Tag Archives: technician

High Utility Bills? Here’s how to Reduce them.

Your HVAC system is an important part of keeping your home cool this season. Having a broken Air Conditioner during the summer is almost impossible. However, even if your Air Conditioner is in good shape, your energy bills may still be suffering because of poor AC control. What’s the point of having your Air Conditioner run at full power when no one is home? When it comes to offices, this could be worse because an AC unit left on overnight can have a significant impact on energy consumption. Poor AC control is one of the most common problems which leads to increased utility bills.  

Reduce Your Energy Bills

Rising energy costs is something no property owner is happy about, so what are the options? Since many HVAC systems are old and outdated, a good way to reduce utility bills is by replacing the old HVAC system with a new one. While modern technologies have come far in terms of being more energy-efficient, this still doesn’t solve the problem of overusing the Air Conditioning unit.

Improving your control mechanism, which is your thermostat for this application, is key to reducing energy bills. Most of the time, people forget to reset or turn off their Air Conditioner. However, at other times, it’s simply unpredictable weather. The best way to combat this is with programmable thermostats which adjust AC output depending on the time of day. This is the simplest option, but if you wish to have complete control, you can opt for the more advanced thermostats which can be monitored and controlled using your mobile device. These sophisticated replacements also go the extra mile by offering air filtering and humidity control.

The Future of Thermostats

The purpose of this technology is to make our life easier. With the HVAC industry, their goal is to make HVAC systems which don’t require any human interaction. In fact, you may find thermostats run by artificial intelligence on the market today. These advanced systems are capable of programming themselves to adjust to an empty home, or unpredictable weather. If a thermostat upgrade seems like a good idea, then give JJM Heating & Cooling a call, one of our technicians will be happy to help.

Spring Cleaning tips for Better Indoor Air Quality!

Here at JJM Heating & Cooling, our focus is on the health of your home and family. That’s why this blog is dedicated to Spring Cleaning tips that will also improve your Indoor Air Quality or IAQ. IAQ refers to the purity or pollution of the breathable air in your home.

If your home has poor IAQ, your family is more susceptible to contaminants that lead to the cause or worsening of certain allergens and asthma. Other flu-like symptoms of poor IAQ include headache, coughing, nausea, dizziness, and dryness of eyes, nose, and throat.

So throw open the windows! It’s time to spring clean with a purpose: to improve the health of the air your family breathes.

Improve your IAQ this spring

Spring Cleaning is the time to check back in with those places you’ve forgotten about, in the “out of sight, out of mind” category. Below is a list of Spring Cleaning solutions that will leave your home smelling new and your air quality improved.

Clean & think green — When it comes to cleaning products, fragrance = chemicals. In fact, that pine or citrus fresh scent we’ve come to associate with a clean home is actually just a mask for the chemicals and bacterial transfer underneath. Opt for fragrance-free or unscented products. The last thing you want is to unknowingly pollute the air with the petroleum-based chemicals in the very products you’re using to clean with!

Upgrade your cleaning supplies — Consider vapor steam cleaners and vacuums with a HEPA filter. Vapor steam cleaners disinfect and eliminate bacteria much better than traditional clothes or sponges that can transfer contaminants. Vacuums with a HEPA filter can remove up to 99.7% of allergens in a given space, especially if there is carpet or rugs in the space where there is usually an increase in the likelihood of lurking allergens. These are the most effective cleaning devices to improve indoor air quality.

Filters, and not just HVAC — To improve the quality of your air year-round, and especially when you begin to use your air conditioning unit more often in the spring and summer, it’s important to be conscious of the last time you changed your HVAC filter. It’s recommended to change your filter every 30-90 days. When using the unit consistently, replacements may be necessary more often, and the filter’s condition should be checked every 30 days.

There are several filters and screens you can check, clean, install or replace around the home that will improve the quality of its indoor air quality.

  • HVAC filter
  • HEPA filters
  • Dryer lint screens
  • Vacuum cleaners
  • Bathroom exhaust fan grilles

Spring is the best time for HVAC repair. You’ve used the furnace all winter, and it may need a tune-up. It also isn’t summer yet, when HVAC technicians are working harder than ever to keep that A/C on blast. To schedule HVAC maintenance this spring before the summer heat wave, contact the professionals at JJM Heating & Cooling.

Use Houseplants & Humidifiers

Bring plants indoors — Did you know bringing plants into your home is a natural way of removing toxins from the air? Houseplants are visually uplifting, while also working to filter out air pollutants. According to NASA’s Clean Air Study on this matter, titled Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement, you can achieve noticeable air purification by placing greenery every 100 square feet within any given space.

This same study mentions that about 30% of all new or remodeled buildings had varying degrees of indoor air pollution. Apartments and office units within commercial buildings can also benefit from potting some plants. Houseplants are both beautiful and effective!

