Many homes in the Miami Valley are heated and cooled by Heat Pumps, but few homeowners understand how they work. Hopefully I can dispel some of the mystery here. Let's start with the basics.

What is a heat pump?

A heat pump is basically an air conditioner with a reverse gear. In the summer, a heat pump or air conditioner cools the indoors and heats the outdoors by pumping heat from inside the home to the great outdoors. In the winter, a heat pump "shifts" into reverse and pumps heat into the home. The process is identical to air conditioning only backwards.

How does a heat pump work?

A Heat pump contains an outdoor expansion valve that reduces the pressure of the refrigerant in the outdoor coil until the coil is much colder than outdoors. This coil is actually warmed by the cold outdoor air. As amazing as this seems, a heat pump coil can reach temperatures as low as 20F below zero which makes a Dayton winter day seem warm and balmy.

After picking up as much heat as possible from the outdoors, the heat pump compresses the refrigerant to very high pressures which raises the temperature to as high as 130 degrees. This hot gas is then pumped (hence the term heat pump) indoors to heat your home.

Heat pump defrosting

This super cooling of the outdoors coil does create one little problem. Although cold winter air holds little humidity, the super cold heat pump coil turns that little bit of water vapor into frost. After an hour or two, the heat pump coil will collect enough frost and ice to block airflow. Reduced airflow results in a colder coil and more frost - a real snow-ball effect. This snowball slashes efficiency and greatly damages the compressor.

To combat this frost, iced-up heat pumps must shift from heating mode to cooling mode for a few minutes every hour or two. This heats the outdoor coil and melts the offending ice and frost. You may have guessed that this process wastes a lot of energy. Older heat pumps employ a crude timer mechanism to initiate the heat pump defrost cycle every hour whether it needs it or not. Trane heat pumps have electronic sensors that defrost only when needed. This greatly increases the heating efficiency of the heat pump.

Heat pump efficiency

Trane heat pumps achieve efficiency ratings between 300-400%. How can any system exceed 100% efficiency? Rather than burning fuel to create heat like a gas furnace, a heat pump uses electricity to move/transfer/pump existing heat from outside to inside. Because it is only transferring heat, a heat pump can burn 100 watts of electricity to produce as much as 400 watts of heat. By comparison, a gas furnace would burn 100 watts of natural gas to produce only 95 watts of heat. Heat pumps are awesome!

You can think of this outdoor to indoor heat transfer like a car driving uphill. On a steeper hill, the car must work harder. Likewise, colder outdoor temperatures require more work from your heat pump. This relationship between outdoor temperature and heat pump efficiency means that efficiency is a curve rather than a set number. For this reason, the industry has established HSPF (Heating season performance factor) as an average measure of heat pump efficiency throughout the winter heating season.

Next week I'll discuss heat pump capacity and sizing as well as backup fuels.

I’m sitting here in my two-seat, diesel powered office thinking about the season. There are reminders everywhere; trees without leaves, frost covered grass, Christmas lights twinkling, my dog dressed up like a reindeer. The season which I wax eloquent about is, of course, the Heating Season! The time of year where furnaces break down in the middle of the night and this two seat office is my diesel powered efficiency apartment. Yes, I’m on call for your heating emergencies 24/7 all winter long.

Now what I really want to talk about today is helping you avoid an emergency. No one likes to live in a cold house but when your heating system is not properly maintained, you better have some extra Snuggies laying around.
All gas furnace manufactures, e.g. Trane, Carrier, Bryant, Lennox, etc., require you to maintain your system to keep your warranty in good standing. Just like your vehicle requires regular maintenance so you won’t be stranded along the interstate waiting for a tow truck, your furnace needs to be tuned up every year so you won’t have to burn your kitchen table and chairs to stay warm.

Here are some examples of what lack of maintenance will cause.

Rusted Burners

The first example comes from a home in Mason, OH. These rusted burners are from a propane furnace. The burners rusted to the point where they would not light. The furnace shut down. No Heat. Cold House.

Dirty, Clogged Pilot

This second example was in Lebanon, OH. This is a Bryant furnace with a standing pilot. After just one season of operation, dust and oxidation will cause a pilot flame to get weak. After another heating season, the burner crossovers have clogged. The crossovers act like a fuse which lights all the other burners. Weak pilot + clogged burner crossovers = a furnace which blows it’s own pilot out out. The homeowner tried to relight the pilot but it was too dirty to stay lit. No Heat. Cold House.

