Why a Hydronic Floor System Might be Right for Your Home

November 19th, 2013

A hydronic floor system is a form of radiant floor heating, using technology installed in the floor of your home to keep the temperature warm and cozy. Here in Tacoma, heating options can include this kind of technology, which costs more to install than forced air furnaces, but can make up for it with reduced monthly heating costs. If you’re considering upgrading your existing heating system or installing a new one, you might want to consider a system like this one. Here’s why a hydronic floor system might be right for your home.

The system itself runs a series of tubes or pipes through the floors of your home, then runs hot water through the pipes. The resulting radiant heat comes up through the floorboards and warms furniture, fixtures and people directly. The benefits of this are subtle but undeniable. Radiant heating doesn’t entail any draft, cold spots or unpleasant breezes, delivering the heat directly where it needs to go instead of giving it to you diffusely through the air. As we stated before, that efficiency also means lowered heating costs: saving you money while still delivering very comfortable temperatures to your home. Because it doesn’t rely on a fan, it’s a very quiet system, and because the system doesn’t rely on a lot of moving parts, maintenance concerns are much lower than they would be for a forced-air system.

The main downside of a hydronic floor systems is the installation costs, as well as the difficulty of adding the system to existing floors. You need to be prepared to move some furnishings around and have your home disrupted during the installation procedure. On the plus side, a good technician can explain all of the steps involved beforehand, making sure you understand everything about it before beginning. When completed, the hydronic system will likely add resale value to your home, helping to recoup the costs of installation. For more information, contact Sound Heating for advice and service. We can discuss why a hydronic floor system might be right for your home, then install the system with professionalism and care. We handle Tacoma heating issues of all varieties, so don’t hesitate to contact us!

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What Types of Different Heat Pumps Are There?

November 12th, 2013

Although heat pumps have existed for decades, over the last twenty years they have rocketed to the top of the list of HVAC systems people want installed in their homes. It’s easy to see why they have achieved such popularity: they take care of air conditioning and heating in a single unit.

As with any heating system, heat pumps come in a variety of models and types. To help you navigate the options available, we’ll run over the main types to consider. Get in touch with Sound Heating if you want more information about heating service in Puyallup, WA.

Air source heat pumps

The most common type of heat pump uses air as the medium of heat exchange. When acting as an air conditioner, they draw heat from your indoor air and remove it to the air outdoors. For heating, they reverse the process, drawing heat from the outdoor air and placing it indoors. Although these heat pumps have high energy efficiency (a family of four can see savings of 30%-40% on their heating bills if they switch from a furnace), they can struggle with providing effective heat during temperatures that drop freezing.

Ground source heat pumps

These are also called geothermal systems, since they use the earth itself as the medium for heat exchange. Through coils buried in the ground around a home, they draw heat to move indoors—and can reverse the direction to put heat back into the ground. Because the temperature of the earth remains fairly steady at a level of 10 feet below the surface, these pumps rarely encounter trouble from heavy cold weather. They also provide even greater energy savings. However, they do not work for all homes and can cost much more to install than other systems.

Mini split heat pumps

These heat pumps—usually air-source—do not use ducts to distribute heated or cooled air. Instead, the outdoor unit hooks up to various individual blower units mounted in different rooms (or “regions”) throughout your home. These blowers send the conditioned air directly into your living spaces. Mini split systems are ideal for new homes that do not have any ductwork installed.

The kind of heat pump you need for your house will depend on many factors, and it requires the work of an HVAC expert to balance all of them and come up with an answer to the question: “What heat pump will provide me the best performance and energy-efficiency?” You will also need experts to handle the installation (ground-source heat pumps in particular involve extensive work) so that your new system will operate as it should with few repair needs in the future.

Trust your heating in Puyallup, WA to Sound Heating. We’ve served the Greater Puget Sound area since 1989.

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How to Choose a New Heating System for Your Home

November 4th, 2013

Winter is crawling toward us, and will strike before we know it. You will need  an efficient and dependable heater working in your home to keep you warm and safe until spring. If you have considered getting a new heating system installed (perhaps your old one is dying, or you have just built a new home), now is the best time to act. You will need professional assistance for this job, and HVAC technicians have less crowded schedules during the fall.

The reason you need to have experts helping from the start, and not just during installation, is that the many choices of heating systems available can feel overwhelming. You want to make a correct choice for installation so you can have many worry-free years of warmth. Our Tacoma, WA heating installation specialists at Sound Heating have some advice about how to go about choosing your new heating system, and they are ready to answer any other questions you may have.

One of the first things to consider when it comes to getting a new heater is your available fuel supply. Do you have a hook-up to natural gas? Did your last heater run from propane or oil? Is electricity your sole power supply option? Your home’s available fuel will help you narrow down your choices.

