Posts Tagged ‘Air Conditioning’

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What Does an Air Handler Do? An AC Question from Gaithersburg

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Your HVAC system is a complex system filled with vital components tasked with keeping you comfortable. One of the most important of those component is the air handler – the device responsible for circulating the heated or cooled air produced by your system through the vents in your home and into each of your rooms.

The air handler is a metal box, usually consisting of a blower and the heating or cooling elements. It might also include dampers and sound attenuators along with an air filtration and humidity control system. The simplest air handlers are designed only to transfer the heated or cooled air to the various parts of your home, while the most advanced devices are designed to perfectly condition and clean that air as it is circulated.

 Types of Air Handler

There are a few different types of air handler as well, depending on the size of the HVAC system and the nature of the heating and/or cooling used. Most homes, for example, use terminal units which consist of just an air filter, blower and coil. This very simple system is all you really need to heat and transmit air through your ductwork.

However, for larger systems, there are also makeup air units which use outdoor air instead of recirculated indoor air. There are also packaged and rooftop units which are designed to be placed outside. These devices are most commonly used for commercial applications when space is limited.

How the Air Handler Works

An air handler’s most basic component is a blower fan. This device is run by an AC electric motor and can be either single speed or variable speed depending on the size and scope of your air handler. The dampers on the fan will control the flow rate of the air going through the blower fan. Most residential blowers are part of the air conditioning or furnace system, while commercial systems often have multiple blowers to maintain steady airflow for a larger space.

Because an air handler passes all of the air that will go through your vents, it is the best place to install high quality MERV or HEPA filters to remove pathogens and contaminants. It is also a good place to install humidity control devices to either raise or lower humidity depending on the time of the year.

Your air handler is an incredibly important component in your home heating and cooling system. Without it, all that heated and cooled air you pay for each year wouldn’t reach you. So, make sure to keep your system in tip top condition. If you need any air conditioning service in Gaithersburg, give Tuckers Air Conditioning & Heating a call at 301-670-0034!

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The Benefits of Ductless Splits AC in Gaithersburg

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Ductless splits air conditioners are designed to eliminate the need for ductwork in a home where space is at a premium. Usually homeowners with older homes – those built before the 1970s – have very little space to work with when it comes to installing the ductwork a traditional central air conditioning system requires. These homes are often heated with radiant boiler systems and have window units to provide cooling in warmer weather. As a result, cooling costs can be extremely high each summer and the house usually isn’t comfortable during these months.

Ductless air conditioning offers a solution to most of these problems. Not only does the technology not require ductwork to be installed; it allows for multiple in-room units on a single compressor and it costs significantly less to operate compared to window AC units.

Ductless System Specifications

Ductless air conditioning systems consist of two major components: a compressor which is placed outside and indoor evaporators. With the use of inverter technology, these systems can support multiple evaporators – usually as many as four to a single condenser. This means you can have a single outdoor unit supporting cooling four separate rooms of your home at the same time.

Each of those indoor evaporators acts as a heat pump, allowing you to both heat and cool the room year round. And because the only connection needed between evaporator and condenser is a single refrigerant line, the installation is much simpler than it would be for a ductwork based central AC system.

Room by Room Benefits

While the primary benefit of a ductless system is the fact that it allows you to install air conditioning in multiple rooms of your house without the need for ductwork, there are other benefits. Not only do you get a much higher energy efficiency rating than you would with traditional window units (many ductless systems are rated at 16 SEER or higher while window units are frequently as low as 10 or 11), but you can control each unit individually. So if a room upstairs doesn’t need to be cooled during the afternoon hours, simply turn off the thermostat in that part of the house and save money.

There are some factors to consider when installing a ductless system. How many rooms do you need cooled? How warm does it get in the summer? Will the system be used for heating in the winter? These are all things you may want to discuss in greater detail with your contractor when you call for an estimate. For more information about having a ductless split air conditioning system installed in Gaithersburg, give Tuckers Air Conditioning & Heating a call at 301-670-0034!

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Bethesda Air Conditioning Repair Tip: The Danger of Refrigerant Leaks

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Your air conditioner is filled with a chemical compound called refrigerant. This substance is what allows your air conditioner to remove heat from and dehumidify your home. It is a necessity, but it is also a dangerous chemical that, if released, can cause damage to the environment and pose health risks to your family.

 Why Refrigerant Is Dangerous

There are many types of refrigerant but most air conditioners use either R-22 or Freon coolant – depending on their age. Newer air conditioners may use R410-A refrigerant, an environmentally safer alternative.

