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Posts Tagged ‘Florence’

Surge Protection Isn’t Just Storm Protection: What You Need to Know!

Monday, January 3rd, 2022

plug-with-spark-coming-outWe’ve often found that when homeowners hear the term “surge protection” they think “storm protection.” In other words, they think that the only time a powerful surge of voltage can occur in their electrical system is when there is a lightning storm going on and power lines are affected. And it’s true: power surges can and do occur during storms. However, what’s a lot more likely is that power surges occur when you use your heavy-duty electrical appliances!

This includes your air conditioner, heating system, dishwasher, and more. These appliances have the ability to send a high wave of voltage through your electrical system—and the damage they do isn’t instantaneous, so you may not even notice it at first. It slowly degrades the wiring and electrical components, including the circuit boards, of other electrical devices in the home—which can include phone chargers, entertainment systems, speakers, kitchen appliances, and more.

At this point you might be wondering, “Okay so can I just use power strips throughout my home?” You could, but this might not be sufficient. Read on to learn more!

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What You Should Know About Your Furnace Heat Exchanger

Monday, December 20th, 2021

burners-inside-furnaceIf you’re like many homeowners here in the Florence area, there’s a good chance that you use a gas-powered furnace to keep your home and family warm. Furnaces are a great choice—both powerful and cost-efficient when properly installed and well-maintained. Today’s furnaces have an even higher efficiency rating than ever before. In fact, the highest rating now available for a gas furnace is 98%.

But this efficiency doesn’t mean much if you aren’t using your furnace as safely as possible. Furnaces are not inherently dangerous, but there are components within them that could cause one to become dangerous if it misses professional services, such as annual tune-ups.

The heat exchanger is one example of this. A cracked heat exchanger is definitely a potential hazard, and we’re going to dive into the “why” behind this below. While this problem is more common in an older system (10–15 years old), we encourage you to keep this information on hand and stay on top of your maintenance appointments even if you have a brand new system! Read on to learn more.

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How to Best Prepare Your AC for Summer

Monday, May 10th, 2021

two-techs-working-on-ac-unitWhile it may take a little bit longer for temperatures to warm up around here than it does in other parts of the country, it’s no secret that relatively speaking, our summers are hot. Therefore, you need a highly efficient and effective air conditioner to keep you cool throughout the season. True, if something goes wrong with your air conditioner, our team is here to help you with prompt and reliable repairs. But wouldn’t you like to avoid air conditioner repairs if you could?

Well, you can! With proper care, your air conditioner can work reliably and efficiently as possible throughout its entire lifespan. The average air conditioner can last 10–15 years when properly cared for. But without proper care, you can expect that lifespan to be cut in half.

Read on as we provide a few tips on how to best prepare your air conditioner for summer.

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Do You Really Need Air Duct Cleaning?

Monday, October 29th, 2018

We often get the question from our clients, “well, do I really need a duct cleaning?” the answer is no. If you’re fine with breathing in contaminants, feeling colder all winter, and paying more than necessary for your HVAC services you can continue along without a duct cleaning. If you’d like to avoid these detriments, an air duct cleaning is a simple way to boost your indoor air quality.

Your indoor air quality directly impacts the quality of your home, your health, and your comfort. It’s always a good idea to have a professional duct cleaning from a member of our conscientious team. If you need a thorough duct cleaning in Florence, OR contact our team. If you’d like to know the various benefits of duct cleaning, keep reading below.

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A Warning About Cracked Heat Exchangers in Gas Furnace

Monday, December 25th, 2017

furnace-in-basementGas furnaces are not automatically dangerous devices. This is something we want to clear up right away so you won’t feel panic just because your home has a natural gas-powered furnace for heating. However, like most powerful appliances or any appliance that creates combustion gases, a furnace can potentially create health hazards if it isn’t maintained regularly or repaired as soon as symptoms of a malfunction appear. Treat a gas furnace well and you should have few worries about its performance.

However, we want to caution you about the most common cause for a gas furnace to become unsafe: cracked heat exchangers. This is most likely to happen in an old furnace (more than 15 years old), which is why we recommend looking into a replacement sooner rather than later. Regular maintenance helps catch this problem early so you’ll know it’s time to arrange for a heating replacement. In some situations, a targeted furnace repair may fix the problem.

