We understand that many homeowners today are looking for ways to cut down on extra expenses and save money, and also that many people pride themselves on their independence and ability to get jobs done on their own. This is a commendable attitude… but it has limits. There are household jobs that must be left to skilled professionals or else the consequences can end up expensive. You don’t want to try to save money only to cost yourself more money and multiple hassles.
Kool Breeze of Northwest Florida, Inc Blog: Archive for the ‘Air Conditioning’ Category
Why You Should Not Attempt to Install Air Conditioning on Your Own
Monday, June 8th, 20153 Ways That a Zone Control System Will Benefit Your Home’s Cooling
Monday, June 1st, 2015Homes that use central air conditioning hooked up to ductwork are in something of an “all-or-nothing” bind. Each time the AC comes on, every room that has a vent receives conditioned air. Although convenient, it is also wasteful when used on empty rooms. If your house is big enough, there is probably always an unoccupied room or two receiving cooling it doesn’t need when the AC turns on.
But there is a solution to this dilemma: zone control. You can have HVAC professionals install a zone control system into your home that divides up the ventilation network with dampers that can shut off cooling to individual rooms. Through a series of local thermostats and a central thermostat, you can control which areas (or zones) of your home receive cooled air.
3 benefits of a zone control system
- Lower utility bills: It is wasteful spending energy to cool down rooms that don’t need it. If you live in a large house or have rooms, such as guest rooms, that are frequently untenanted, having a zone control system that can shut down cooling to unoccupied areas will create significant savings every month.
- Individual comfort: It’s hard to find a general temperature for a home that will suit everyone in it, since each person’s comfort needs are different. Zone control allows everyone in a home to manipulate the temperature where they are through local thermostats, which helps keep everyone content.
- Even temperature distribution: Sending out cool air to the whole house at once can result in many rooms becoming too cold. However, you can create a program with the thermostats that cools rooms in a sequence that allows for more even temperatures throughout the house. This will create much better comfort levels.
Interested in having zone control installed for your home? Then contact Kool Breeze for service in Fort Walton Beach, FL and throughout Northwest Florida.
Ductless Air Conditioning and Allergy Season
Monday, May 18th, 2015Spring is allergy season, the time of the year when the air is filled with pollen, grass and many other allergens. These airborne contaminants are not only an issue for people who suffer from allergies; they can also cause allergy symptoms in others.
3 Reasons Your Air Conditioning Is Short Cycling
Monday, May 11th, 2015Short-cycling is a condition that occurs when an air conditioner’s compressor turns on and off rapidly, never completing a full cooling cycling. Short-cycling is extremely damaging for an air conditioner, and it affects comfort in a home and raises energy bills. Because the AC uses a large amount of power to turn on each time, short-cycling places enormous stress on the components and will cause electrical costs to skyrocket. And since the AC will not stay on long enough to distribute sufficient cool air through a house, short-cycling will create hot spots in rooms and general discomfort.
What Happens During an Air Conditioning Maintenance Visit
Monday, April 20th, 2015Your air conditioner is a precision machine designed to give you many years—often more than 15—of quality cooling for your family. But as with any precision mechanical device, an AC must have regular inspections and tune-ups to make sure that it continues to run its best and without wasting energy.
Does My Air Conditioner Work to Dehumidify My Home?
Monday, April 6th, 2015Humidity is one the major enemies of hot weather comfort in Florida. Your home will at some point deal with uncomfortably high levels of moisture, which not only makes the heat harder to bear, but can lead to water damage to walls and floors and the growth of unhealthy molds.
You may have heard that an air conditioner helps with lowering humidity. But along with keeping you cool during those hot humid days, does an air conditioner really make a difference when it comes to humidity? Or should you investigate other dehumidifying methods?
Your air conditioner lowers humidity…
When electromechanical air conditioners were first invented in 1902, they were designed with humidity control as much in mind as temperature control. The natural action of the evaporator coil in an AC removes moisture from the air along with heat, decreasing humidity. Your home’s air conditioner does much the same thing while it works. When you occasionally hear the drip of water from the indoor unit of the AC, it’s the sound of the moisture drawn from the air dripping from the evaporator coil down into the condensate pan, where it will be removed.
