Heating and Cooling Info for Southern Arizona
HVAC Tucson is a bit of a pet project website that has been put together not by any commercial entity or local Southern Arizona Heating and Cooling company. Instead, it has put together by an individual consumer (me), who was recently forced into learning more than expected about home furnaces and air conditioners as our furnace suddenly stopped working this winter and we realized it was time for a full HVAC system upgrade. What I thought might be a service call that would cost me a couple hundred dollars ended up costing me a lot more money than that… to tune of well over $6,000! And while that amount sounds like a lot (and it is), it could have easily ended up being closer to $10,000 if not for some due diligence.
With a whole range of Home HVAC systems available in the market today that come with a wide array of features and designs, a prospective buyer could face the daunting task of choosing which could be the best HVAC system for his particular home. A good starting point would be determining the features suited for any type of home conditions. Here are 6 essential factors on choosing a home HVAC system:
There are a number of zoning options to choose from but for most cases it is highly advisable to keep the blower constantly on. There should be provisions for programmable thermostats especially for multiple systems which consist of more than one HVAC system and multiple ducts and thermostats located all over the house in zone-damper systems.
This could prove to be a vital feature for any good home HVAC system as it offers the following benefits:
You should choose an HVAC system that has features which ensure clean, fresh indoor air. Features such as the following should be considered:
Maximum energy efficiency should be one of your top priorities when choosing an HVAC system. Some features that make an HVAC system a highly energy efficient one includes:
A home HVAC system made up of good quality components, properly designed and installed will operate very quietly. You should look for these features if you want your HVAC system to maintain optimum noise control;
Certainly, you definitely want to own a user-friendly HVAC system. Such system should include easy-to-operate controls and thermostats, easy-to follow instruction and maintenance manual and a long-term maintenance agreement
Essential Home HVAC Maintenance Tips for your Air-conditioning Units
Many of the air conditioning unit problems you encounter in your own home arise from simple maintenance lapses which you can easily remedy yourself. These includes simple cleaning and periodic check-ups of your air-conditioning systems especially those outdoor condenser units which may prove crucial for its long-term efficiency that could save you the cost of a professional maintenance. Here are some essential home HVAC maintenance tips for your air-conditioning units:
December 27, 2010 By HVAC Jack
As mentioned previously, this site is not from just about any commercial entity or even local Heating and Cooling Tucson company. Instead, it has assembled by an individual, everyday consumer (me), who was recently forced into understanding more than expected with regards to home furnaces and air conditioners as our own furnace suddenly quit working this winter and we realized the time had come for a full air conditioning system upgrade. What I figured might be a service call up that would cost me around 200 dollars ended up costing me a lot more money than that… to a final impact of well over $6,1000! And while that amount appears like a lot (and it is), it could have easily became closer to $10,000 otherwise for some due diligence.
Concurrent with this home maintenance shock coming upon me, our kid in college was getting into a new home (a pre-owned mobile home bought by his grandma). As it turned out, there have been issues with the central heater there as well. Quickly we learned that a home furnace for a single-wide pre-fab home isn’t entirely the same creature as what we had been dealing with in our home. In fact, mobile homes’ furnaces are quite exclusive in their own right and you need a special understanding of these if you want to deal with one appropriately.
In any case, this here web site was born out of these kind of near simultaneous activities and what amounted to a complete layman’s crash course within A/C and home heater ‘stuff’. I dealt with a number of different businesses in the process, getting different bids and doing some research online, along with my sincere wish is that by expressing my experiences here, other Tucson homeowners (as well as where ever you might are living), might come across these details and save themselves a bit of time, hard work, and hopefully some dough too!
The first thing to deal with is the HVAC acronym; it stands for Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning, as well as refers to the technology along with equipment involved in maintaining temperature comfort in both buildings and vehicles (though we won’t become addressing any car issues on this website for the time being).
For Heating and Cooling Tucson could count on HVAC Tucson
Your heating and cooling system generally is one of the biggest investments in your home, and your home is quite often the largest investment a person makes, so you can start to see the significance of these programs and why you desire to make sure you get all of them right when buying or repairing them. Additionally, the use of these climate control systems account for as much as 55% (or more) of the typical home’s energy use along with utility bill. Making sure you have the most efficient and longer lasting units in your home will pay off big time for you in the long run in reduce monthly bills.