Next, think about the heating requirements of your house. How large is it, and how many people live there? Do you have adequate insulation? Did your last heater wear down fast because it had trouble getting the whole house warm? These are tough questions to answer yourself—or least in a way that will seem meaningful when picking a heater on your own. HVAC professionals can perform a heat load calculation, a complex equation that balances a multitude of factors about your home, to arrive at the size of heater you’ll need and what kind will work best for you.

Third, consider your budget goals. Some heating models cost less to install, but may require a greater number of repairs and lead to higher energy bills in the future. Some expensive models will end up saving you money with great efficiency levels. This will tie into the information from the heat load calculation so you can zero in on the heater that will give you the most value for your money.

Sound Heating installs furnaces, heat pumps, boilers, zone systems, and ground source heat pumps. With this variety available, we can locate the system that will provide your home with the best warmth this winter. Call on us for heating installation service in Tacoma, WA, and we’ll get you started along the road toward a cozy season.

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Why Heat Pump Short Cycling is a Problem

October 31st, 2013

Heat pumps combine the functions of an air conditioner and a heater into a single unit. In the summer, a heat pump cools the air inside your home while releasing heat into the air outside. In the winter, that process is reversed: releasing heat into the air in your home and cooling the air outside. They work extremely well in towns with mild weather like Puyallup; heating repair services often treat them in addition to handling problems with traditional gas furnaces.  If you notice your heat pump short cycling (turning on and off rapidly multiple times throughout the day) it could indicate a number of different problems from an oversized heat pump to a faulty thermostat to a malfunctioning fan motor. Whatever the cause, however, it needs to be addressed before the issue gets out of hand. Here’s why heat pump short cycling is a problem.

Heat pumps use more energy when they turn on and off than they do at any other time in the heating process. The effort required to power up and get up to speed (or power down and shut off) is far greater than simply running once it all kicks in. Furthermore, the process of turning the pump on creates much more strain and stress on individual components than running at a clip: increasing the chances of a breakdown and hastening the point when that component needs to be replaced.

Thus, a heat pump that cycles on and off rapidly throughout the day will work harder to cool your home – raising energy costs and hitting you with a higher monthly bill to do the same job – while increasing the risk of a more serious breakdown and even more repair costs in the future.

In Puyallup, heating repair services are offered by Sound Heating, who understand why heat pump short cycling is a problem. Our trained Puyallup heating repair service professionals can hunt down the source of the issue and restore your heat pump to standard operating condition. Don’t waste money by ignoring a cycling heat pump. Give us a call to set up an appointment today.

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The Benefits of Routine Heating Maintenance

October 23rd, 2013

People sometimes have an instinctual reaction to the word “maintenance.” It sounds like work, but it also sounds like something that can be put off… so it gets put off. We wish people would hear the word for what it really means: work done to sustain something—usually something important that you don’t want to fail.

The heating system in your home—whether a furnace, heat pump, or boiler—should never have its maintenance put off. (Although if you have been putting it off, it’s never too late to start!) The benefits of scheduling annual maintenance visits are immense. Here are the three big advantages you’ll receive from regular heating maintenance in Tacoma, WA. When you’re ready to get started, contact Sound Heating and put our more than two decades of experience to work for you.

Prevent emergency services (at the worst times)

It’s seems like a law of nature that if your heater breaks down completely, it will do so on the coldest day of the year. (Actually, there’s no supernatural agency to this; poorly maintained heaters will fail when pushed their hardest, and that will likely occur on the coldest day of the year.) A maintenance visit during the fall will catch any faults that might lead to this catastrophe and get them fixed so you won’t be left with an Arctic house while waiting for emergency service.

Extend your heater’s lifespan

A heater cannot last forever, no matter how sturdy a brand you have installed. But it can last to its full expected service lifespan and maybe a few years beyond if you have it maintained regularly. Maintenance entails lubricating and cleaning moving parts, replacing worn components, and reducing general stress so that your heater won’t age quickly. A replacement heater can be expensive, so make sure you get as many quality years from your current system as you can.

Save money with a more efficient performance

One of the first signs of trouble in a heating system is a spike in power bills: a malfunctioning heater will need to draw more power in order to provide heat. A heating system that runs improperly because of lack of maintenance will lead to an increase in your energy costs. Regular tune-ups will add up to long-term savings.

Sound Heating offers multiple maintenance plans to fit your home’s heating system. When you are ready to begin your maintenance, contact the Tacoma, WA heating maintenance specialists at Sound Heating to schedule an appointment.

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Does Your Heater Need to be Replaced?

