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How Often Should You Change Your Furnace Filter, and Why is it Important?

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 16:06:58 GMT

A furnace comes equipped with a filter, which sieves off dust particles, and prevents harmful elements from wandering into your furnace and messing up components. Changing the furnace filter may sound simple – and actually it is, but needs to be done by professionals, as this presents a chance for them to spot any faults in your furnace maintenance.

Check and Clean Your Filter Every 30 days

After installation, check and clean your furnace filter every 30 days. This gives you the chance to see how clogged it is, rid it of dirt, and help the whole appliance work optimally.

Sometimes, you may find it fairly clean, and this should not be a basis to shelve the cleaning schedule. Some seasons bring in more debris in the air. During the dry seasons, trees shed off leaves, and these may be carried along with dust and clog your furnace filter.

Change Your Furnace Filter After 90 Days

Keeping up with your furnace maintenance regularly is not a bulletproof way of keeping your furnace free from debris. For optimal performance, change your furnace filter every 90 days. This is a sure way of keeping your furnace in its best condition and improving the general efficiency of all components in your furnace.

When the filter traps and collects dust and air particles, cleaning the filter may not effectively dislodge all the debris. Changing the filter is the best way of ensuring that your furnace receives good airflow.

Why Changing Your Furnace Filter is Important

Your furnace gets exposed to multiple sources of dirt which can harm delicate components, which can cause it not to output heat efficiently. Some factors make cleaning and changing your furnace filter a priority, including:

1. Pets

Cats and dogs keep your home full of life and love. They however shed large amounts of hair and skin cells, which contribute to the particles trapped by your furnace filter. It is thus wise to change and clean your furnace filter often if you have pets, before the fur clogs the filter, and jeopardizes the whole furnace.

2. Trees

Trees in your yard provide shade and green cover, which improves the curb appeal of your home. They are awesome windbreakers, too. However, when the leaves fall and decompose, small particles will be sucked into your furnace filter. This further makes it crucial to clean and change your furnace filter on schedule.

3. Over-usage

Furnace filters are often linked to your air conditioner as well as your furnace, meaning it will be performing multiple tasks all at once. More dirt will be trapped and collected, meaning that the filter will be clogged faster, increasing the need for regular cleaning and furnace maintenance.

4. Allergies

Dust and fur make up allergens that adversely affect allergic and asthmatic persons. You need to clean and change your furnace filter to rid it off these allergens, since they may cause discomfort or even health issues to those breathing that air.

Keep it Clean!

A furnace needs a clean filter to operate well and shield other components from strain and damage. Cleaning your filter on time, and changing it may save you the trouble of expensive furnace maintenance. Furthermore, it will save you and your family discomforts caused by allergens that may have clogged the furnace filter. If you are having furnace problems call us today !

Signs You May Need Emergency Furnace Repair

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 15:58:06 GMT

Furnaces are invaluable appliances that have, over years, evolved from a luxury into a household must-have. Evenings and winters can be too cold to endure without heat. You need to have a furnace that is in top condition to brace the chilly weather and dispatch cold from your premises. When your furnace has served you for years on end, it is normal to begin worrying when the once loyal and reliable warmth dispenser may stall, leaving you whimpering in the cold.

There are signs that will let you know that your furnace is in need of repair. Regular furnace maintenance is key to determining any impending faults on your furnace that may save you the trouble of resuscitating a dead furnace or overhauling the whole system. However, if you are unlucky enough to have your furnace quit, it is time to call a professional.

When to Seek Emergency Furnace Repair

1. Leaks

A furnace mainly leaks two components: water and gas.

If you get a whiff of the distinct gas smell, it is a sign of incomplete combustion or a leak in your furnace, and it’s a dangerous affair. You need emergency furnace repair ASAP! First call your natural gas provider (such as ATCO Gas) . They will walk you through what needs to be done to keep your family safe and regain heat. Gas leaks are delicate and should be sorted out fast by certified professionals. It is also important for the occupants of the house to vacate while an emergency gets handled. You can employ emergency measures to avert a disaster, which include switching off the furnace, switching off power, and leaving the windows and doors open.

Water leaks are caused by clogging of the condensate. They are not as alarmingly dangerous as the gas leaks but can easily lead to malfunctions in the furnace. These too need an emergency repair and should not be neglected. Your HVAC company should be able to help you with this type of emergency.

2. Sub-par Heating

If you flick on your furnace and instead of receiving the ideal warmth you get less or too much, then something is wrong. It is a sign that your furnace is in need of emergency repair. Sub-par heating can make your home inhabitable, and may not necessarily be insufficient heating, but also higher than required heating. The furnace ought to churn out the right amount of warmth, and any deviation from regular heat production should be a sign that you need to have it repaired or serviced. Emergency furnace repair will restore your appliance to its optimum operating standards, and give you the confidence to withstand cold nights and winters.