While it ended up being the furnaces that drug me into the world of HVAC, dwelling here in Southern AZ many people probably believe we’re more in need of an aura conditioner or other air conditioning than any kind of heating unit. While it’s true that having some sort of air conditioning in Tucson can be a necessity in the summer, the winter here with no heat can definitely always be too cold to tolerate (fortunately the year which my furnace went out we were having a gentle winter).
With Arizona’s arid climate, many people utilize evaporative coolers in the summer to keep their homes comfortable. Even so, when the monsoon rains can be found in and the humidity increases, these folks may be wanting they had invested in a central air conditioning system (and they might find themselves shelling out more time at the office or at school, in a nicely air conditioned environment!) Many modern buildings are now built to accommodate this sort of central ‘all-air’ air conditioning, looking to retro-fit an older building once you get your, replacement system is often rather difficult and costly. The main reason is that exchanging the ductwork on older systems isn’t approving to the new, modern-day, high efficiency air conditioners. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done… it’s merely a word of forewarning if you’re out searching for bids from several A/C contractors. Make sure these people let you know if and how a lot work would need to be done to get your ductwork to work with a new system. The good thing is that after you have new duct work in position, you’ll get much better overall performance from your AC unit along with your furnace, no matter what coverage decide on.
Speaking of brands, before we go too much further, allow me to give you a list of many of the top equipment suppliers you might come across during your search for a new home heating and cooling system. A some of the better known brands are: Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Trane, Lennox, York, Luxair, Everest, Rheem, Ruud, Amana, Top, Frigidaire, Gibson, Goodman, Noritz, Water Furnace, Weather Master, Florida Heat Pump, Bard, Hydro Heat, Lochinvar, Maytag, Weil McLain, Crown, Utica, Dunkirk, and Burnham. These companies are well noted for furnaces, A/C units, humidifiers as well as de-humidifiers, water heaters, filters and also programmable thermostats. Basically all the stuff involved in keeping anyone comfortable in your home.
Your home air conditioner generates its temperature for you by combusting gasoline inside the burner (the particular fuel used is commonly natural gas here in Tucson, Arizona, but other heating fuels include essential oil, electricity, geothermal among others). The heat that is made out of this combustion is used to heat atmosphere within the heat exchanger, which in turn uses forced oxygen to push the warmth through the duct work for the various area of the house.
You air conditioner operates in a similar fashion except that rather than heating air inside the heat exchanger, it works on the coil to cool mid-air before pushing this through the ducts for cooling the house down.
While you’re shopping for a new heater and or complete Heating and cooling system, one of the key things to look at is its efficiency standing. One that you’ll see known a lot is the SEER, which usually stands for the Seasons Energy Efficiency Ranking. Another is the AFUE or Once-a-year Fuel Utilization Effectiveness.
For a system that’s rated at 75% AFUE, this means that for each dollar spent on the whole process of the system, seventy-fice cents is going to the actual age group of the heat for your home. Older units used to operate around the 60% AFUE range, but today you can get them more detailed the 95% range. You got to love how technologies helps make things extremely effective these days!
Of course to keep the value of a unit in check you need to make sure it’s trustworthy. You don’t want to need to be producing service calls some other month and getting charged for them. Most new furnaces come with excellent extended warranties for both work and parts. You intend to make especially sure of the duration of warranty on the warmth exchanger for the furnace and also the compressor on the cooler since these are the parts that do the most work, would be most likely in order to fail, and might cost the most to replace.
As with all large investment, especially when it comes to home improvement, you should do your research before making virtually any final decisions. This study needs to cover not merely the equipment you may be acquiring, but the company that will do the installation work as effectively (assuming they will be the people to do the assistance and repair, if required).
