Tag Archives: hvac

Furnace Fact or Myth?

Being that we work in the heating and cooling field, we have repaired a lot of furnaces and seen a lot of strange things. As we head into some of the cold-weather season, we want to remind homeowners that sometimes, they are inadvertently damaging their home heating systems by believing some common furnace myths.

Myth: Furnace filters only have to be changed once a season.

Busted! Filters need to be checked regularly and changed as needed. How often you should be changing your filter will depend on a number of factors inside your home along with the type of filter you are using. A clogged filter can cause a number of problems with your heating system and your home comfort.

Myth: Cranking the thermostat will heat up the home faster.

BUSTED! It’s unpleasant to come home to a chilly house, but turning the thermostat all the way up will not warm your house any faster. A better option would be to install a smart thermostat that can regulate the temperature throughout the day, increasing savings without sacrificing comfort.

Myth: Closing vents and registers in unused rooms will save energy.

BUSTED! A home heating system is installed to warm the whole house and closing vents and registers can unbalance the system. Closing vents can actually cause problems with your furnace. There are other ways to regulate the heat throughout your home, including zoned heating.

Protect your home heating system this season, don’t harm it by falling for common furnace myths.

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

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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 Since many HVAC systems are old and outdated, a good way to reduce utility bills is by replacing the old HVAC system with a new one.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.

Reduce Allergies with your HVAC System

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Allergens can be a horrible pain. Itchy, watery eyes, congestion, and coughing can keep you up all night and make you miserable all day. But while you’re likely to blame pollen and other allergens outdoors, your home heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system–or HVAC, for short–could be responsible for your symptoms. Technicians who specialize in HVAC installation often find that people who complain of poor outdoor air quality should actually work on their indoor air quality.

Here are the ways that your HVAC system may be contributing to your allergy symptoms, and what you can do to make your indoor air cleaner and safer to breathe.

Improve Your Filter

HVAC systems tend to recycle the same air over and over again in order to keep temperatures comfortable. The filters in your heater or return air vent are designed to help remove contaminants like dust and pet dander so you don’t continue breathing the same nasty air. Upgrade to a HEPA-style filter with a MERV rating of at least 10 for better filtration performance.

Clean Your Filter

Even if you choose a high-quality, high-performance filter, you still have to keep it clean. Change it or clean it every 1-3 months for better, less irritating air. Clean air also contributes to a more efficient and reliable heating and cooling system. You can call one of our technicians at JJM Heating & Cooling to help you with the process of cleaning your filter.

Improve Filtration

Electronic air filters, ionizers, and air purifiers are often used to remove allergens and contaminants in HVAC systems. These filters use electricity to attract and trap particles. As with ordinary filters, look for an MERV rating of 10 or higher for a more reliable purifier. Talk to a professional for product recommendations and installation.

Clean Air Ducts

If you keep your air ducts clean, you can experience cleaner, less irritating indoor air. Give us a call, our team of technicians will be happy to help with thorough duct and vent cleaning. They’ll eliminate debris that can make your indoor air just as allergy-inducing as the outdoor air you’re hoping to avoid.

Keep Humidity Balanced

Too much or too little humidity can irritate your allergies. Very dry or very moist air can make you feel terrible allergy symptoms like headaches or eye redness. Use humidifiers and dehumidifiers to balance your indoor air to a relative humidity of around 40%, which is the recommended level for comfortable, healthy air.

Hire our professionals at JJM Heating & Cooling to help diagnose your heating and cooling systems and determine how to best keep your indoor air allergen-free.

DIY or Call an Expert?

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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.