3. Malfunctions

When your furnace begins malfunctioning, you may need emergency furnace repair services. Some malfunctions may be age related while others may be a manufacturer issue; and if you are within the warranty parameters, you are eligible for compensation or repair as stipulated in the warranty form. Other malfunctions may be brought by power hitches though. Emergency furnace repair comes in handy when sorting out the cause of the malfunction so it can be repaired to regain heat.

Regular and scheduled maintenance practices shield you from the pain of your furnace stalling on you. They help spot parts that may malfunction and reduce the efficiency of your furnace.

Keep Warm This Winter

Furnaces are the appliances that transform our homes from cold dens into warm homey places. Just like all appliances, they too need regular care and maintenance, which improve the longevity of the machines, and the quality of the service they render. As a furnace owner, you need to be on the lookout to spot any signs that indicate the appliance needs emergency furnace repair. Furthermore, if your furnace has aged gracefully and now is plagued by consistent malfunctions, it may be wise to replace it rather than live in constant fear that it may go cold on you. If you need furnace repair give us a call today!

Keep Your Furnace Running Smooth with These Repair Tips

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:15:43 GMT

Your furnace will definitely be your friend as you experience the chilly evenings of our unpredictable and often harsh St. Albert winters. If however, it isn’t running smoothly, you have every reason to worry. Furnace repair service comes in as a lifesaver and helps restore your rather misbehaving furnace into its optimal working conditions. Over time, just like all appliances in our homes, the furnace can begin misbehaving. This is caused by many things like lack of maintenance or general aging of its components. It is usually characterized by symptom free changes/unnoticeable malfunctions, which later graduate to full-blown inconveniences, along with bulging gas and power bills.

Furnace repair mitigates the afore-mentioned issues and lessens the threat of your furnace going cold on you when you need it most. Below are furnace repair tips that will boost the performance of your furnace and maintain the quality of the service it renders.

Regular Maintenance

Your furnace needs regular maintenance, if you love having heat we want to encourage that you love your furnace. Understand what it might need, allow it be cared for properly vs forgetting it down in the basement. Often times we only refer to our furnace when its time to call a furnace repair technician to come and carry out servicing procedures on your furnace. Regular maintenance may seem unnecessary, but on the contrary, it is a money-saving practice, for it saves you the headache of repairing a broken furnace, can prevent very expensive repairs, helps the furnace age gracefully and most importantly can catch safety hazards which tend to be symptom free. It further saves you from over-consumption of both gas and power, which plague nearly every furnace.

Licensed technicians from authorized firms

You need to have all your furnace repair needs solved by a licensed, authorized and insured professional. These are folks who can discern the problem with your furnace accurately, solve it efficiently so your furnace can resume its services. Legally, they must comply with government regulations to remain employed, safety measures, adhere to minimizing the risks involved and carry insurance.

Premium Parts

A Furnace repair should be carried out to the highest standards possible. One of the biggest drawbacks that face these machines is wear and tear of some components. This calls for replacement with premium parts or OEM parts. A licensed technician will insist on this. These parts play a key role in:

• Better heating in your house.

• Longer service from one unit.

• Raising the resale value of your furnace.

• The smooth functioning of your unit without hitches.

• Preventing a secondary problem due to the wrong part.

In addition to annual mechanical maintenance, investing in a programmable thermostat is a smart way of saving on gas and electricity while ensuring that the furnace heats less when you are not home. A professional who installs your new thermostat should be recommending something that is compatible and ideal for your set up. Wiring, calibration and compatibility play a big role in ensuring you furnace is operating correctly and as efficiently as it can be.

Keep Your Furnace in Tip Top Shape

When you follow the above tips, your furnace will serve you in and out of season. When your furnace is being used, it can be complemented by the use of your furnace fan. This promotes a more even climate between floors, improved air quality and a fan that is happy because it was engineered to run continuously.

If you are having issues and require a furnace repair or are due for your annual mechanical maintenance for your furnace in St.Albert or Edmonton please give us a call and most importantly remember to love your furnace because having heat is not an indication that your furnace is healthy or safe.

Why Should You Know the Phone Number for Emergency Furnace Repair?

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 16:57:04 GMT

One thing that can ruin a perfect evening is a broken furnace. During the winter, it is chilly most of the time! If you lose heat in the dead of winter, don’t panic! Having an emergency furnace repair company’s phone number handy will ensure your no-heat situation is short-lived. Emergency furnace repair technicians are available evenings and weekends to help serve you when you need them the most.