Rusted Ribbon Burners

Number three is from Springboro, OH. This is an old furnace which uses ribbon style burners. Old age and lack of maintenance has caused the burners to rust. On this type of furnace, rusty clogged burners will produce inefficient orange flames and delayed ignition. A furnace tune-up caught this one before there was an emergency. The homeowner decided to replace the furnace with a Trane 95% efficient furnace.

Clogged Inshot Burners

The fire department was called in this last example! The homeowner smelled gas and called 911. The gas furnace is in the laundry room and the burners were clogged with years of dryer lint. This can be a very dangerous situation! Burners that are this bad cause what we call delayed ignition. Homeowners call it an explosion from the furnace room. Luckily, no one was hurt. I was able to clean up the furnace and check for proper operation.



In all these examples, the homeowners decided that having the furnace checked once a year is a good idea. They all signed up for a tune-up reminder on the front page of our website. How about you? How long has it been since your heating system had some attention? Remember, I’m on call 24/7 if you'd rather wait for an emergency!

Scam alert! This heating season, numerous Dayton heating contractors are lying about cracked heat exchangers in an attempt to sell more furnaces. We give free second opinions on cracked heat exchangers. In a typical season, our NATE certified furnace technicians confirm about half of these as real cracks. The other half turn out to be unethical tactics to sell new furnaces. This fall, the poor economy has pushed unethical contractors even further. So far this season, we have run at least fifteen second opinions on cracked heat exchangers and we have yet to confirm a single crack!

In this post, I’ll share a few tips that can help homeowners recognize heat exchanger fraud. First let’s have a quick primer on the terminology and function of furnace heat exchangers.

The heat exchanger plays a central role in any furnace. It separates the warming flame from the air in the home. The burning fuel warms the heat exchanger which in turn warms the air in your home.

What are the dangers of a cracked heat exchanger?

Many people in the Dayton and Cincinnati areas heat their homes with fossil fuels (natural gas, propane, or fuel oil). When fossil fuels burn they produce fumes containing carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and soot. A furnace depends on the heat exchanger to contain these dangerous fumes and safety conduct them to the chimney while transferring the valuable heat into the home. If the heat exchanger is compromised by a crack or rust, flue gases and carbon monoxide will leak into the home resulting in illness and possibly death of the occupants.

What is the cause of heat exchanger cracks?

Nearly all premature heat exchanger cracks are caused by overheating. When a furnace cannot get enough airflow, the heat exchanger overheats and suffers excess stress from expansion and contraction. Over time, the heat stress causes cracks near weak areas such as bends or welds. The most common cause of an overheated heat exchanger is a simple as a dirty air filter. A clogged air filter restricts airflow through the furnace, overheating the heat exchanger, and eventually resulting in stress cracks.

An over-sized furnace can also cause overheating and heat exchanger cracks. Too much furnace with too little ductwork or too little house is a problem we see all the time. A furnace with under-sized ductwork will lack proper airflow and suffer a similar fate as that of a clogged filter.

The situation of a large furnace on a small home will take a bit more explanation. One of the byproducts of combustion is water. When a furnace first lights, the flame impinges on the cold heat exchanger and water vapor from the flame actually condenses on the inside of the heat exchanger. After just a few minutes of run time, the heat exchanger is warmed and the condensation evaporates. An over-sized furnace heats the home so quickly that the furnace shuts off after only a few minutes, so the heat exchanger stays wet and rusts from the inside out. The frequent cycling of an over-sized furnace also increases the expansion - contraction heat stress on the heat exchanger.

Proper diagnosis of a failed or cracked heat exchanger.

Diagnosis of a heat exchanger crack typically starts with a no-heat service call. A cracked heat exchanger allows air from the furnace blower to interfere with the flame causing it to flutter or even roll out. This trips a safety switch and shuts down the furnace. Beware of an unethical technician who finds a crack with a camera on a furnace that seems to be running just fine. While big cracks start as small ones, some technicians will search for anything that looks like a crack in order to sell a new furnace and earn a commission. We've even seen some technicians draw a line on the heat exchanger with a pencil, show the homeowner the line on a fiber optic camera, and convince them that it is a dangerous crack. In most cases, a true crack will disrupt the flame or set off a carbon monoxide detector in the home. If you suspect a false diagnosis, call us for a free second opinion.

