AC & Heating Information for North Texans
This blog exists to educate and inform the public about issues regarding air conditioning systems. Air conditioning systems are very complex and need regular attention to keep them performing at their peak efficiency. Please make comments and ask questions regarding any of these topics.
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It is a bone chilling 23 degrees in North Texas at this minute. Furnaces all over DFW are working to keep our homes at a comfortable temperature. Here is a reminder that all of us, including you and your family, are at risk from Carbon Monoxide poisoning if your home is heated with a furnace.
Recently, a good customer asked PMI to verify a home inspector’s conclusion that the HVAC unit was in good working condition in a home they were buying. We were happy to help; however we were very suprised by what we found. We identified two sources of Carbon Monoxide leaks in the unit and a serious corrosion problem: the combustion chamber needed replacing. Carbon Monoixide is deadly! Needless to say, or client was very pleased that we found these problems!
When furnaces are working properly, Carbon Monoxide is not a problem because it is exhausted through the attic and out of the house. Problems arise when combustion chambers crack allowing the Carbon Monoxide to leak and mix into the air circulation system of your home.
Carbon Monoxide is heavier than oxygen and displaces life sustaining oxygen. Carbon Monoxide is odorless, tasteless and not detectable by the human body. It simply enters the lungs, absorbs into the bloodstream and destroys the ability of red blood cells to absorb oxygen. The Center for Disease Control has great info on Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
The risk of Carbon Monoxide from your furnace is preventable with a regular maintenance plan for your HVAC system. A spring maintenance inspection helps make sure the summer cooling will be done efficiently without undue wear and tear on the system and a Fall maintenance inspection will make sure the furnace is operating correctly and not leaking carbon monoxide. This twice-a-year plan is called the Pearson Maintenance Agreement.
We must understand the details of the Carbon Monoxide threat or we might underestimate the potential risk.
We also recommend Carbon Monoxide Detectors. Of course, carbon monoxide detectors are not infallible. Please keep the batteries replaced! The Center for Disease Prevention suggests changing the batteries when Daylight time changes in the Spring and Fall.
Did we leave you with questions about your particular situation? Please contact us. We would be glad to answer your questions. You can leave a question in the comments below if you like.
Be safe and get your HVAC unit inspected at least every Fall. Share this post with your friends so we can watch out and protect each other.
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Jim Pearson and PMI Receive a Trane Award for Careful Attention to Customers
Caring well for customers has been ingrained in the PMI business philosophy from the first day Jim Pearson opened the doors in 1982. Everybody who works at PMI has this same spirit of customer care.
Caring for customers is not really hard; it’s just being nice to people and looking out for their best interest. It is watching out for people just as if they are family. Our customers are our family and they provide us our business success now and in the future.
PMI has been recognized as a charter member of the Trane Comfort Specialist program. A Trane Comfort Specialist is a Trane dealer who goes above and beyond in valuing their customers and running a high quality air conditioning company. Why don’t we just let the Trane Company describe the event in their own words:
Trane Residential Solutions, a division of Ingersoll Rand. (NYSE:IR), announced that Pearson Mechanical, Inc. (PMI) of Arlington, Texas, celebrated their 10 year anniversary as a charter member of Trane’s Comfort Specialist program. Pearson Mechanical is part of an elite group of Trane dealers that attended the ten year celebration in our nation’s capitol last month. Almost five hundred Trane Comfort Specialist dealers attended and of those, 239 are charter members of the program.
The Trane Comfort Specialist program consists of Trane dealers that are of the highest standing and committed to be the best in every aspect of his or her business, from installation and service, to customer satisfaction and employee training.
Pearson Mechanical, Inc. is a family owned business serving the DFW Metroplex since 1982 with a commitment to quality and 100% Customer Satisfaction! Their commitment to excellence has earned PMI the distinction of a TRANE Comfort Specialist Dealer and recipient of the prestigious TRANE Top-Ten Award for more than ten years.
For more information about Trane’s products and services log on to www.trane.com
For more information about Pearson Mechanical log on to www.pearsonmechanical.com
We would like to thank all our customers for their trust and support; we can’t do it without you.