When to Call an Emergency Furnace Repair Technician

Your furnace may be running well and within the warranty period right now. However, like every other machine, it can one day surprise you with a breakdown, so prevention is key. The furnace is a delicate piece of equipment that uses both power and gas to produce heat. Any sign of malfunction needs to be checked promptly by a professional to make sure your furnace continues running efficiently and safely. Here are some signs that you should call for emergency furnace repair:

• A Yellow Pilot Light

It is crucial to check the pilot light of your furnace. If there is a change in color, from the regular blue to a yellow, there is cause for concern. Many people may brush off the color change issue as long as their furnace is functioning okay. This is a mistake, change in light or the wrong look can be an indication of things such as the furnace is producing Carbon monoxide-- a poisonous gas you don’t want in your house or near your family and/or the furnace is burning wrong and can develop more serious problems. As soon as you see a yellow light, it should be your first clue to call a technician to come and service or repair your furnace.

• Dusty Air

A furnace is designed with an air intake that sucks air from outside, filters it before heating it and channeling it into the house. In time, filters may fail to fully do their job and can feed dusty air into your home that can trigger asthma and allergic reactions. Indoor air quality is so important to your family’s health. When your furnace begins blowing in dusty air, it is time to call in the emergency furnace repair technicians.

• Blowing Cold Air

The reason you opted to buy a furnace is to gain heat and warmth during the cold. However, when your furnace begins blowing cold air during the cold season, be aware it is time to call in for an emergency furnace repair. It implies that the heater in the furnace has stopped working. When this happens, call a certified furnace repair technician to come and take a look. They will have the tools and expertise to diagnose and repair the issue. It may be tempting to hit the internet and Google some DIY hacks to attempt the repair yourself. Don’t do it, this can be dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. Leave it up to the professionals.

• Change of Cycling Patterns

The thermostat is responsible for the furnace’s rapid cycling. If your furnace engages in rather rapid cycling patterns, there is likely a problem with the ignition system or an underlying wiring problem. Faulty wiring is dangerous, so make sure to call your emergency furnace repair technician to come and take a look as soon as possible.

Avoid Emergency!

To a new home owner, some of the above warning signs may not sound like they require emergency furnace repair. However, these machines need attention to continue running efficiently and safely. Having an emergency furnace repair number saved in your phone and a relationship with your local HVAC company can help eliminate unnecessary stress. You will be prepared in case of a no-heat or furnace malfunction emergency. If you are having a furnace emergency now, contact us we offer extended hours on evenings and weekends.

Remember having heat is not an indication your furnace is healthy or safe. Love your furnace so it can love you right back. Don’t forget to book your annual mechanical maintenance visits.

Signs and Sounds That You Need to Call A Furnace Repair Professional

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 20:58:53 GMT

Your furnace compliments the AC to keep your house warm during winter and other cold times. However, on matters warmth, the furnace is a stand-alone unit, capable of dispensing heat on command, and making your home habitable. Unfortunately, just like all appliances in your home, the furnace suffers from wear and tear, eats up some of its own parts, breaks down and can develop symptom free safety issues.

If you call a furnace repair professional, they will spend time with the unit to determine the cause of the malfunction, repair and replace the faulty components, and restore the desired functionality of your Furnace. A good professional furnace technician is the ever-desired specialist to handle your unit for they bring along valuable skills, certification and hands-on expertise and experience. You can rest easy, glad that your machine is being attended to by a specialist.

What You Should Be Looking For

There are many signs its time to make the call but here are some examples of why we call a professional for furnace repair.

1. When the Furnace Stops Working.

This probably seems like an obvious one. Your furnace stops working and you call the repair guys. It is best to not google DIY methods to restore the functionality of your furnace but rather to call a pro. A furnace may stop working due to a combination of faults or a breakdown of its components. A furnace repair professional brings along special tools and is also going to determine why the breakdown occurred. This can often be the most valuable part of the visit.

2. Lack of preventative mechanical maintenance

Many believe that a cleaning or inspection is the necessary care their furnace needs. These types of visits are both lacking very important steps your furnace requires annually. A thorough and cost-effective mechanical visit to test the furnace, inspect and test its components, improve how its running and return the specs back to manufacturers settings because nothing mechanical runs like brand new unless its brand-new.

3. A Non-Functional Thermostat

Once you find yourself having to turn up the heat levels, the thermostat may have an issue, for it is responsible for issuing commands to the machine on the amount of heat needed. Replacing a thermostat on your own may sound like a simple task but it can be a safety hazard or may not achieve the best result. Wiring, compatibility, setup and calibration are essential to a thermostat that works well, optimizes the features of your furnace and doesn’t consume more energy then necessary. Call a professional and this will be sorted without any doubt.

4. Blowing Cold Air

The sole purpose of a furnace is to blow hot air into your house and expel the cold. If the machine begins blowing cold air, it implies that some components are not doing what they were tasked with. You should talk to a professional to rectify the malfunction and restore warmth into your house ASAP.

