Posts Tagged ‘Taylorsville’
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
Ceiling fans really help people reduce their heating and cooling cost. They have the ability to reduce warm temperatures up to 7 degrees, while dramatically reducing air conditioning costs. During the winter months, ceiling fans can operate in reverse mode. Doing so will circulate warm air throughout the room by pushing it up toward the ceiling. Careful consideration should be given when buying a ceiling fan, because of the wide variety available.
Fan Size
The fan should not be too large or too small for your room. A rule of thumb is to have at least 7 feet of clearance from the floor to the fan. The blades and the nearest wall should be a minimum of two feet apart.
Fan Motors
For ceiling fans to operate with efficiency, the size of the motor and the ground motor windings must coincide with blade length. This will allow the fan to run without using a lot of energy and continuously without any problems. However, when the blades or motor are not balanced correctly, the fan will begin to vibrate even at lower speeds. The motors that come with outdoor fans are built to endure temperature changes and moisture.
Fan Blades
Fan blades come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Appearance however is secondary to choosing ones that will provide the best performance and stability. You also need to decide what blade pitch you want. A higher pitch equals greater air circulation at lower speeds. Blade pitches are available between 8 and 15 degrees.
Another thing to consider is fan mounts. There are three types: flush mount, down rod mount, and tri-mount. Down rods are suited for higher ceilings, flush mount is designed for lower ceilings, and the tri-mount provides the best circulation regardless of height.
For more helpful hints check us out on www.southairinc.com
Tags: Acworth, Air Conditioning, Alpharetta, Atlanta, Austell, Canton, Cartersville, Cherokee County, Cumberland, Dallas, East Cobb, Euharlee, Fulton County, Geothermal, Holly Springs, HVAC, Indoor Air Quality, Kennesaw, Kingston, Lost Mountain, Mableton, Marietta, Mars Hill, Paulding County, Powder Springs, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Taylorsville, Townlake, Vinings, Waleska, White, Woodstock
Posted in Air Conditioning, Energy Savings, Gas Heaters, Geothermal, Heat Pump Systems, Heat Pumps, Heating, Home Savings, Indoor Air Quality, Insulation, Maintenance Plan/Comfort Club | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Are you looking for inexpensive ways to save money on energy bills this winter? Now is a great time to tackle these home projects and each of them is very affordable.
1. Add weather stripping to your doors and windows. Keeping warm air from escaping and drafts from blowing in can make a 5% to 10% difference in your energy use.
2. Seal exposed ductwork in attics and basements. Check for gaps in seams and joints, holes, or other places where warm air can escape. Use high quality mastic, rather then silver or duct tape that won’t hold as well or be efficient. Experts say that as much as 20% of warm air can escape through leaky ducts, so this is a great way to save money!
3. Put an insulation blanket on your water heater. The water tank warms up 30 or 40 gallons of water and then it starts to cool off, wasting money. An insulating blanket will slow down the heat loss substantially.
4. Program your thermostat so that the system runs less when you are nott there. Let the temperature fall 10 degrees or so when the house is empty, and you can program it to warm back up before you get home
5. Run full loads of laundry instead of several small loads. You’ll reduce your water use and your overall electrical use.
6. Add insulation to the attic. In winter, heated air escapes through the ceiling into the attic and out of the house. In summer, the attic gets hot and that air pushes down into the house, causing the air conditioner to work harder. A layer of insulation (minimum R19) in the attic will help year-round.
7. Have your furnace or heat pump cleaned and tuned up for winter. A dirty furnace or heat pump coil can waste 20% or more of the energy it uses. Having your entire HVAC system serviced before winter is a cost that might pay you back very quickly.
These are very good ways to reduce energy use on a limited budget. They are easy to accomplish and you will notice immediate results — lower energy bills every month going forward!
