El Paso experts share savings on furnace repair.
Heating season is here and with it comes that oh so dreadful spike in your energy bill. Luckily, with a little knowledge and creativity you can keep your heating cost to a minimum without sacrificing your comfort and avoid any furnace repair bills. Here are 4 energy-saving hacks that can stop your heating bill from devouring your monthly budget and help avoid costly repairs.
Furnace Tune-up
This winter an inefficient heating system is the quickest way to burn through your monthly budget. However, scheduling a furnace tune-up before fall turns into winter will ensure your system is working at its most efficient level. Not only does a tune-up provide better efficiency, it can also catch serious safety issues, and help prevent the need for midwinter furnace repair.
Ceiling Fan
Your ceiling fan can do more than just cool your home during the summer. As you probably already know, warm air rises, unfortunately, that fact doesn’t bode well for your heating bill. However, reversing the direction your ceiling fan rotates can force that warm air back down into the room. Remember, fan blades spinning counterclockwise cools down a room while blades rotating clockwise can keep a room a bit more toasty in the winter.
Air Leaks
Heat escaping through gaps in your windows and door frames is detrimental to your money-saving efforts. Thankfully, with a little weatherstripping, you can eliminate these air leaks and keep your home nice and warm without cranking up the heat. Finding any pesky gaps is considerably easy and only takes a few minutes out of your day and a piece of toilet paper. Hold the toilet paper up to every window and exterior door frame in your house. If the paper begins moving, you have an air leak and need to add weatherstripping to the area.
A Natural Heating Source
A natural heating source which is often ignored is the sun. Opening your drapes and blinds in the winter and allowing the sunlight in can help heat up your home. However, when the sun goes down be sure to close your window coverings to keep the warm air in.
If you’re concerned about your furnace’s efficiency level, and would like to schedule a tune-up or a repair, please contact us today in El Paso and we’ll be happy to help you.
Furnace Repair Team Breaks Down Blower Assembly Basics for Newbies
Have you ever had a furnace repair technician come to your home on a service call and suggest that a heating system’s blower assembly be replaced? Perhaps he or she suggested that only one or two components inside of the assembly be repaired or replaced. Either way, our furnace repair experts thought it might be a good idea to explain what a blower assembly is and how it needs to be maintained for optimum performance:
What is it?
A furnace’s blower assembly is traditionally made up of a housing unit, motor, capacitor, deflector and wheel. Each understandably plays an important role in the blower’s function. The housing holds it all together and the capacitor helps start the motor, which may or may not be belt driven. The motor turns the wheel and the deflector helps direct the resulting air.
Just in case you’ve never seen one up close before, furnace blower wheels look like hamster wheels, only they have sharp blades that radiate out from the center. They operate using the principles of centrifugal motion. As such, they typically produce a lot of highly pressurized air when in operation. That’s why the deflector is situated near it.
How Should it be Maintained?
Some fan motors are self-lubricating and others are not. Those that aren’t will generally need to be oiled biannually by a furnace repair professional. It is vital to have a professional oil the fan because there are several things that could go wrong. For example, a DIYer may use the wrong type of oil or put it in the wrong holes. He or she could also inadvertently add too much oil or too little. Either action could shorten the motor’s lifespan. In addition, the blower assembly should ideally be cleaned at the same time.
The guys in the yellow booties are here for all your air conditioner repair needs, along with expert swamp cooler conversions. Look to the pros if you have any questions about converting to refrigerated air conditioning with SoBellas Home Services of El Paso, Texas. Call us with questions like, how much does refrigerated air cost or anything about El Paso refrigerated air conversion.
When is the Best Time of Year for Furnace Repair?
HVAC repair is a year-round service because everyone needs wither AC or heating during each part of the year, and repairs when the HVAC stops working. However, furnace repair is a specifically seasonal need. For the most part, homeowners realize they need furnace repair during the first cold stretch of autumn when we fire up our heaters for the first time in a year. Sometimes, the need for furnace repair doesn’t rear its head until the dead of winter when broken heating becomes an emergency. But if you plan ahead, you can master best time of year for every type of furnace repair and upkeep service.
Let’s dive into the details.
Autumn Furnace Inspection and Repair
The single best time for a furnace repair is early autumn, before the first real cold front. When the kids go back to school and you start thinking about Halloween costumes, think about your furnace as well. This is the perfect time to have your furnace inspected, serviced, and any necessary repairs taken care of before the first time your home actually needs heating.
During early autumn, call your local HVAC team and schedule a system inspection. Autumn is also a good time to have your AC serviced and “put away” clean and ready for a season of downtime before firing up again next Spring.
ASAP Furnace Repairs in the Winter Time
No one goes into wintertime with a nearly-broken furnace on purpose. But if your furnace breaks down in the middle of winter, you can trust us to treat it like an emergency. HVAC services in the dead of winter or the heat of summer are often urgent for the health and safety of the family who lives there. If your furnace stops working in the winter your HVAC will understand that this is a matter of safety and will schedule your furnace repairs as promptly as possible. If there is even a day’s delay, make other arrangements for a safe place for your family to sleep. Your HVAC team will have your furnace repaired and your home warm again as soon as possible.
Springtime Furnace Inspection and Tune-Up
Spring is another great transition time for HVAC maintenance and repairs. If your furnace seemed to be lagging along through the winter, have it inspected when the weather warms up in the Spring. Your technician may find that your furnace just barely kept generating heat through the winter or may find a quick repair can solve any problems you’ve seen.
The Spring is also your ideal time to have your AC checked and tuned-up just before the first heat-wave hits and we switch back to summertime protocols.
Furnace Installation and Major Repairs in the Summer
The middle of summer also plays a role in furnace repair. If you want your furnace replaced or a major repair done, the summer is the best time to schedule. Summer is a busy season for home repairs because the weather is good and the roads are clear. Have your furnace replaced in the summer so it is completely ready to go by the time winter rolls around again.
Is your furnace showing signs that it may need repairs? With winter already around the corner, don’t delay scheduling an inspection and service soon. You can count on our team to take your concerns seriously and give your furnace a full tune-up service to ensure optimum performance all through the winter.
Contact us today to book your furnace repair or consult with an HVAC expert on the symptoms you’ve noticed from your furnace during the first few cold days of the year. We look forward to helping you.
The guys in the yellow booties are here for all your air conditioner repair needs, along with expert swamp cooler conversions. Look to the pros if you have any questions about converting to refrigerated air conditioning with SoBellas Home Services of El Paso, Texas. Call us with questions like, how much does refrigerated air cost or anything about El Paso refrigerated air conversion.
Contact SoBellas Home Services today!
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