How Much Do You Know About Your Air Conditioning Service? | Fort Worth, TX
Photo By gradyreese at istock
The people in Fort Worth, TX, live in warm climates and prefer having air conditioners. To some people, the need for air conditioners may be a necessity while others a luxury. Bearing in mind the expenses brought about by the power to run the air conditioners and added expenses, One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating wants to inform the consumers about their air conditioning service.
What Is Air Conditioning?
Depending on how you understand it, the term air conditioning has a variety of meanings. To begin with, air conditioning means to maintain a suitable humidity in various parts of a house by supplying enough ventilation. An Air conditioner removes micro- organisms, foreign bodies, and dust from air, leaving the room with a fresh touch of uncontaminated air.
This guideline will guide clients and future consumers on what to remember, upon purchasing an air conditioner and why they should use professional air conditioning services.
How Does an Air Conditioner Work?
The main work of your air conditioner is to get rid of the warm air from inside your house to the outside, hence cooling you and your home. Cooling happens when hot air blows through a set of cold pipes known as an evaporator coil. The evaporator coil has a special liquid called a refrigerant that continuously changes from liquid to gas when it absorbs heat from the air. Additionally, an outside coil pumps the refrigerant outside and it gives up the heat, then it changes into its liquid form.
The outside coil is known as the condenser as it condenses the refrigerant from a gas to liquid form. But what moves the refrigerant through the two coils? A pump. This pump is called a compressor and it moves the refrigerant between the coils, to change the pressure of the refrigerant for an easier condensation and evaporation in the appropriate coils. It is worth noting that a motor enables all these processes to take place. For more on how these crucial work you may ask a professional who provides air conditioning service.
What Is a ‘Ton’ Of Cooling
Before the invention of gas refrigeration, preserving blocks of ice signified cooling. Upon the invention of cooling machines, their capacity was rated by the same amount of ice melted daily. From this process, the term “ton” comes from sizing the air conditioning. A ton is the delivery of 12,000 British Thermal Unit (BTU)/ hour of cooling. A BTU is a unit of cooling or heating energy. Remember that a window air conditioner is smaller than a ton and should always be maintained by a professional who provides air conditioning services.
What Goes Wrong?
Most air conditioners depend on several conditions for proper functioning. Majority of them are complex and loaded to meet the needs of the house. Air conditioners have certain amounts of refrigerant called charge. In addition, they have a well set of air flow between the coils. When any of these changes, the process of air conditioning begins to have problems hence the need of an air conditioning service. If your room produces a lot of heat by a lot of people being in the room, or changes in the house, the air conditioner becomes faulty.
When the refrigerant leaks, the capacity of the system lowers. This results in less cooling and not keeping up with the load of work assigned, which calls for air conditioning services. Also, when the airflow at the condenser reduces, the ability to discard the heat outdoors also reduces. This reduction leads to the system going down especially at outdoor temperatures. This observation is also common in dry climates whereby higher airflow helps in lowering airflow hurts. However, this is not the same for humid areas because higher airflows lead to dehumidification, that leads to increase in humidity in the house. When the airflow gets low, the evaporator coil freezes which may weaken and damage the compressor. But if you experience this problem, feel free to contact One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Fort Worth, TX who offer exemplary air conditioning service.
What Those Filters Do
Almost all air conditioning systems possess a filter upstream of the evaporator coil. The filter stream could be allocated at the return grille or in special slots where the duct systems are. They appear to be fuzzy looking or folded like paper. The purpose of the filter is to get rid of particles from the air and the air conditioning system. The more the filters load with particles, the more it increases its efficiency as well as reducing the airflow. When this happens, then it is time to call air conditioning services to change the filters for you. Failure to change the filters leads to reduction of fresh air as well as a source of air pollution. Looking for air conditioning service to replace the filter solves the low flow air challenge for a while, hence invest in a filter that has a Minimum Efficiency Rating Value of MERV 6 or higher.
Maintain the System
Frequent maintenance of your air conditioner is important. While it may look easy doing it alone, getting a profession who knows how to deal with air conditioning service could be much helpful. Brushing dirt and obstructions at the beginning of a cooling service could prevent frequent cases of wearing out. If you need help in maintaining your system, contact One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Fort Worth, TX, for expert advice. When your air conditioner fails to produce much cold air as normal, it could indicate a fault in the refrigerant charge hence the need for servicing.
How to Increase Energy Efficiency
Perhaps you have a home that has leaky ducts. Sealing these leaky ducts is the best thing to do to improve efficiency in a home. This action does not disregard the above discussed points such as having the right coils, changing the filters, and maintaining the perfect airflow and charge. One thing to remember is ensure that the condenser is visible. The visibility of a condenser means that it is not hidden from the sight that the air flows and other substances are not clogging it. When replacing the air conditioner, get an air conditioning service that will guide you on the best there is in the market.