…but it is NOT a dehumidifier
However, when it comes to dealing with high humidity in a home, an air conditioner is not a solution. Although your AC can help a bit with humidity, modern cooling units are not designed with humidity control as a major function (unless they have dehumidifiers built into them). In fact, during drier weather, an air conditioner can cause the opposite problem and make the air too dry.
If you have excess humidity in your home, you cannot depend on a standard air conditioner to handle the problem. Call for indoor air quality specialists to install a dedicated whole-house dehumidifier into your HVAC system that will give you the proper humidity balance. If your home occasionally encounters air that is too dry because of the air conditioning system, you can also have a whole-house humidifier installed. That way you will receive the ideal humidity conditions around the year.
For trusted work on air conditioning, dehumidifiers, and humidifiers in Navarre, FL and the surrounding areas, call Kool Breeze.
Options to Consider for Air Conditioning Replacement
Friday, April 3rd, 2015For decades, the standard for central air conditioning in homes has been a split system: an AC that runs using an indoor and outdoor cabinet, where the indoor unit absorbs heat and sends the cooled air into a ventilation system, and the outdoor unit exhausts the heat. If your current air conditioning system is nearing the end of its lifespan, you are probably planning to replace it with a similar type of system.
But wait: you have more choices today for home comfort than a basic air-source split system AC. You will find many exciting options at Kool Breeze if you’re interested in something different for your air conditioning replacement in Navarre, FL. We have helped homeowners throughout Northwest Florida receive excellent cooling since 1986. Call us today to schedule an appointment to go over some of your choices for air conditioning:
Heat pump
On the surface, a heat pump appears to no different than a regular split air conditioner: indoor unit, outdoor unit, absorb heat from inside, release it outside. But the heat pump has an exciting difference, which is that it can make the indoor and outdoor units swap jobs. This means it can also bring heat into your house and work as an effective heating system during cold weather. If you are also planning to replace an older furnace in your home along with the air conditioner, a heat pump is a terrific option.
Ductless cooling
Would you like to eliminate the need for ducts in your home entirely because you are planning a remodel or add-on room? Then consider having a ductless mini split installed. Instead of using a single indoor cabinet, a ductless mini split uses multiple smaller air handlers mounted around the rooms of a house. These air handlers connect to the outdoor unit and send cooled air directly into the rooms—no ductwork required.
Geothermal cooling
You don’t need to use the air as a source for heat exchange. You can instead rely on the stable temperature of the ground. A geothermal heat pump absorbs heat from the air inside your house, and then deposits it in the ground using buried loops. Geothermal systems endure for many years and work at superior efficiency to standard ACs and heat pumps, saving you money and helping the environment at the same time.
If any of these choices for cooling interest you, call the team at Kool Breeze today. Let us see to it that your air conditioning replacement in Navarre, FL is professionally done, no matter what system you pick.
Heat Pump Components: The Reversing Valve
Wednesday, March 18th, 2015How do heat pumps manage to provide both air conditioning during the long Florida summer weather and effective heating during the mild winters? A large part of the explanation involves going into the basics of refrigeration and how a standalone air conditioner works. However, the shorter answer is that a component called the reversing valve is what makes a heat pump able to operate as both a heater and an air conditioner.
Because of how critical this component is for the operation of a heat pump, if it malfunctions, a heat pump will end up trapped in one mode or the other. Should you find that your heat pump will not change from heating to cooling mode, or vice versa, then call up Kool Breeze and talk to our repair technicians. They have extensive experience fixing heat pumps in Fort Walton Beach, FL and the surrounding areas, and they will deliver the work necessary to restore your home’s heat pump to full operation once more.
What the reversing valve does
The reversing valve is a valve attached to the refrigerant line that leaves the compressor in the outdoor unit of a heat pump. Inside the valve is a slider; depending on its position, the slide will route the refrigerant leaving the compressor down one set of lines or the other.
