Climate Masters Blog: Archive for February, 2015

What to Consider Prior to a Pool Heater Installation

Friday, February 27th, 2015

It is no surprise that swimming is such a popular pastime in this part of the country. We are blessed with plenty of hot, sunny weather in which to bask in aquatic delights. However, you may find yourself closing up your pool a bit early, or climbing out before you are ready, when the cooler time of the year arrives. After all, even Florida is subject to chilly temperatures, if not snowfall and subzero nights like other parts of the country. You can get more enjoyment from your swimming pool, though, as well as more usable time with it, by using a pool heater. Should you require a pool heater installation in Fruit Cove, schedule service with the experts here at Climate Masters. We’ll make sure that your system lives up to your expectations and that it functions at optimal performance and efficiency levels.

Before rushing into a pool heater installation, anxious as you may be to have the job completed, it is important that you make a few important considerations. The first of these considerations is just how you plan on powering your pool heater. Generally, homeowners choose to use either a solar, gas, or electric pool heater. Each has its pros and cons. Solar pool heaters are a good option to consider around here, considering just how sunny most of our days are. They can be impeded by cloudy conditions that extend into the night, though, depriving the system of much direct sunlight. Natural gas is another great way in which to power a pool heater. Natural gas is quite efficient and clean-burning for a fossil fuel. However, it does require that you have access to a natural gas main. Electricity is more expensive to purchase than natural gas, but is readily available in just about any area. This makes an electric pool heater a convenient option for many homeowners.

Another factor to consider prior to your pool heating installation in Fruit Cove is just what size of heater you need. You don’t want a pool heater that is going to fail to sufficiently heat your pool, burning through energy and driving up usage costs in its struggle to do so. However, you also don’t want to drop money on a system that is just too big for your needs. When you schedule your pool heater installation with the technicians here at Climate Masters, You’ll have no such concerns. Call now to learn more.

Our team will make sure that your pool heater is of the right size for your home, that it is using the best fuel for your unique preferences, and that it is integrated into your pool with the utmost care.

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Is It Time to Replace Your Air Conditioner?

Friday, February 20th, 2015

We may be experiencing cool temperatures for our area, but soon enough the hot weather will return – is your air conditioner good for another cooling season? Air conditioners tend to break on the hottest of days because this is when they work the hardest. No one wants to get the news that he/she needs to replace a broken-down AC in the middle of summer, so if you left off the last cooling season wondering if your AC was going to make it, it’s probably time to call the experts at Climate Masters and schedule an appointment. Not sure if you are seeing the signs? Here are some factors that may mean it’s time for an air conditioning replacement in St. Augustine:

Lots O’Repairs

Did you have to make a number of repairs to keep your air conditioner in operation last summer? Are you looking at making a large repair this spring just to keep it going? At some point repairs can turn into nursing a system along, and those kinds of costs can add up very quickly – sometimes to the cost of a new system.

Age

How old is your current air conditioner? Age does matter when it comes to whole-home cooling systems, and knowing when yours is going to reach, or has reached, maturity, does make a difference.  The average lifespan for a traditional split system AC is 10-12 years; the average lifespan of a heat pump system is about 20 years. As air conditioning systems age, they become more prone to breakdown, and they may not function as efficiently as they should, which can cost you money.

Poor Performance

Today’s air conditioners are highly energy efficient. This is partly due to SEER regulations that changed in 2006 and also partly because of advancements in technology and product development. If your AC is ten years old or older, you may not be seeing the performance you need from it for two reasons: first, it may not have the minimum SEER number now required, which is 13, and second, it may be reaching maturity. Poor performance issues are uneven cooling, inability to cool sufficiently and higher than normal energy bills.

Scheduling replacement of your air conditioning system in St. Augustine now can put get you ahead of the glut of spring service appointments, so call Climate Masters today!

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Some of the Unusual Movies Released for Valentine’s Day

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

Hollywood has always tried to match movies up to the seasons to draw droves of viewers to the theaters: October is packed with fright-offerings, while the winter holidays skew toward warm and pleasing family films (as well as Oscar hopefuls). Valentine’s Day falls in an odd spot when it comes to the movie release calendar, however, since February tends to be a slower time for the film industry. The studios are as likely to slot strange movies that don’t fit anywhere else in their annual schedules into the Valentine’s Day weekend as they are films with powerful romantic appeal.

So, while the second weekend of February has featured hugely successful romantic comedies like Hitch, The Wedding Singer, and (of course) Valentine’s Day, some truly weird choices have debuted in this weekend as well. And a few have even gone on to tremendous success despite the bizarre match with the holiday. Here are a couple of the odder Valentine’s Day movie releases:

  • Dracula (1931): Yes, this Halloween perennial and the start of Universal Studio’s Classic Monsters actually came out on Valentine’s Day! But perhaps this makes some sense, as the Dracula legend has often received a “doomed lover” approach in the many years since Bela Lugosi made the aristocratic vampire a screen icon.
  • The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Does any film seem less appropriate for Valentine’s Day than this unnerving and sometimes very violent psychological thriller? What’s even more astonishing than the film’s release date is that The Silence of the Lambs eventually nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture, an almost unheard of occurrence for a movie released so early in the year.
  • Daredevil (2003): This Marvel comic adaptation featuring Ben Affleck as a blind superhero does contain a romantic subplot, but the stronger connection to Valentine’s Day may just be that Daredevil wears a bright red costume.
  • A Good Day to Die Hard (2013): The least successful of the Die Hard film franchise, this is an excellent example of a studio dropping a film into a weekend where it doesn’t fit in the hopes that it works as counter-programming. (It didn’t.)
  • Wayne’s World (1992): Now here is an example of counter-programming that clicked with audiences. This comedy based on a Saturday Night Live sketch turned into one of that year’s biggest hits and spawned a sequel.

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day with a trip to the movie theater, or you have your own special plans, everyone here at Climate Masters Heating & Air Conditioning hopes you and your loved ones have a wonderful weekend.

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Two Ways to Get Zone AC

Thursday, February 5th, 2015

Sometimes it can be challenging to make all the areas of your home comfortable with a single thermostat. Certain areas may have more exposure to the sun, making them hotter throughout the day, while other areas may be too cool from a lack of daytime heat gain. But there is a way to tailor the cooling (and heating) throughout your home: zone AC in St. Augustine.

What Is Zone Air Conditioning?

Zone air conditioning, also known as zone control, allows you to divide your home into zones, which can be a single room, a group of rooms or a floor of your house. Each zone has the ability to have its own temperature setting, allowing for customized cooling per zone.

How Can I Get Zone AC?

There are two ways to establish zone cooling in your home:

  • Install a ductless air conditioning system
  • Install a zone control system into your existing ductwork

Ductless AC

A ductless air conditioning system automatically offers you zone control because of the way the system operates: an outdoor unit contains the compressor and condenser, and individual indoor blowers that mount to walls or ceilings. Each blower operates separately, allowing you to set a temperature per blower.

Zone Control System

If you already have a ducted AC system, the way to attain zone cooling is to hire a professional to install a zone control system in your ductwork. This type of system uses motorized dampers to control the flow of air coming through the supply ducts. Before installation, you determine the zones; then the motorized dampers are installed and connected to a main control panel. The zones you’ve chosen are each equipped with a thermostat that is also connected to the control panel. The control panel is responsible for opening and closing the motorized dampers as needed to maintain the temperatures in the various zones.

Zone control can help with energy efficiency and comfort level, and reduce the level of stress on your air conditioning system.

All installations should be handled by a professional, so if you are interested in zone AC for your St. Augustine home, call the experts at Climate Masters today.

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