Thursday, October 27th, 2011
I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly been noticing the dropping temperatures over the last couple weeks, and I’ve been rather tempted to turn the heater on. Our heaters doesn’t get a lot of use through half of the year, and frankly, don’t get a lot of thought, either. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does start getting troublesome when we start to forget the central heating maintenance. Not only does the heating and air system start to work less efficiently, the indoor air quality starts to decrease too, even having the potential to be worse than the air outside.
Central heating and air conditioning systems are just like our cars, in the sense that they require regular maintenance to ensure they’re running at their best. When the maintenance is neglected, overall performance starts to go down and the level indoor air pollutants start going up. Over time, a good deal of build up accumulates in the air ducts that carry air throughout the home; including dust, debris, mold, and even germs and bacteria. The only way to clean this stuff out is to go in and clean it out. It’s probably a good idea to have a professional come out and do it for you, since the process can get rather complicated and messy if you aren’t using the correct tools.
Another great place to help increase your indoor air quality and overall central air and heating systems is to check and clean the air filters roughly once a month. The air filters do exactly what they sound like, they filter air, and as a result, they start to get clogged with the stuff that they filter out. Once they’re clogged, they stop working and cause your system to work harder to push through the same amount of air, which in turn increase your utility bills.
One of the easiest ways to help keep quality level of the air inside your home high is by opening windows throughout the house. This may seem a bit counter intuitive, since it is winter and we’re using our heaters to keep out the cold air, but the air outside is typically clean and healthy and could be better for you than the air inside your home. The E.P.A. did a study a few years back that showed the that the average home has an indoor air quality that can be upwards of five times worse than the air outside.
All in all, there are a few different ways to get the best indoor air quality in your home this winter, but the best way of all is through the use of regular central heating maintenance. Making sure your heating system is running in top shape is the best way to ensure that the air it’s pumping is clean, healthy, and best of all, running at a high energy efficiency.
Tags: central air and heating, central air and heating systems, Central heating and air, Central Heating Maintenance, indoor air pollutants, indoor air quality
Posted in Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Monday, August 15th, 2011
With the weather as hot as it has been these past several weeks, it’s no surprise that more of us are spending more and more of our time indoors under the guard of the trusty air conditioner. With all that added time in air conditioned homes, it’s important to make the air quality a priority, and luckily there are a few simple things you can do to help keep the air quality in your home healthy and comfortable.
First, if you haven’t already, you’ll want to clean your air filter about once a month. A dirty air filter not only causes your AC to work harder to pump the same amount of air through your home, but it also makes that air less than what you may expect.
The next place to look is your air ducts themselves. Over time dust, lint and other debris build up in the air ducts and do their part to pollute the air going through them. Dirty air ducts also cause air restriction, making your whole system work harder to pump the air through the ducts. The cleaner the ducts, the better quality air you’ll have and the more efficiently your air conditioning system will run.
Now that you’ve got your air filters and your air ducts taken care of, it’s time to look at an air purification system. It’s a simple little device that’s pretty easy to install and setup, and can usually be done by a professional in little time. The whole things works by emitting high intensity ultra violet light to kill air born bacteria and viruses.
With these three simple steps, you can be well on your way to ensuring your home has a safe and healthy air quality level.
Tags: air quality
Posted in Air Conditioning, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
A dirty air filter is the #1 reason for most HVAC system failures. A dirty air filter doesn’t allow air to pass through it so easily, if at all, and causes additional strain on the fan motor for the air handler. Over time the strain builds up and can cause the air handler motor to fail, causing your system to overheat and ultimately suffer the same fate.
Before it slowly chokes your air conditioning system, a dirty air filter will increase your utility and power bills. Since it’s preventing proper air flow, it’s forcing your fan motor to work harder to achieve the same results, eating up more and more power in the process.
As if eating up money and slowly killing your air conditioning system wasn’t enough, a dirty air filter actually causes air ducts inside your home to get dirty faster. With the buildup of dust and debris comes more opportunity for mold and bacteria to grow, ultimately lowering the overall quality of the air inside your home, as well as possibly having an effect on your overall health.
The point is, there are several reasons why you should keep on top of your air filter. Make sure it is cleaned regularly. Not only will it help increase the overall lifespan of your system, but it will help keep your bills down.
