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Noisy Air Conditioner? Try These Helpful Tips

July 26, 2021

When the hot weather hits, you need to run your air conditioner to be able to stay comfortable in your home. But if you’re frustrated because your air conditioner is too loud when you use it, you’ll be happy to know that there are several things that you can do to dampen the sounds. First, you need to determine whether or not there’s something wrong with a particular component of your air conditioner. Later, if there’s nothing wrong and the model is simply loud or in a bad place for noise, there are a couple of tricks that you can use to reduce the noise that you actually hear. Sounds That Indicate a Problem If you hear sounds that don’t seem quite right, you should look into whether or not there might be something wrong with your air conditioner. There are a number of sounds that your model might make if you have something broken on your unit, and each one will make a different sound. For instance, you might hear banging, screeching, bubbling, or ticking sounds. If you’re even just a little uncertain about whether or not there’s something wrong with your air conditioner, you need an experienced technician...

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How To Clean Air Conditioning Unit

June 12, 2021

Cleaning an air conditioner can be daunting, but it is very important. There are a lot of small, fragile parts that you don’t want to accidentally loosen, break, or spray with water or other cleaning fluids. However, cleaning an AC unit doesn’t have to be rocket science, either. Here are a few tips to help you keep your air conditioning unit in tip-top shape. 1. Switch the Power Off This is a no-brainer, but since you only really clean your AC unit every few months, it can also be easy to forget that it’s still running when you start to wipe or spray it. Air conditioners have a lot of moving mechanical parts, including the motor and fan blades. Not only do you risk damaging these parts if you try to clean the unit while it’s operating, but you also risk injuring yourself in the process. 2. Clean the Evaporator Coil Open your AC unit’s door to access the evaporator coil. Depending on the AC model you have, you may have to strip off foil duct tape. You may also need a screwdriver to remove the bolts or screws holding the door in place. You can then use a soft...

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What Size Air Conditioner Do I Need for My Home?

May 15, 2021

Air conditioners usually need replacing after they’re about 12 years old. When you get a new one, it’s important that you get one for the right size for your home. But how do you know what is the right size? British Thermal Units The cooling industry uses British Thermal Units, or BTUs, to rate the cooling capacity of air conditioners. One BTU will raise the heat of one pound of water by 1 degree. Therefore, each BTU an air conditioner produces translates into how much warm air it can remove from your home per hour. Determine Your Home’s Square Footage If you don’t know how many square feet your home is, there are online sources to help. Try your county’s assessor’s webpage. You can also find this information on Zillow. Failing those options, you will need to measure each room of your home and add them together. Multiply by 20 One good rule of thumb is to multiply the square footage of your home by 20. This will give you a general sense of how many BTUs an air conditioner needs to have to properly cool your home. Load Calculation Heating and cooling companies perform a load calculation to determine...

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What Are Energy Efficient Curtains

April 5, 2021

Energy-efficient curtains are something that saves you money on heating and cooling your home. Since heating and cooling your home accounts for half of your energy costs, these curtains are an effective way to save money. What Are Energy-Efficient Curtains? These curtains are drapes that have a lining on the back, which is heavy and sponge-like. The lining blocks the sun in the summer and keeps heat from escaping out the windows in the winter. You can also buy a curtain that goes between the drapes and window to serve the same purpose. Summer Choose a curtain with a light color to prevent the sun from warming your home in the summer. Light colors reflect sunlight rather than absorbing it. You should keep your windows closed when it’s sunny out to reduce the cost of cooling your home. Winter Open your curtains in the winter when it’s sunny out. This will allow the sun to heat your home for free. Close the curtains when it’s not sunny or it’s dark outside to prevent warm air from leaving through your windows. You can save up to 10% on your energy bills by following this practice. Repair Windows To get the most...

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What Are Indoor Air Quality Monitors?

March 19, 2021

If you suffer from allergies, you may be wondering if the air inside your Cleveland home is contributing to your runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, and other symptoms. Unfortunately, the answer is yes, indoor air quality can trigger allergies. Airborne pollutants inside the typical Cleveland home also affect people with chronic health conditions. Does Indoor Air Quality Cause Allergies? People who live with asthma understand that they need to minimize airborne particles inside their homes, but allergies often get overlooked as a reason to improve the quality of indoor air. The same practices that keep you comfortable outdoors should be applied to the time you spend at home. You can reduce your allergy symptoms by: Minimizing contact with substances that trigger symptoms Purifying the air in your home Maintaining proper ventilation How Can an Indoor Air Quality Monitor Help? The first step for reducing allergy symptoms inside your home is to know the extent of the problem. This is where an indoor air quality monitor can help. The device has sensors for different types of airborne pollutants, and you should choose one that can detect substances that trigger your allergies. If you aren’t sure what type of monitor to get,...

