If your heater were making an odd noise or if it was failing to start up as temperatures dropped through your home at night, then you probably wouldn’t waste much time in contacting an HVAC professional right? After all, it may not get bone-chilling cold here, but you still deserve to live comfortably! This means your heater needs to work flawlessly for the brief time you really do need it, and you’d likely prefer to pay as little as possible for that comfort.
So, what if there’s a problem with your ductwork? What if it’s accumulated tears and damage over time? Guess what? It’s going to have serious implications for your heating system—and yes, it will hurt efficiency. More on that below, along with other reasons leaky and damaged ductwork is a problem.
With temperatures dipping into the 50’s at night this past week, you might have decided to use your heater. True, we use it very briefly around our area, but given the contrast in temperature, it can be quite chilly at night without a reliable heating system! So, what if you’re using a heat pump, and all it will do is blow out cold air?
While other parts of the country are scheduling heating maintenance and starting to shut down their air conditioners for the season, we’re still using our cooling systems on a regular basis. That said, this is commonly the time of year that air conditioners begin to experience problems—the reason for this is because it’s been going since last spring.
Most homeowners misunderstand the point of the air filter within their HVAC system. They think it is there mainly to protect against allergens and particles in their indoor air. This is partially correct, but not the main purpose nor the reason you should change said filter every 1-3 months.
In other parts of the country, it probably seems pretty strange to be talking about air conditioners this time of the year, unless they’re talking about winterizing them. But winterizing just isn’t a thing here in the Gulf Breeze. Even though our fall and winter seasons are notably and relatively cooler than our summers, it doesn’t mean they are cool. 
First off, you might be wondering what R-22 is. It’s refrigerant—the substance needed for your central air conditioner or heat pump to function at all. Perhaps you have a basic understanding of how refrigerant works, and you might have even had someone tell you that refrigerant needs to be refilled (called recharged in the HVAC industry) every once in a while.