The Clean Air Act Blog: Archive for March, 2014

How to Keep Your Heating System Maintained During the Summer

Friday, March 28th, 2014

Although summers in Oregon can turn unpredictable, residents still will need to use their heater on only a few occasions. Otherwise, it’s air conditioner season, and people will spend little time thinking about their heating systems until fall starts.

However, your heater needs some care and maintenance during the summer season to make sure that it is in prime shape for the end of the year. If you leave it alone for the next few months, it could cost you in money and comfort the next time you need it for an extended period.

Here are some ways you can maintain your heating in Oregon City, OR during the coming summer. For whatever professional help you need, contact Clean Air Act today and talk to our heating specialists. If you require repairs for your heater or air conditioning, you can reach us 24 hours a day.

Ways to keep your heater in good shape during its summer vacation

  • Schedule a regular maintenance visit if you haven’t already: You should have your heater given a professional inspection and tune-up once a year, preferably in the fall before the cold weather starts. If you weren’t able to have a maintenance visit year, then it’s never too late to start. Before you shut it off for a long stretch, schedule a maintenance check-up that will see that it doesn’t have repair needs or serious cleaning and adjustment that should be done.
  • Take care of impending repairs: Has your heater recently indicated signs that something in it needs fixing? If so, don’t let it go during the summer and think about taking care of it in fall or winter, when the problem might turn into a breakdown. Use the summer months to call in a repair technician to take care of the trouble. After all, the best time to have a heater down for repairs is when you don’t actually need it to keep you warm.
  • Regularly change the air filter: If you use a forced-air system like a furnace or a heat pump, your air conditioner will use the same set of ducts and vents as your heater during the summer. That means it will also use the same filter on the return vent to prevent debris from entering the system. You need to keep this filter free from clogging, or else it will have a negative impact on both your AC and heater. Change the filter once a month during the summer when you are regularly using your air conditioner, and you’ll protect both systems.

Replace if necessary…

If you think your heater is coming to the end of its service (inflated bills this winter, too many repairs, etc.) then use the summer as a time to schedule new installation to replace it.

At Clean Air Act, we want your heater ready to go whenever the cold strikes. Call us for the assistance you may need to get the most from your heating in Oregon City, OR.

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Energy Saving Options with Heating Systems

Monday, March 17th, 2014

There are many way to reduce your energy bills through more efficient heating. You can install a new thermostat with better control features, maintain lower temperatures and add an extra layer of clothing, have improved insulation placed in the attic, and schedule regular maintenance for your heating system to keep it running effectively.

In this post, we’ll look at some of the larger ways to save energy with heating system installation. Call Clean Air Act today to talk about all of these and more options for superior energy-saving heating in Portland, OR.

3 heating system options that can save energy

  1. High efficiency small ductwork systems: This upgrade in your ductwork goes a long way toward cutting down on the amount of heat lost through a standard ventilation system. The small ducts take up a third less space than standard ductwork (which means they’ll work for many homes that couldn’t fit ducts at all), and with 65% less surface area for the heated air to pass, there is far less heat loss on the way to the vents. They also have custom gasket connectors that reduce air leaking common in standard ductwork.
  2. High velocity heating systems: One of the problems of standard forced-air heaters like furnaces and heat pumps is that the heated air they send into rooms rises and gathers at the ceiling, taking longer to fill up the room with warmth and often leaving cold pockets. High efficiency systems send out the air at speeds around 2000 feet per second, which generates currents inside a room that eliminate cold pockets of air and distribute heat quickly. You will need to run your heating system far less with this sort of delivery system. (As a bonus, high velocity heating creates far less noise than standard forced-air systems.)
  3. Geothermal systems: If you want to take a big step toward energy savings and benefiting the environment, look into have a geothermal heat pump installed in your home and property. Geothermal heating is stable and reliable thanks to the consistent temperature of the earth where the coils run. They have very little energy loss, and even with the higher expense of installation, the savings from a geothermal system are so high that it will pay for itself in 5–10 years… and last another 30–40 years after that.

Find the right way to save money with your heating

Not all of the above options will work with every home. You will need HVAC specialists to assist you with finding the best way to bring energy-saving heating to you. Talk to our skilled technicians at Clean Air Act today to start on the road toward better heating in Portland, OR that will cut down on your energy bills.

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Why Air Handler Installation Makes Sense

Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

The air handler is an essential component for any forced-air heating system. The blower fan in this unit does the job of distributing the air from the HVAC cabinet and sending it into the ductwork toward the vents, maintaining a continual airflow. In heat pumps and air conditioners, the air handler also contains the refrigerant coils necessary for conditioning the air. Without an air handler, the heated and cooled air you need for your comfort would never reach you.

Air handlers can be installed with a new HVAC system, or added later as a replacement for an older air handler. Contact Clean Air Act in Portland, OR for heating or HVAC installations that require expert work with an air handler.

It’s vitally important that you have professionals take care of air handler installation. Air handlers aren’t simply fans: they house powerful blower motors hooked to fans inside casings, and also include dampers and filters, and, if necessary, heating and cooling elements. An air handler must be properly sized to fit a specific furnace, heat pump, or air conditioner. If you update your current HVAC system, or if you get a new one, you will also need to have new air handler installation from a professional to make the two work together properly. Have technicians inspect your new HVAC system so they will know what kind of air handler you need.

Air handler installation requires specialized work. The flanges of the air handler’s cabinet must hook up to the ductwork system as well as the HVAC system cabinet, and then wired into the power system as well as the thermostat that controls the fan. (Thermostats have separate wires to control the fan and the heater/cooler.) For heat pumps and ACs, the air handler must also connect to the refrigerant line.

It’s possible for an air handler to break down before the HVAC system fails, in which case you can have a replacement put in instead of needing to replace your whole system. With professional assistance, you’ll find a new unit that works superior to your old one.

For excellent work with air handlers, look to Clean Air Act. We have over a decade of work with cooling and heating installation in Portland, OR. If you’re experiencing poor airflow from your vents, or if you wish to update your HVAC system, call us for help with air handler installation.

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