environment in your home during hot days. The compressor is a pump that places refrigerant under pressure to turn it into a hot gas so it will circulate through the system, moving heat from the inside to the outside. Basically, if you don’t have a working compressor, you don’t have an air conditioner.
A Few Warning Signs of Water Heater Repair
July 25th, 2016Even when it’s the hottest time of the year, you’ll still need one important heating device working around the clock in your house: the water heater. Hot water is necessary for cooking, cleaning, showering, and bathing, and you need to see that you act quickly when your water heater needs to have repairs.
Some of the warning signs of water heater trouble are obvious, like a complete loss of hot water. But you want to catch early warning signs so you can get to the problem repaired before your hot water supply is in jeopardy. Below are a few of the more common indications that a water heater needs repairs.