First Choice Heating & Cooling Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Howell’

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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An Important Winter HVAC Prep Tip: Seal the Ductwork

Monday, November 9th, 2020

duct-sealing-with-caulkingHave you already scheduled heating maintenance for the fall? This is the most important service you can have done to prepare for the winter, since it gives your heating system the best chance to sweep through the winter without problems, no matter how cold the outside may get. The peace of mind you receive from maintenance is well worth it—and you’ll save money on heating costs as well.

But you may need additional service to help your heating system operate at peak level for the season. You may not know if, but the ductwork in your house might suffer from numerous leaks and gapping. A loss of the airtight integrity of the ducts will reduce the effectiveness of your heater and lead to inflated bills. It can even lower the quality of the indoor air.

The way to solve this problem is with professional air sealing in Howell, MI, which is a service we offer. You may not need the work, but if you do, the difference it makes is tremendous.

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Grading Your AC at the End of the Season

Monday, October 12th, 2020

ac-coilsOctober usually means we a break from the heat (although there are always those sudden turns—you can’t take cooler weather for granted until it’s truly winter!). As you get ready for the change in seasons to settle in, it’s a good time to evaluate the performance of your air conditioning in Howell, MI during the previous summer. You can use this evaluation to help make choices about your HVAC system’s future. The big question is whether you think your AC is prepared to keep going next year. If it’s ready to be replaced, then taking care of it during the calmer conditions of fall is ideal.

No matter if you need your air conditioning system repaired or replaced, we’re the trustworthy team for the job. We have almost 20 years of history making homes happy!

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This One Repair Is Common for ACs Over 5 Years Old

Monday, September 28th, 2020

outdoor-ac-unitAir conditioning systems tend to need the most repairs during the last few years of their service lives. This increase in repairs is a warning an air conditioner is almost ready for a replacement. But there are some repairs that can occur when an air conditioner is still less than ten years old—and there’s one that can occur in an air conditioner that has only been in service for more than five years. In fact, it’s one of the more common AC malfunctions, and it’s a serious one.

What is it? Pinhole leaks in the refrigerant lines. And the repair to fix that is to have the lines sealed.

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Your Air Conditioner Might Overheat: 4 Reasons Why

Monday, September 14th, 2020

thermometer-going-red“Wait, my air conditioner can overheat?” You might not immediately think of the air conditioner as an appliance that might overheat, but this is a danger for any mechanical device that uses motors. When your AC overheats, it will cause its circuit breaker to trip, the same as other electrical appliances in your house that are connected to the electrical system.

If you find that your AC is constantly tripping the breakers, please don’t keep trying to run it. Call our technicians to check on your system and find out what’s happening that is causing it to overheat and what we can do to fix it. We’re the Howell, MI, HVAC pros who can get the job done right!

There are several common causes for an air conditioning system overheating:

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Why Your AC Just Isn’t Getting the Job Done

Monday, August 31st, 2020

woman-before-fanWhen the heat and humidity of late summer start their relentless assault on your home and your family’s comfort, you’ll be glad you have a powerful central air conditioning system to man the battlements and keep the invading heat hordes from storming the walls.

Or … not that. As the case may be. You may have an air conditioning system that isn’t getting its job done. It runs, you feel cool air coming from the vents, but the house is still too hot and humid and nobody is happy.

Why is your air conditioning system no longer a partner in keeping the household comfortable? We’ll take a look at some reasons for a faltering air conditioning in Howell, MI and what can be done about it.

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5 Odd Air Conditioning Smells and What They Mean

Monday, August 17th, 2020

girl-pinching-noseWe’ve talked before about the warning signs you need to schedule AC repair in Howell, MI. Your air conditioner gives off different signals when it’s malfunctioning, and strange sounds are the most common.

But strange odors are also a common cautionary sign—and they are also hard to ignore. When these strange odors come from the vents of your central air conditioning system, here’s what they might mean:

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How the Condensate Drain in Your AC Works

Monday, August 3rd, 2020

waterYour refrigerant-based air conditioning system doesn’t use water to cool down the air (that’s what swamp coolers do). But the process of evaporating cold refrigerant in the indoor coils of the air conditioner creates water moisture. So when you hear the sound of water dripping inside your AC, that’s part of the normal process of cooling your home. The air conditioner is getting rid of the moisture that built up.

The way it removes this moisture is with the condensate pan and drain. We’re going to look into this component of your air conditioner, because if it develops problems, you need to call us for air conditioning service in Howell, MI.

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