Tags: air conditioning system, air filter, dirty air filter, HVAC system
Posted in Air Conditioning, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
A fair question, to say the least. It’s probably a safe bet to say that most of us have some kind of heating and air conditioning system in our homes, what with the hot southern California summers and deceptively cold winters. Most heating and cooling systems are built to last a while, but not forever. Since one of the last things on our minds is when to replace or upgrade our heating and cooling systems, we decided to take care of this question here on our blog.
So, when should you go about replacing your heating and cooling system? Well, we may not be able to give you a set date, but we can give you a list of some of the signs that your system is nearing its last leg.
First off, if your heat pump or air conditioner is 10 years old, than it’s time to look into replacing it. Even if the components themselves are in good working condition, the system is not nearly as energy efficient as the new ones today, so upgrading to a more energy efficient system can save you bundles on your monthly utility bills.
Another good sign to keep an eye out for is how often your equipment needs maintenance or repairs. If things are breaking more and more often, that it’s probably a good idea to upgrade. Same with if your energy bills have been creeping up. The older a system gets, the less efficient they begin to run and the higher your energy bill gets.
Having uneven cooling or heating throughout your home is another sign that it may be time to think about getting a new system, or at the very least, having your current system looked at and maintenance.
Either way, with the continued advancements in technology, it’s probably a good idea to look into having your system upgraded at least every decade – the money saved in utility bills alone would be more than worth it.
Tags: air conditioner, air conditioning system, heating and cooling systems, indoor air quality
Posted in Air Conditioning, Heating, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
With spring in the air, lots of people will suffer sneezing, swollen eyes and dependence on inhalers, and they’ll buy many allergy medications. What a potentially expensive nuisance.
What causes allergic reactions? 
- Particulates: Ash, dust, dust mites, insulation and pollen.
- Bio-aerosols: Bacteria, fungi, mildew, mold, various spores and viruses.
- Odors or chemicals: Pet or cooking odors, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, gasoline fumes and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as formaldehyde.
- Other: Radon gas and lead
There can be five to 100 times more pollutants found inside your home than in the outside air, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Some statistics: One in three homes includes someone suffering from asthma or allergens. One in four Americans has asthma or allergies. That’s about 60 million people. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), allergies are the fifth-leading chronic disease in the United States among all ages and the third most common chronic disease among children. The two groups who suffer the most from allergies are infants, because their lungs are still developing, and the elderly, because their lung function tends to deteriorate.
How can you protect yourself from all these elements? You could live inside a plastic bubble, but that’s not very practical. More realistically, there are ways to manage pollutants in the home. Portable, freestanding air cleaners are available, but they are often not very effective and can be pricey, costing $350 and more. You could spend more than $1,000 to keep several positioned throughout your home. A leading consumer magazine reported them to be quiet but inefficient.
A better strategy for combating allergy triggers is using your central heating and air conditioning system. The fan in the furnace circulates air through the home. The trick is the filtration in the system. Filters are ranked with a minimum efficiency reporting value, or MERV rating, which measures filters’ efficiency. The rating reflects the size of the
particulates the filter catches. The higher the MERV rating, the more the filter will collect. A MERV rating of 16 is the highest, given to surgery room filters professionally installed by licensed heating-air conditioning contractors.
If you look along the filter aisle at a local home-improvement store, you’ll see a variety of filters. Buyers beware: The filter companies use great marketing. A package might claim the filter is “99% efficient” at collecting particles but may not specify the MERV rating. That’s because more than likely, it hasn’t been rated and will collect only the largest particles.
Those filters can range from $5 to around $30. Again, there’s a lot of marketing involved – they’re out to get your money. If you don’t have a maintenance agreement with a heating and air conditioning company and you don’t want a professionally installed air cleaner, at least get a pleated filter in your system and replace it four times per year, or as often as necessary.
There are many professionally installed air cleaners out there. Do your research to learn what system best meets your family’s needs. Some devices are designed for general surgery, with ultraviolet light air purification; some are rated to simply filter the air enough to keep the HVAC equipment and duct work clean.
Another way to improve indoor air quality is professional duct cleaning. Again, be cautious. “Dateline’s” Chris Hansen reported on companies that cheat customers. Check out companies offering a $59 – $99 special. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That’s a fraction of what a thorough duct cleaning will cost.