5. Increased Power Consumption

A bulging electricity or gas bill can be a sign that an appliance is faulty and needs maintenance. Chances are, your furnace may be the guilty one this time. This is yet another reason why regular maintenance is beneficial to your furnace or even the possibility of considering replacement depending on the age of the furnace and if plan on staying in the home for a min. of 2 more years.

Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late!

A furnace is too important to be neglected. You may not agree during the summer but when cold weather comes knocking, the importance of this appliance is evident. Ensure your furnace is in tip top shape so your air conditioner can run well in the summer and your home and family can be comfortable and safe during the winter.

We want you to love your furnace so it can love you right back and remember, having heat is not an indication your furnace is healthy or safe. Remember to book your annual mechanical and safety visits each year.

The Top Culprits of AC Service Calls

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Want to know the main reasons we are getting called out to fix air conditioners? Aside from an improper installation being part of the issue, there a few really common reasons behind the problems we fix. Lack of air flow, your Ac needs air like fish need water. Vents and return grilles are the inhale and exhale of your system. Blocking or closing these (even in the basement) suffocates the operation. The filter also affects air flow (a dirty filter or the wrong type). Know what kind of air restriction your system can handle from a filter vs. letting the packaging entice you to buy it. Next, is using it like a van vs. a conditioner.

Many people leave their AC off until they are hot and then turn it on. The hardest job is bringing the home, its building materials and contents, down in temp so allow your AC to do the easiest job (just maintaining). If we’re cold or we want to conserve, turn the thermostat UP not OFF altogether. For most designs, a set point of 20C/70F is the smallest # we should ever set it to (a lower setting is not the solution to cooler and pushes the unit into a danger zone). If a homeowner can follow these guidelines along with an annual mechanical visit, we see a happier, healthier more reliable unit.

Can You Guess What Every One of Our Furnace Breakdowns Had in Common?

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

100% of our emergencies this past heating season were from homes that do NOT have annual mechanical maintenance and almost half of those emergencies could have been prevented if we had been permitted to perform our specific annual routine. Having heat is NOT an adequate indication that your furnace is safe or performing as it should.

A few common problems you could have and not be aware of? gas leaks, carbon monoxide, parts on the verge of breakdown, water infiltration/exposure, unsafe connections, improper combustion & a dirty flame sensor.

An alarming number of emergency calls this year were due to lack of air flow from the furnace filter. If we buy filters based on what the packaging says it can do, we may neglect what our equipment needs. When it comes to filters, expensive doesn’t always mean better, cheap doesn’t always mean bad and not knowing which one is ideal for your system can cause future problems that you may never know were because of your choice of filter.

Our preventive mechanical maintenance visits are first and foremost about SAFETY, LONGEVITY and SAVINGS and cost a small fraction of waiting until the problem arises. Our customers tell us how different our visits feel compared to others they’ve had. You have our HANDS, TOOLS and EYES for 1 or sometimes even up to 2hours...and you’re not on the clock, we bill a flat rate so we can be thorough without you feeling like our time is your money.

The cost of NOT having maintenance performed to the heart of your home will cost much more then you realize. Like an automobile, lack of maintenance leads to depleted safety, longevity and reliability.

When is the best time to have this done? Having your furnace maintained outside of extreme temperatures when the demand for emergencies is low is recommended.

The Best Sale on Furnaces and the Cheapest Air Conditioners

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

As furnace season ends and air conditioning season has yet to begin, this is an interesting time of year for our industry.

Home-owners this time of year, have the ability to deal with a company that isn't back logged with furnace breakdowns or the demands of air conditioning season. If you have wanted to upgrade to a new high efficient furnace or have decided to get air conditioning installed, this is the perfect time to receive great service and attention while making your investment.

The advertised cheapest furnace or the cheapest air conditioner isn't necessarily the best way to save money. Keep in mind a big blow out sale in any industry is intended to bring you into the store. The best price for a new furnace and the cheapest air conditioner is one that is installed correctly and doesn't have reoccurring issues every year, causing inconvenience and added cost to repair.

As the home-owner, you are in charge of deciding who earns your business. A bottom dollar price might be to pull in a new customer or simply to remain competitive. Will you receive the same quality product, proper install and after care? Y ou are likely to be better off in the long run and actually spend less, if price isn't the biggest deciding factor. Choose the business you feel most comfortable working with or the installer with the proper qualifications. Ask them how they add value, what makes them different and if they have any current promotions.

KEEP THIS IN MIND THE NEXT TIME YOU RECEIVE AN ESTIMATE

"When quality and qualification is top priority, value is added in many ways . Paying less and receiving less is not a savings".