If a technician has condemned your furnace due to a cracked heat exchanger, I would suggest explaining to the technician that you will want to see the crack with your own eyes when the furnace is removed. An honest company should have no problem standing behind their diagnosis. With the heat exchanger removed, the crack should be obvious even to the untrained eye as in this picture. If the problem is not evident, make the company reinstall your furnace and report them to the Better Business Bureau .

Typical cure and cost

Unfortunately, heat exchangers cannot be repaired. When a heat exchanger is cracked or rusted it must be replaced. Because the heat exchanger is at the center of the furnace, nearly the whole furnace must be disassembled. Even if the parts are covered under warranty, the labor and freight will start around $500. Without a warranty, a heat exchanger replacement could run as much as $2,000 (more than the cost of a new entry-level furnace).

The problem with replacing a heat exchanger is that the central cause of the problem is not addressed. In my opinion, heat exchanger failure is usually due to the furnace being oversized for the house or the duct work. The best solution is to replace the whole furnace with a right-sized furnace (typically 1-2 sizes smaller). When you add up utility rebates, tax credits, factory rebates, and the energy savings of a properly sized furnace, a furnace replacement can actually be cheaper than repairing the old furnace.

If you would like more info on cracked heat exchangers or if you need to schedule a free second opinion, feel free to call our office at 937-748-0220 or contact us through this website.

In my last post, Heat Pump Operation 101, I explained how the efficiency and capacity of a heat pump vary with the weather. How does this effect sizing and heat pump operation cost?

Heat pump sizing

Just as heat pump efficiency rises in warmer weather, so does capacity. When winter weather is mild, a heat pump can completely heat your home. In the Dayton area, a Trane heat pump can heat a home down to an outdoor temperature of about 35F degrees. The problem is that in colder weather, the heat pump produces less heat, but your home needs more heat. These two load curves form an “X” on a chart and we call the point at which they cross the “thermal balance point.” Below the thermal balance point, the home's heat loss is more the heat production of the heat pump. This chart illustrates the heat pump thermal balance point in an average Dayton home.



Why can't we simply size the heat pump larger to accommodate lower temperatures? Remember that a heat pump doubles in the summer as your air conditioner and that a/c sizing is very critical. In the Miami Valley, we depend on air conditioners to remove humidity. To remove humidity, an air conditioner or heat pump needs to run for extended periods. If your air conditioner is too large, it will start and stop many times an hour, cooling your home easily, but removing very little humidity. As a result, an over-sized air conditioner or heat pump leads to high humidity and mold problems. Because of the humidity issue, we size a heat pump to a home's summer cooling needs.

As a side note, an over-sized air conditioner is very inefficient. While it may seem to cool your home easily, the frequent starts and stops are stressful on the air conditioner's components. Think of a large air conditioner in your home like a big V-8 engine in your car. It's fun to drive but it's not fun to fill the gas tank. A right-sized heat pump or air conditioner will hum along keeping your humidity low and your electricity bills even lower.

Heat pump backup fuels

Since a properly sized heat pump will only cool your Dayton home down to 35F degrees outside, we need to add supplemental or backup heat to keep your home comfortable. The most common source of supplemental heat is an inexpensive electric heat strip in the ductwork. Electric heat is cheap to install and very reliable, but the heat it produces is over 3 times more expensive than heat produced by the heat pump. For this reason, we want our heat pumps to continue to operate in the bitter cold and use only as much electric heat as necessary to “supplement” and keep the home warm.



So even though the heat pump is running 24/7 and still can't keep up, the heat that it is producing is still much cheaper than electric resistance heat. The combination of electric heat at 100% efficient and heat pump heat at 300-400% efficient result a total heating system that is more than twice as efficient as electric heat alone. You could also say that adding a heat pump to an electric furnace will cut your heating bills by about 60%.

But what if you could combine a heat pump with another fuel besides electric strip heat? I'm so glad you asked. With recently stratospheric prices of propane and heat oil, it has become popular to install a fossil fuel furnace with a heat pump rather than an air conditioner. Because we are heating the home with two fuels, ie. propane furnace and electric heat pump, this setup is known as “dual-fuel” or “hybrid heat.”