Honest companies will do a great job without charging hidden fees. About $350 and up is reasonable, with a worker spending three to four hours per system. After a professional duct cleaning, an air cleaner can be installed to keep debris from building up in the ducts. The MERV 16-ranked air cleaner can eliminate future duct cleaning altogether. Now that’s a savings!
Air scrubbers are another tool for improving indoor air quality. These units have been proven to destroy up to 99.9 percent of all surface bacteria, viruses and germs. Air scrubbers are installed in the air-supply portion of the heating and air system and use a specialized ultraviolet germicidal light wave with a proprietary catalytic process that creates enviro-scrubbing molecules of oxygen and hydrogen. This is just like nature’s outdoor environmental cleaning process. The technology reduces and kills airborne germs, dust and odors.
Whatever strategies and devices you employ, do your research, ask questions – and may you live better and breathe easier.
Tags: Air Conditioning Services, Bio-aerosols, indoor air quality, Odors or chemicals, Particulates
Posted in Air Conditioning Services, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
It’s about time the weather warms up! I was afraid the cold season would linger around like a friend who’s oblivious to the fact that they’ve overstayed their welcome. While the increased temperature will bring more daylight hours and fun in the sun, it will also be bringing with it the need to run the air conditioner to keep things comfortable inside, and now is the perfect time to make sure your air ducts are clean and up for the task.
Would you know if your ducts looked like this?
There’s a lot of stuff that can build up in air ducts over time. Dust, debris, lint and even mold and even insects have all been found inside neglected air ducts, and they can all play an impact on your health, as well as how well your air and heating system operate. Having dirty or clogged air ducts causes a loss in air pressure, making the whole system work harder to push the air around – not to mention that the air itself will contain particles of whatever is building up/growing inside the ducts.
Luckily for you, and anyone living with you, we’re here to help with our professional air duct cleaning services. We can make sure your air ducts don’t look like the one above, but instead look like this.
See the difference?
One of the main reasons why the air quality inside your house can be worse than the air outside is because of what’s being circulated in it. By ensuring your air ducts are clean, you can make the air inside your home cleaner and healthier at the same time.
Tags: Air Duct, indoor air quality, professional air duct cleaning services, Temecula air conditioning service
Posted in Air Duct Cleaning, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
With the country seeming to be more focused on their health and that of their families, you’d have thought that there would be more attention on the quality of the air inside our homes. This, however, doesn’t seem to be the case very much at all.
Apparently, they’re not as important as you thought.
An E.P.A. study done a few years back showed that the air quality in the average home can be up to five, count ‘em, five times dirtier than the air outside. With figures like this, it’s surprising that most haven’t even thought about the air in their home’s be dirty, or unhealthy. Luckily, there are a few easy steps you can take to help the air in your home be as clean and healthy as possible.
First of all, be sure to open your windows. Sounds like common sense, huh? Well, you’d be surprised. One of the main factors in unclean indoor air is that the air doesn’t get circulated enough and begins to stagnate. This is easily solved by opening a few windows and getting some fresh air in.
Another suggestion to increasing the quality of your homes air is to get your air ducts cleaned. If you’re like most people, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “I’ve never thought about having them cleaned before…” If this is you, then you definitely need to have them cleaned. Over time, gunk and debris build up and clog the airways. They also get circulated throughout every room of your home. Oh, and the gunk I mentioned also includes possibly mold and even rodents and other animals, just so you know.
The last bit of advice we can give is to have an air purification system installed. They’re not that complicated anymore, and are pretty easy to obtain. Essentially, it’s an ultraviolet light that kills germs and bacteria in the air before it has a chance to get you sick. In fact, if you were to inhale one of these dead microbes, it would only serve to increase your immunity to them in the future.
Tags: Air conditioning, Air Duct Cleaning, Healthy Indoor Air, indoor air quality
Posted in Air Conditioning, Air Duct Cleaning, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
It is something that we do not really think about too often, something that most of us just assume is naturally clean, but the shocking truth is that the air in your home could be worse than the air outside.
At least breathing the air won’t get me sick, right?
It is wintertime, so what do we do? We close the windows and turn on the heater, of course. While this means warmer winter nights spent cooped up indoors, it also means that the same air is circulated repeatedly, which can lower the air quality in your home over time, and help that winter cold linger a little longer than you would like.