For example, how long has got the company been in organization in Tucson (or your particular town or city)? What kind of education and certification accomplish their techs have and are they recognized within the HVAC sector with organizations including ASHRAE? Are they listed with the Better Business Bureau?*
* A little caveat here… I’m not so confident the BBB rating is all it’s cracked approximately be. You see, to get a rating from their store, you need to be a member (in other words, you need to pay them). It may seem like a serious conflict appealing to be getting a assessment or rating coming from a company that is using money from you. Furthermore, despite the fact that they use the term “Bureau” in their name, these are in no way associated with any kind of Government agency. I’m not to imply that their evaluations are worthless… just that you may want to take them with a a dose of skepticism, if you haven’t been previously. OK, end regarding mini-rant!
You’ll also want to get at very least 3 quotes pertaining to estimates on the job. In my experience, the 3 quotes I got ran through about $6500 up to regarding $9300 for pretty much the exact same job. While they were planning on using different equipment from distinct manufacturers, we were nevertheless comparing apples to be able to apples. And while all the sales guys in which came over to deliver a bid was specialist and friendly sufficient, some took additional time to give me further advice and tips, pointing out other opportunities for saving vitality when heating as well as cooling your home. For example, I learned that maintain your new cooler going around air continuously would likely use less energy and cool effectively than running a roof fan in multiple rooms.
At the time of the writing of this article, were approaching the end associated with 2010 which means the final of the tax credit opportunity that was offered for buying or replacing to a new, high efficiency program (in 2009 the federal tax credit was around $3000, while it was reduce in half in 2010 for you to $1500). There may still be a number of rebates offered via TEP (Tucson Electric Power here in Tucson… consult your local energy business to see if they offer you any rebates in your area), but we are even now waiting to see when they get additional money for that.
So, invest some time and get at least Three or more bids for the job just before writing any investigations!
There is plenty more to learn about heat & cooling systems and HVAC equipment and also systems in general, so that as this website grows we’ll broaden into them. Our truthful hope is that you’ll obtain the information here to your benefit in your efforts to make a decision on your own Heating and air conditioning Tucson needs, whether they end up being residential or commercial in nature pertaining to heating and cooling Tucson.
June 8, 2011 By HVAC Jack
Bettering your home in an eco-friendly way plainly refers to more than just reducing your chances of needing air conditioning repair Tucson; it’s about improving your home is a way that is showing responsibility to the environment and are energy effective. This will actually help you keep your energy costs down, although sometimes you have to invest some money into these projects at first. The following are easy suggestions to design your home in a more environmentally friendly route.
You ought to be aware of some cheaper ways of making sure your house stays cool during the summer months. There are a number of alternatives to the commonly used central air conditioning Tucson residents are so familiar with, which is rather expensive and also not very environmentally friendly. Fans, such as ceiling fans, are a good way to cool a room.
You can also make use of what is known as passive cooling, which means making use of curtains and shades to keep out the heat during the day. You can also create more shade by planting certain types of trees or shrubs in strategic places. It’s not too hard to come up with more cheap ways of making your home cooler if you just think about it, so you won’t need to always rely so much on the air conditioning, which in the long run could reduce the chances of needing ac repair Tucson.
Years before it was popular to go “green”, the majority of individuals understood that preserving energy and heat was an important role of insulation. That hasn’t changed, although now the rising cost of oil and electricity has made it even more urgent for us to pay attention to this. You can actually lose almost half of your heat when your enclosures and ceiling don’t have enough insulation. Be careful to pay attention to what the R value is before you have insulation installed as this is how it is measured. It’s also imperative that you keep attentive to locations such as below your doors where gaps can cause the cold to enter into the house and the heat leave. It can be very helpful to block off drafts with draft excluders which can be crafted from just about anything, including articles of clothing you were going to throw away.
How you have your lights in your home really does have an impact on the atmosphere and the look, as well as having an impact on your bills. By using energy efficient bulbs, you can save money simply because they can last up to ten times longer than ordinary ones. When you buy bulbs, don’t buy ones that are more powerful than necessary.
Dimmers are very good for your home as you can use a powerful bulb but have it dimmed down when you don’t need it bright, or have it bright when you do need all the light. When it comes to lighting, a lot also depends on how conscientious you are about saving electricity. This means remembering to turn lights off when no one will be using a room for a while.
