Humidity is a tricky thing. We often think of humidity as a bad thing, like when a day is both hot and humid. While high humidity certainly will make things uncomfortable in a lot of ways, low humidity can be just as bad. Your body relies on a certain level of moisture in the air, and if that moisture is absent it can result in some negative health effects. Read on to find out more about the problems associated with low humidity, and how a steam humidifier in your home can help.
How a Steam Humidifier Can Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
June 1st, 2015Why You Should Consider Installing an Energy Recovery Ventilator
May 25th, 2015Over the past few decades, homes have been designed to be more and more airtight. This was to help improve the efficiency of insulation, to make climate control easier. Unfortunately, this had the unintended side effect of cutting off the interior of the home from fresh air flow. Without fresh air flowing into the home, indoor air quality can become substantially degraded due to an imbalance in humidity. Fortunately, there’s a solution to this problem in the form of energy recovery ventilators. Read on to find out more about the benefits of installing an energy recovery ventilator.
Why Spring Air Conditioning Maintenance Is So Important
May 18th, 2015Most people will call for air conditioning repairs as soon as they notice a problem with their systems. That’s all well and good, but prompt repairs aren’t the only way to keep your air conditioner healthy. In fact, they’re arguably not even the best way. Preventive maintenance is a big part of ensuring that your air conditioner has a long and healthy life. It’s so important, in fact, that most manufacturer warranties list it as a requirement for continued protection. Read on to find out more about why air conditioning maintenance is so important, and why you should schedule it this spring.
Why You Should Consider Installing a Zone Control System
May 11th, 2015Summer is almost here, and that means that people are getting their air conditioners ready for the hot season. While plenty of people know to schedule preventive maintenance and prompt repairs for their air conditioning system, they don’t often think about other ways to improve how their homes are cooled. A central air conditioner isn’t perfect, and it has a number of disadvantages that prevent it from cooling your home as well as it should. Not to worry, though. There is a way to solve for these disadvantages. All you need is a zone control system. Read on to find out more about zone control systems, and why you should consider installing one.
3 Common Summer Air Conditioning Problems
May 4th, 2015We enjoy mild weather here in Tacoma, WA, but summers can be surprisingly warm. A reliable air conditioning system helps you get through those heat waves comfortably. If it breaks down, you need a repair service to move fast. And while you should never attempt to fix a broken air conditioner yourself, it pays to know what kind of problems your system may experience this summer. That lets you give the technician a better idea of where to look, which can cut down on repair time considerably. Here’s a list of 3 common summer air conditioning problems.
Signs That You Need to Replace Your Air Conditioner
April 27th, 2015We’re beginning to move into the summer season, and that means using your air conditioner more often for the next few months. The last thing you want is for your air conditioner to die halfway through the summer, leaving you without any cool air until you can find a replacement. If you’re going to replace your air conditioner it’s a good idea to do it now.
How can you tell when it’s time for a new air conditioner? Read on to find out.
3 Signs That Your Air Conditioner Needs Repair
April 20th, 2015Summer is almost here, and that means it’s time to start getting your air conditioning system ready for the hottest days of the year. Part of that preparation includes conducting any necessary repairs on your system before it has a chance to break down. It’s rather hard to recognize the need for repairs if you don’t know what symptoms to look for, though. With that in mind, have a look at 3 of the common signs that your air conditioner needs repair.
Air Purifiers That Can Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
April 13th, 2015The air in your home may seem clean, fresh, and empty, but it almost certainly isn’t. The average home’s indoor air is teeming with microscopic contaminants. Dust, pollen, germs, mites, and mold spores are just a handful of the many different kinds of pollutants that you are probably breathing right now. These contaminants are responsible for allergy attacks, coughing, sneezing, and even illnesses like the flu. Fortunately, you don’t have to just accept that your home has low indoor air quality. By installing an air purifier, you can remove a lot of these contaminants and improve your health. Read on for a list of a few different air purifiers that can improve your indoor air quality.
Advantages You Can Garner from Hydronic Radiant Heating
April 6th, 2015Radiant heating is not something that is often considered when homeowners are in the market for a new heating system. This is usually because the house is already set up to accommodate a forced-air heating system. The temptation to make the process easier by sticking with a similar type of heating system to the last one is also a factor. However, radiant hydronic heating actually has quite a bit to recommend it. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages that you can garner from installing a hydronic radiant heating system in your home.
Energy Efficiency
Hydronic radiant heating is a boiler-based system that heats the house by distributing hot water through it. The water flows through a network of pipes installed in the walls or subfloors of each room. As the water flows through the pipes, it transmits heat through them and into the room. This style of heating is much more energy efficient than forced-air systems. For one thing, water is a much better thermal conductor than air is. It heats up faster, and retains that heat for longer. For another, forced-air systems have to deal with duct leaks.
The US Department of Energy has estimated that the average forced air system loses as much as 20-30% of its output to duct leaks. A radiant heating system doesn’t use ducts, which allows it to deliver much more of its heat to the intended destination.
Comfort
When warm air is pumped into a room, it will immediately rise to the ceiling and then lower as it cools. This not only makes it take longer for a room to warm up, but creates an uneven heating effect. Hot and cold spots are quite common in rooms heated by forced-air systems. Radiant heating warms a room much more evenly, with most of the heat staying near the floor where it is of greater benefit to the occupants.
If you’d like to know more about the benefits of hydronic radiant heating, call Sound Heating. We provide heating services throughout Tacoma, WA.
Air Conditioning Repair Issues that You Should Watch for
April 3rd, 2015Just like any other system, your air conditioner is likely to develop a few problems over the course of its lifetime. No matter how well you take care of it, you’re going to have to call for air conditioner repairs at some point. The important thing is recognizing when you need to call for those repairs, and doing so as quickly as possible. The faster you address repair issues, the better shape your air conditioner will be in. With that in mind, let’s examine some air conditioning repair issues that you should watch out for.
Frozen or Dirty Coils
Your air conditioner makes use of two units in order to operate, one installed inside and one outside. Each unit contains a coil, which is connected to the refrigerant line that runs between them. The inside unit is the evaporator coil, which evaporates refrigerant in order to absorb heat from the air. This causes condensation to form on the coil, which is then drained out of the system. The refrigerant gas then carries the heat to the condenser coil in the outside unit. There, the gas is condensed back into a liquid to release the heat into the outside air. This is how your air conditioner cools the air in your home. When the coils become dirty, however, there are some problems that can occur.
A dirty evaporator coil loses the ability to absorb heat from the air. It keeps evaporating refrigerant, however, which causes the condensation on the coil to freeze before it can drain away. The buildup of ice completely blocks the flow of air to the evaporator coil, and could actually damage it if not removed in time.
Short-Cycling
Short-cycling is a behavior in which a system will rapidly turn itself on and off every few minutes. This is an extremely damaging behavior, one that can increase the chance of a breakdown and drastically shorten the system’s lifespan. In air conditioners, this is often caused by a malfunctioning thermostat or compressor. The thermostat will turn the air conditioner on and off either because of a short, or because it cannot accurately read the temperature in the room. Meanwhile, a malfunctioning compressor will cause irregular pressure in the refrigerant line, resulting in an irregular cycle.
If you think your air conditioning system is in need of repair, call Sound Heating for our quality air conditioning repair service in Bellevue, WA.