October 14th, 2013

If you’re asking yourself if it’s time to install a new home heating system, it’s probably because you have worries about the rapidly approaching winter. Since we’re on the edge of the Pacific Ocean here in Puget Sound, we experience milder temperatures during winter than places farther inland—but we still have heavy rains and gnawing wind to deal with, which makes an effective heater a necessity. If you’re concerned about whether your heater can make it through the winter without experiencing a breakdown, it’s possible that a new heater is the best option.

This is a difficult decision to make, since it involves time and expense. You’ll have fewer headaches if you turn to an HVAC company with years of experience to handle the installation—starting with helping you decide if a new heating system is the answer for your heating in Olympia, WA.

At Sound Heating, these are a few signs we look for to tell if a heater needs to be replaced. Knowing them may help you with your decision:

Noisy operation: HVAC manufacturers design heaters to run with as little noise as possible. If we hear a furnace making constant grinding noises, or a boiler that rumbles all the time, it’s a major clue that the system is too old to operate properly. There are other possibilities we look into, and if the sound is an isolated occurrence, the heater may only need repair. But the more consistent and noisy the heater, the more likely it needs replacement.

Increased power bills: We often find that customers who are concerned about their heater’s future have experienced an increase in their power bills that they didn’t expect: a price hike above the normal one from the shift to winter. Make sure you pay attention to your monthly bills, because a constant increase is a strong warning of a heater approaching the end of its service life.

Numerous repairs: If we’ve visited a home to perform repairs multiple times over a space of a few years, we suspect that the heater is very worn down. At a certain point, you’ll need to weigh the cost of future repairs against the cost of replacement.

You can make all these observations without the help of a professional contractor, but you should call one in for a second opinion before you decide to go with a replacement. The professional can then help you with selecting a new heater, sizing it, and installing it efficiently and correctly.

If you have concerns in Olympia, WA about heating your home—whether its repair, replacement, or maintenance—come to Sound Heating for a sound solution.

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3 Ways to Reduce Your Heating Bill This Fall

October 8th, 2013

Do you dread the coming of fall, not because of the drop in temperature, but because of the impact the drop in temperature has on your finances? You aren’t alone: home heating in Puyallup, WA can get expensive as the thermometer begins to fall. But you do have methods to reduce your heating bills, some of them very easy to do. These 3 options will get you started in putting a check on rising heating costs.

If you want advice on heating from experts, look to Sound Heating. We’ve served Puget Sound for over 20 years, so we know the sort of conditions you can expect to encounter during the later months of the year.

1. Lower your thermostat

What’s the best temperature to set your thermostat to? It’s almost certainly not the highest setting. Just because you can heat the inside of your home to 90°F doesn’t mean you should; aside from the high energy cost, this will overtax your heater and could cause it to break down. According to the US Department of Energy, homeowners can save 18% on their energy costs if they lower their thermostats 5° to 10° for 8 hours a day. This isn’t difficult: 68° is sufficient heat for comfort with an extra layer of clothes. When you’re asleep, lower the thermostat to 58° and pull up an extra blanket.

2. Seal heat leaks

The construction of modern homes aims to make them heat seals, so excess heat doesn’t get in during the spring and summer, and vital heat doesn’t escape during the fall and winter. But this seal isn’t perfect, and gaps around doors and windows, or insufficient insulation, will drain away this precious heat and make your heating system labor harder to compensate. Install storm windows to reduce heat loss, caulk your windows, and put weather stripping around the outside doors to keep as much heat as you can inside your home.

3. Schedule regular maintenance for your heater

Having a professional give your heater a check-up and tune-up is an excellent way to make sure it performs well without draining extra power during the fall. The technician will tighten connections and clean the system so it performs efficiently. Preventive maintenance will also reduce the wear and tear on your system so it won’t age as fast and will continue to perform at its best throughout the fall and into the winter.

The Puyallup, WA heating experts at Sound Heating are available 24-hours a day to help you with your heating needs. If you want to get started with reining in your heating bill for the coming fall, contact us to schedule your annual maintenance check.

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Common Heating Repair Needs in Tacoma, WA

October 1st, 2013

In Tacoma, WA heating units are a vital part of keeping your home cozy and comfortable during our omnipresent rain. When problems develop, you need to address them promptly lest they leave you without reliable heating just when you need it the most. A professional Tacoma heating service company like Sound Heating & Air Conditioning can deal with common heating repair needs, but it helps if you the homeowner understand what those needs are. A few of the more common ones can be found below:

  • Thermostat issues. A malfunctioning thermostat can wreak all kinds of havoc with your heater. Misreading the temperature results in your house being too cold or too hot, while an inability to engage the fan can leave the hot air just sitting in the central unit. In some cases, a faulty thermostat means that the heater won’t turn on at all.
  • Pilot light or ignition control problems. If you turn the heat on and yet the air moving through your house isn’t particularly warm, it could indicate a problem with the pilot light and/or ignition control. Without the light, the furnace can’t generate any heat, even if every other aspect of the system is functioning the way it should.
  • Air flow issues. Problems with air flow can stem from a number of issues. There may be blockage in your ducts, a leak or a fissure may have developed, the fan belt may be frayed or broken, or the fan motor may have overheated.  Regardless of the cause, the issue drops your air flow to nothing, slowing the speed at which your home is heated and costing you in higher energy bills as a result.