All of these refrigerant types are chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. These chemicals are controlled substances by the Environmental Protection Agency, meaning they must be properly removed and disposed of. Because your air conditioner does not consume any of coolant in operation, it should never need to be refilled unless there is a leak. Such a leak should be stopped immediately due to the immense damage CFCs can do to the environment.

If you suspect a leak, you should call a Bethesda air conditioning professional immediately to inspect your air conditioner.

 Damage to Your Air Conditioner

Beyond the environmental and health issues posed by a refrigerant leak, the biggest problem you will face is damage such leaks can cause to your air conditioner. Low refrigerant levels put undue stress on your compressor and can lead to damage in almost every part of the device.

Not only that but the air conditioner won’t work as efficiently. A 10% loss in refrigerant volume can result in up to a 20% increase in electricity cost to run your air conditioner.

 What to Do in the Event of a Refrigerant Leak

If you suspect a refrigerant leak in your air conditioner, take action immediately. Call a certified Bethesda HVAC technician who can recapture the escaped gasses and seal the leak fast. It is important not just for your safety but for the wellbeing of the environment.

For any repairs to your air conditioning system, give Tuckers Air Conditioning & Heating a call a 301-670-0034!

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Gaithersburg Air Conditioning Question: Why Are Clean Filters So Important for Efficiency?

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Gaithersburg air conditioners cost money to operate – even more when they don’t work at 100% efficiency. So, it is important to perform the various regular maintenance tasks that ensure the system uses as little electricity as possible. The first thing on your list (and the easiest) is cleaning those filters.

Keeping Filters Clean

Gaithersburg Air Conditioning MaintenanceDid you know that you can lower your air conditioner’s energy use by up to 15 percent by just keeping your filters clean? While that might seem surprising, it actually makes a lot of sense when you consider how the filter works.

The filter on your Gaithersburg AC captures dust and debris that is circulated through your system. If you didn’t have a filter at all, the dust and dirt would not only cause problems with some of the mechanical parts of your AC but also reduce your indoor air quality. However, when a filter is clogged, your HVAC system has to work harder to draw air in. Your motor will need more electricity for the same amount of cooling.

It takes very little to clog the filter of an AC unit, especially if it is running 24 hours a day for two or three months out of the year. So, it’s best to check your filters once every 30 days regardless of what type of filter you are using.

Which Filters to Check

The main filter on your AC unit should be checked along with any air handler filters and any air cleaner filters you have installed in your system. Another thing to consider is the condition of your home and the area around your outdoor condenser. If you have pets, lots of plants or your condenser is located in a dusty area, you may need to check and change those filters even more often.

Most filters are located along the return length of the ductwork – sometimes in ceiling ducts and walls, though they may also be located in your furnace’s air handler or inside the air conditioning unit. If you have window units or mini splits, the filters are frequently in the unit.

Clean air filters are important for your health, your wallet and the longevity of your AC system. Stay on top of them and you will save money in more ways than you might expect. If you have any quesitons about how to best maintain your air conditioner this summer, give Tuckers Air Conditioning & Heating a call today!

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Your Frederick HVAC System and Ventilation

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

The vent system in your home is vital to the operation of your Frederick HVAC system. Without successful ventilation, your home won’t have the necessary clean air to keep you and your family healthy. So, what does proper ventilation require and how can you ensure your home has it? Here are some quick tips.

Install the Right Parts from the Start

Proper ventilation should result in even air pressure in your home to avoid problems with gas pilot lights. It should also be as energy efficient as possible and provide clean air through proper filtration and cleaning of the air that comes in. The best way to ensure your home has the ventilation needed to stay comfortable and safe for your entire family is to check the total size of the home and then measure the concentrations of certain pollutants like dander, pollen and smoke. A Frederick air conditioning contractor can provide these services for you. Frederick HVAC Installation

Energy Loss

Ventilation is very important, but it is also important to remember energy loss. Since ventilation obviously involves moving air in and out of your house, you lose some of conditioned air that your is produced by your furnace or air conditioner, which makes them work harder to maintain the temperature.

To solve this problem, you should think about getting an energy recovery ventilator. Energy recovery ventilators transfer heat from one environment to another, so you are able to get fresh air into your home without worrying about raising your utility bills. In the winter, it transfers the heat to from the air going out to the air going in, and in the summer it will do the opposite. Its an excellent way to get great indoor air quality without putting extra strain on your HVAC system.

