10 Things on your spring cleaning checklist

The daffodils are peaking through, the thunder storms are rolling, and the layers are coming off… Spring has sprung here in Richmond!

With the equinox comes spring cleaning. There’s never a nicer time to fling open the windows and refresh your home. Often overlooked is a home’s heating and air systems. There is no better time to do a check up on your equipment… The sweltering Richmond summers are a terrible time to find out you need work done!

ENERGY STAR is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) voluntary program that helps businesses and individuals save money and protect our climate through superior energy efficiency. Energy Star has put together a spring checklist to make sure your equipment is in top shape to keep you and yours comfortable and healthy in the months to come!

Maintain your equipment to prevent future problems and unwanted costs. Keep your cooling and heating system at peak performance by having a specialist do annual pre-season check-ups. Specialists get busy once summer and winter come, so it's best to check the cooling system in the spring and the heating system in the fall. To remember, plan the check-ups around the time changes in the spring and fall.

A typical maintenance check-up should include the following:

Check thermostat settings to ensure the cooling and heating system keeps you comfortable when you are home and saves energy while you are away.

Tighten all electrical connections and measure voltage and current on motors. Faulty electrical connections can cause unsafe operation of your system and reduce the life of major components.

Lubricate all moving parts. Parts that lack lubrication cause friction in motors and increases the amount of electricity you use.

Check and inspect the condensate drain in your central air conditioner, furnace and/or heat pump (when in cooling mode). A plugged drain can cause water damage in the house and affect indoor humidity levels.

Check controls of the system to ensure proper and safe operation. Check the starting cycle of the equipment to assure the system starts, operates, and shuts off properly.

Clean evaporator and condenser air conditioning coils. Dirty coils reduce the system's ability to cool your home and cause the system to run longer, increasing energy costs and reducing the life of the equipment.

Check your central air conditioner's refrigerant level and adjust if necessary. Too much or too little refrigerant will make your system less efficient increasing energy costs and reducing the life of the equipment.

Clean and adjust blower components to provide proper system airflow for greater comfort levels. Airflow problems can reduce your system's efficiency by up to 15%.

Actions To Do Yourself:

Inspect, clean, or change air filters once a month in your central air conditioner, furnace, and/or heat pump. Your contractor can show you how to do this. A dirty filter can increase energy costs and damage your equipment, leading to early failure.

Howell’s offers a Comfort Club membership designed to troubleshoot your system for you.  As a member you receive routine maintenance on your HVAC system, discount on repairs, preferred services, and much more. Give us a call today for details!

Enjoy the sun and blooms, RVA!

All About Air Ducts: Post Duct Cleaning Consumer Checklist

How to Determine if the Duct Cleaner Did a Thorough Job

A thorough visual inspection is the best way to verify the cleanliness of your heating and cooling system. Some service providers use remote photography to document conditions inside ducts. All portions of the system should be visibly clean; you should not be able to detect any debris with the naked eye.

Show the Post-Cleaning Consumer Checklist to the service provider before the work begins. After completing the job, ask the service provider to show you each component of your system to verify that the job was performed satisfactorily.

If you answer "No" to any of the questions on the checklist, this may indicate a problem with the job. Ask your service provider to correct any deficiencies until you can answer "yes" to all the questions on the checklist.

Post-Cleaning Consumer Checklist:

General

• Did the service provider obtain access to and clean the entire heating and cooling system, including ductwork and all components (drain pans, humidifiers, coils, and fans)?
• Has the service provider adequately demonstrated that ductwork and plenums are clean? (Plenum is a space in which supply or return air is mixed or moves; can be duct, joist space, attic and crawl spaces, or wall cavity.)

Heating

• Is the heat exchanger surface visibly clean?

Cooling Components

• Are both sides of the cooling coil visibly clean?
• If you point a flashlight into the cooling coil, does light shine through the other side? It should if the coil is clean.
• Are the coil fins straight and evenly spaced (as opposed to being bent over and smashed together)?
• Is the coil drain pan completely clean and draining properly?

Blower

• Are the blower blades clean and free of oil and debris?
• Is the blower compartment free of visible dust or debris?

Plenums

• Is the return air plenum free of visible dust or debris?
• Do filters fit properly and are they the proper efficiency as recommended by HVAC system manufacturer?
• Is the supply air plenum (directly downstream of the air handling unit) free of moisture stains and contaminants?

Metal Ducts

• Are interior ductwork surfaces free of visible debris? (Select several sites at random in both the return and supply sides of the system.)

Fiber Glass

• Is all fiber glass material in good condition (i.e., free of tears and abrasions; well adhered to underlying materials)?

Access Doors

• Are newly installed access doors in sheet metal ducts attached with more than just duct tape (e.g., screws, rivets, mastic, etc.)?
• With the system running, is air leakage through access doors or covers very slight or non-existent?

Air Vents

• Have all registers, grilles, and diffusers been firmly reattached to the walls, floors, and/or ceilings?
• Are the registers, grilles, and diffusers visibly clean?

System Operation

• Does the system function properly in both the heating and cooling modes after cleaning?

FAQs: Why Do Prices Differ from Contractor to Contractor on the Same Unit?

When consumers decide to buy toaster ovens, televisions and trash compactors, the process is typically to go out, check prices and buy the product with the best price. Price shopping makes the purchase easy: the price tells us who to buy from.

But, when it comes to buying a heating and cooling system, price may get you into deep trouble. Many consumers ask us: How can the price be different when all three contractors are quoting the same unit?

The answer is easy and difficult at the same time. Heating and cooling systems are not toaster ovens. They do not just come out of the box, plug in and operate. When a contractor estimates a system, the equipment itself is only 40% to 50% of the price. The balance is in design, labor, parts, materials, warranty, wiring, controls and other components.

So, when the consumer is presented with the price, they must know that a significant portion of the total bill is for things other than equipment. It's a fact that, when there is a difference in price on heating and cooling systems, there is always a difference in the scope of the job.

Consumers must take great care in educating themselves on the contractor and their sales representative, because bottom line, you are not just buying a heating and cooling system, you are buying a contractor. Always buy from the contractor in whom you have the most confidence. Period. Be sure that your contractor gets to know you and takes the time to discover how you live, your comfort problems and your plans for your home. All of this information will help him or her in the process of designing the system that is just right for you.

Still have questions? Feel free to give us a call at (804) 798-1371. We'd be happy to help!