This combination gives you the comfort of a furnace with the efficiency of a heat pump. While the price of propane and fuel oil fluctuate, their heat is typically much cheaper than that of an electric furnace as seen in the infographic below. We then use an advanced thermostat, like the Trane XL950, to control when the system switches from heat pump to fossil fuel so that transition is barely noticeable to the homeowner. If you would like more info on heat pumps, feel free to call our office or contact us through this website.

I live in a two-story house built in the sixties. Like many homes in the Miami Valley, temperatures can vary widely from upstairs to downstairs. The root cause is that the airflow to each room does not match the heat load/loss of the individual rooms. Many HVAC designers simply underestimate the ductwork needed to heat and cool the second story. We can solve this comfort problem by either increasing the airflow to match the existing load, or by reducing the load to meet the existing airflow/ductwork.

The first solution is to modify the existing ductwork to allow more airflow to the uncomfortable rooms. In the South Dayton area, we have seen many homes where the builder used duct fittings with poor airflow characteristics. By replacing just the non-aerodynamic fittings and keeping the existing duct runs, we have been able to improve airflow by as much as 80% in some homes. If your house is like mine, the heat ducts are buried in drywall and would be very costly to replace. Replacing all the undersized heat duct is not always necessary. A few creative duct modifications may be just the ticket.

The second solution is to reduce the heat loss in the cold rooms. My home is older and I found that the second story was not insulated to today's standards. Adding insulation can reduce the need for larger ductwork. This is somewhat like sizing the room to the ductwork rather than the other way around. Last summer I replaced all my drafty windows with new low-e3 windows. The window upgrade reduced the temperature difference from upstairs to downstairs from 10 degrees to about 5 degrees. This Spring I spent $200 on fiberglass insulation and improved my attic insulation from less than R-19 to better than R-40. This had an immediate impact on our comfort level, further reducing the temperature variation from five degrees to about one degree. Additionally, I will save several hundred dollars per year through reduced energy usage. The best part is no duct changes or drywall work!

If you have a room or an entire floor that is not comfortable, don't just throw more energy at it. Begin by checking that the windows, insulation, and weatherstripping are up to date. This investment will reduce your energy usage and pay dividends for as long as you own your home. If improved insulation does not completely solve your comfort issues, then we can evaluate your ductwork and recommend the right changes.

What causes a/c evaporator coils to leak? We have found this to be the most common problem plaguing air conditioners. To explain this, we first need to bust a common air conditioner myth.

A Common A/C Myth

Many homeowners believe that, over time, an air conditioner uses freon. Maybe a long, hot summer leaves a perfectly good air conditioner "winded" and low on freon. We just need to tune-up the a/c and top-up the freon, right? In reality, an air conditioner or heat pump has a sealed refrigerant system that should never "use up" or run out of freon. The freon or refrigerant is only the medium used to transfer heat from the inside of the home to the outside. The only resource that is expended is electricity.

If the freon is not consumed in the process of cooling your home, then it must be lost only by a leak in the copper tubing. For many years, the air conditioning industry has used copper tubing to harness the pressure of refrigerant and bring comfort to the masses. Copper is soft and abundant, and easy to seal in the field with solder or brazing alloy. If copper is such a good material, why do we see so many freon leaks? Is this due to poor field connections, poor manufacturing, or is there a third possibility?

Trane Looks for the Root Cause

A number of years ago, Trane began a study to determine the true cause of this constant threat to our comfort. As service technicians, we have noticed that leaks from field or factory connections cause problems in the first year and are fairly rare. The problem leaks that develop in a 4 - 7 year old air conditioner occur in the copper tubing wall not the connection points or braze joints. The source of these pre-teen leaks is what the Trane engineers set out to find in their study.



Our technicians have noticed that certain brands of air conditioners develop leaks faster than others and that the newer, more efficient air conditioners are more prone to leaking than the old energy hogs. The reason for this seems fairly obvious to HVAC contractors. A/C manufacturers can raise the efficiency of their equipment by using thinner copper in their evaporator coils. Heat transfers faster through the thinner copper, but this efficient tubing also leaks sooner. One could argue that the legislation that raised the minimum efficiency of air conditioners and heat pumps to 13 SEER resulted in thinner tubing walls, more evaporator coils leaks, and, as a result, more ozone-damaging freon released into the atmosphere.

