The Effects of a Weighty Snowfall on Your HVAC System

While the Broken Arrow area might get away with just a few inches of snow some winters, a weighty snowfall of several feet isn't unheard of. Learning how snow like this can affect your HVAC system will help you protect the system better when that blanket of white piles up.

Snow Damage

The weight of snow alone is unlikely to damage the outdoor unit of a standard heat pump or AC, but a particularly weighty snowfall can get heavy enough to bring down a window unit or even the wall-mounted outdoor condenser of a ductless mini split. Icicles and snow that build up on roof eaves or branches above your outdoor unit are a more likely cause of damage. These can fall with enough force to crush evaporator fins or any internal component they happen to land on. Moisture from heavy snow is another issue. If the unit freezes over, the expanding ice can deform the fins.

To prevent damage, regularly brush snow off your outdoor unit and shovel it away, but avoid using sharp tools to remove ice. Never cover your heat pump. If it ices over, the defrost cycle should remove the ice. It's fine to cover your AC with a sheet of plywood weighed down by bricks, but never use a cover that holds in moisture.

Blockages

A fuel-burning furnace exhausts carbon monoxide out of the house through an exhaust pipe usually located on the roof or near the foundation. A weighty snowfall can clog this pipe and cause deadly carbon monoxide (CO) gas to flow back into your home. Most furnaces have a safety switch that shuts the system down when there's a blockage, but a partial blockage can interfere with your system's performance without triggering the safety. Stay safe by regularly inspecting your furnace's exhaust and use your hands to gently remove any snow buildup you find.

For more tips on keeping your system safe from a weighty snowfall, talk with us at Air Assurance.

How Much Heat Is Too Much Heat in the Winter?

During those cold winter months, there's nothing better than feeling your heating system turn on to keep you warm and cozy. But what if it produces too much heat? Is that a cause for concern? Let's explore this notion of your house getting too hot in the winter.

The Problem with Too Much Heat in the Winter

It seems silly to consider excessive heat on a cold winter morning or night as a bad thing. However, a house that's overheating when the HVAC system is on is no joke. It will feel uncomfortably hot, and the feeling of sweating every time will make your home feel stuffy. A furnace that's overheating your home also wastes a lot of energy and wears down sooner than it should.

The Causes of Too Much Heat

Several factors can contribute to an overheated home in the winter. For instance, duct blockage and poor fan speed can make hot air linger in your heating system. Therefore, troubleshooting the problem may start with changing the filter in your system — or rather, not doing so if you haven't changed it recently. Alternatively, you may need to open your ducts if you've closed more than 20% of them.

There are several other causes of too much heat that require professional assistance. These include:

• A nonstop system. A furnace that constantly runs without shutting off like it's supposed to will supply too much heat to the rooms in your home. The unit running nonstop may be due to a broken limit switch, a malfunctioning primary control, broken thermostat wiring, or stuck control buttons.

• A faulty thermostat. If the temperature sensor of your thermostat is broken or miscalibrated, then it will have problems reading your home's temperature. It may not detect heat, or it may read your home as being cooler than it actually is, making your heater turn your house into an oven.

Besides causing discomfort, too much heat affects your heating system's components and causes your energy bills to skyrocket. An HVAC professional will help you find the specific reason behind the overheating issue. For more information on fixing the issue of too much heat in the winter, contact Air Assurance. We're Broken Arrow's trusted source for quality HVAC installation and repair.

Tips to Achieve Fireplace Safety in Your Home

Fireplaces and chimneys account for more than a third of home fires involving heating equipment, which makes it critical for you to learn how to keep your fireplace burning correctly and safely. Here are some essential guidelines to ensure fireplace safety.

1. To minimize the buildup of creosote and soot, use dry, well-seasoned wood that's been cut to the right length.

2. Before starting a fire, open the fireplace damper. You may have to use a flashlight or a mirror to look into the chimney to verify that it's open. Keep it open until the fire has been completely extinguished.

3. Avoid overloading the fireplace. A slow, steady burn is safer than a roaring fire. Large fires generate more smoke and can crack your chimney.

4. Don't position newspapers, Christmas trees, furniture, books, and any other flammable object close to the fireplace. In case embers are thrown into the room, you'll want to be sure there's nothing nearby that can catch fire.

5. Never leave a burning fireplace unattended. That implies you should never leave your home or go to sleep while a fire is blazing away.