Supplements to Ventilation

Proper ventilation should not only provide fresh air, but it should also ensure your home has clean air. The air outside may be fresher, but it can be filled with pollutants like pollen, dander and smoke. These should be removed before they get inside and into the lungs of your loved ones. To do this, you need a full sized air cleaning system that removes particles from the air down to 0.3 microns.

HEPA filters can do this, as will electronic air cleaners which can ionize and remove smoke and gas particles. Make sure you discuss filtration and cleaning with Tuckers Air Conditioning & Heating during your next annual maintenance visit.

Photo by SDTeamCanada: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdteamcanada/6023947808/

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Bethesda Literary Festival

Friday, March 30th, 2012

April 20th-22nd is the annual Bethesda Literary Festival. The festival “will host an array of local and national authors, journalists and poets, as well as writing contests and poetry contests” and will feature “fascinating literary personalities who will read their work, talk about their craft and take part in discussions with other writers and audience members. All of the events are free and are held throughout downtown Bethesda”.

Bethesda | Maryland | Tuckers Air Conditioning and Heating

Tuckers Air Conditioning and Heating is proud to provide top quality service to the resident of Bethesda Maryland. If you live in Bethesda, MD, Tuckers is the place to come for all of your heating and air conditioning needs. Whether you’re in need of emergency repairs or you think you’re in the market for an entirely new system, we’ll work with you every step of the way. If you want to make sure your home is as comfortable as possible all winter long, give us a call today.

From the initial inspection, I didn’t feel pressured or oversold.

- Sandra F. in Bethesda, MD

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How Do EER and SEER Work? A Question From Poolesville

Friday, September 9th, 2011

If you’ve looked for a new air conditioner in Poolesville recently, you probably noticed each unit comes with an EER or SEER rating. The former is for room air conditioners and the latter for central air conditioning units. In both cases, the number is a measure of how efficiently the system uses electricity. Effectively, if you buy a system with a high rating, you spend less on electricity. Of course, there are tradeoffs. The higher rated machines tend to cost much more, so as a homeowner, you’ll have to evaluate how much you can spend now and how long it will take to save money from that investment.

How EER and SEER Are Measured

These numbers are required by the government to tell you, the consumer, how many BTUs per hour the device can use for every watt of electricity drawn. The more BTUs a system can use, the better for your bill.

Let’s say you want to buy a 10,000 BTU system to cool your living room and dining room. A pretty standard number for a single room unit is 11, meaning the 10,000 BTU system would use about 900 watts per hour to run at full capacity. We figure this out by dividing the BTUs (10,000) by the watts (900).

There is a lot of math to do here, so many people simply look for a higher number within their price range. But, at what point is the upgrade really worth your extra money?

Choosing the Right Energy Efficiency Rating

The easiest way to describe this is to compare two similar devices with different EERs:

Air Conditioner 1 Air Conditioner 2
BTUs 12,000 12,000
EER 9 11
Watts 1333 1091
Price $300 $450

In this particular case, we can spend more for a device that is the same size but uses less electricity. The question then is whether that increased expenditure will pay off in the short term. Let’s assume each device would be operated for 10 hours per day for 30 days in a typical summer month. That’s 300 hours of operation. If the average cost per kWh in you are is $0.09, it will take 4 hours for the first air conditioner to consume 1 extra kilowatt of electricity equal to an additional $0.09. If your air conditioner runs for four months out of the year, we know that it will operate for a total of 1200 hours. That means:

[(1200 hrs x 242 watts) / (1000 watts/kw) ] x $0.09/kWh = $26

So, you save roughly $26 per year from that high efficiency unit. With a $150 price difference, you will break even after 6 years (though probably sooner if the price of electricity goes up).

If you have questions about which air conditioner is right for you, contact your local AC contractor.

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What Types of Air Conditioning Systems Are There? A Question From Brinklow

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Picking out the right air conditioning system for your Brinklow home can actually involve a lot of steps. There are many factors to consider and you will need to understand how each type of air conditioning system functions to know what will be best in your house. Of course, before you can compare them, you need to know what the different types of air conditioning systems actually are.

Packaged air conditioning systems are probably the type that the majority of people are most familiar with. They consist of an outdoor compressor unit that is connected to an indoor air handler or furnace through ductwork within the house. The air is cooled by the compressor and then blown into the house where it is circulated through the ductwork by the air handler.

Packaged air conditioning systems are appropriate for most residential buildings and they come in a variety of sizes so that it is easy to match one to the size and dimensions of your home. However, these types of air conditioning systems do require ductwork, so if you do not already have it installed in your house, putting it in can add considerably to the overall installation costs.