There are a few simple tricks that will help you increase the air quality in your home this winter that we’re going to cover today.
- Household plants – chances are you have one or two of them throughout your home. Having indoor plants are wonderful for increased air quality. Plants thrive on the pollutants that tend to accumulate in your home, all the while letting off clean and fresh air.
- Dusting and vacuuming – keep the dust and small debris in your home down to a minimum. This will prevent dust and other particles from circulating in the air and help keep you and your family healthy during the long, cold winter months.
- Open the windows – when was the last time you opened the windows in your home? Been a little while, has it not? It is never a bad idea to let in some fresh air to flush out the old, stale air you have been breathing for the last few months.
- Get your air ducts cleaned – can you remember the last time you had your air ducts cleaned? If you answered anything longer than six months, than it is time to start thinking about it – anything longer than a year and you are asking for trouble. Over time, your air ducts collect dirt, debris, and even mold. Get them cleaned and see and instant boost in air quality.
Luckily, we are here to help you get the air in your home back up to a clean and healthy level. Give us a call today and see what we can do to help make your winter not only warm and comfortable, but healthy as well.
Tags: air filters, air quality in your home, Get your air ducts cleaned, trusty air conditioner
Posted in Air Conditioning, Air Duct Cleaning, Heating, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Summer seems to be calming down and giving us some pleasant temperatures to enjoy. We may be running our air conditioners less, but we’re still running them, circulating potentially dirty air throughout our homes.
Unclean air ducts can be home to many nasty things like bacteria and mold, dirt, debris, and even insects and rodents. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anything running through my air ducts, and I definitely don’t want something growing in there.
This looks totally safe
The air inside your home might not live up to indoor air quality standards – a study performed by the EPA showed organic pollutants to be 2 to 5 times higher indoors than outdoors. So, what makes the air inside your home so much dirtier than the air outside?
There are a few reasons behind this, one of them being the simple fact that the air inside your home doesn’t get circulated nearly as much as the natural air outside, you know, with all that wind and stuff. Another reason is that nasty stuff starts to build up in air ducts, growing as it goes unchecked. Mold and bacteria are obvious concerns, especially if someone in the house gets sick easily. The constant exposure to mold spores and germs can cause an illness to linger, or for you to just generally feel under the weather for a long time.
You win this time, nature.
There are various indoor air quality tests you can have done to see if the air in your home is good for you or not, allowing you to know whether or not you should look into getting your air ducts cleaned. If you can’t remember the last time your air ducts were cleaned, or think that it may be time, look into our professional air duct cleaning services and get your homes air quality back up to par.
Tags: indoor air quality standards, indoor air quality tests, professional air duct cleaning
Posted in Air Duct Cleaning, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
Friday, July 16th, 2010
So, we’ve come up with yet another way to help with indoor air quality control. We have the routine cleaning of your air ducts, routine air conditioner maintenance, and now a new air purification system by RGF.
And it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
The Guardian Air by RGF is designed to eliminate sick building syndrome risks by reducing odors, air pollutants, VOCs (also known as chemical odors), smoke, mold, bacteria, and viruses. Not only is this new air purification system effective at eliminating a vast majority of pollutants in your home, but it’s easy to install as well. But, how does it work?
Well, the HVAC-PHI cells (what’s used in the air purification system) are easily mounted into the central air and heating ducts where most sick building problems start. When the HVAC system is in operation, the HVAC-PHI cell creates an advanced oxidation process consisting of hydro-peroxides, super oxide ions and hydroxide ions.
That’s all well and good, but what does that actually mean when you break it down from the science jargon into simple English?
Basically, the oxidants this unit creates circulate around your home along with the treated air and neutralize microbials at the source. This means your home will stay cleaner, smell fresher, and be healthier for both you and your family.
Okay, so now we know how it works, but how well does it work? Well, an independent blind study showed that the RGF Guardian Air reduces gasses and odors by 85%, mold by 97%, Bacteria by 99%, and viruses by 99.99%. Sounds like it works pretty well to me!
We have decided to start offering this new product and service to our customers for one simple reason: We are dedicated to the quality of our work and the satisfaction of our customers. We want to help make your home a cleaner, more comfortable place for you and your family.
Tags: air conditioner maintenance, central air and heating, indoor air quality control
Posted in Air Conditioning, HVAC Services, Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off