Tags: Acworth, Alpharetta, Atlanta, Austell, Bridgemill, Buckhead, Canton, Cartersville, Cherokee County, Clarkdale, Crabapple, Cumberland, Dallas, East Cobb, Euharlee, Holly Springs, Kennesaw, Kingston, Lake Arrowhead, Lost Mountain, Mableton, Marietta, Mars Hill, Milton, Mountain Park, Northpoint, Powder Springs, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Taylorsville, Townlake, Vinings, Waleska, White, Woodstock
Posted in Energy Savings, Gas Heaters, Heat Pump Systems, Heat Pumps, Heating, Home Savings, Insulation, Maintenance Plan/Comfort Club, Rebates & Tax Credits, Tax Credits, Trane, Winterizing | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Winter is coming fast, and it certainly doesn’t let us forget it! Blustery winds that chill through to your bones, iced up car windows, and snow days, this often means that the temperature outside has reached as low as 30 degrees or colder when wind chill is considered!
A large reason that we are able to live comfortably in this weather is because of a special appliance that is often tucked away in your house and not really considered on a daily basis: your furnace.
Furnaces consist of three major components: the burners, a draft inducer, and a heat exchanger. When you bump up your thermostat or it detects that the temperature of your house/building has dropped below its designated temperature, it send a signal to the furnace to ignite its burners.
After the burners are ignited, the draft inducer kicks into action, and sucks the hot gases from the burners towards the heat exchanger. A draft inducer looks similar to a cars turbocharger, and works in a similar manner also. While the hot gas is moved through the heat exchanger, the furnace also brings air from your house through the heat exchanger in order to warm it. If the draft inducer is dirty in any way, this could cause the unit from igniting or staying lit.
And there you have it! Now you understand the basics of how a furnace works. Always use a professional to carry out maintenance and repairs to keep it running at peak efficiency and safe for the whole family.
Tags: Acworth, Alpharetta, Atlanta, Austell, Big Creek, Bridgemill, Buckhead, Canton, Cartersville, Cherokee County, Clarkdale, Cobb County, Crabapple, Cumberland, Dallas, East Cobb, Euharlee, Holly Springs, Kennesaw, Kingston, Lake Arrowhead, Lost Mountain, Mableton, Marietta, Mars Hill, Milton, Mountain Park, Northpoint, Powder Springs, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Taylorsville, Townlake, Vinings, White, Woodstock
Posted in Energy Savings, Gas Heaters, Heating, Home Savings, Maintenance Plan/Comfort Club, Rebates & Tax Credits, Tax Credits, Trane, Uncategorized, Winterizing | Comments Off
Friday, November 18th, 2011
Your home is a haven for you and your family. You do all you can to keep it comfortable and safe. If you live in a cold climate, you know how important it is to keep your home warm during the cold months. Being unsure whether your heating system will work properly through the winter can cause serious worry for a homeowner. Hiring a professional home heating service to do a yearly check-up is a great way to catch problems and make repairs before they turn into serious problems
Heating contractors have the expertise and training to handle any size of repair, and they deal with furnace issues and ductwork on a regular basis. They will evaluate your needs and give you an estimate for the repair before they begin it. You want to contract with professionals who have the skills and abilities to detect and repair problems to your heating and air conditioning system. Because they are experienced, they have worked on many different types of units, which give them important knowledge that the average homeowner simply doesn’t have.
Reliable heating contractors work hard to provide affordable bids quickly so that you can have them do the work that gets you back to status quo. It is a good idea to locate a contractor before you have a problem so that you will know who to call if an emergency were to occur. It is a good idea to have a company come out for a basic service call so you can see how easy they are to work with and how well they do their job. This way if problems arise later you know you have someone to call that you can trust and knows your system. If you try to fix a problem with your heating or air conditioning system on your own, you could actually make it worse and cause your home to be without heat for a longer period of time.
Choosing professional heating contractors will keep this from happening. Be sure when you call for your emergency that you accurately describe the problem with your system so that your heating contractors will have a better idea of where to start. This may reduce the total time they must spend and can save you money, since they get paid by the hour.
