We’re not so deep into the cold weather just yet, and it looks like Staten Island may enjoy pleasantly cool weather for this Thanksgiving. But after that … we all know how fast the winter chill can blow in! So if you have yet to arrange for your annual heating maintenance to inspect and tune-up your home heating system, now is the time to do it. This is one of the last stretches of mild weather we’ll have before winter settles in, and you want your heater ready to handle the work load until spring.
Bob Mims Heating & Air Conditioning Blog : Posts Tagged ‘Staten Island’
It’s Not Too Late for Heating Maintenance!
Monday, November 20th, 2017How We Can Improve Your Winter Indoor Air Quality
Monday, November 6th, 2017
Winter brings with it more comfort challenges in a home than just ensuring everybody stays warm when the temperatures outside dive. Indoor air quality can become a serious issue because a home is frequently sealed off against the outdoor air to prevent heat from escaping. A sealed-up house will begin to develop stale, dry, and contaminant-filled air.
There are ways to boost indoor air quality during the winter that don’t require you to throw open the doors and windows and allow the outside chill to gust through the rooms while it’s freshening the air. Below are a few of the indoor air quality solutions we can offer you for a more comfortable, healthier winter.
The Danger of a Cracked Heat Exchanger in a Furnace
Monday, October 23rd, 2017
If we had to make a wager on the type of heater you use to warm up your house during our chilly New York winters, we’d always bet on a natural gas furnace. The odds are in our favor because these furnaces are the most popular in the country, and their popularity is higher in places with chilly winters. A natural gas furnace is a cost-effective method of supplying high levels of heat to a house, much more so than an electric furnace, and because most homes have ventilation systems in them, they are also more common than boilers.
Although a gas furnace isn’t a naturally dangerous appliance, any use of natural gas has the potential for toxic gas leaks and combustion dangers. With a gas furnace, the main concern is the development of cracks in the heat exchanger. A cracked exchanger calls for immediate heater repair in Staten Island, NY from our HVAC technicians. Leaving a cracked heat exchanger alone creates the potential for enormous safety hazards.
How Fall Heating Maintenance Saves Money
Monday, October 9th, 2017
Last month we encouraged you to arrange for your heating tune-up and inspection to get ready for the coming winter. If you haven’t done it yet, it’s certainly not too late—but don’t wait too long! We all know that the longer we put things off, the harder it is to get around to actually doing them. And this is a simple job to do: all it requires is giving us a call, and we’ll put you on the schedule, come to your house, and have the job done in around an hour. Simple, and your home will be set for the winter!
We want to encourage you to have this job done. We’ve already talked about how it helps keep your heater safe (important for natural gas furnaces and boilers) and reliable so you won’t suddenly have a loss of heat during one of the coldest days of the year. But right now we want to focus on the ways fall heating maintenance saves you money. Basically, regular maintenance is an investment that pays for itself many times over. Here’s how:
Is This Fall the Time to Install a New Water Heater?
Monday, September 25th, 2017
In our last post, we looked at the all-important inspection and tune-up your heating system needs before the winter arrives. Today, we’re going to look at a different kind of heating preparation for the other major heating system in your home: the water heater.
No water heater lasts forever, although homeowners often treat them as if they’ll never stop working. If you have an aging water heater, it’s better to get ahead of potential problems and arrange during the fall for our technicians to install a new water heater in Staten Island, NY. Let’s take a closer look at making the choice for repalcement… and the choices that come after.
Schedule a Tune-Up for Your Heater Early!
Monday, September 11th, 2017
Some rain, some cloudy weather, some warm temperatures … we’re already starting to feel a bit of fall creep in, even though the official start of fall is (as of this writing) a bit over a week away. Could you stand for a bit of fall planning now? It’s always a smart idea to get started on something you may procrastinate on later. And it’s pretty easy to procrastinate on taking care of your household heating system when you’re deep in the middle of other fall activities and home winterizing.
Short-Cycling Air Conditioner: What It Is, Why It’s Bad
Monday, August 28th, 2017
Among the more common malfunctions that can occur with a residential air conditioning system is something called short-cycling. The brief definition of short-cycling is that it’s when the compressor of an air conditioner turns on and off rapidly—too rapidly to do much good and too rapidly for the good of the air conditioner.
We’re going to delve deeper into this common repair situation so you’ll have a better idea of when to call us for air conditioning service in Staten Island, NY.
What’s in the Future of Air Conditioning and Heating?
Monday, August 14th, 2017
We have a long history as an HVAC company: we’ve been serving the comfort needs of homes in Staten Island for more than 60 years. When we first started in business in the mid-1950s, the window air conditioning unit was the newest innovation in cooling, and many homes still lacked ventilation systems. Today, we work with central air conditioners, high efficiency cooling systems, flexible ductless mini split heat pumps, computerized zone control systems, smart thermostats, and more. The development of air conditioning technology over the past few decades is tremendous—and we’ve not only stayed current with it, we’re always looking ahead to the future.
We’re going to use the HVAC crystal ball to look forward to what we can expect in the future when it comes to heating and air conditioning. The technology for many of these developments is already in place. It’s only a question of finding the best way to implement them affordably for residential systems.
Why Newer Air Conditioners Are More Energy Efficient
Monday, July 31st, 2017
At the start of the summer, we took a look at the energy efficiency rating for air conditioners (SEER) to help you understand how modern ACs are rated and compared. We encourage customers who have an air conditioner that’s more than 15 years old to replace it with a new system—even if the current system still seems to be working adequately—because it means superior energy efficiency right from the start. That’s not only because a newer system will be in better shape. It’s also because the current crop of air conditioners are more energy efficient in general.
Why is that the case? What technological developments have allowed the current line of air conditioners (as well as heat pumps) to use less energy to run while providing the same cooling power? There are a couple of reasons:
Not Too Small, Not Too Large: Why AC’s Must Be Just the Right Size
Monday, July 17th, 2017
When it comes to the size of an air conditioner in a house, the “Goldilocks Rule” applies: you don’t want an air conditioner that’s too small or too large, but one that’s just right. Finding the right size of air conditioner is a tricky job, however, and it’s not something you want to make a guess at. You must have skilled professionals handle the job of sizing a new central air conditioning installation so you don’t end up with either an AC that can’t keep your home cool enough or an AC that drains energy because it’s too powerful.
