Climate Masters Blog: Archive for January, 2014

Advantages of Installing a Pool Heater

Friday, January 31st, 2014

Even with our beautiful year-round weather in Florida, heating your home’s pool is an essential part of enjoying it. Our winters and falls are mild compared to much of the rest of the country, but if you want to get the most from having your own outdoor pool, you’ll need a proper heater to keep the water inviting all through the year. Even during the summer, you won’t have the sun shining down all the time on your pool to warm it up.

Pool heaters are tricky to install, however. It’s not just the actual installation that is difficult, it’s picking the right size of heater to install. Make sure you have a dependable contractor handling your pool heater installation in St. Augustine, FL. Trust to the experience of Climate Masters for all your pool heater needs.

Why You Should Install a Pool Heater

  • Year-round fun: With a properly sized pool heater, you can keep the pool temperature approximately 10° above what it would normally be without a heater—and this can make all the difference when it comes to whether you want to dive right in or just sit on the edge with your legs dangling in. You can even enjoy your pool through the winter.
  • Enjoy the summer evenings: No matter how warm the nights can be during a Florida summer, without the sun a pool will rapidly become colder and less inviting to swim in. A heater lets your pool become the focus of evening activities as well as day time ones.
  • A better return on your investment: Whether you have a heater installed in your pool or not, you’ll still need to spend money on it each month. If you have less chance to swim and enjoy the pool, you’ll get less value from the pool. Adding a heater will end up as a minimal investment because it will let you enjoy the pool much more during the year. If you schedule regular maintenance on your pool heater, its additional costs should stay low, adding to the value you get from your pool. Have your heater properly installed, maintained, and repaired.

Aside from hiring a professional to install your pool heater in St. Augustine, FL, you should have the installation company also handle heating maintenance and repairs. Keeping your pool heater well-maintained is crucial to keeping it working efficiently for you so you really are getting the best return on your investment.

Climate Masters has served St. Johns County since 1988, and we offer comprehensive and quality work on pool heaters for all different sizes of pools. Contact us today to get started on getting the most out of your pool.

For professional heating services in St. Augustine, give us a call and schedule your next appointment with one of our trained HVAC specialists!

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3 Reasons to Call Duct Cleaning Professionals

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

Most homes have ductwork installed for their HVAC system. Even if you use a boiler to heat your home, you probably have a central air conditioner for warm weather that requires ductwork. Because ducts remain mostly hidden from sight, it’s easy to forget that they require regular professional cleaning to keep them free from the dust and other contaminants that can start to develop inside.

Here are 3 good reasons that you should call duct cleaning professionals. And you do need professionals, since accessing your ducts and providing the right level of cleaning and vacuuming power isn’t something you can achieve on your own. Call Climate Masters for any ductwork services in St. Augustine, FL that you need.

1. Increased heating/cooling efficiency and reduced power bills

When ducts begin to develop a layer of dirt and other debris along their inner lining, it increases the airflow resistance. Ductwork designers try to create ducts that have the least amount of friction possible against the flow of air, but dirty ducts interfere with this. As airflow drops, you’ll not only receive less effective heating and cooling, your HVAC system will need to work harder—and that means higher monthly power bills.

2. Increased indoor air quality

The U.S. EPA has identified low air quality as a major health concern in the U.S. On average, you probably spend 85% of your time indoors, and more than half of that time will be inside your home. To keep the air quality of your house at its best, you need to have clean ducts that won’t blow out dust, dirt, dander, pollen, hair, or other pollutants that can cut into air quality.

3. A cleaner home

All that dust sent out from the vents of your HVAC system will do more than lower your air quality. It will also make your house dustier and dirtier in general. If you discover that no matter how much you sweep, clean, and dust, the dust comes back right away, then you probably have a dirty ductwork system.

At Climate Masters, our professionals in service on ductwork in St. Augustine, FL care about your indoor air quality, and we care about the efficiency of your heating system.

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Which Heating Systems Typically Need to be Repaired Most?

Monday, January 20th, 2014

When you are in the market for a new heater, one concern you probably have is system durability. You don’t want to pick a heater that will need repairs routinely; any good heater should only require repairs on rare occasions. So which of the various options on the market is the least reliable, the one most prone to breakdowns?

