Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing Blog: Archive for the ‘Air Conditioning’ Category

Late Season AC Breakdown Warnings!

Monday, October 7th, 2019
ancient-ac

The weather can be odd in October, so it’s wise to be ready for anything, including spikes in the heat. This means your home may need air conditioning services in Gaithersburg, MD before the true cold weather sets in. It’s wise to be alert for warning signs your air conditioner is running into problems. Just because the AC is soon going to go into winter hibernation doesn’t mean you can let problems slide. Any cooling system malfunction needs a fast response to diagnose and repair it. Otherwise, the problem may worsen, cause a rise in utility bills, and shorten the overall system life.

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How Much Power Can an Air Conditioner Have?

Monday, September 23rd, 2019
cold-air

Last month we wrote about how an air conditioning system can be too powerful, or oversized, for a home. An air conditioner that provides excessive tons of cooling for a home will start to short-cycle, turning itself off too early and turning back on soon after. This wastes power and causes the AC to age rapidly toward an early replacement and too many needs for AC repair in Frederick, MD in the meantime.

But whenever people hear about an oversized air conditioning system, a few start to think, “But how powerful an AC can I get? Isn’t there some sort of AC that can ‘super-cool’ my house for the hottest days?”

This is a separate issue from proper air conditioning sizing. Air conditioning systems have limits on how much they can change the temperature inside a home and have these limits for good reason.

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Yes, An Air Conditioning System Can Be Too Powerful

Monday, August 26th, 2019

During an air conditioning system installation, one of the vital steps our HVAC professionals take is to size the new AC. This doesn’t have anything to do with the physical space the unit takes up. It’s about the cooling capacity of the new system. It’s important for an air conditioner to have the right cooling capacity (i.e. “size”) to match the cooling requirements of the house. It must be neither undersized or oversized.

It’s simple to understand why an undersized air conditioner is bad news. An AC that doesn’t have enough cooling capacity to keep up with the comfort needs of a house will run constantly and still not be able to provide sufficient comfort.

It’s tougher to understand how an air conditioner can be too powerful. After all, why not err on the side of too much cooling? The house may need the extra power in an emergency, and at other times the AC can be turned down.

The truth is that an air conditioner that’s too powerful causes as many problems as one that’s underpowered.

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Is Your Home’s Second Floor Too Hot?

Monday, August 12th, 2019

Heat naturally rises, which is something anyone who lives in a two-story house understands. When there’s no air conditioner running, the upper floor of a house will feel hotter than the lower parts of the house.

A central HVAC system sends cooled air throughout a house to the rooms through vents so the cooling is evenly distributed. At least, it should be evenly distributed. But this isn’t always the case. If you’ve noticed that the upper floor of your home is much hotter than normal when the air conditioning is running, it points toward a number of possible problems—but fortunately, they all have solutions if you work with a professional Frederick, MD air conditioning contractor like Tuckers.

Below are some of the reasons for the overheated second floor and what can be done to fix them.

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Electrical AC Issues: A Closer Look at Capacitors and Contactors

Monday, July 29th, 2019

Whenever we talk about why “do-it-yourself” isn’t an option when it comes to air conditioning repair, we mention just how complicated the modern AC is. It’s not only an intricate refrigerant-based system that requires special licensing to handle, it’s also a complex electrical device with motors, wires, a control board, and numerous other electrical intricacies. This is why an HVAC repair technician must have years of training and pass special licensing tests.

Today we’re going to take a look at two important parts of the electrical system inside an AC: the capacitors and the contactors. These are temporary parts that eventually wear down to the point that they’ll need a professional to replace them. If you schedule annual maintenance for your air conditioning system, technicians will catch early on when these parts need to be replaced. But even with this level of care, you may have an air conditioning system that suddenly won’t work because of failed capacitors or contactors.

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Is It Too Late in Summer to Get a New Air Conditioner?

Monday, July 15th, 2019

July is when the peak heat of summer arrives. But that doesn’t mean everything immediately cools down in August and September. This means it’s certainly not too late to have a new air conditioning system installation in Frederick, MD to replace an AC that isn’t handling the heat.

In fact, it’s never too late at any time of the year to have a new AC. Many people choose to have new air conditioning installation in the fall, when it’s easy to schedule the service and they don’t need to worry about going without cooling for a few hours. And if an old air conditioning system is dying, then the right time to have a new one installed is now. The only time when it’s “too late” is when you wait, since it puts you at a higher risk of getting trapped with a completely busted AC.

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A Clogged HVAC Filter Can Cause Terrible Things!

Monday, July 1st, 2019
scared-woman

The blog title might sound melodramatic. Can a clogged HVAC filter cause monsters to attack your house, or minor earthquakes to strike it? No, I won’t do any of that. Not that we’ve seen, anyway, and we’ve been in the business for more than twenty years. But we’ve seen the realistic terrible things that an air conditioning in Bethesda, MD can undergo when running with a clogged up HVAC filter, and we don’t want you to experience any of them.

It’s easy to avoid a clogged filter. All you have to do is remember to put in a fresh filter every one to three months. The frequency of the change depends on filter strength and how often the HVAC system runs, so we recommend you check monthly until you find the right frequency.

Now, to help you remember to do this, we’re going to talk about those HORRIBLE THINGS that a clogged filter can do.

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How Important Is Efficiency for a New AC Installation?

Monday, June 3rd, 2019
air-conditioner-on-leaves

Efficiency in an air conditioner is a simple concept to describe—but it’s far less simple to explain when it comes to how efficiency affects your overall choice of system for an AC installation in Frederick, MD. The details of air conditioner efficiencies can get complex.

But the simple part first: the efficiency of an air conditioner is how well it converts the incoming power (electricity) into outgoing cool air. The more efficient the AC, the less electricity goes to waste in the process of removing heat from a space’s air to cool it.

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How You May Accidentally Waste Energy With Your AC

Monday, May 20th, 2019
air-conditioner-money-saver

The air conditioning system that cools down your home during the summers consumes a large amount of energy each year. There’s no way around seeing an increase in electric bills during this time—the AC’s compressor places a large demand on power whenever it runs.

However, your electric bills may be higher than necessary. It’s not difficult to accidentally waste power with your air conditioner. But it’s also not difficult to identify power waste and stop it. In this post, we’ll list a few of the ways you might waste energy cooling your house during the summer, as well as what you can do to turn it around.

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Options If You Need a New AC Before Summer

Monday, April 22nd, 2019
air-conditioning-collage

Is your home ready for the first true day of summer heat—whenever that may be? We can help see that your current system is in top shape with routine maintenance or air conditioning repair in Rockville, MD.

But repairs and maintenance may no longer be enough. This spring might be when you replace an aging AC that drains too much power and costs too much in repairs. If it looks like it’s time for a new AC (and our technicians can always help you make this choice if you’re unsure), you have several options for a new unit.

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