If you have a two-story home, you know that heat rises. But if you are experiencing very disparate temperatures between your downstairs rooms and upstairs ones, something is amiss. Some homeowners may think this is an indication that your air conditioner isn’t big enough; this isn’t likely. If your AC wasn’t big enough, your entire home would be affected, not just the upstairs. So what can cause your upstairs living spaces to be considerably warmer than your downstairs ones? Here are some thoughts:
Boehmer Heating & Cooling Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Upper St Clair’
Having Problems Cooling Your Second Floor? Here Are Some Suggestions
Monday, July 6th, 2015Will Your Pittsburgh AC Be Prepared for Summer?
Monday, March 18th, 2013The question on many minds of homeowners as the temperature begins to rise is whether their AC systems are ready for summer. It’s an important question. The cool, crisp air of the home AC is a reprieve from the hot and humid days from June through September. But this doesn’t happen automatically—as with any system, your AC requires maintenance to ensure that it works all summer long. That’s why it’s crucial for homeowners to begin to prepare their systems for the summer months. That way, you can be prepared for even scorching heat, and feel confident that your system is up to the task. Don’t put your comfort at risk. For AC maintenance in Pittsburgh, call Boehmer Heating & Cooling today!
Here are some ways to prepare your AC for clean cool comfort all summer:
- Enroll in a maintenance plan. Routine inspection, cleaning and precision tune-ups is the best way to ensure that your system works effectively and efficiently. Certain plans may also include discounts on repairs and diagnostics, as well as equipment. Not only does regular maintenance lower your energy bills, it also extends the life of your AC.
- Clean your air filter. Your air filter is designed to prevent the passage of airborne allergens like dust and pollen into our indoor air. When it becomes dirty or clogged, however, it can also reduce energy-efficiency and cause damages in other parts of the system. This is an easy way to prepare your AC for the summer.
- Install a programmable thermostat. The thermostat is your interface between you and your AC. Programmable thermostats give you the option of customizing your indoor climate. You can program certain days of the week or times of the day to adjust automatically to certain temperatures. This helps your system make gradual instead of sudden changes, and it allows you to control your cooling when you’re not there.
These are just a few of the ways to make sure your AC is prepared for summer. For more information, or to schedule AC maintenance in Pittsburgh, call Boehmer Heating & Cooling today!
Pittsburgh Heating Tip: Decisions to Make Prior to Your Furnace Installation
Monday, December 10th, 2012While summer and fall are excellent times to start planning a new furnace installation for your Pittsburgh area home, it’s never too early to start comparing the different models if you know that you will need to replace your furnace.
There are some decisions you will need to make prior to the furnace installation, such as what type of furnace you want to install and what features are most important to you. You can always call Boehmer Heating & Cooling for advice. Meanwhile, we’ve put together some things to think about as you start making these decisions.
You can begin making your decisions by monitoring your heating bills and paying attention to how well your current furnace is performing. Are you paying outrageously high heating bills? How did your furnace test during the annual tune-up? If you decide that you want a high-efficiency system, you’ll need to know how to read and compare the AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) percentages and what they mean for you.
It’s a good idea to begin speaking with your heating contractor about the different models on the market, and they should be able to help you select the most cost-efficient furnace for your home. You’ll also need to decide what type of fuel you want to use. For instance, if your home has access to natural gas, heating with a gas furnace is much easier than getting oil delivered, and if you switch over, you will also save space since there’s no tank involved.
Don’t hesitate to call Boehmer Heating & Cooling if you having any questions about installing a heating system in Pittsburgh!
Pittsburgh Heating Guide: Is Your Furnace Not Blowing Enough Air?
Monday, October 15th, 2012Have you ever been in your Pittsburgh house in the winter, listening to the furnace churn away trying to heat the house, but noticed that the whole place is still cold? If you checked the heating vents in this situation, you would probably find that there is not much air flow coming out of them, which is why you are still freezing.
It is entirely possible for the furnace to be burning away, producing hot air, without enough of that warm air ever actually being distributed through your home. So it continues to run and run, resulting in excess wear and tear on the heating system that will probably shorten its productive life, as well as keeping your whole home too chilly.
Why does that happen? There are a several common culprits for insufficient air flow from a furnace. Below is a list of the most frequent offenders, along with solutions for each:
- Cause: Dirty or broken air filter. An air filter that has accumulated too much build up or is damaged will slow down air flow in a hurry.
Solution: Clean or replace the air filter as necessary. This should be part of routine furnace maintenance in order to ensure efficient operation. Refer to the manufacturer’s recommendations to see how often you should check your air filter(s). - Cause: Damaged, corroded, broken or collapsed ductwork. Your ducts are like the road that warm air travels on. If the road is out, then no one can get through. Simple as that.
Solution: Have a professional inspect and repair your ductwork. A routine ductwork check is also part of a professional’s annual maintenance inspection. - Cause: Blower fan not blowing enough. This can be caused by a loose fan belt, or a dirty motor.
Solution: First, clean the blower fan and the area around it. It has to deal with a lot of air, so it naturally becomes dirty over time. If that doesn’t fix it, the fan belt probably needs to be replaced.
