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

How Long Can My Boiler Last?

Monday, March 29th, 2021

boiler gaugeOne of the major benefits of using a hydronic boiler to provide heat to your house is that these systems often last longer than standard forced-air heaters such as furnaces and heat pumps. Boilers do not contain as many moving mechanical parts as forced-air heaters, and this slows down the speed at which they age.

But no boiler can last forever—yours will need to be replaced eventually. But when? How many years can you expect to get out of your current boiler before you get a new one?

As with all questions about the longevity of a heating system, the answer is “It depends.” Several factors affect the service life of a boiler, such as maintenance, repair, and its type. We’ll try to give you a short overview to help you consider the future of your home heating. 

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Your Heating Future: Is It a Condensing Furnace?

Monday, March 15th, 2021

furnace-isolated-whiteAs we enter the final stretch of winter, we recommend you think about how your heating system performed and if you’ll need to have it replaced at some point during the middle of the year so you’ll be ready for the next winter. 

If you’re due to have an upgrade to your home heating system, there are many options available. One example that’s popular and which we often recommend to our customers is the high-efficiency condensing furnace.

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Does a High-Efficiency Furnace Guarantee I’ll Save Money?

Monday, February 15th, 2021

money-savings-seesawHigh efficiency is a common buzzword for many products today. Everyone wants high-efficiency appliances, because it helps lower energy use and contributes to the environment. 

However, we recommend any consumer be cautious when it comes to promises they hear about how much a high-efficiency appliance will save them. The important word to watch out for is will. Because to get straight to the question in the title, getting an appliance such as a high-efficiency furnace installed is not a guarantee of money savings. 

Looking into high-efficiency units is a good way to plan for energy savings, and we recommend customers investigate units with high AFUE ratings (more about this in a moment). But there are other factors to consider when it comes to a new furnace installation, and just focusing on efficiency can lead to wasting energy.

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How to Tell You Need a Late-Season Heating Replacement

Monday, February 1st, 2021

cold-woman-on-couchThis is not a situation you want to find yourself in: a failing heater when winter is still in force. Unfortunately, you can’t always control problems like this. Excellent regular maintenance can help make emergency replacements rare, but nothing is a 100% guarantee. Your best defense against the sudden replacement blues is to catch early indicators your heater is coming close to crashing so you can call a Holly, MI, HVAC contractor to replace it. Learn to strike first!

Okay, but what are the signs to watch for of a heater that’s about to go into a crash-dive? Here are a few to look for:

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Is It Too Late to Have Maintenance for My Furnace?

Monday, January 18th, 2021

furnace-repair-technicianWhen we talk about regular heating maintenance, we often call it “fall heating maintenance.” That’s because this is the typical time when people arrange to have it done. Heating maintenance done during autumn has the advantage of giving homeowners time to arrange for any repairs the technicians may uncover during inspections and ensures the heater is in the best condition just before it will be needed the most. 

This, however, doesn’t mean that once fall is over that maintenance has passed it’s “expiration date.” We need to emphasize this: There is no expiration date for professional heating maintenance. A residential heating system requires maintenance once a year, and doing it later is far, far better than skipping it. And it is especially true for a gas furnace.

In short: No, it’s not too late to have maintenance for your furnace in Brighton, MI.

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Is a Ductless System Effective for Heating?

Monday, January 4th, 2021

ductless-mini-split-systemYou’re considering making a change to how you heat and cool your home: a ductless mini split system. Maybe this is a full-house change, plans for a new house, or you only want to install ductless to target a certain area that needs additional comfort assistance. Whatever the reason for considering a ductless installation, you still have a reservation about how well a ductless system works for heating.

We’ll explain a bit about how ductless systems operate to see how well one can provide you with heat.

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Understanding Your Electric Furnace: The Sequencer

Monday, December 21st, 2020
Heating and Cooling Icons

If your house doesn’t have a connection to the municipal natural gas supply, you probably use electricity to power most appliances, including the heater. The most common type of electric central heating system is the electric furnace, which works on the basic principle of electrical resistance heating. Electrical current flows through wires in the heating elements, causing the elements to heat up. The air sent through the furnace picks up heat from the surface of the elements and then continues into the ventilation system to the rest of the house.

It’s easy to explain—not much different from how a toaster works—but there are special components involved that allow an electric furnace to work reliably and provide precision home heating. We’re going to focus on one of them in this post: the sequencer.

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Why Your Furnace Isn’t Heating the House Evenly

Monday, December 7th, 2020

cold-man-and-woman-in-parkasWhat do you expect from your home’s furnace when you start it up for the season? Heat, obviously! But just plain heat isn’t enough, otherwise you could do well for a house with just a cheap space heater. No, you have a furnace because you want heat distributed throughout your house so all the rooms enjoy warmth. That’s the whole point of having a central heating system.

So if you’ve started your furnace for the season and noticed that not all the rooms are getting warm the way you expect, you may have a problem. It’s possible there’s a simple explanation. Or you may need to call our technicians for furnace repair in Howell, MI to see that you’re getting the heating performance you deserve from the furnace.

We know a little something about furnaces, so we can share some of the reasons that your furnace isn’t providing even heating:

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Noisy Furnace at the End of the Season?

Monday, April 13th, 2020

furnace-flamesIt’s probably going to be the last month you will run your furnace for a good long while. You have a few more days left, and it’s easy to think that it doesn’t matter much if the furnace isn’t working as well as it usually does.

However, no matter when you need to have heater repair in Grand Blanc, MI, it’s important to have it scheduled as soon as possible—no matter how close the warmer weather may be. In the case of a gas furnace (which is what you probably have) allowing the heater to run without a malfunction can potentially be dangerous.

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Understanding Risks of Delaying Furnace Replacement

Monday, March 30th, 2020

furnace-oldThe end of the winter season is a period when we recommend homeowners who have heating equipment that is older than 10 years give consideration to when it needs to be replaced. No, this doesn’t mean that a heating system that’s older than 10 years is an automatic replacement. But this is the period when the heater may start to show signs of wearing down, losing energy efficiency, and becoming a higher risk for a breakdown.

This is especially important for gas furnaces, which is probably the type of central heater your house uses. When you think about the recent performance of the furnace, are you on the fence about replacing it? We want to help you understand what kind of risks you’re taking if you delay replacing a furnace that needs it.

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