A Reminder Regarding R-22 and Replacing Your Air Conditioner or Heat Pump

December 7th, 2015

Right now, the only thing that starts with “R2” that you’re probably thinking about is R2-D2. We don’t blame you, since we’re excited about the new Star Wars film as well… and it’s opening in only 11 days from now! (Not that we’re counting down or anything.)

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How Geothermal Systems Operate in the Winter

November 30th, 2015

In the classic novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, author Jules Verne sent his three heroes down more than a hundred miles below the Earth’s crust—on foot!—to make fantastic underground discoveries. One of these discoveries was that the temperature did not increase substantially as they went deeper, even though much of the evidence of the day (1860s) indicated a hot core of the planet.

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Yes, Your Geothermal System Needs Fall Maintenance!

November 16th, 2015

Last week on our blog, we addressed why fall maintenance is such a vital task for your home heating system, even in a place with as mild winters as we experience in Florida.

But if you use a geothermal heat pump to provide warmth to your home during the winter, you might think that a fall inspection and tune-up isn’t necessary every year. Let us assure you that it is: most of your geothermal system is buried under the ground of your property, putting it out of your sight, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe from wear and tear and other kinds of damage.

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Why Getting Fall Heating Maintenance Done Is So Important

November 4th, 2015

It’s already November, and that means that colder weather is not far ahead on the calendar. Of course, “colder” is a bit of a relative term here in Florida. We enjoy mild winters compared to most of the rest of the country. However, we don’t escape the chill entirely, and rainy days and clear nights can mean some uncomfortable temperatures when you will need your heating system working.

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AFUE Rating and Furnace Energy Efficiency

October 26th, 2015

Back in July, we wrote a post about the importance of SEER when it comes to determining how energy efficiently an air conditioning system will run. Now that it’s October and people are getting ready for cooler weather, the time has come to think about how efficiently a heating system is going to run. This is especially important in a place like Florida, where heaters don’t run as often: we want to make sure that each time a heating system turns on that it isn’t wasting large amounts of power.

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Are There Other Choices for Central Heating Aside from a Furnace?

October 19th, 2015

If you are considering having a residential heating system installed this fall, either for a new home or as a replacement for an aging heater, then you have more choices available to you than ever before. It’s easy to get trapped into thinking that a furnace, the most popular type of heater in the country, is the only viable option, but it’s simply not true. Furnaces are very effective at what they do, but if you’re looking for a change or you no longer want to rely on gas power, there are some excellent central heating system alternatives. We’ll look at a few of them.

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Geothermal Is a Great Idea for Heating Your Home: Here’s Why

October 12th, 2015

Although we don’t expect to encounter deep chills during the winters in Northwest Florida, we still need to have heating systems ready to help when the weather starts to turn cool. The fall is a good time to start thinking about putting in a new heating system if your home needs one. We’d like to suggest that you consider having a geothermal system installed to help heat your home.

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Heating Question: Is It Time to Replace That Old Furnace?

October 5th, 2015

If the furnace that works to keep your home warm during the short winter seasons in Navarre, FL seems more like a family heirloom than a functional piece of contemporary equipment, then it’s probably long past the time when it should have been placed into retirement and a new furnace put in its place. Unlike wine, furnaces do not get better with age. Although you may think that it’s best to simply let a furnace keep working away until it finally expires, this isn’t a wise course of action, as we discuss below.

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Now Is the Time to Schedule Maintenance for Your Heat Pump

September 28th, 2015

Last month we wrote a post about why your heat pump must have two maintenance visits a year. Most home comfort systems, such as air conditioners and furnaces, only need to have a single maintenance visit annually, either in the spring or the fall, depending on how soon it will need to be in use. Because heat pumps are both heating and cooling systems, they work twice as hard and need tune-ups in the spring and fall so they can make it through the whole year.

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An Important Reason to Have a New Air Conditioner Installed

September 21st, 2015

When the summer season starts to wind down is an ideal time to have an old air conditioning system replaced with a new one. AC technicians usually have less busy schedules when the temperatures start to cool, and they can make easy arrangements to put in the new air conditioner. You’ll then know that the system is ready to go for any of those surprise hot days that can pop up in Florida even during the winter.

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