Zoning a House for Air Conditioning

Something very common in the Sacramento area is zoning in two story homes. Today  I visited a home which was suffering from a zoning system that doesn't work anymore. 

The home I visited had a two ton furnace up in the attic which was attached to a two-zone damper system. The home was approximately 1700 square feet, built in the 1990s. This home would typically have had a 3 to 3.5 ton air conditioning system. With zoning, we can heat and cool a home in zones, allowing us to condition the living spaces when they have a heating load that calls for the ac to turn on. Works great, two thermostats call for cooling alternately, with the upper floor normally running more often than the lower floor in the summer. 

Well, this home's damper system was not opening and closing properly, which means it was running much more than necessary, raising the customer's utility bills and decreasing comfort in the home. 

What is the solution? In this case, replacing the defective motors with new ones, as well as replacing the control zone board. In this house, it would also be advisable to replace the existing fiberboard plenum with a sturdy metal one. 

Do you have a home with two thermostats, one upstairs and one downstairs that doesn't seem to heat or cool properly? If so, contact a company that has expertise in working with this type of system. The relatively small cost of getting a zone system back to operating properly will yield great results in comfort.

Contact The HVAC Tech at 916-751-6060 if you live in the Sacramento or Rancho Cordova area. Or simply comment to this blog.

Take Care,

The Hvac Tech

Does Your Furnace Run Intermittently?

One of the frequent complaints that I hear from my customers when they are having a problem with their furnace is that it will run for a while, blow hot air, and then it will start to blow cold air for a several hours before coming back on and blowing warm air again.

Obviously, there are several possibilities and I will begin to check the individual components that are involved in the heating process. What I want to focus on primarily though, is how oftentimes I discover that the issue is connected to air flow, or actually the lack thereof. As I have mentioned in previous posts, dirty air filters cause many problems. Sometimes simply changing a dirty filter will solve an intermittent heating problem in a gas furnace. If not, I inspect the air conditioning coil that is located near the furnace. If that is dirty can also cause the furnace to shut down its production of heat yet still run and blow cold air.

What is happening is that your furnace is producing heat but the blower is not able to evacuate that heat away from the furnace compartment quickly enough because there is a constriction at the filter and/or in the evaporator coil because it is dirty. Because of lack of air flow the temperatures in the furnace rise above safe levels and the safety devices in the system shut the flame off. The blower continues to blow so that the moving air can remove the heat from the heat exchanger area and after a while temperatures drop and the furnace will reignite the flame and heat until temps rise too high again and the process starts all over again.

In this instance the issue can only be resolved by cleaning the evaporator coil and filter.

Obviously, there are other issues that can cause this, improperly installed inducer motor on a condensing furnace will also cause this, a malfunctioning control board, dirty flame sensor, the list goes on and on but the point I want to make is the importance of keeping your central heating system clean. Changing filters often is one of the most important things you as a homeowner can do to keep your system running efficiently and properly.

So, change your filters often and you should enjoy less visits from your local heating and air technician.

Take Care,

The HVAC Tech

A great time to have your Heating and Air System Checked.

With the weather being so mild you might think that it's not a good time to have your heating and air system checked out. After all, if it ain't broke why fix it? Right? Why not wait until you need your system to have it checked out? Well here are some things to think about when it comes to your furnace, air conditioner, or heat pump:

1. Better Service.  When do you think most folks have their system worked on or checked out? Probably the hottest part of the summer or the coldest part of winter. That's the worst time to do it because heating and air companies are super busy then. With lots of service calls the technicians are trying to see as many people as possible as quickly as possible and are only taking care of the biggest problems first. Why compete with all those other customers? The best time for your system to get a technician's full attention is when it is slow. Then the tech can take his time to look over the system, make recommendations and better listen to your needs.

2. Better Prices.  Most companies do not run their best specials in the "demand" months because there is a long line of customers who need to have their system checked out. Your best bet for a good price on service or replacement is when the weather is mild and there are technicians just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.

3. Better Control.  Why let your heating and air system control when you are going to have it repaired? Do you want to wait until the hottest day of the summer for your Air Conditioner to say, "ok, I give up, fix me now"? That would be the worst time to get it fixed. You will then have to be at the mercy of whoever can get to you the quickest, and in the summer the best companies get overloaded with service calls and so then you have to either wait until they can get to you or try some new, unknown company with few customers and take a chance that they will treat you properly. Instead, take control of your system by getting it checked out before it gets overloaded. Think about it like taking a trip: When should you have your car serviced, before a long trip or after?

Well, if you still aren't convinced then simply put it off and take your chances. Not what I would recommend, but perhaps you are feeling lucky......

If you would like to take control over your Summer cooling do it now, in the Spring. Give me a call at 916-751-6060 or simply fill out a comment with your contact info.

Take Care,

The HVAC Tech