How to Ease Your Spring Allergies in Your Home

Normally, our intuition tells us to stay indoors when allergies flare up. However, your HVAC system could be harboring irritants that will continue to aggravate your symptoms inside of your home.

If you have allergies or asthma, indoor air pollution can trigger your symptoms. Most people don't realize that indoor air pollution levels are actually much higher than those outdoors — two to five times higher, claim allergists.

Common indoor allergens include:

Mold

Pet dander

Dust mites

Pollen

When these particles become airborne, you can breathe them in and experience an allergic reaction. The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system in your home can both harbor and spread mold and other allergens.

Optimize Your HVAC System

Filters can help minimize exposure to allergens from your HVAC system. Filters can be built into the air ducts in your home, but keep in mind, not all filters are created equally. The effectiveness of filters is measured in something called MERVs [minimum efficiency recording value]. MERVs range from 1 to 20, with 20 providing the highest level of particle filtration.

Types of HVAC Filters

Other things to know about HVAC filters include the following:

Flat panel filters: These filters, put in place by most furnace manufacturers, generally have a rating of one to four MERVs, and are designed to protect the furnace, not improve indoor air quality.

Medium efficiency filters: These pleated furnace filters have a higher surface area and, therefore, filter more particles out of the air. Their MERV rating ranges from five to 13.

High efficiency filters: These filters have MERV ratings of 14 to 16, and remove even smaller particles than pleated filters.

HEPA filters: High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters have MERV ratings of 17 to 20, and are not typically recommended for centralized home HVAC systems unless major — read expensive — updates are made to the system. This is because high energy and HEPA filters can be so efficient that your HVAC system ends up requiring more energy to power the fan that gets air circulating.

Controlling Indoor Allergens: Regular HVAC Maintenance

It is important to change filters regularly — as recommended, or every two months during use — and follow any maintenance instructions recommended by the air conditioner system's manufacturer. If you suspect mold may be growing inside your air conditioning system, you may want to consider having the air ducts cleaned.

If you see mold particles growing near the ducts or on other components of the system or if you smell a musty or moldy odor coming from your vents, consult a duct cleaning professional to check for an accumulation of mold.

Another thing you may want to consider when building a new home or replacing your existing HVAC system is a unit that replaces indoor air with filtered outdoor air.

Give us a call today to schedule a tune up and we can help ease the spring sneezing (inside your home, at least.)

Why Do I Need Maintenance on My Air Conditioner or Heat Pump?

It kinda makes you wonder...

If planned maintenance is such a great idea, why aren't all companies doing it?

Well, we couldn't have asked a better question. Every season, we get hundreds of calls from folks having trouble with their heating and cooling system. From water leaks to low refrigerant levels, the result is always the same: you are inconvenienced!

After the repair, we almost always determine that a regular, "planned" tune-up program could have prevented it. Frankly, the repair is usually triple the cost of a tune-up (which is why many service companies don't promote them very much.) And if the equipment is beyond help, a replacement is about 50 times as much! Starting to get the picture?

So, why not get on a regular heating and cooling maintenance program that includes:

• Twice annual "Energy Savings" tune-ups, cleaning and adjustment
• Priority scheduling (even on our busiest days)
• Discounts on service repairs - 10% off your bill! Every time!
• Energy savings from an efficiently tuned system.
• Each year you renew your membership, you'll earn $50 a year in Bonus Bucks to use toward the replacement of your system.

The benefits continue to pay you! So, stop wondering... and enroll in our Energy Savings Plan today! Call us at (800) 358-4822 today for all the details!

Benefits of Routine HVAC Maintenance

Most of our customers had concerns - like you - with one or more of these...

• Energy bills are too high.
• Indoor Air Quality is poor.
• Too many repair bills.
• Unreliable heating and cooling system (or service!)
• Just not comfortable enough!

Believe me, we know how tough finding a solution to those can be, but fortunately, that's what Howell's happily provides for thousands of Richmond customers.

First, your heating and cooling system is probably the most expensive equipment in your home. Plus, it is responsible for keeping the temperature constant. It also supplies your home "air exchanges" (like breaths for you and me) to keep the air fresh, moving, and healthy.

And lastly, your heating and cooling system is required to do all of these functions simultaneously. Winter and Summer. Night and day. Automatically. All year long.

So, here's what you can expect from a properly tuned heating and cooling system by one of our 'champion' Howell's service technicians:

Reduced Heating & Cooling Costs

Right out of the gate, a properly maintained heating and cooling system will save you money. Guaranteed! One maintenance visit will pay for itself in energy savings. Removing dirt and checking proper refrigerant charge will get your system back to manufacturer's specifications.

Improves Your Energy Efficiency

Your system "eats" energy every time it cuts on - roughly 6 times per hour in mid Summer. An under-performing system can be as high as 8-10 times. Ouch!

Adds Years to Equipment Life

Dirt is the #1 cause of system failure. Dennis, one of our "champion" technicians for the last 25 years, has said that he has seen too many compressors die to the fact that the indoor coil was blocked up with dirt. If you want your system around for when you really need it, or are trying to "squeeze" and extra year or two out of it, then get rid of that dirt!

Keeping You and Your Loved Ones Safe

I don't want to scare you, but an un-maintained fossil fuel burning furnace can be deadly. Each year we read about carbon monoxide fatalities due to unserviced, or poorly serviced, systems.

Improves Indoor Air Quality

Now your system just moves the air throughout the house, right? In part, your filter is responsible for removing the allergens or particulate out of the air stream. However, one important factor can affect Indoor Air Quality, and that is your duct system. Most duct systems we find have about 20-30% leakage. If your duct system is located in a damp, musty crawlspace, or in a hot, humid, and dusty attic, then your duct system is pulling air from those areas into your system, into your home, and bypassing your filter.

The Gift of Foresight

It is not by chance that we have given the name Energy Savings Plan (or "ESP") to our maintenance contract. We want to give you the gift of foresight. A small problem left undetected or uncorrected can domino into bigger, more costly problems down the road.

Let us tune your system that can clean your air, save you on energy, and put comfort back in your personal or business environment... while it saves your system (and bank account!) from early replacement. Visit our website today to find out how you can get a discount on your next tune-up and every other repair from us or to schedule a maintenance visit.