The Real Cause of Freon Leaks

So we know that thinner tubing develops leaks sooner, but what is causing the freon leak in the first place? The leaky a/c coils that the Trane engineers studied had microscopic pin holes seemingly drilled throughout the coil tubing. Trane's in-home studies revealed that the culprit was formic acid. Formic acid was corroding the copper and drilling these tiny pin holes. The acid penetrates the thinner, high-efficiency tubing faster and is making some air conditioner brands look very bad. But where is the formic acid coming from? Isn't that what gives fire ants their sting? What is formic acid doing in our homes and on our air conditioner coils?

Is Formaldehyde the Culprit?

Formaldehyde in the home can convert into Formic acid on the a/c coil. It is extremely mild, but over a period of 5 years, it will produce pinholes in copper tubing. We call this process formicary corrosion, and it is the main reason that we still buy R-22 by the skid. If you have researched indoor air quality, you'll know that formaldehyde is a major pollutant in our homes. An infamous case of severe formaldehyde in the living space was the FEMA trailer provided to Katrina victims. While less severe than a FEMA trailer, most homes have a measurable amount of formaldehyde in the indoor air, and this will always cause formicary corrosion and freon leaks.

The Cure for A/C Freon Leaks

Stop using copper to manufacture cooling coils. The photos above show copper and aluminum coil tube walls subjected to a formic acid corrosion test. Trane has found that aluminum is not susceptible to formicary corrosion. Through great feats of science and manufacturing genius, Trane began production of an all-aluminum air conditioning coil in 2005. Since then, we have installed many Trane all-aluminum coils, and we have yet to see a single leak in the tubing walls. This truly is an amazing track record. We believe this makes Trane the only reasonable choice for your next air conditioner.


Comparison of Trane coil and typical copper coil after a 500 hour salt spray test.

A question asked quite often by my customers is, “How often should I change my furnace filter?” Another popular question is, “Why do you carry so many Band-Aids?” but that’s another story (sheet metal joke). Anyway, air filtration is very important to homeowners for a multitude of reasons. We usually think about our furnace’s air filter when we’re dusting the coffee table or when the kids are suffering from an asthma attack in the middle of the night. “The dog is sneezing again. Must be time to change the furnace filter.”

So we get in the car and drive to the big box mega home improvement depot store only to find an aisle a mile long filled with thousands, maybe millions of different air filters! The shelves are full of furnace filters of different sizes, different purposes, and wildly different prices. There’s not a soul in sight wearing an apron or a vest; no one to help with this allergy changing decision. The fifty-cent filter says it lasts 30 days, but it looks like a herd of cows could walk right through it unimpeded. The twenty dollar “air cleaner” claims to last 90 days, but do I really want to spend that much money on something made by the same people who make invisible tape? Well, tape is sticky and I want the dirt to stick to the air filter so . . . the 20 dollar filter it is!”

Sound familiar? Has your furnace maintenance experience been this frustrating. It doesn’t have to be!

Here are a few helpful tips.

• Filter replacement frequency varies by filter type and by the size and “dustiness” of the home. The furnace in a large home moves more air and will clog the filter faster. If you have pets you’ll probably need to change your filter twice as often. Not only are pet dander and pet hair leading allergens, they also clog filters very fast! Start with every two months for a pleated 1” filter and double the frequency if you have a large home or if you have pets. I know the $20 filters claim to last 90 days, but, in my experience, these filters are so restrictive that they should be changed once a month. Your furnace and air conditioner will thank you. If you’re ready to get serious about clean air, we can install an Aprilaire whole-house air cleaner in place of your furnace filter. These filters clean the air better that any of the 1” filters at the hardware store and they only need changed once a year.
  
  
• Buy your filters by the case (usually 6 to 12) and store them near the furnace. This will lessen the tendency to procrastinate your air filter change. Buying by the case can also reduce the cost of each filter change.
  
  
• Get in a routine of regular filter changes just like you do with your car’s engine oil. One easy way is the e-mail filter reminder system at the bottom of our Service Agreements page. It’s free and could save you hundreds in possible repairs.
  