When the heat pump is in cooling mode, the position of the reversing valve sends the hot refrigerant from the compressor to the outdoor coils, where it releases heat, cooling the refrigerant. It then travels to the indoor coils, where it absorbs heat and lowers the indoor air temperature.
When the heat pump switches to heating mode, the slider in the reversing valve moves position so that the hot refrigerant leaving the compressor travels first to the indoor coils. It releases its heat, warming the indoor air, then moves to the outdoor coil and absorbs heat before returning to the compressor.
Like any mechanical device, the reversing valve can break down and become stuck in one position. Repairing the problem usually requires replacing the valve entirely, and this is a job you must leave to professionals.
The next time that your heat pump malfunctions and you cannot get it to do both parts of its job, give Kool Breeze a call. We provide comprehensive services for heat pumps in Fort Walton Beach, FL and are ready around the clock whenever you need service.
What Are the Differences Between Heat Pump and Air Conditioning Repair?
Wednesday, September 10th, 2014Heat pumps and air conditioners can seem like very different systems, but the truth is that, in cooling mode, a heat pump is an air conditioner. Contrary to popular belief, air conditioners don’t cool by pushing cold air into a space; they remove the heat and humidity from that space. Heat pumps also transfer heat, which is how they are similar to air conditioners. The main difference between the two systems is that a heat pump can also provide heat. But whether you need heat pump or air conditioning repair in Navarre, FL one thing is for sure: you should call the trained specialists at Kool Breeze for all your AC repairs.
The Differences in Repair
Both central AC systems and heat pumps have a condenser, a compressor and an evaporator, and both use refrigerant. As such, repairs to these parts are the same. The differences have to do with the heating mode, and more specifically, with the components that help with that:
- Problems with the reversing valve – the reversing valve in a heat pump is what allows it to switch modes from heating to cooling. One of the more common problems with the reversing valve is that it can get stuck in a certain position, which essentially freezes the operation of the pump. The valve can get stuck in either one of the modes, or in between. Sometimes a stuck valve can be repaired, but sometimes full replacement is necessary.
- Problems with pressurization – high and low pressure in the reversing valve helps move the slide that switches between heating and cooling modes. Pressure problems are typically triggered by issues with the compressor, a refrigerant leak or a dirty air filter. These problems can alter the pressure and cause problems with operation of the heat pump.
Whether you have a heat pump or a traditional central air conditioner, the most important aspect to any air conditioning repair is to hire a professional with the knowledge and expertise to get the job done correctly. If you are experiencing issues with your AC, call Kool Breeze today and schedule an appointment.
How Do Technicians Know What Kind of AC to Install?
Wednesday, August 27th, 2014If you’ve tried browsing the internet for a new air conditioner recently, you may have noticed the vast array of options available. Central air conditioners come in all different sizes with varying efficiency ratings, and there are many different types of systems available as well, including heat pumps and ductless mini splits. Because you may be unfamiliar with all of these systems, you should choose your air conditioner with the help of a technician. However, when you need air conditioning installation, you want to ensure you get the system that is right for your home, is installed properly, and won’t cost too much money to run and maintain. So how does a technician know what kind of AC to install in your home?
The simple answer is that a technician has years of experience selecting and installing air conditioners. But none of the work can be done without your help. First, the technician must know what kind of unit is already installed in your home. If your current air conditioner is ductless, your best bet will probably be to replace it with the same type of system. Similarly, it would be unnecessary to replace a central air conditioner that uses your homes ducts with a ductless mini split.
Additionally, your technician will ask you questions about your budgetary preferences as well as how much energy you’d like to cut back on every month. If you’ve had a standard central air conditioner in the past, you may choose to replace it with a heat pump, which provides both cooling and heating. If you want to save money every month, you may choose a system with a high SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio).
Finally, a technician must size your home for air conditioning installation. Choosing the proper size involves many factors, including taking measurements of rooms and making additional calculations based on the number of people in the home and other considerations such as the number and placement of windows.
When you want a professional who knows how to ask the right questions, call Kool Breeze today for air conditioning installation in Fort Walton Beach.