We are proud of this award. Trane is the preeminent company in HVAC equipment and Pearson Mechanical appreciates being associated with the Trane Company.
If you are not a PMI customer and you feel that your HVAC service company is not taking good care of you, please give us a call. We would love to serve you!
-Stacey Pearson sales/estimating
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There are two major refrigerants used in HVAC equipment in America today, R22 (Freon) and R410A (Puron). On January 1st 2010, equipment using R22 will no longer be built. Your current heating and air conditioning system most likely uses R22 Freon since R410A is a relatively new product.
IF your heating and AC system already uses R410A, congratulations. R22 is not an urgent problem. R22 has been around over 50 years and it will be around many more years in one way or another. There is a continuing supply from recycled and reclaimed R22 refrigerant.
Sooner or later you will be faced with the decision whether or not to replace or repair your HVAC system. Your choice of HVAC service company can help with the critical information you need to make a well informed decision and give you the facts about this refrigerant change.
Have you been told you that replacement parts using R22 will not be available?
If you have replaced your old system with a new R22 based system in the last 2 or 3 years, do not panic. Replacement parts for R22 systems will be available. New system components will not be made after January 1, 2010, but parts needed to repair your current R22 system will be available, albeit the prices may go up.
Here are a two critical facts to consider about refrigerants:
1. R22 and R410A are not compatible, they cannot be mixed together. In fact, refrigerant lines must be very carefully treated to extract all the R22 before a R410A system is installed. A successful transition is critical. Any conversation with your HVAC service company about your home’s solutions should address this unique incompatibility.
2. R410A refrigerant leaks require a critical repair procedure. Some people have lived with R22 freon leaks for years; this is a not a good thing! Many people have a service tech come by in the spring and “top off” the R22 Freon. If you have a refrigerant leak, it needs to be fixed by a professional immediately!
If you need information or have questions feel free to call or email or leave a comment below.
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Dripping AC Drain Stains Wall
Would you notice this stain on the front of a house in your neighborhood? This stain started as a simple drip and accumulated as the drip was ignored.
This stain is a warning sign! We can help prevent this kind of problem happening to you or your neighbor’s house.
Let me tell you what is happening here.
Air Conditioning systems condense water on an evaporator coil similar to how a glass of ice tea does at dinner. I am sure you have seen a puddle of water around your ice tea glass in the summer… well, your evaporator coil has to deal with a much bigger puddle of water as it cools your home in the summer.
Condensation collects into a drain pan with 2 drains. First is a primary drain which dumps the water into an existing plumbing drain within your house. Then a secondary overflow drain takes over if the primary drain stops up. This secondary drain is run to an exterior wall and, often, right over a window. The intent is to give you a visual warning that your primary drain is clogged and needs cleaning. If you see water dripping from your secondary drain, you should call an air conditioning service company immediately!
Unfortunately, most are not informed about the reason for condensate dripping down an outside wall. Also, most homeowners don’t know where their secondary overflow drain is located. This homeowner used PVC pipe to route the leak around the window which didn’t help much. The drip continued and the wall is stained while the primary drain is still clogged.
A clogged primary drain is also a risk for water damage to your house. If the secondary overflow drain stopped up it could overflow the drain pan and create ceiling damage or cause a mold infestation. We don’t want that!
So walk outside for some exercise and see if you spot any drips. If your reading this blog outside the cooling season, make a mental note to check next summer. Dripping water is not good for your exterior no matter whether the cause is a dripping AC drain or leaking gutters or leaking roof drip edge.
Feel free to pass this info to a friend or neighbor, especially if you see a drip. If we all watch out for each other, we will all experience less aggravation.
-Stacey Pearson sales/estimating
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First, a few important questions:
1. Does your air conditioning and heating system seem to be working properly?
2. Have you noticed any changes in its performance?
3. Do you know the last time the critical components were checked for proper operation?
4. How well do you understand the operations of the critical components in your AC and heating equipment?
Recently, we received a call from a very sweet elderly couple. They were coughing and had raspy throats and they were inquiring about humidifiers. I called them and we chatted a bit before I looked over their system to see what was happening.