  
• Never run your system with an incorrectly sized filter. An ill-fitting furnace filter will allow dust and other contaminates to sneak around the filter and into your home. We call this “filter bypass” and it is the main cause of clogged air conditioner coils. Clogged a/c coils greatly reduce efficiency and compressor life, and will cause expensive problems down the road.
  
  
• Always turn off your furnace at the breaker panel or disconnect (not just the thermostat) before replacing your filter. Some furnaces have electrical wiring close to the filter location which could shock you if the power is not disconnected first.
  
  
• Lastly, don’t guess. If you are uncertain about where your furnace filter goes, what direction to install it, or what size or type to get, ask a professional. Give us a call or stop by, we're always glad to help. We have a wide variety of filters in stock at our Springboro location, and at great prices too. Come in and pick up a case or have us bring it to you at your next service appointment.
  

If you are wanting to reduce allergies and improve asthma and sinus symptoms, then a standard one inch thick filter that you buy at the hardware store is probably not the answer. There are many choices when it comes to high-efficiency, whole-house air cleaners and other Indoor Air Quality devices which can greatly improve your family’s health. Our technicians can recommend the best solution based on the individual issues in your home and your family’s allergies. Holistic indoor air quality will be a future blog post. Until next time!

Spring in the Miami Valley always brings electrical storms. Lightning from these storms commonly causes damaging power surges in our homes.

Power surges can harm nearly any electrical device in your home, and we frequently find air conditioners ruined during lightning storms. Damage from surges can range from blown fuses and burnt capacitors to fried compressors and burnt wires.

Many customers want us to find conclusive proof that lightning caused the damage. Most insurance policies will cover the damage if a power surge can be proven. Sometimes the best evidence of a lightning strike is other damaged electronics. Stereos, TVs, and other electronics seem to be more sensitive to power surges than your air conditioner. So, if you find that the day after a thunder storm, both your air conditioner and your DVD player are out, your home has likely been hit with a power surge.

A weak surge can damage an air conditioner's capacitor (inexpensive) which, if not replaced, will take out the compressor (very expensive) week or months later. For this reason, it's important to have a tech check your HVAC system if you have any other damaged devices and suspect a power surge.

What can you do to prevent a/c compressor damage? Turn off your air conditioner at the thermostat during a lightning storm. Your air conditioner is only susceptible to power surges when the unit is operating. Of course a direct lightning strike can still turn your a/c into a pile of smoking scrap metal, but direct strikes are very rare.

In the Cincinnati area, Duke Energy offers Strike-Stop, a whole-house surge protector to protect your belongings from most power surges. They also offer inexpensive insurance if the surge is too much for Strike-Stop to handle.

As always, feel free to contact us if you have more questions or need a service technician.

A few days ago my wife and I were relaxing in our living room after the kids had gone to bed. I was watching TV and she was using her laptop computer. Suddenly the computer has an error and shuts down. The problem? Dust. There is a fan which draws in cool air and blows it across a device which dissipates the heat generated by the computer. The harder the computer works, the hotter it gets. If dust collects on the heat dissipating device, the computer will run slower and hotter. Without proper cleaning the computer will overheat and be ruined.

Your air conditioner operates on the same principle. The outdoor unit (Condenser) dissipates the heat that has been absorbed from the indoor unit (Evaporator). This summer when you have your air conditioner on, go outside and feel the air that’s blowing out of the condenser. The temperature of the air blowing out will vary but it should be between 15 to 25 degrees hotter than the air surrounding the unit.

The more the air conditioner runs, the more air is drawn through the air conditioner coil. Outdoor contaminates and dust get caught in the air conditioner coil. The most common culprits in the Dayton and Cincinnati areas are cottonwood seed, grass clippings, mold spores from landscaping mulch, pollen from surrounding vegetation, dirt and mud that splash on the unit from rain, and sometimes even pet hair. As more and more debris is sucked into the air conditioner, airflow through the coil is reduced and the air conditioner runs hot and inefficient. It is common for a condenser coil to be completely clogged with dust and debris with just one season of operation.

This is why routine air conditioner maintenance is so important. The higher temperatures generated by a dirty air conditioner will cause premature failure of small components such as fuses and capacitors and large components such as fan motors and compressors. A lack of proper maintenance WILL cause multiple service calls, higher energy bills, and a very uncomfortable home.