Tags: Acworth, Alpharetta, Atlanta, Austell, Bridgemill, Buckhead, Canton, Cartersville, Cherokee County, Cobb County, Dallas, East Cobb, Euharlee, Holly Springs, HVAC, Kennesaw, Kingston, Lake Arrowhead, Lost Mountain, Mableton, Marietta, Mars Hill, Milton, Mountain Park, Paulding County, Powder Springs, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Taylorsville, Waleska, White, Woodstock
Posted in Gas Heaters, Heat Pumps, Maintenance Plan/Comfort Club, Trane | Comments Off
Monday, September 5th, 2011
If you’ve recently started researching a new air conditioner for your Taylorsville home, you may have run across “R410A” – a newer form of refrigerant increasingly being used in high end air conditioning equipment. What is R410A and why is it different from the existing refrigerant most air conditioners have?
Chemical Composition
R-410A is a composite of diflouromethane and pentafluoromethane. This mixture of R-32 and R-125 creates a new compound designed to be used in commercial and residential air conditioning devices. Sometimes referred to as Puron, Genetron and EcoFluor, R-410A is a more environmentally friendly approach to cooling than the existing coolant most air conditioners use – R-22.
To date, R-22 has been the refrigerant of choice for millions of devices. However, because R-22 will no longer be permitted in new devices starting in 2020, R-410A is growing in popularity rapidly and will soon become the standard refrigerant option in new devices.
Environmental Impact
Despite being very similar in chemical composition to other refrigerants like Freon and R-22, R-410A does not contribute to ozone depletion, a major step forward for air conditioning. However, it has as very similar global warming impact – producing nearly 1725% more damage than carbon dioxide. One of the factors that negates this high global warming risk is the fact that R-410A is being used in a more efficient manner than past refrigerants.
Choosing R-410A
You cannot simply replace the R-22 in your cooling system with R-410A. Because it requires higher pressure, the devices that run with R-410A must be built specifically for this refrigerant. As a result, many manufacturers are starting the transition to the new refrigerant now, in anticipation of the 2020 phase out date for R-22. If you are preparing to buy a new unit, keep this in mind. You can still buy R-22 devices, but they are not as environmentally friendly as this newer form of refrigerant.
Tags: Air Conditioning, Bridgemill, Green, Holly Springs, Taylorsville
Posted in Air Conditioning | Comments Off
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Termites can wreak massive destruction on your Taylorsville home thanks to their teeming numbers and constant feeding habits. The aggregate cost of termite damage in the United States has been estimated to be as high as a billion dollars annually. Although termites are destructive and persistent, there are steps you can take to stop them from damaging your home. Specifically, termites flourish in some very specific conditions, so below will be discussed some ways to control those in your favor.
Starve Them Out
Termites love to eat wood. To be more precise, they love any source of cellulose, which wood happens to be rich in. Once a colony finds a food source, it eats constantly, hence the large potential for damage to your home. Here are some suggestions for keeping cellulose to a minimum:
- Use treated lumber for your home and for any other ground structures, such as decks or sheds. You can also consider resting such structures on concrete supports, instead of directly on the ground.
- Keep stored wood away from your house, ideally in a shed. Additionally, do not bury left over wood as a means of disposal.
- Keep your yard free of fallen limbs, dead trees, stumps or other wooden debris.
- Do not use wood mulch on plants near your home. Instead, either move the plants further away, or check your local garden supply store for rubber mulch, which does not attract termites.
Dry Them Out
Just like other pests, termites require a source of water to live. Even with bountiful cellulose around, a termite colony cannot take hold without water. Here are some steps you can take to limit the chances that they will find a water source around your home:
- Fix all leaks promptly, no matter how small they seem at the time.
- Fill in any dips or depressions in your yard to prevent water from pooling.
- Likewise, repair any cracks or holes in your driveway. These can promote termite growth by both collecting water, and improperly draining water toward your home, making the trip easier for the termites.