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How To Test Indoor Air Quality For Mold

February 18, 2021

Mold spores are a dangerous contaminant that can cause numerous health issues, including things like asthma attacks and severe allergic reactions. You should not take this invisible threat to your family’s health lightly. If you worry about the possibility of mold spores impacting your home’s indoor air quality, you should take action at once to detect and eliminate mold spores. How to Detect Mold Testing for mold is a relatively simple process. Many retailers sell home mold testing kits, which allow homeowners to conduct their own testing. While this may seem like a good DIY project, calling in a pro is a better alternative. Home testing can be tricky as you move from one location to another. Once you test in an environment that is likely to have mold, such as a basement bathroom, it is easy to transfer mold spores from that area to every other area tested, leading to false positives in other locations. can ensure your testing is valid and provide you tailored solutions for your Solon, OH, home. Areas likely to contain mold include: Inside basement walls (behind drywall) Behind your refrigerator Below sinks Inside walls with plumbing lines Inside ventilation ducts Under any flooring that...

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How Does A Variable Refrigerant Volume System Work?

January 5, 2021

While most people have a basic understanding of how heating and air conditioning systems work, few have heard of variable refrigerant volume systems. This type of heating and cooling system is highly efficient and can allow you to set various rooms in your building to different temperatures. The technology behind the system is complex and has been around since 1982. Understanding VRV Technology Most heating and cooling systems have a simple on and off switch and will produce the same amount of warm or cool air, regardless of the conditions. VRV systems work by having several individual units installed in various zones of a building. They are all hooked up to a main outdoor unit. When one of the indoor units needs to heat or cool, it will request refrigerant from the main unit. By having all of the indoor units running individually, it’s possible to fine-tune the temperature of a space. Cool a Building Efficiently VRV systems are much more energy-efficient than traditional heating and cooling systems. Because you won’t heat or cool spaces that don’t need attention, you’ll be able to reduce the overall energy use in a building. Some VRV systems can detect if a room is...

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Are Electric Furnaces Energy Efficient?

December 14, 2020

When you’re searching for a heating system for your Solon, OH, area home, an electric furnace is an affordable option. These systems are ideal for homes without a gas connection. They’re also a good choice if you want a low-maintenance heating system. Here are three features of electric furnaces that make them energy efficient. 1. No Flue In a gas furnace, up to 30% of the heat is lost to waste gases dispersed through the flue. Because electric furnaces don’t burn fuel, they have no flue. The lack of a flue means there’s no wasted heat sent to the outdoors. No flue also means fewer parts to go wrong, repair, or maintain. 2. Variable-Speed Motor New electric furnaces offer variable-speed motors. These motors work at the lowest capacity needed in order to blow warm air across the electrical resistance heating panel. By operating at a lower speed for a longer period of time, they ensure a more consistent temperature in your home and reduce energy usage. 3. Convert Nearly All Input Energy Into Heat Furnace efficiency is measured with the annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) rating developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers. The AFUE...

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Why Furnace Safety Checks Are Important

November 18, 2020

When you have a technician tune-up your furnace, one of the most important things they do is make sure it’s operating safely. By doing so, they’re helping to keep your family safe from carbon monoxide poisoning and fire hazards. A technician will check several things to make sure your furnace is operating as it should. Test Gas Levels The technician will use a combustion analyzer to determine how clean your furnace is burning gas. It measures oxygen and carbon monoxide levels produced by combustion. They use these measurements to improve the performance and safety of your furnace. Cleaning Flame Sensor Your furnace has a flame sensor that determines when the flame should be on. The technician will make sure it’s clean and working properly so your ignition system won’t be stressed. Prevent Overheating Your furnace has a control safety switch that turns it off should it begin to overheat. The technician will trip it to make sure it resets and it’s working correctly. is a company in Solon, OH, that performs furnace tune-ups. The technician will thoroughly inspect your system to make sure it’s operating safely and efficiently. Heat Exchanger Inspection There’s a heat exchanger in your furnace that separates...

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Making the Decision to Repair or Replace your Furnace

October 21, 2020

It’s that time of year again! Time to think about how much we depend on our furnaces/boilers to keep us warm in our homes during the winter months. Did you know that the average furnace will run 2500 hours per year to keep you comfortable in your home? To put this in perspective, it’s like driving your car for 24 hours each day for100 straight days. Without a doubt, your furnace works very hard for many months. What if your furnace were to break down? At KW Lang Mechanical, Inc./Stovicek Heating and Cooling we have been servicing and installing all types and brands of HVAC equipment since 1927. The decision you make regarding repair vs. replacement should be made based on the age of your existing equipment and the cost of the repair. Furnaces from yesteryear were very simplistic and you can count on them lasting 25 years or more – there were not a lot of parts to break. Today’s furnaces are much more energy-efficient and provide better comfort – the drawback is that they will not last as long as the more simplistic furnaces of the past. A similar comparison would be a car from the 1950s or...

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