First Choice Heating & Cooling Blog: Archive for the ‘Air Conditioning’ Category

Is a Zone Control System a Good Choice for Your House?

Monday, July 18th, 2022

inside-air-ductWhen it comes to central heating systems and central air conditioners in Fenton, MI, we’re the local HVAC team you can trust. One special service we offer to improve HVAC systems is adding zone controls. A zone control system allows a homeowner to set the heating and cooling system so it only sends conditioned air to certain rooms and not others. We can install zone controls as part of a new HVAC system, and we can also retrofit older HVAC systems to make use of them.

Zone controls provide a number of great advantages to improve comfort, convenience, and energy use in a house. Not all homes will get the same benefit from zone controls, however. In this post, we’ll help you see if zone controls are a good option for your home.

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The Sounds of an AC in Good Shape

Monday, July 4th, 2022

woman-listeningIn previous blogs, we’ve listed several ways you can detect if your air conditioner is in trouble and needs rapid repair service from our professionals. Odds sounds coming from the AC are one the most common warning signs of trouble. 

But this brings up a good question: what sounds should you hear coming from your air conditioner when it’s running well? You probably don’t think about it that much because an air conditioner working as it’s supposed to will often fade into the background of your mind. To help you better understand when your AC needs repairs, we’ll look at what your AC sounds like when it doesn’t need repairs.

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How Much Electricity Does Your AC Use?

Monday, June 6th, 2022

piles-of-moneySummer is a time when people see a rise in their electric bills. There are several reasons for increased electrical use after the lull of spring, but the biggest source is air conditioning systems. When you start to run the AC in your home for the first month of summer heat, you know you can expect to see a rise on your next electric bill.

There are ways you can keep this under check. We recommend always having air conditioning maintenance done in spring to stop the AC from declining in energy efficiency. As soon as you notice anything wrong with your cooling system, call us for AC repair in Burton, MI—not just to prevent the system from breaking down, but to keep the malfunction from draining energy. Maintain a steady setting of 78°F on the thermostat during the day when people are home.

But no matter what conservation steps you take, you’ll still see an increase in electrical use because of how much electricity the AC consumes to run. And how much is that…?

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How Dirty Coils Affect Your Air Conditioning

Monday, May 9th, 2022

ac-coilsWe’ve already written our seasonal blog to remind our customers about the importance of scheduling regular air conditioning maintenance with our technicians. But an extra reminder never hurts, and in this case we want to talk about one of the essential jobs we do during maintenance and why it’s so important—cleaning the refrigerant coils of an AC.

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Watch Your AC for These Early Season Malfunctions

Monday, April 25th, 2022

ice-patternSoon you’ll start to run your air conditioning system to cool down your house. During the lull in the weather is the best time to call our team members to arrange for maintenance for your AC so it’s ready to go and in the best state to handle the summer heat when the time comes. If you do this, you can expect your air conditioner to have few problems or malfunctions in the coming year.

But maintenance won’t stop all AC issues. When you first start to run your air conditioner, we recommend you pay some attention to it so you can pick up any early signs that something is wrong. These same warning signs apply to the rest of the summer as well, so familiarizing yourself with them now will make it easier for you to detect them whenever they occur.

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Other Ways to Prepare Your AC for Summer

Monday, April 11th, 2022

heating-cooling-ventIn our last post, we addressed the most important way you can get your AC ready to deal with another hot summer: scheduling regular air conditioning maintenance with our expert team. We can’t overemphasize how important this job is! Your AC has little chance of breaking down or even suffering from a minor repair needs if it has maintenance, and it will also run at higher energy efficiency. 

However, there are some steps you can take on your own to see that your AC sails through the summer keeping your home cool. Once you schedule your air conditioning tune-up in Highland, MI, there are some steps you can take do on your own that will help out, as well as jobs you’ll need to do during the rest of the summer. Let’s go over some of what you can do to give your AC the summer help it needs.

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Let Us Help You Get Your AC Ready for Summer!

Monday, March 28th, 2022

ac-acid-wash-maintenanceNow that spring has arrived, we want to get the word out to our current and future customers about the importance of preparing air conditioning systems for the approaching warm weather. April (and even May and June) can still contain cold weather surprises, but the AC in a home needs to be prepared for the steady heat that will soon settle in.

You can take several steps to help maintain your home’s central air conditioning system, such as changing the HVAC air filter, making sure room vents are unobstructed, and cleaning the outdoor cabinet and clearing the area around it. But you’ll also need our help—professional air conditioning maintenance in Flushing, MI is the best way to ensure you have an AC that’s “armored up” for the summer heat. A regularly maintained AC will also save you money in multiple ways.

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The Sinking AC Condenser: How This Can Be Bad News

Monday, September 13th, 2021

ac-on-slabGo outside your house and look at the condenser cabinet for the central air conditioner. You’ll notice that it’s placed onto a concrete slab, rather than just set on the ground. This is because the condenser is a heavy object and it would start to sink right down into the ground if it wasn’t put on a solid foundation. Laying down a concrete pad is a critical part of putting in the first AC for a new house.

That doesn’t mean the concrete slab won’t start to sink at some point! If you noticed during your trip to look at the condenser (and how often have you really looked at this critical part of your home comfort system?) that the unit appeared a bit uneven, then you may have a sinking condenser. 

No, the condenser isn’t going to vanish into the ground. But an uneven condenser because of a sinking slab is still a problem that calls for air conditioning repair in Brighton, MI. Read on to learn more!

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August AC Tips So You Have a Cool End of the Summer

Monday, August 16th, 2021

outdoor-acAugust brings two challenges for air conditioning systems:

  1. It is usually the hottest month.
  2. ACs have already put in several months of hard labor dealing with the heat.

The combination of these two mean air conditioners face a higher chance of malfunctions and breakdowns in August. It’s definitely one of the busiest times of the year for us! Our technicians tackle many emergency calls for air conditioning repair in Flushing, MI and throughout our service area. 

We’re always happy to help with AC repairs whenever you need them, but we also want to provide the service of prevention. If you already schedule preventive HVAC maintenance in spring, you got your AC off to a good start. The tips below can help your AC have a good end to the season, which means you’ll enjoy it more too!

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Why Ice Might Form on Your AC’s Coil

Monday, August 2nd, 2021

frost-patternHere’s a common misunderstanding people often have about air conditioning systems: it’s normal for ice to appear on them, because it means the AC is doing an extremely good job of cooling the air.

Nothing about this is true. Air conditioners should never create ice as they operate, the same way that you shouldn’t see ice forming inside a modern freezer (unless you specifically put water in it to turn into ice). When you see ice developing on your AC, it will appear along the indoor coil, the evaporator coil, and that sends a warning that something is wrong with the air conditioner. Not only is a problem present in the AC, but the ice will cause the air conditioner to provide less cool air, not more. In most cases, ice on the coil means you need to call for AC repair in Flushing, MI.

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