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Comparing Gas and Electric Furnaces

Monday, November 27th, 2017

furnace-gas-with-pipesWith few exceptions, all modern homes use electricity. But when it comes to home heating, electricity isn’t always the top choice. Natural gas, piped in through municipal lines, provides power to gas furnaces that are fast and effective at heating up a home during the winter. However, the option always exists to have an electric furnace instead. Furnaces are a flexible type of heating system, with different models using a range of energy sources. That’s why it’s easy for furnace installation experts to find a furnace to match almost any house.

Gas furnace and electric furnaces remain the two most common choices. Is there one that’s automatically a better option than the other? Let’s take a closer look at them to provide an answer to that question—but we’ll tell you upfront that the answer is “it depends on your home’s needs.” Trust to HVAC professionals to ensure you have the best possible heating system installation.

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What Is Short-Cycling, and Why Should I Worry About It?

Friday, April 3rd, 2015

Have you ever noticed your furnace behaving strangely? Shutting itself on and off every couple of minutes, for example? If you have, you’ve got a pretty serious problem. That behavior is one of the most damaging things that can happen to heating systems, known as “short-cycling.” So what is short-cycling, really? What does it do, and why should you care? Read on to find out.

Causes of Short-Cycling

There is one major cause of short cycling when it comes to furnaces: clogged air filters. The air filter is a fiber mesh that is inserted into the air return duct of the furnace. It is designed to protect the furnace against any particles that may blow in from the ducts, such as dust and dirt. The air filter captures these particles, while allowing the air to flow through it and into the furnace. While this works fairly well under normal circumstances, the air filter has no way to actually get rid of the particles that it captures. That means that sooner or later it will need to be cleaned or replaced. If this is not done, the air filter will become so clogged with particles that it will restrict the air flow into the furnace.

When the air flow into the furnace is obstructed, its internal temperature will begin to rise. Eventually, it will rise high enough to activate the limit switch, which is designed to shut down the furnace if it is in danger of overheating. This is only a temporary fix, however, as the air filter is still restricting the air flow into the furnace. Once the furnace starts back up, it will overheat again and be shut down again. This process will continue as long as the air filter remains clogged.

The Results of Short-Cycling

If not fixed immediately, short-cycling will start to inflict severe damage on the furnace. The startup sequence of the heating cycle is the most stressful, and also happens to be the part that the furnace becomes trapped repeating. This constant repetition of the most stressful part of the heating process puts the system under much more strain than it was designed to handle. A furnace often has its lifecycle severely shortened if left to short-cycle for a long period of time, and will have an increased chance of breaking down.

If you suspect that your furnace may be short-cycling, call Comfort Flow Heating for our comprehensive heating services in the Florence, OR area.

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How Duct Cleaning Improves Your Indoor Air Quality

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

When was the last time that you spared a thought for the ducts in your home? Probably not for a while, and no one can blame you for that. After all, what is there to really consider about ducts? They are an avenue for air to travel through, and that’s about it. Now, when was the last time you worried about the quality of the air in your home? Probably quite a bit more recently. People worry about dust and dander a lot more often, because they have a lot more apparent (and harmful) effects on the occupants of the home. What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that there is a strong link between the home’s ducts and the pollutants that lower the home’s air quality. Let’s take a look at how duct cleaning can vastly improve your air quality.

The Ideal Environment

As you already know, the air in the average home is full of all sorts of airborne contaminants. These range from dust and dander to viruses and bacteria. While a lot of these contaminants have limited harmful effects, they can have a major impact on the health of allergy sufferers and those with weakened immune systems. While most people counteract these contaminants by dusting and keeping the house clean, there is one place that is often neglected: the ducts.

Ducts are not only spared cleaning efforts and other human activity, but they are also dark. This makes them the ideal environment for biological pollutants to spread, many of which can be killed by too much exposure to UV light. When a heating or air conditioning system is turned on, all these new pollutants are then blown out of the ducts and into the home, where they can begin infecting people.

Duct Cleaning as a Solution

Duct cleaning counteracts this vicious cycle by periodically removing the buildup of contaminants in your ducts. This both prevents the ducts from distributing contaminants around your house, and removes a lot of the extant ones from your air. Essentially, your ducts become a trap, collecting the majority of the airborne pollutants for removal by your HVAC technician.

If you haven’t had your ducts cleaned in a while, call Comfort Flow heating. We provide duct cleaning services throughout the Florence area.

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Why Is Excessive Condensation in My Air Conditioner a Problem?

