Short-cycling is a condition that occurs when an air conditioner’s compressor turns on and off rapidly, never completing a full cooling cycling. Short-cycling is extremely damaging for an air conditioner, and it affects comfort in a home and raises energy bills. Because the AC uses a large amount of power to turn on each time, short-cycling places enormous stress on the components and will cause electrical costs to skyrocket. And since the AC will not stay on long enough to distribute sufficient cool air through a house, short-cycling will create hot spots in rooms and general discomfort.
3 Reasons Your Air Conditioning Is Short Cycling
May 11th, 2015Do I Need an Air Filtration System for My Home?
May 4th, 2015A decline in indoor air quality is an increasing issue in homes in the U.S. This is due to the heavy insulation on buildings that creates a heat seal that allows the buildings to be energy efficient. Unfortunately, this seal traps air inside the buildings and allows it to circulate, picking up contaminants and becoming stale.
Is Geothermal an Option for Cooling a Home as Well as Heating It?
April 27th, 2015The 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.
What Happens During an Air Conditioning Maintenance Visit
April 20th, 2015Your 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.
Are Heat Pumps as Effective at Cooling as a Standard Air Conditioner?
April 13th, 2015Heat 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.
Does My Air Conditioner Work to Dehumidify My Home?
April 6th, 2015Humidity 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.
Options to Consider for Air Conditioning Replacement
April 3rd, 2015For 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.
What to Expect During Heating Maintenance
March 25th, 2015Heating maintenance is a regular task that you need to have done once a year in order to ensure that your home’s heater will work for years with high energy efficiency and a low number of repair troubles. Keeping up with maintenance will also help prevent surprise breakdowns at times when you need your heating system the most.
Because Florida has mild winters and only a few truly cold days, it is too easy for homeowners to forget about regular annual heating maintenance. But this is a mistake, and it’s simple to have it corrected with just a call to Kool Breeze. When you sign up for air conditioning maintenance with us (a job that’s much easier to remember) you’ll also be signing up for heating maintenance as well. You’ll have both issues taken care of with one program. Contact us today and ask about our program for AC and heating maintenance in Pensacola Beach, FL.
Here’s what you can expect to occur during a heating maintenance session (depending on your specific heating system):
- Thermostat calibration check (all heating systems)
- Inspection of the evaporator and condenser coils in the indoor and outdoor unit, plus cleaning them if necessary (heat pumps)
- Check of safety precautions, such as the load limit switch (primarily furnaces)
- Clean or replace the air filter (all forced-air heaters)
- Look for water damage behind air handler units (ductless mini splits)
- Check on refrigerant pressure and refrigerant levels, with refrigerant added if the charge is low (heat pumps)
- Cleaning the blower assembly (all forced-air systems)
- Check and adjust electrical connections (all systems, including gas furnaces)
- Clean the heat exchanger and gas burner, check for gas flow to the burner (gas furnace)
- Check motor amperage and lubricate moving parts where necessary (all systems)
- Check airflow and temperature difference (all systems)
If at any point during the various checks and adjustments the technician comes across a malfunction or impending malfunction that will require repair work, he or she will notify you of it. You can decide when to schedule the necessary work, although it is best to have any repairs done as soon as possible. After all, one of the points of maintenance is to prepare the heater for any sudden cold shift in the weather.
Call up Kool Breeze and speak to one of our staff members about signing up for our air conditioning and heating maintenance program in Pensacola Beach, FL. Our program provides extra benefits, such as priority scheduling and discounts on non-warranty parts.
Heat Pump Components: The Reversing Valve
March 18th, 2015How do heat pumps manage to provide both air conditioning during the long Florida summer weather and effective heating during the mild winters? A large part of the explanation involves going into the basics of refrigeration and how a standalone air conditioner works. However, the shorter answer is that a component called the reversing valve is what makes a heat pump able to operate as both a heater and an air conditioner.
Because of how critical this component is for the operation of a heat pump, if it malfunctions, a heat pump will end up trapped in one mode or the other. Should you find that your heat pump will not change from heating to cooling mode, or vice versa, then call up Kool Breeze and talk to our repair technicians. They have extensive experience fixing heat pumps in Fort Walton Beach, FL and the surrounding areas, and they will deliver the work necessary to restore your home’s heat pump to full operation once more.
What the reversing valve does
The reversing valve is a valve attached to the refrigerant line that leaves the compressor in the outdoor unit of a heat pump. Inside the valve is a slider; depending on its position, the slide will route the refrigerant leaving the compressor down one set of lines or the other.
When the heat pump is in cooling mode, the position of the reversing valve sends the hot refrigerant from the compressor to the outdoor coils, where it releases heat, cooling the refrigerant. It then travels to the indoor coils, where it absorbs heat and lowers the indoor air temperature.
When the heat pump switches to heating mode, the slider in the reversing valve moves position so that the hot refrigerant leaving the compressor travels first to the indoor coils. It releases its heat, warming the indoor air, then moves to the outdoor coil and absorbs heat before returning to the compressor.
Like any mechanical device, the reversing valve can break down and become stuck in one position. Repairing the problem usually requires replacing the valve entirely, and this is a job you must leave to professionals.
The next time that your heat pump malfunctions and you cannot get it to do both parts of its job, give Kool Breeze a call. We provide comprehensive services for heat pumps in Fort Walton Beach, FL and are ready around the clock whenever you need service.
Why You Need Annual Cooling and Heating Maintenance
March 11th, 2015The air conditioning and heating systems in your house are complex mechanical devices made of numerous precision components. Over time, like any mechanical appliance, your home’s AC and heater will start to wear down and suffer from dirt and damage that will reduce their effectiveness and eventually cause them to cease working. Although it’s impossible to stop fully the effects of time on an HVAC system, you can slow it down with the help of professional maintenance services twice a year: in the spring for your air conditioning system, and in the fall for your heating system.
To sign up for an excellent program for cooling and heating maintenance in Navarre, FL, just call our staff at Kool Breeze. We offer a program that provides you with two precision tune-ups a year that will help you get the most from your heater and air conditioner as well as save money.
The reasons maintenance is important
- Extended system life: The same way that you can’t expect a car to last for many years if it doesn’t receive regular services like oil changes, an air conditioner and heater won’t have lengthy services lives without professional maintenance. Most ACs and heaters won’t even make it to half their manufacturer’s estimated lifespan without maintenance—and needing to replace a comfort system early is the most expensive “repair” of all.
- Fewer repairs: Approximately 85% of the repairs a comfort system may require during its lifetime can be avoided through preventive maintenance. That’s a significant amount. If you keep up with routine maintenance, you will experience very few malfunctions with the system.
- Continual energy efficiency: The combination of dirt and wear and tear on a heater and air conditioner will cause a drop in energy efficiency because the system will need to work harder. Each year that a comfort system goes without maintenance means an average drop of 5% in energy efficiency—and that will quickly add up to a system that costs you much more to run than it should.
- Avoid surprise breakdowns: This is especially important for the AC, which does an immense amount of work in Florida’s hot climate. Without maintenance to help alleviate wear and tear on the system and catch early repair needs, the AC might collapse on you during the hottest day of the summer, leaving you scrambling to arrange for emergency repair work. Maintenance will see that you go into any intense weather fully prepared.
The cooling and heating maintenance in Navarre, FL from Kool Breeze provides you with extra benefits as well: priority service, a 10% discount on non-warranty parts, and more. Give us a call today to find out more about our heating service options in Navarre, FL.