6. Have a trained chimney sweep inspect and remove obstructions like creosote from your chimney before the cold months set in. Creosote buildup can ignite abruptly and cause a chimney fire.

7. Inspect the chimney cap regularly to make sure it's securely attached. If you don't have one, be sure to have one installed to prevent animals or debris from entering your chimney and increase your home's fireplace safety.

8. Carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms are a must-have for fireplace safety. Install and maintain them on every level of your home and outside every sleeping area. Interconnect them so that when one alarm sounds, all the others sound as well.

9. Even a single spark could cause a home fire, so you should always have a fire extinguisher close to the fireplace to augment fireplace safety.

These fireplace safety rules will help you keep your family and home comfortable and safe this winter. For all your heating and cooling needs in the Broken Arrow area, don't hesitate to contact the professionals at Air Assurance.

How to Properly Winterize Your HVAC

With the arrival of colder weather in the Broken Arrow area, it's time to get your home's HVAC system ready for the coming winter. You can ensure your family's comfort, and protect the system's various components from damage by taking these steps to winterize your HVAC now:

Promote Good Airflow and Air Quality

There are some simple tasks that you can tackle to prevent airflow restrictions and boost air quality when the heating system is running. Replace the HVAC air filter first, then clean the vents throughout your house by removing and wiping down the covers and vacuuming inside each duct opening. Make sure your registers are fully open too, and that nothing is blocking the return air grilles.

Protect the Outdoor Component

If you have a central split-system air conditioner, you'll want to shut down the outdoor unit so it won't get harmed if the thermostat accidentally gets switched over to cooling mode during the winter. This is easy to do by via the breaker in your main electrical panel, and the switch that's located outside near the unit. To shield the unit from falling ice, place a board or piece of plywood on top, and weigh it down with a brick or concrete block.

Clean Up Around the Outdoor Unit

Yard debris like piles of dead leaves around the outdoor unit make it more attractive to rodents and other nesting pests. To discourage them from setting up housekeeping, trim back and clear away dead vegetation, then open the cabinet and vacuum/sweep out any accumulated debris from inside.

Schedule Professional Maintenance

Having a certified technician service your HVAC system can give you peace of mind that it's operating safely and efficiently. A pro will inspect and clean the furnace and verify that critical components like the blower, venting, heat exchanger and electrical are in good repair. If you have a heat pump, they'll check the refrigerant level and clean the coils, and make sure that the defrost and back up heat are functioning properly.For more advice about how to winterize your HVAC, contact us at Air Assurance today.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273.

Tackling Cold and Flu Season With Your HVAC

Cold and flu season always coincides with winter, when you're running your HVAC system to keep your home toasty warm. Since the HVAC is operating anyway, why not use it to create a healthier winter living environment? By making some targeted system upgrades, you can tackle the contagions responsible for the flu, colds and other such illnesses. Here are four kinds of HVAC upgrades to consider:

1. Whole-Home Humidifier

It's been proven that the viruses and bacteria sent airborne with a sneeze or cough stay suspended longer when the air doesn't contain much moisture. This means that low humidity directly affects the spread of germs inside your home and increases your likelihood of coming down with common winter illnesses. Having a whole-home humidifier installed on the HVAC system can reduce your family's risk of exposure by adding much-needed moisture to the air.

2. Ultraviolet Light

Ultraviolet (UV) light is used to eradicate bacteria and viruses in many different settings, and it can help sanitize your home's air supply too. An HVAC technician can install a germicidal UV lamp on your heating system's air handler to zap contagions so they don't get recirculated every time the blower fan cycles on.

3. Energy Recovery Ventilator

Controlled ventilation is a great way to exchange stale, unhealthy indoor air with fresher air from outdoors. An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) can do this effectively, and because it also exchanges heat and moisture between the airflow streams, it conserves energy and helps maintain vital humidity as well.

4. Air Purifier

If your HVAC system has standard filtering capabilities, it can only trap larger particles to protect sensitive components from potential damage. Having your HVAC pro install an air purifier on the heating system can boost its air cleaning capabilities, so it tackles illness-inducing viruses and bacteria and improves your indoor air quality. The most effective of these devices can eliminate up to 99.7 percent of microscopic bio-contaminants down to 0.3 microns in size.

To learn more about HVAC system upgrades to combat cold and flu season in your Broken Arrow home, contact us at Air Assurance.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about TOPIC and other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273.