Friday, May 30th, 2014

You are probably familiar with the sounds an AC makes during normal operation: the whir of the blower, the hum of the compressor, and the occasional sound of dripping water. The source of that last sound is the condensation that develops along the evaporator coil. As warm air flows across the coil, the coil absorbs heat and also collects moisture. This moisture then drips down into a condensate pan, where a drain and pump remove it down a line toward the wastewater system of your plumbing.

When your air conditioning system is working well, you shouldn’t need to worry about the water along the evaporator coil. But when you encounter excess condensation and drainage issues, it can lead to serious problems. If you detect water around your AC, notice mold or mildew growing in its vicinity, or experience increases in humidity, call for air conditioning repair right away. Technicians will find out what is wrong with your AC and repair it.

Call the experienced staff at Comfort Flow Heating, any time of the day or night, when you need air conditioning repair in Florence, OR.

Condensate problems in an air conditioner

A number of issues can cause the water in the condensate pan to begin to build up: the line can become dislodged, bacterial growth might block up the drain. When this occurs, the condensate pan, which is shallow, will start to overflow and spill out into your home.

The first trouble this will cause is water damage. Because you often won’t notice this at first, since the air conditioning cabinet isn’t in a place you frequent, the water damage can become extensive and may lead to thousands of dollars in repairs.

The high humidity also encourages the growth of mold and mildew. These bacterial contaminants will contribute to building damage (mildew warps wood and eats right through drywall) but also release toxic spores into the air, lowering indoor air quality. Rats and insects will also be drawn to water pools, adding another unpleasant nuisance.

Standing water will start to increase your home’s humidity, causing additional discomfort that will begin to make the AC’s work more difficult.

We don’t advise that you try to repair condensate problems on your own: a mistaken fix can end up causing additional leaking. Instead, contact professionals like those at Comfort Flow Heating. Our team that handles air conditioning repair in Florence, OR will find the source of the problem and fix it so it stays fixed.

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AC Problems That Worsen without Repair

Friday, May 23rd, 2014

How great would it be if your mechanical devices fixed themselves? Unfortunately, this isn’t going to happen, and this includes your air conditioning system.

For over 50 years, Comfort Flow Heating has helped thousands of clients with air conditioning repairs, installations and replacements in Florence. When it comes to repairs, our technicians at Comfort Flow Heating have seen over and over how an ignored problem blossomed into a big one. Here are some examples of problems that we’ve seen get worse the longer they went without repair:

Refrigerant leaks

Refrigerant leaks can be sneaky because your system can, for a time, run ok on low refrigerant. Unfortunately, it’s never a good idea to have your air conditioner run just “ok,” and refrigerant leaks will only worsen with time. The reason for this is that your system has an exact amount of refrigerant it needs to work as it should; once this amount lessens due to a leak, your entire air conditioning system has to compensate for this, and does so by overworking. Additionally, unless the leak gets repaired, it continues to leak, driving your refrigerant level lower and lower.

Decreased air flow

Decreased air flow in your system can be caused by a number of things: bent fins on the outside unit, issues with fans and obstructions in the ductwork. Decreased air flow to your system can cause problems multiple problems, including icing, low air flow, and problems with your compressor. Unless the air flow is increased to its normal capacity, these problems will continue, and will most likely become worse; they may even lead to a full break down of your system.

Fan issues

The fans in your system help with the release of heat as well as the delivery of cool air into your property. When the fans have an issue, such as a worn-out belt that causes the fan to turn slower than usual, or a loose or bent fan blade that interferes with its blowing, air flow and the heating/cooling process can be affected. Worn-out belts will eventually break and loose fan blades will most likely become looser, leaving the potential open for the blade to come off entirely. Bent blades can cause damage to other parts if left to hit another object close by. Each of these problems can lead to bigger ones unless the initial problem is repaired in a timely manner.

Don’t Ignore the Small Problems

“Don’t sweat the small stuff” is a popular saying, but it does not apply to your AC. The small stuff in your air conditioner can lead to bigger stuff that may indeed leave you sweating on a hot summer day. There are lots of tip-offs that something may need work on your air conditioner, such as loud noises, warm air blowing into your home and low air flow. Even if you only suspect there may be a problem, it’s better to call an experienced Comfort Flow Heating technician to inspect it rather than letting it go unattended.

For over 50 years, Comfort Flow Heating has been working on air conditioning in Florence. Let us help you have a great summer with your air conditioner – call us today!

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