There are some other causes of improper furnace air flow, but those are the most common and easiest to detect and repair. If your heat registers are not returning any warm air at all, that is likely a different problem and you should call Boehmer Heating & Cooling to look at the system right away.
McKeesport Heating Question: Why Is My Furnace Making Noise?
Monday, October 1st, 2012At the beginning of each season, it makes sense to make sure your heating system is in good working condition. Scheduling an annual inspection and filter change with Boehmer Heating & Cooling ensures a longer life for your McKeesport heating equipment.
At the first sound of trouble, checking the filter can often be a quick fix. As air passes through the furnace, a filter picks out much of the dust and some heavier particles that have come along, gotten snagged and accumulated over time to create a solid blockage.
This filter can become clogged and force the furnace to work much harder to push the air through the blocked passage. Located just inside the front panel of the furnace, the filter is very accessible and easily exchanged for a clean one. This should be the very minimum of regular maintenance and is simple enough to do that it can make anyone feel handy.
Heated air and cold air returning to and from the furnace travel through ductwork which is often metal. The vibration of footsteps across the floor overhead or even of just the air movement through the ducts can loosen the fasteners and rattle the metal.
Internally, there are fans and lots of moving parts in the motor. A noise coming from this area portends a repair of a more complicated nature and should have the inspection of a certified technician, a service easily provided by Boehmer Heating & Cooling.
With proper care and maintenance, your McKeesport furnace can last for quite a while, providing heat and comfort to your home.
Gibsonia HVAC Tip: Seasonal Air Quality Control
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012For people who suffer from seasonal allergies in Gibsonia, air quality is a key concern. Allergens in the air cause brutal bouts of sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes and even sinus headaches. Even taking refuge indoors will often not assuage these symptoms, as indoor air is often comparable to outdoor air in terms of allergens and overall quality.
That is, unless you take care to control the seasonal air quality in your home, which can not only help ease the suffering of allergies, but also soothe asthmatics, keep out pollutants and generally promote better overall health.
How do you go about controlling the air quality in your home? To start, try these 9 tips:
- Vacuum carpets regularly. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter and invest in some allergen suppressing bags.
- Keep your vents clean. This is also a good maintenance practice to lengthen the life of your ventilation equipment.
- Dust hard surfaces and wash bed linens weekly.
- Install HEPA filters in your ventilation system, such as in air conditioners or other air handler units. Use a higher rated filter to keep out more allergens and pollutants.
- Invest in and use an air purifier. Again, make sure to get one with a HEPA filter.
- Have your home tested for radon and carbon monoxide. Have smoke, carbon monoxide and radon detectors working properly at all times.
- Use a humidifier to keep overly dry air from irritating sinus passages.
- Keep doors and windows closed tight, especially during allergy season(s).
- Prohibit smoking inside. Banish smokers to the outdoors.
By taking charge of the air quality in your Gibsonia home, you also take control of a measure of your family’s health. Some of these measures require at least a bit of an investment – for example, higher rated HEPA air filters are often more expensive and need to be changed more frequently – but the benefits to your well being and that of your family are clearly well worth it.
Ross HVAC Contractor’s Guide: Heat Pump Load Calculation
Monday, January 2nd, 2012When purchasing a heat pump in Ross, the first thing you should do is determine what type of heat pump you want and how big it needs to be to provide ample heating and cooling to your home. If you’re unsure what you need, here are some tips to size a heat pump for your home’s particular needs.
The Importance of Sizing
Before buying anything, consider the cost of an oversized heat pump. A lot of homeowners opt for the biggest device on the market, but they don’t realize that they’re paying more than necessary for their device. An oversized device cycles on and off more often than is necessary and wears down much faster, resulting in an increased electric bill and faster wear on the device. It’s not good for your heat pump or your wallet.
How to Size
To correctly size a heat pump, the first step is to perform a load calculation. This is done by measuring the total volume of the rooms being heated (in cubic meters) and then determining the heating factor based on the type of insulation used.
There are different measurements depending on the type and R-rating of your insulation. For example, a single external wall without any additional insulation has a heating factor of 15. The number of external walls, the insulation in those walls and/or the ceiling and the rating of the insulation will determine the total heating factor for the room.
You will then divide the room volume by the heating factor to determine the number of KW (converted to BTUs) needed to heat that particular room.
Professional Sizing
The reason it is so important to call a professional is that certain things, like poorly insulated windows, cracks in the foundation, leaks in the ducts and other issues can have an impact on the overall heating factor measurement. Additionally, the type of heat pump you choose must be effective when connected to an air handler for your entire home. A professional can make these measurements and ensure the right sized device is selected.
If you’re unsure about anything related to sizing and selecting a new heat pump for your home, call a Ross professional in. They will perform a full load calculation and present your options for a new heat pump based on those calculations.
A Question from Fox Chapel: What Does a Furnace Fan Limit Switch Do?
Monday, December 26th, 2011When researching your Fox Chapel home’s furnace and potential problems it might have, you’ve probably run across a few references to the fan limit switch. And while you know that it can break in a number of ways, do you know what the switch does and what you should look for when checking your furnace its air handler for problems?