One of the most important parts of an air conditioner maintenance is a thorough cleaning of the condenser coil. Keeping the air conditioner’s coil clean will improve the efficiency and capacity of your air conditioning system, extend the life of internal components, and extend the life of the system as a whole.

I actually enjoy cleaning air conditioner coils. I know that when I’m finished, the air conditioner will work better and my customer will be happier. We use a super high foaming, biodegradable coil cleaner recommended for cleaning and brightening aluminum finned heating and cooling coils. It’s strong foaming action penetrates beneath contamination and pushes dirt and debris from the coil to the outer surface. We then rinse with fresh water and wash the cabinet with automotive Wash & Wax, and adjust the freon level to insure efficient operation.

If you haven’t already, check out our refreshingly honest maintenance plan. Then call to make an appointment to have you air conditioner cleaned and tuned. All you need is an outdoor water faucet and we will handle the rest!

To save even more energy, check out the Department of Energy's energy saving tips.

My next maintenance installment will be “Proper Filtration.” Better go check your air filter!

I have been a service technician with Watkins Heating & Cooling for over 10 years now. Every spring I have a routine to prepare myself and my service truck for the up-coming air conditioning season. I take a look at the previous season to determine the most common issues I found on service calls. At the top of the list is always "lack of maintenance.” Now some of you may be reading this and wondering how that’s possible since you always have your entire system serviced twice a year, and your calendar is marked for the exact days to replace your filters and thermostat batteries. While I applaud your dedication and I hope to see you soon for your annual spring air conditioner maintenance visit, I’m writing this series for the many people who ignore their air conditioner until it stops working.

The first topic I’ll be addressing is air conditioner water leaks. It seems to me that nearly half of my appointments involve water on a customer’s floor. The most common cause of a water leak in the summer time is a clogged condensation drain. Here’s how it works: your air conditioner is like a very large dehumidifier. Whenever it’s running, it is drawing moisture out of the air in your home. This could be anywhere between 1 pint to 1 gallon per hour. The amount of water can vary depending on the size of your system, the indoor humidity, and how efficiently the air conditioner is running. This moisture (we call it condensation) has to go somewhere. If the pipe leading to the drain clogs, you will have a BIG mess to clean up, and possibly expensive property damage!

An important part of a good air conditioner tune up is checking your condensate drain & cleaning it if necessary. Annual maintenance on you air conditioner system is definitely cheaper than the expense of water damage restoration! Before you have a company come out to service your air conditioner, ask them if they include condensate drain cleaning in their tune up price.

Sometimes, even when the drain is cleaned annually, you can still have water problems. That’s why I recommend “Water Sensing Safety Switches” and “Drain Over-Flow Protection Switches.” These two devices sense a clogged drain or frozen coil and shut down your air conditioner before it has a chance to make a mess. These are especially needed when your air conditioner is in the attic or second floor utility room where a leak would cause drastic property damage.

Another recommendation is the installation of a good air cleaner such as the Aprilaire 4400. Air conditioner drains can clog due to airborne dust that gets drawn into the indoor coil leading to algae growth in the coil drain pan. Catching dust before it hits the air conditioner coil can minimize this problem. For pricing on our air conditioner maintenance plan or on the installation of an Aprilaire 4400 air cleaner, check out our service pricing page.

In my next air conditioner maintenance blog, I will discuss outdoor coils (condensers). Stay tuned!

We are only halfway through December and we've already installed a full winter's budget of Aprilaire humidifiers. It looks like static and dryness have settled in for the winter. Perfect timing for a quick refresher course on home humidification.


The true source of dryness -
It's a common myth that a forced-air furnace scorches or dries out your air, but that's not exactly accurate. Your home dries out because of cold air leaks (we call it infiltration). Gaps around windows and doors let in cold, dry air from outside. Exhaust fans in your bathroom and kitchen remove warm moist air and replace it with cold and dry air. Your furnace only warms the air, it doesn't remove humidity. The warmer air is capable of holding more moisture, so the relative humidity reading is lower even though the actual moisture content has not changed. In our Miami Valley climate, summer air contains much more humidity than cold winter air. So air leaks in our homes lower the humidity in the winter and raise it in the summer.

