Kool Breeze of Northwest Florida, Inc Blog: Archive for April, 2015

Is Geothermal an Option for Cooling a Home as Well as Heating It?

Monday, April 27th, 2015

The term geothermal energy is usually associated with heat. After all, the energy that geothermal systems draw on is the heat of the earth, which remains stable no matter the temperature above ground. Geothermal systems harness the natural heat emanating from the earth’s core, which is a renewable and constant power source. It’s logical to assume that a geothermal comfort system for a home would mainly provide heat.

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What Happens During an Air Conditioning Maintenance Visit

Monday, April 20th, 2015

Your air conditioner is a precision machine designed to give you many years—often more than 15—of quality cooling for your family. But as with any precision mechanical device, an AC must have regular inspections and tune-ups to make sure that it continues to run its best and without wasting energy.

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Are Heat Pumps as Effective at Cooling as a Standard Air Conditioner?

Monday, April 13th, 2015

Heat pumps are a great choice in Florida for year-round residential comfort. One of the reasons they are excellent for our climate is that heat pumps conserve energy when in heating mode while still delivering the right level of warmth for the mild winters. Heat pumps often experience efficiency issues in colder parts of the country, but for Florida they are ideal and can keep a house warm through even our chilliest days.

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Does My Air Conditioner Work to Dehumidify My Home?

Monday, April 6th, 2015

Humidity is one the major enemies of hot weather comfort in Florida. Your home will at some point deal with uncomfortably high levels of moisture, which not only makes the heat harder to bear, but can lead to water damage to walls and floors and the growth of unhealthy molds.

You may have heard that an air conditioner helps with lowering humidity. But along with keeping you cool during those hot humid days, does an air conditioner really make a difference when it comes to humidity? Or should you investigate other dehumidifying methods?

Your air conditioner lowers humidity…

When electromechanical air conditioners were first invented in 1902, they were designed with humidity control as much in mind as temperature control. The natural action of the evaporator coil in an AC removes moisture from the air along with heat, decreasing humidity. Your home’s air conditioner does much the same thing while it works. When you occasionally hear the drip of water from the indoor unit of the AC, it’s the sound of the moisture drawn from the air dripping from the evaporator coil down into the condensate pan, where it will be removed.

…but it is NOT a dehumidifier

However, when it comes to dealing with high humidity in a home, an air conditioner is not a solution. Although your AC can help a bit with humidity, modern cooling units are not designed with humidity control as a major function (unless they have dehumidifiers built into them). In fact, during drier weather, an air conditioner can cause the opposite problem and make the air too dry.

If you have excess humidity in your home, you cannot depend on a standard air conditioner to handle the problem. Call for indoor air quality specialists to install a dedicated whole-house dehumidifier into your HVAC system that will give you the proper humidity balance. If your home occasionally encounters air that is too dry because of the air conditioning system, you can also have a whole-house humidifier installed. That way you will receive the ideal humidity conditions around the year.

For trusted work on air conditioning, dehumidifiers, and humidifiers in Navarre, FL and the surrounding areas, call Kool Breeze.

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Options to Consider for Air Conditioning Replacement

Friday, April 3rd, 2015

For decades, the standard for central air conditioning in homes has been a split system: an AC that runs using an indoor and outdoor cabinet, where the indoor unit absorbs heat and sends the cooled air into a ventilation system, and the outdoor unit exhausts the heat. If your current air conditioning system is nearing the end of its lifespan, you are probably planning to replace it with a similar type of system.

But wait: you have more choices today for home comfort than a basic air-source split system AC. You will find many exciting options at Kool Breeze if you’re interested in something different for your air conditioning replacement in Navarre, FL. We have helped homeowners throughout Northwest Florida receive excellent cooling since 1986. Call us today to schedule an appointment to go over some of your choices for air conditioning:

Heat pump

On the surface, a heat pump appears to no different than a regular split air conditioner: indoor unit, outdoor unit, absorb heat from inside, release it outside. But the heat pump has an exciting difference, which is that it can make the indoor and outdoor units swap jobs. This means it can also bring heat into your house and work as an effective heating system during cold weather. If you are also planning to replace an older furnace in your home along with the air conditioner, a heat pump is a terrific option.

Ductless cooling

Would you like to eliminate the need for ducts in your home entirely because you are planning a remodel or add-on room? Then consider having a ductless mini split installed. Instead of using a single indoor cabinet, a ductless mini split uses multiple smaller air handlers mounted around the rooms of a house. These air handlers connect to the outdoor unit and send cooled air directly into the rooms—no ductwork required.

Geothermal cooling

You don’t need to use the air as a source for heat exchange. You can instead rely on the stable temperature of the ground. A geothermal heat pump absorbs heat from the air inside your house, and then deposits it in the ground using buried loops. Geothermal systems endure for many years and work at superior efficiency to standard ACs and heat pumps, saving you money and helping the environment at the same time.

If any of these choices for cooling interest you, call the team at Kool Breeze today. Let us see to it that your air conditioning replacement in Navarre, FL is professionally done, no matter what system you pick.

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