- Keep the area around your home free of brush and other heavy vegetation, which can cause areas of heavy moisture, acting as a safe harbor for hungry termites.
- Clean all gutters and other drainage lines and keep them in good repair.
These preventive measures will go a long way toward keeping your home free of destructive termites. Additionally, you should have your home checked by a professional for signs of termites annually.
For more tips on how to best maintain your home, contact your local HVAC professional.
Tags: Big Creek, Buckhead, Energy Savings, Maintenance, Taylorsville
Posted in Energy Savings | Comments Off
Monday, July 25th, 2011
When you move into an existing home, there are many pieces of equipment that you may not want to keep. Some of them are just old and poor quality, while others cost you a lot of money and others still may be dangerous to you or your children. Before you settle into your space, make sure you have every one of your systems checked thoroughly for potential problems including inefficient heating, dangerous parts or environmentally unfriendly components.
Energy Cost
Number one on your list should be the cost of the energy needed to run your HVAC equipment. Furnaces and air conditioners in particular have become much more energy efficient in the last 10 years so older systems routinely cost much more money to operate than new ones. That doesn’t mean you should immediately rush out to replace your old furnace, but if it isn’t working properly or it’s costing you more money than you’d like, the cost benefit of a new system is often worth checking into.
Other things to check include your insulation, your air quality system, your ventilation system and anything used to heat or cool food in the kitchen – all of which may be less efficient than you might like.
Ozone Depleting Refrigerants
Older appliances like air conditioners may still use ozone depleting refrigerants that are no longer considered safe (or in some cases legal) for home use. If this is the case, not only does your system probably have a very low SEER rating, it likely isn’t good for the environment or your own health. So, have your system replaced as soon as possible to avoid potentially negative side effects.
Dangerous Equipment
Finally, there are those pieces of equipment that are dangerous. If you find that your furnace has rust around the edges, your gas lines are kinked, or you have a dangerously out of date heat pump in your backyard, it may be time for some replacements. In general, these systems will last for years longer than they are considered safe and while you probably cannot buy a house without a working and safe furnace and air conditioner, you should still have them inspected carefully and replaced as soon as possible if you suspect problems.
Good HVAC equipment is hard to come by – if your home has it already, you’re in luck, but if you happen to move into a place with poor quality materials and equipment, have it replaced as soon as possible. Your health and wallet will both benefit greatly.
Tags: Atlanta, HVAC, Refrigerants, SEER, Taylorsville, Woodstock
Posted in Home Savings | Comments Off
Friday, July 1st, 2011
In this day and age, it seems like no matter what type of problem you have, there’s a technological solution for it. But is that solution always the best? For instance, just because you can get a high-tech air conditioning system to keep your home at the same temperature regardless of the weather outside, does that mean that you should rely solely on that system?
Of course, the choice is yours, but before you decide how best to keep your house comfortable during the warm summer months, it’s a good idea to learn a little bit more about what your other options might be.
- Cross-Ventilation – One of the easiest ways to take the edge off when the temperature starts to rise inside is to open windows on both sides of the house. This allows the breeze to come in one side and pass out the other, taking the stale, warm indoor air with it in the process and cooling off your house naturally.
- Stack-Ventilation – If you have a two-story home, you may want to try stack-ventilation. This variation on cross-ventilation involves opening the windows on the bottom floor on one side of your home and on the top floor on the other. The differences in pressure from one area to the next cause fresh outdoor air to be sucked in on the ground floor and pushed out on the top floor, thereby creating a strong air current throughout your home.
- Blocking Out the Sun – The number one reason that the interior of your house gets hot in the summer is exposure to direct sunlight, so anything you can do to diminish the amount of sun that actually makes it into your home, the better off you’ll be. All you really have to do is close the blinds on those windows where sun can come in to keep the majority of that heat from impacting your indoor environment.