Your body needs humidity -
Proper humidity levels (between 35% and 55%) are important for your health for several reasons. In addition to drying out your skin, low humidity also dries out your nasal passages making you and your family more susceptible to viruses and sinus infections. Low humidity can also lead to more dust mites and other allergens.

Your home needs humidity -
Dry air leads to cracking and splitting for wood furniture, floors, and trim. Proper humidity is especially important for musical instruments such as pianos, violins, or guitars. Low humidity can also cause increased house dust, requiring more cleaning and dusting. Protect your valuable antiques, woodwork, and instruments with a humidifier! The Piano Technicians Guild

The cure for dryness -
To achieve optimum humidity levels, we must add moisture with an evaporative humidifier in the winter, and remove excess summer humidity with an air conditioner. A humidifier simply trickles water over a wicking pad while warm air from the furnace passes over the pad. A good automatic control brings it all together by maximizing home humidity without building excess moisture on the windows. Whole-house humidifiers mounted on your central heating system can add about 12 gallons of water to your air per day! This would be impractical and expensive to do with stand-alone vaporizers. Our technicians can add a humidifier to your existing system for about $600 depending on the application and model. The job takes only two hours, and your new humidifier should only need simple maintenance once per year. Feel free to give us a call if you have further questions.

With the timechange, local news stations always recommend changing the batteries in your smoke detector. Furnace guys would extend that reminder to carbon monoxide detectors as well.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that poisons our lungs and suffocates in very small quantities. For more info on carbon monoxide poisoning, check out this FAQ sheet from the CDC. CO gas is a natural product of combustion. When your furnace or water heater is operating correctly, all the carbon monoxide goes up the chimney. A malfunction in the furnace or incorrect installation of the venting can draw the poison gas into your home.

The best defense against CO poisoning is threefold. Have your heating system installed by a licensed professional to insure that building codes are followed. Secondly, get a safety check and tune-up for your furnace every year. A good heating technician can verify proper venting and check the heat exchange for cracks. The third step is to install a CO detector on each level of the house.

I have personally been on a call where a good CO detector saved lives. A family was awakened at 3am by their co detector, and they were all able to safely evacuate the home. The CO level in the home was nearly 100ppm and the family was already suffering headaches and nausea. Had their CO detector not been working, the entire family would have tragically died in their sleep. I found that the furnace was not installed to code and had drawn flue gas directly into the living space.

Anyone with a natural gas or propane appliance in the home should have at least one CO detector. Even if you have a new furnace, deadly venting failures could still put your family at risk. We recommend replacing the batteries and testing the CO detector and smoke detector at the same time that you change your clocks. It's also good to replace CO detectors every 2-6 years (depending on the model) because the sensors wear out and loose sensitivity over time. Some newer CO detectors also have five year batteries. Check with the manufacturer to be sure.

If you still have questions or need an appointment for a furnace safety check, just give us a call.

As autumn comes and the leaves fall, we receive many inquiries about protective covers for air conditioners. A/C covers are intended to prevent leaves and snow from accumulating in the cabinet. Are these covers necessary? What are the pros & cons? Should every homeowner use them?

First of all, air conditioners are designed for the outdoors. Some a/c designs collect leaves more than others, but snow and ice will not harm an a/c. The main downside is that some covers retain moisture and can cause the entire cabinet to rust. We have also seen major damage occur when an a/c is accidentally started before the cover has been removed.

Most homeowners do not use a/c covers and their units fail due to old age or lack of maintenance long before rust or leaves would cause any problems. If you must cover your a/c, my advice is to do so only during the fall and only when the air conditioner is located under trees. Use only a breathable cover. Never cover a heat pump. All manufacturers recommend annual maintenance, which returns the unit to its peak efficiency and includes removal of leaves and other debris. This eliminates the need for a cover.

Also note that Trane XL air conditioners and heat pumps are designed with WeatherGuard tops to keep out the leaves and composite basepans and powder coat finishes to resist corrosion.

This morning, we found a bad ECM fan control module on an older Trane heat pump. These modules are programmed at the factory to fit each unit. There are so many software versions that our local vendors stock only the most common. That's why, unlike our competitors or our suppliers, we invested in the same programming equipment used by the factory. We were able to pull a new control module off the shelf, upload the correct software program to fit the furnace, and tonight our customers will have a warm home.