If you do not want to have ducts put in or if you are only trying to cool a small space within your home, you may want to opt for a ductless split system. These types of air conditioning systems are becoming more and more popular because of their excellent energy efficiency and flexibility when it comes to installation options.

Ductless splits also require an outdoor compressor unit, but this is connected to one or more indoor units through refrigerant lines rather than actual air ducts. These refrigerant lines are much easier and less costly to put in place than ducts are, so mini-split systems can be installed for much less than a packaged air conditioning system in a home that does not already have ducts.

These ductless split systems can include only one or many indoor units. Each of these units is controlled independently of the others, making it possible to maintain different temperatures in different parts of your home.

For larger buildings and commercial spaces, central air conditioning systems are generally the preferred option. They are set up essentially the same way as packaged air conditioning systems but on a much larger scale. However, just like packaged air conditioning systems, central air conditioners rely on ducts to get the cooled air to the various areas of the building.

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Quick Tips to Save Money on Air Conditioning in Comus

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

You’ve probably heard once or twice that the cost of running your air conditioner is more than that of any other single electrical device in your Comus house. That means you’re spending hundreds and possibly even thousands of dollars each and every year to stay cool. It’s well worth the investment as the risk of not having air conditioning is much too high, but there must be ways to cut the costs, right? With careful attention to how your AC operates and when you use, there are some things you can do to slash those costs. Here are a few of the easiest:

  • SEER Matters – What is this magical acronym you hear so much? SEER refers to how many BTUs your air conditioner can produce with a single watt of electricity. A low SEER device therefore uses a LOT more electricity to produce the same volume of cooling as a high SEER device. Since current devices offer SEER of 13 or higher (some are up to 20+), just about any upgrade will save you money relatively quickly if your current air conditioner has a rating of 8 or lower.
  • Program Your AC – If you have a single point analog thermostat, you’re wasting a LOT of electricity. You’re either paying to cool your house while it’s empty or you’re coming home to a roasting hot living space. Purchase a programmable thermostat and set the system to 85 degrees when you’re not home. With timers in most digital units, you can tell it when you’ll be home so that you walk into a cool, comfortable space without having to keep it cool all day long.
  • Use the Landscape to Your Advantage – Instead of relying solely on your air conditioner to keep the house cool in the summer, plant some trees and shrubs around the house to block the sunlight. Simply adding some shade to your property can directly reduce how much heat your home absorbs throughout the day and reduce how much your AC unit needs to work to keep you cool.
  • Ventilate Your Roof – A good third of the heat in your home is absorbed directly through the roof. To keep this heat from affecting the rest of your home, install a roof fan that ventilates the excess energy and keeps the attic at a steady temperature. Less heat up top means less cooling needed down low.

A good air conditioning system is effective no matter what the temperature does, so it’s easy to forget how big your bill will soon be. To avoid an overblown bill, keep an eye on your cooling and follow these simple tips to cut back on use.

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How Does Central AC Work? A Question From Hillandale

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

We pretty much just take the fact of central air conditioning for granted these days in Hillandale. It is present almost everywhere and it is hard to imagine getting through a long hot summer without it. But if you are like most people, you probably do not actually know how central air conditioning works. While you can certainly take advantage of it without understanding it, the basic concept is pretty simple.

Basically, central air conditioning systems are composed of an outdoor unit that typically houses the compressor and condenser and an indoor unit that manages the flow of air throughout your house or other building. This indoor unit is typically either an air handler or a furnace, and it directs the flow of air through a series of ducts that feed into the various rooms of the house.

The cool air originates in the outdoor unit and is blown into the house, gradually absorbing heat as it goes, and that air is then returned to the outdoor unit to be re-cooled. What actually happens in the outdoor unit involves the cycle of a type of refrigerant from a gas to a liquid and back. In the condenser area of the outdoor unit, the pressure on the refrigerant is lessened and it is able to absorb heat from the air returning from the house.

This gas, while warmer than the liquid refrigerant, is still quite cold and acts to cool the air being passed back into the house. As that refrigerant moves along to the compressor area, the gas is converted to a liquid and is forced to release the heat it had been holding. In that way, the air conditioner is able to remove heat from the inside of your house and release it outside.

Your air conditioning system is also generally hooked up to a thermostat, which is what controls when the unit switches on and off. You can set the thermostat at the temperature you would like to maintain inside your house and the thermostat will signal the air conditioner to switch on when the indoor temperature rises above that level. And once the indoor temperature is again below the preset level on the thermostat, the air conditioner will switch off again.

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