When common heating repairs arise, it pays to call upon a heating company with the experience and know-how to do the job right. The Tacoma heating repair specialists at Sound Heating & Air Conditioning is ready to handle any problem you may have, from the smallest to the largest. In Tacoma, WA, heating issues need to be addressed promptly, but with an eye on quality service. We’re completely dedicated to your satisfaction in all aspects of the operation. Contact us today to make an appointment.

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3 Reasons to Consider Pre-Season Heating Maintenance

September 25th, 2013

It’s not difficult to procrastinate about getting work done on your heating system. You’re probably still thinking about the summer fading behind you and don’t want to face up to the coming colder months. But while you’re procrastinating, your heater could develop problems that will lead to unexpected trouble when you finally need it to turn on. Getting an annual inspection will keep your heating system in good operating condition, and the time to schedule maintenance is now—before the chilly season begins.

Here are 3 reasons to call a professional HVAC company like Sound Heating to perform heating maintenance service as soon as possible. Sound Heating has highly-trained Tacoma, WA heating specialists who can prepare your heater for its upcoming job.

Prevent repairs: The most important service pre-season maintenance provides for you is keeping away expensive repairs. If you wait for winter, you could end up with a plunge in the heat in your house while you wait for repair help to arrive. The worst-case scenario is a total breakdown that could even require a full system replacement. Procrastinating until winter to have your heater looked at increases your chances of some extremely uncomfortable days.

Improved energy efficiency: A heater that hasn’t gotten a tune-up will not run at peak efficiency. If dust clogs, corroded pipes, malfunctioning thermostats, or worn motors interfere with a heater’s performance, it will need to work harder to reach the temperature you set for it. The drain on fuel or electricity will show up as higher energy bills. Regular maintenance will get your heater cleaned and fine-tuned so it gives its best performance and saves you money.

Get quicker, more convenient service: Winter puts a crunch on HVAC technicians with numerous emergency calls. (Calls customers could have avoided with pre-season maintenance!) It’s much harder to get a technician out to your home quickly and at a time that suits you during the middle of the heating season. Right now, however, getting an appointment that works for you is far easier, so take advantage of the slower months.

Now is the time to act to get your heater in good health. Sound Heating offers multiple maintenance plans designed for the type of heater you have in your home in Tacoma, WA. Heating systems like gas furnaces, electric furnaces, and heat pumps will get top-quality check-ups from our technicians. Contact us today before the weather gets any colder!

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This Year’s Heating Options

September 17th, 2013

Frequent rain and chilly temperatures are a hallmark for winters in the Seattle area, including outlying suburbs like Puyallup, WA. Heating systems can help combat that, providing warm and cozy homes to act as a refuge against the miserable weather outside. As heating season approaches, it pays to take stock of your particular circumstances and determine your heating options this year. Obviously, every case is unique, but a few general outlines can cover the basics.

The first option is to sit tight with your existing heating system, which is probably what most people prefer to do. Unless your furnace is more than 15 years old and/or is experiencing serious repair issues, there’s no need to install a new one. Instead, you should schedule a routine maintenance inspection from a qualified professional. He can come to your home, inspect the furnace for any signs of damage, clean the components and/or otherwise “spruce up” the unit for the upcoming cold weather.

You may also be in a situation where you don’t need a new furnace, but might want a few upgrades to improve the old one. Upgrades can range from insulated covers on exposed ductwork to better retain the heat to newer thermostats designed with pre-timed start and stop options. Such upgrades won’t break your bank, but can give you more options for controlling your heating, and more importantly, might save you money in your monthly electric bills.

Finally, you may need to consider replacing your existing unit entirely. If it’s more than 15 years old, is struggling to heat your home adequately and/or is undergoing repairs too frequently, a new unit may be what you need. The up-front cost may be high, but you’ll likely save money in repairs (to say nothing of monthly energy bills).

Regardless of what option works best for your home, it pays to consult a professional to understand your heating options this year. Sound Heating provides heating services throughout Puyallup, WA. Heating and furnaces are a specialty of ours, and we can discuss all of your choices with you before beginning maintenance or installation procedures. Give us a call today!

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