What the Limit Switch Does
To put it very simply, the furnace fan limit switch is a control that tells your furnace’s fan when to turn on and off. So, when the furnace isn’t on, it tells the blower not to operate (and send cold air into your home) and when the furnace is on, it tells the blower to turn on and start circulating the warm air.
While the primary function of the limit switch is to turn the blower fan on and off, it also has a safety role. When the temperature in the air supply plenum gets too hot, the limit switch turns off the furnace boiler to keep there from being any damage from overheating. This is handy if there is a blockage in the air vents or the controls are messed up due to water damage or improper adjustments to the settings.
Looking for Problems
Most of the time, when there is an issue with your furnace turning off or on frequently, the limit switch is one of the first things you will check. Because the switch is electronic and is attached to a thermostat which measures temperature in the air supply plenum, a small problem can result in it not working properly. So, you can easily check it by temporarily bypassing the switch and seeing if your device turns on or off properly.
In many cases, if the limit switch is the problem, you will still need to call a professional for replacement, but you can avoid a lot of headaches related to tracking down the source of the problem. If you suspect a limit switch problem, make sure to call someone immediately, because it does provide an important safety function and because without it your furnace won’t cycle on and off properly.
How to Make Your Heating System More Effective in South Hills
Friday, December 9th, 2011Everyone in South Hills wants an effective heating system – one that will provide steady, reliable heat without you having to spend hundreds of dollars each month on gas, oil or electricity. And while the best way to improve the efficiency of your heating system in most cases is to upgrade it, there are some simple things you can do around the house to boost its effectiveness. Here are some of the best:
- Rearrange Furniture – Just having the heat on doesn’t necessarily ensure the heat entering your room is being distributed evenly. Move your furniture in such a way that there is a clear, unimpeded path from the registers and radiators to the rest of the room. Done properly, this will make it much easier to and faster to heat every room of your house.
- Maximize Air Flow – Air flow can be maximized in a number of ways. Make sure you close any windows near a register or radiator and that you remove any large objects that might block air flow. You should also install things that can help move air like fans and always call someone in for changes to the arrangement of your vents or radiators.
- Clean Registers or Radiators – The cleaner your radiators or dust registers are, the more efficiently they release their heat. Not only have that, but clean radiators and registers resulted in better indoor air quality. Weekly cleaning of each room’s heating source is highly recommended.
- Install Ceiling Fans – Ceiling fans switched to blow down are incredibly effective for distributing air throughout the room. This will keep push warm air down and keeps cold air up – in effect, reducing the need for constant running of your furnace or boiler.
Effective heating is important to keep your home comfortable, reduce the cost of heating and prolong the lifespan of your furnace or boiler. You should also make sure your heating system is properly maintained throughout the year. Skipping maintenance visits (which are highly recommended annually) will put unnecessary stress on your system and shorten its lifespan substantially, not to mention the decrease in efficiency when heating your home.
Possible Causes of Poor Boiler Heating Performance: Some Pointers from Brentwood
Friday, November 11th, 2011You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or a mechanical engineer to troubleshoot – and possibly diagnose – the problems with your boiler when its heating performance is erratic or non-existent in your Brentwood home.
The good thing about boilers is that they are typically reliable and long-lasting. There aren’t a lot of working parts that can break down and cause problems, compared to other home heating equipment. When problems do arise, they are usually related to the expansion tank or circulating pumps. But a problem can be much simpler – like a tripped circuit breaker.
The most common problems can be noise, no heat, or poor/erratic heating. Before calling a qualified heating and cooling professional, take a moment to see if you can figure out the what’s wrong.
If you have a noisy boiler it might be because of two things – a faulty circulating pump or water trapped in the return lines. If the pump breaks it will make a loud noise when its motor runs. Water can be trapped in the return lines, which may require “re-pitching” the lines to allow for a flow back to the boiler. You may be able to adjust the flow by positioning hangers on the piping but replacing a pump is better left to a professional.
If your boiler is producing no heat, it could be because of something as simple as a circuit breaker being tripped or a fuse being blown. Check your circuit breakers and fuse and reset or replace if necessary. Is your boiler thermostat in the heat mode? It should be but if it isn’t, make the switch. If your boiler has a standing pilot you should check to see if it is lit and if not, re-light it.
Other problems would take a professional to fix. For example, no heat can be traced to low water levels in the boiler. The boiler should always be half-full of water and if it isn’t, it is likely because of leaks or a faulty pressure reducing valve. Don’t try and fix the problem by yourself.
Low water levels may not cause the boiler to lose its heating capabilities, but may cause fluctuations in its heating capacity. Again, it is advisable to call a professional to diagnose and fix the problem. Poor heating can also be traced to mineral deposits in the boiler. Consult your owner’s manual on instructions how to flush out the boiler.
As always, read the owner guide or operating manual for your boiler. You should get some good tips on proper maintenance and troubleshooting. And have the phone number of a qualified professional taped to your boiler – just in case.