The air conditioning system was just 3 years old and the system was installed well enough…but I did find something that really bothered me!
Their electronic air cleaning system had not been serviced in 3 years. This installation company did not carefully instruct this couple about the necessary procedures to keep the electronic air cleaner working properly! I wish this didn’t happen!
New electronic air cleaning systems are great at cleaning the air. The right system will even trap viruses- i.e. swine flu virus, but they require regular maintenance to perform properly.
It is our mission at PMI to help our customers understand the need for proper maintenance. Many customers are amazed at how much better the air quality is with proper maintenance.
Needless to say, this couple is now a customer of Pearson Mechanical. Their electronic air cleaner will not go unserviced again! With the Pearson Maintenance Agreement we will verify system performance and do a tune up and we will verify the electronic cleaner is properly serviced (among other system checks).
Regular maintenance is essential for proper functioning of high-tech heating and air conditioning equipment and air filtration systems!
Make sure your system is properly maintained by a reputable air conditioning and heating company. If you have doubts, give us a call!
Thanks.
-Richard Howard Comfort Specialist
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Wouldn’t it be great if you only had to heat or cool the parts of the house you were using? Well you can.
A Zoned System lets you break up your home into zones where you can vary the temperature in each to better serve the comfort needs of family members in these spaces and also save energy. This type of HVAC system varies the amount of conditioned air sent to each zone and thereby creating temperature differences.
A Zoned System allows you the option of letting the temperature rise in cooling season or fall in the heating season in the inactive areas of the house when you are out, or when you go to bed. You save energy that would otherwise be used to condition the air in the unoccupied areas of the house.
And of course, zoning also helps accommodate the individual temperature tastes of each family member. It is amazing how much difference there is in what people think is an ideal temperature.
Your programmable thermostat can bring the temperatures back up to comfortable before you rise in the morning or before you get back to the house. If you need to, you can log in to your home automation system and change the temperature setting as needed. More on home automation systems later.
The saving money part comes when you are using a high efficiency multi-stage HVAC system. These systems might run at 50% or 75% or 100% of capacity depending on the required load and only deliver the amount of heating and cooling needed, thus saving you energy and money.
Yes, Zoned Systems can save you money- even lots of money. What does lots of money mean? Pretty imprecise isn’t it.
Your actual savings will depend on the
The savings could be significant. Does it make sense to you to investigate your potential savings?
We would be glad to help you get an accurate picture of your energy saving options.
Bottom line, zoning can help you save money, save energy, improve the air we breathe and help make the house more comfortable for family members. We would be happy to answer any questions you have about your specific situation.
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Hot air rises. Do you spend time in the summer upstairs? Pretty warm isn’t it. Maybe too warm? What is interesting is that the upstairs can be too warm in Winter too, because the people living on the ground floor demand more heat to keep their zone warm enough and this leaves the upstairs too warm.
This kind of problem varies in degrees. Sorry, bad pun. If you are putting up with an upstairs that is just too warm- there is good news. The answer may be a basic Zoned system. Zoning a house to better accommodate the different temperature tastes of family members is a little different. The upstairs vs. downstairs problem relates more to physics. Hot air rises. Imagine though if the person preferring cool is relegated to the upstairs.
There are solutions to defeating the uncomfortably hot upstairs. We can create individual heating and cooling zones with special dampers which direct more cooling air upstairs in summer and less heating air in the winter. And this not only makes each area of the house more comfortable but also saves money. Otherwise, the cooling bills go up and the people down stairs are putting on long sleeve shirts to deal with the extra cool temperature downstairs. This is not only uncomfortable but also wastes money.
Do you have a two – story house? Does the upstairs get too hot in summer? Does the upstairs ever end up too hot in winter? If it does, you might want to explore your options. What would you like us to understand? Fell free to comment below.
Yes you can be more comfortable in your 2 story house and save money. Feel free to call or email and get more information. We would be happy to help you get the information you need to deal with your specific situation.
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