There’s an easy answer to that, which we will share with you. It’s powerful information, something essential for all homeowners to know so they can avoid this kind of heater at all costs. The staff at Climate Masters feels, however, that we can safely push you away from this system that needs too many heating repairs in St. Augustine, FL without frightening you too much.

So here it is. The heating system that needs to be repaired the most is…

A heating system that doesn’t receive regular maintenance

No, there isn’t an answer like “an electric furnace” or “a ground-source heat pump.” Although some systems have more mechanical parts than others, which puts them at a higher risk of breaking down, proper maintenance levels the field for all heaters. Perhaps the question is better phrased, “Which heating system requires the most stringent maintenance?”

However, all­ heaters should receive annual maintenance. Gas furnaces are perhaps the heaters that benefit the most from these inspections, because it helps avoid possible health hazards. But you shouldn’t develop the habit that you can go slack on maintenance for other types of system. Treat them all the same: schedule maintenance once a year.

Maintenance will prevent repair needs long before they begin, and the tune-up will make sure the heater isn’t running inefficiently and putting stress on the components that might lead to malfunctions. There is no better way to reduce calls for repair technicians than a yearly check-up and tune-up for your system.

On top of the reduction in repairs, regular maintenance will also keep your heater from draining excess power to run. You’ll save money on repairs and your heating bills.

Climate Masters has an excellent maintenance program that delivers you two visits per year: one for your heater and one for your air conditioner. Signing up for the program also provides a 10% discount on parts and labor for most necessary repairs. Talk to us today about our maintenance agreement so regardless of what heater you have, it will be the one that needs the least amount of heating repair in St. Augustine, FL.

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This Is How Your Ducts Are Cleaned

Sunday, January 12th, 2014

Duct cleaning service in St. Augustine, FL is an important part of the regular maintenance on your home. Cleaning the ductwork helps improve your indoor air quality, keeps debris from entering your HVAC system, and reduces the resistance to airflow so you get efficient heating and cooling all year.

Duct cleaning requires the work of trained specialists. It is difficult for a non-professional to access the ducts to properly clean them, and the tools involved are too expensive and complex for amateur use. You can’t just use a commercial spray cleaner and dust mop for this job—and you shouldn’t try to climb into your ducts, no matter how often you’ve seen it done in movies and TV shows!

Professionals are only a phone call away: Climate Masters offers complete duct cleaning services, as well as duct sealing, repair, and replacement.

How professionals perform duct cleaning

Duct cleaning varies depending on what sort of contaminants need removal. At the basic level—clearing out dust and dirt—ductwork involves the use of special high-powered vacuums. The vacuums have long hoses that can snake up into the vents along your ducts. They place whole sections of the ductwork under negative pressure. What this does is dislodge ground-in dirt that would otherwise be too difficult for the air suction in the vacuum to remove. Once the dirt has been loosened, the vacuum can draw up the debris.

To get at contaminants that are even tougher to remove, duct cleaning specialists make use of powerful rotary brushes on long hoses. These brushes loosen dirt without causing damage to the walls of the ducts.

Another useful tool for cleansings ducts are non-toxic sanitizers and deodorizers. These cleaners can eliminate a number of bacterial pollutants inside your ducts without leaving behind a dangerous residue that will waft out of the vents afterwards. This step will help make your ducts almost as fresh as when they were new.

For serious cases of microbiological growth, such as mold (a common problem in Florida’s humidity), duct cleaners can install UV germicidal lights, which destroy the cellular structure of biological contaminants and help prevent their return.

Schedule your duct cleaning today

How often should you have professional duct cleaning? Although ducts will begin to gather dust at different rates, we suggest you schedule cleaning at least annually. If you have noticed signs that the ducts are seriously dirty (dust spreading throughout the house, a spike in energy bills due to the HVAC system, an increase in allergic symptoms) you should have the ducts cleaned as soon as possible.

Let Climate Masters take care of your duct cleaning in St. Augustine, FL. Our range of indoor air quality services will make sure your ductwork receives the treatment it needs.

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