- Stay Away from Dark Colors – The color of the outside of your home can also have an impact on how hot it gets indoors. Dark colors absorb the heat, while light colors reflect it. So if you want to keep the temperature down inside, stick to light colors on the exterior of your home.
- The Importance of Shade – Any type of shade will also keep the sun’s heat out of your home. Trees are a great source of natural shade. Awnings can provide great cooling power too without blocking out your view.
Tags: Mableton, Roswell, Taylorsville
Posted in Air Conditioning | Comments Off
Monday, June 13th, 2011
There are so many different types and styles of air conditioners on the market these days, it can be difficult to figure out what features are worth paying attention to when it comes time to buy one for yourself.
Of course, the most important thing to do is make sure you get an air conditioner that’s appropriately sized for the space you’re trying to cool. But what should you look for beyond that? Here are a few features you might like to have on the unit you purchase:
- Energy Efficiency – The more energy efficient your air conditioner is, the less your cooling costs will be. It’s as simple as that. So when you’re evaluating devices, remember that it’s worth paying a little bit more up front for a more energy efficient unit. It will save you money in the long run and you’ll be doing your part to help the environment.
- Dehumidification – Just about every air conditioner controls humidity to a certain extent in addition to cooling. But some do this better than others. There are also air conditioners with separate dehumidification settings for those days that are more humid than hot. Even when you need both cooling and dehumidification, it’s nice to have control of each of these independently.
- Timer – Being able to program your air conditioner to switch on and off at different times of day is more than just convenient; it will save you money. You don’t want to leave your air conditioner running all day when you’re not home, but it sure is nice to come home to the comfort of an air conditioned space. If your air conditioner has a timer, you can have both. Just set the unit to come on a half hour or so before you get home and you’ll enjoy cool, refreshing indoor comfort right when you get home without paying through the nose to keep your home cool when no one is there.
- Easy-to-Use Controls – As simple as this one seems, you might be surprised at how inconvenient the controls on some air conditioners can be. So when you’re evaluating your options, make sure you research how easy each unit is to operate. This can definitely save you from plenty of frustration in the long run.
Air conditioners come in many different shapes and sizes. To make sure your decision works best in your home, do your research well in advance. When the summer heat kicks in, you’ll be glad you did.
Tags: Atlanta, Northpoint, Taylorsville, Waleska
Posted in Air Conditioning | Comments Off
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
If you are in the market for a new air conditioning system, you have probably heard about the mini split systems that are becoming more and more popular these days. However, without more information, it can be difficult to determine whether or not this type of air conditioner is what you really need to keep your home comfortable all summer.
Mini split air conditioners, like most other conventional home air conditioning systems, are made up of two components. They have an outdoor condenser and an indoor unit that manages the airflow throughout your home. What sets mini split systems apart is that they don’t use air ducts when distributing the cold or hot air throughout your home. The indoor unit is mounted in a room, connected to the main unit by small refrigerant lines.
In a conventional air conditioning system, the outdoor condenser cools the air and then transfers it through air ducts to an indoor air handler. That air handler then takes care of distributing the air throughout your house via a larger series of air ducts.
Mini split systems, on the other hand, do not require air ducts to get the job done. Instead, these types of air conditioners make use of a wall mounted unit indoors to both cool and circulate the air after receiving coolant from the compressor outside. These wall mounted systems can typically handle the cooling load for one or two rooms and there can be more than one indoor unit hooked up to the same outdoor compressor, allowing you to cool your entire house in this way.
What makes mini splits attractive to many people is the fact that they do not require the installation of complicated ductwork to function. If your home does not already have ducts in place, adding them can dramatically increase the cost of putting in a central air conditioning system. Plus the work will take longer and is likely to be a larger disruption in your life. Mini split systems allow you to control the temperature in the various areas of your house independently of one another, making it possible to save quite a bit on your cooling bills every month.
Tags: Lost Mountain, Mars Hill, Mini Split, Taylorsville
Posted in Air Conditioning | Comments Off
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