One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating who offers air conditioning services implores its clients to buy an efficient rating duct that has a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER). The SEER 13 is the least efficient you ought to consider but there are higher efficiencies that could be less effective. Your air conditioning service should be able to advise accordingly depending on the climatic conditions. For instance, dry and hot conditions should look at Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) that predicts how well a system works at ultimate conditions. If you live in a hot humid area, then consider how well the unit can dehumidify.
Make Your Load Lighter
If you are out of options on how to improve the efficiency of your conditioner, then load reduction could be the best solution. You can achieve the load reduction by reducing and building the internal generated loads which are simpler for an air conditioner to deal with. Enhancing the building envelope includes things such as;
- Increasing the insulation levels s
- Shading windows
- Reducing air leakage.
Such improvements will only reduce the energy consumed on cooling and heating and may require a good investment and time. When you are advancing your roofing or windows, it is cost effective to consider using highly efficient products. For instance, “cool” roofing, saves up to half a ton of cooling and energy use over a year. It is simple to reduce the reduce the internal loads because you need to;
- Shut off unused electrical appliances such as lights and equipment.
- Shift the appliance use like dryers and washers to when the climate is much cooler.
- Use a local exhaust fan to get rid of humidity from baths and kitchens.
- Buy an Energy Star or an efficient appliance.
Depending on where you are, other techniques can reduce the air conditioner load. Dry climates can use the swamp coolers which provide considerable cooling. Also, you could reduce the load by bringing in large amounts of outdoor air using systems known as night cooling. Always remember to hire air conditioning service to help you with complicated processes.
Ventilate
A lot of emphasis has been put on cooling but the main purpose of an air conditioner is more than cooling. A good air conditioner should ensure it:
- Cleans
- Dehumidify
- Ventilates
- Humidify
- Heat
This purpose is necessary as it prevents health problems and complications. Actually, the second definition of an air conditioner is to provide proper ventilation. Whether you decide to use the windows to provide ventilation or just the air conditioner, enough ventilation is very crucial. Inadequate ventilation leads to indoor contamination that could lead to serious health problems. The illnesses come in handy when the contaminants settle in a room and become comfortable.
One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating who offers air conditioning services insists on having enough ventilation to exchange the air inside a house. Majority of older homes have leaky walls and ducts and they acquire ventilation through these leakage holes. The leakages and infiltration however are not the best approach for ventilation a house, but instead a chance to save money. Some of these new homes have a tight construction hence require a mechanical ventilation to meet the minimum ventilation requirements.
It Is Not the Heat, It Is the Humidity
When you think about air conditioning service, perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is the heat in a room. While this could be a valid reasoning, humidity spurs the need for an air conditioner. Failure to control humidity in a room leads to the growth of molds and other moisture related problems. Moreover, high humidity in a room leads to heat and discomfort in a room. The modern air conditioners cool the heat in the room as well as dehumidifying. It is worth remembering that the dehumidification is incidental to the main job of air conditioners which is cooling. In hot and humid situations, dehumidification that happens could not be enough to maintain the indoor humidity conditions. One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating advises on a 60% virtual humidity at 78F. The extreme dehumidification occurs at mild times of the year when the air conditioner is slower than in hot times. Even so, there are some leading-edge air-conditioning systems that owe to controlling humidity and conventional systems may be insufficient and ends up leading to mold problems. Remember that other high-end systems own an improved dehumidification but when an existing system fails to dehumidify, then you should consider getting a standalone dehumidifier.
What do consumers have to do to resist the urge of humidification?
- Avoid setting your thermostat towards the fan. In this position, the fan is active meaning it is blowing the air all times with or without the presence of a cooling system. This means that a lot of moisture from your system will blow back to the house before it drains out.
- Ensure that you use the exhaust fans when doing any moisture-producing activities such as cooking, washing, and bathing. These activities produce a lot of moisture in a home. Drain that moisture outdoors using a fan.
- Avoid drying clothes indoors unless you have a clothes dryer that exhausts moisture directly outside.
- We advise that clients who use air conditioning service should avoid ventilate cooling or opening windows if it is too humid outside.
The above guideline will help a client and future consumers when they settle on buying an air conditioner. If it is necessary to replace the Air conditioner, look for an air conditioning service that will handle your problem with expertise and diligence. Contact One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Fort Worth, TX, if you are looking for a qualified team to enlighten you more on-air conditioning service.
One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Fort Worth, TX, is among the best technical societies that deals with ventilation, refrigeration, air conditioning and heating. We aim at maintaining the indoor environment productive and comfortable. Our air conditioning services are superb.
Contact us today to get a free estimate.