Suggested air-filtering plants include:

  • Aloe plants (aloe vera)
  • Spider plants (chlorophytum comosum)
  • Gerber daisies (gerbera jamesonii)
  • Chrysanthemums (chrysantheium morifolium)
  • Ficus, weeping fig (ficus benjamina)
  • Azaleas (rhododendron simsii)
  • English ivy (hedera helix)

Use a humidifier or dehumidifier — Where there’s heat, there’s moisture. Where there’s moisture, there’s mildew. The best way to keep mold and mildew growth at bay is to use a humidification system. Humidity levels below 55% should alleviate any irritations you or your family is experiencing, including allergies, dry itchy eyes and skin or even bloody noses. Dry air or moist air is poor air. A whole-home humidification system that works with your HVAC system, or even a stand-alone humidifier, is advantageous in achieving quality breathable air in the home.

Tips:

  • Check your home for mold and moisture
  • Buy a vacuum with HEPA filtration
  • Consider an air purifier
  • Clean your windows inside and out
  • Use your vacuum attachments to tackle the walls, the fans, and the cobwebs!

Cleaning isn’t the only spring maintenance task. Don’t forget things like draining your water heater and inspecting your home for plumbing leaks and signs of water damage. Happy Spring cleaning!

DIY or Call an Expert?

  It happens to the best of us; we get used to that weird thing that our appliance does, or we stop worrying about the funny noise something in our home makes. However, sometimes what we brush it off or tune out something that can be part of a much larger problem. We’re here to shed light on what’s normal and what you should consider fixing when it comes to furnace repair.

1. Furnace cleaning is necessary, but you won’t always need to make a service call.

If a filter gets too dirty, it can block clean air from flowing through your home leaving your home chilly. Sometimes this means that it will kick on, but it doesn’t stay on long enough to heat. When your furnace is overcompensating to keep your home warm, it can wear out quickly or shut down completely. You should change your air filter every 1-3 months.

Tip: Turn off your furnace’s shut off fan and switch your thermostat to off when changing filters.

2. Your furnace fan should not always be running.

If you notice that your fan is always blowing, you might have one of a few problems. Your fan, when set to “auto,” should only run when your furnace is in the middle of a heating cycle. If this isn’t the case, then you might be having one of the following problems (the first two you can DIY)

  • Your fan isn’t on the right setting

    To check if this is the problem, set your thermostat a degree or two below the current room temperature. Then check to see if after a few minutes it reaches that temperature. If it doesn’t, then your furnace may be overworking to heat up. This could mean you have a problem with heat distribution in your home. It’s easy to bundle up in that room that’s always cold or wear short sleeves in the warm parts of your house, but ignoring hot and cold spots only raises your heating bill.

    Make sure your thermostat fan is set to “auto” and not “on.” The “on” switch will force your fan to run even when it doesn’t need to be. This can raise your monthly bill and waste energy by running continuously.

  • Your fan manual limit switch is set to “override”
    Locate your fan limit switch, and check to see if the white button is pushed in. If so, then your furnace is in “always on” mode. Pull the white button out to reset your limit switch.

  • If the above options don’t fix your problem, then you likely have a short in the wiring of either your thermostat or your fan switch. For your safety, only a licensed professional is qualified to fix this furnace problem, so contact you local HVAC technician for your furnace repair.

3. Stop ignoring that eggy smell coming from your furnace.

Natural gas is both odorless and colorless, but to help detect gas leaks, mercaptan has been added to gas lines. When combined, mercaptan causes gas to have a rotting egg or sulfuric smell. If you notice this smell, immediately shut off your gas lines. Leaking gas is no joke! Contact your gas utility company to remedy the leak. If open flame ends up anywhere near the gas leak, you may be looking for home fire repair rather than furnace repair.

4. A strange smell the first time you turn your furnace on is typical.

It seems weird, but the musty smell you notice at the beginning of the first heat cycle of the season is dust being burnt off from inside the furnace. The smell shouldn’t last more than a day or two. As long as it doesn’t have that sulfuric scent that we mentioned before, you should be totally fine. Nothing to worry about here!

5. You shouldn’t tune out the rattling noise coming from your furnace.

Some noises are innocent, and you might come to expect them, but some sounds are an indicator of something much worse brewing in your furnace. If it’s rattling, then that could be a sign that your blower wheel is out of alignment, dirty, or has a loose screw or two. This sort of noise isn’t too dangerous and is likely something you can DIY, but letting it go on for too long can cause damage over time to your unit.

6. There is no reason you should have to frequently ignite the burner yourself.

Occasionally, a relight might be necessary – if your pilot light goes out – but once the furnace is lit, it should be staying ignited by the burner. If it’s not, then this could lead to very poor heating which will drive your utility bill up. First, check to make sure that a draft isn’t the source of wind blowing out your pilot light. If you’ve got all windows and doors closed, then you can determine if it’s your burner that needs adjustment or cleaning. Because you are dealing with something that could pose a safety hazard, you’re going to need to have an HVAC technician take a look at the burner. You wouldn’t want to inhale carbon monoxide or cause a gas leak accidentally.

While most preventative maintenance can be done by you or a member of your household, some furnace repair tasks are too dangerous for any unskilled technician to take on. Contact  a JJM Heating & Cooling service technician if you have any questions about the safety of your home repairs. As always, we’d be happy to take a look at your furnace or any of your other heating and cooling units.