Making over your home in an eco-friendly manner can be great for your energy pocketbook as well as very enjoyable. It can also add to the value of your home if you ever want to sell it. Numerous procedures are out there to help you become more eco-friendly in your residence that we don’t have enough room to list them all, but don’t let that prevent you from researching decisions about what ideas will fit you and your family, while also reducing the chance of that costly Air Conditioning Repair Tucson.
January 28, 2011 By HVAC Jack
Home heating installation for the home should be really left for trained HVAC professionals who have spent years in training and gained considerable HVAC installation experience. Also, most home heating systems require specialized skills and tools not available to the average homeowner. Still, many homeowners are doing DIY home heating installations. This is a risky endeavor for the untrained so here are some important issues you have to consider before pushing through with a DIY home heating installation project:
Lack of suitable equipment
Most furnace manufacturers sell furnaces only to trained and licensed HVAC professional. Homeowners may have an option to find a professional willing to buy furnaces for an amateur installation but this is also very unlikely. Even if you found someone willing to do the purchase, the skills and equipment needed to install the furnaces are to be found only with a trained HVAC professional.
Refrigerant reclamation
The law requires the safe storing and collecting of refrigerants should be undertaken by professional HVAC technicians using the necessary equipment and procedures. A homeowner who does not possess the skills or the equipment necessary for refrigerant handling could face a hefty fine and could risk endangering himself, his family and the environment by releasing the hazardous materials.
Carbon Monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide is a tasteless odorless, yet poisonous gas. It is a natural result of burning any kind of flammables such as natural gas or oil by a heating unit. This reason alone could justify banking on your whole investment for a trained HVAC professional to do the job for you.
In conclusion, while undertaking a DIY home heating system could save you a lot of money could be terribly offset by various risks associated with faulty installations and slipshod workmanship and design. For example you run the risk of death to a loved one if you failed to install a carbon monoxide detector to your system in case of a leak resulting from improper installation. Given the serious risks involved, it would be wise to let the HVAC professionals do the job for you. It would prove to be a good investment not only money-wise but also for your health and the safety of your home.
January 4, 2011 By HVAC Jack
If you’ve spent a summer here in the desert southwest, you know that without air conditioning Tucson summers will be miserable… When it comes to modern-day creature comforts today’s world, the line between “need” and “want” can easily get blurred. However, in the summertime, when it comes to air-conditioning Tucson residents will probably wholeheartedly agree that it is much more of a “need” than almost anything else. The heat in Southern Arizona in the middle of the summer will just wear you down. While evaporative coolers can help to a certain extent for part of the summer, once the monsoon’s role in… without a good air conditioner, good luck getting a good nights sleep.
For many years one of the clear downsides of running the AC in the summertime was that you can easily see some pretty horrendous bills. Between poorly insulated homes, thin windows and highly inefficient AC units, an average sized home could easily see electric bills well over $300. And this was just keeping the temperatures at a comfortable level… we’re not talking about a meat locker here.
Fortunately, with better home construction and with highly efficient air conditioners available today with higher SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating) and computerized monitoring technology, many people are reporting living in cooler environments than ever before while seeing their electric bills nearly cut in half. With those kinds of results, it’s no wonder that Tucson heating and cooling companies are finding themselves busier than ever installing new units. Granted, the federal government tax credits that were being offered in 2009 in 2010 of as much as $3000 certainly help their cause… but in my opinion that was a great program; a true win-win win situation. We kept the local HVAC companies and technicians busy, while at the same time helping a lot of people live a greener, or cost-efficient lifestyle.
But like they say, all good things must come to an end. As of right now, at the beginning of 2011, there are no more federal tax credit offerings to help reduce the cost of a new high-efficiency furnace or cooling system for your home. So what happens if you find yourself suddenly need one? Well… if you can do any kind of planning at all (in other words, if you aren’t in desperate need of AC repair in the middle of a 110° Tucson summer day), probably the best thing you can do is to try to schedule purchasing your new heater/cooler sometime during the spring or fall when the service and installation companies, as well as the equipment manufacturers such as Rheem, Carrier, Trane, Lennox, York and the others, are desperate for customers. At times like this you may well find manufacturer rebates that are almost as good as the tax credits that were being offered before.
Speaking from my own personal experience of finding myself suddenly without a home furnace in the middle of the Tucson Winter, thinking that I might just tough it out, here’s my advice for anyone who might be considering getting a new home air-conditioner: buy it before it gets hot.
Here in the desert Southwest were definitely known for the heat of the summer’s far more than the cold of the winter. Nonetheless, going without a furnace for a week of relatively cold weather really sucked! The thing is, compared to trying to make it through the summer without cooling… this is an absolute piece of cake. I know the weather will warm up within a week or so, so it’s tolerable for a while. During the summer are looking at months and months of heat followed by more heat with no break at all. There’s simply no reason to put yourself and your family through such misery when it can be simply avoided by planning ahead just a little bit.
Get the information you need about a new or replacement residential air-conditioning system so you’ll be ready to act when the price is right during the spring or fall. Save yourself some money at the same time as helping the local HVAC businesses stay busy even during their slow times. You will have their full attention and have expert installation from their service techs, making sure that your top-of-the-line, high-efficiency air conditioning Tucson products and equipment are ready to serve you for a long time.
December 27, 2010 By HVAC Jack
If you don’t believe the need for AC repair Tucson qualifies as a true emergency… then you’ve never spent a summer here!
If you live in Tucson Arizona you know that the heat can set in a hurry. If you suddenly find yourself needing some residential air conditioning repair this summer so you can continue to live in relative comfort, there’s a decent chance you’re going to need either a dual capacitor or else some freon.
Most people of heard of free on and have a general idea of what it is, but usually have no idea about what a capacitor is or what it does. Not only is attend a sound complicated… it gets people worried because the sounds expensive too. The thing is, it’s not necessarily either one of those, no matter what your Tucson AC repair guy tells you.
You see, the truth about a capacitor is that changing one out to install a new one is quick and easy and the part is usually pretty inexpensive as far as replacement air conditioner component parts go. However, because the typical customer is not aware of these types of repairs and doesn’t look up this information, it can be a great moneymaker for HVAC service companies and repairmen. It’s not a pleasant thing to hear, that’s for sure, but it’s a fact that some business operations will take advantage of you if you let them.
For example, it wouldn’t be unusual for a company to be charging about $180 or more, plus their service call which might be anywhere from $50-$75 or more. Actually, some companies have been known to ask for over $300 for this part (plus the installation)… and they’re getting away with it! The thing that I like to remind anybody when it comes to writing a decent sized check for something like this is to make sure you get more than one quote for the job. Preferably three or more.
The thing is, if you have a good, honest and reliable Tucson HVAC company you can call on, you might very well get this whole job done, parts included, for less than just a service call up some of the less scrupulous outfits out there.
If you suspect you might have a problem with your air conditioning units and you wonder if it could potentially be the capacitor, here are a few things to look for that are typical signs of a bad capacitor:
If you start experiencing conditions such as those described above, you should immediately turn the thermostat off to prevent any potential problems. You’ll want to call a qualified, licensed, insured and bonded Tucson AC repair company to come have a look and run a test. If you don’t have a solid relationship with one already, you might want to ask around to get some recommendations from your friends, family and neighbors. Knowing that someone else has had an experience, whether good or bad, with a particular contractor can save you a lot of time, heartache and especially money.
On the other hand, there are a number of things that you can do to help prevent the need to call a refrigeration specialist at all. Proper maintenance of your systems equipment, as per the manufacturers recommendations and technical specifications, can go a long way towards saving you money.
One of the most important things you need to remember to do on a regular basis is to change the filter. If you ask any service tech, they will probably tell you that HVAC filters are the single, simple and low cost maintenance step that will prevent many an emergency call for heating and AC repair. The fact is, clean filters will help your system (both the central air / cooling system and the furnace/heating system), run more efficiently as well as keeping the ducts clean, thereby saving energy and money on a day-to-day basis as well as saving on the service calls for AC repair Tucson to your home.
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