Climate Masters Blog

What to Consider Prior to a Pool Heater Installation

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?

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

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

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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What Type of Fuel Is Used with Pool Heaters?

January 29th, 2015

Pool heaters help you enjoy your pool year-round. As a homeowner, you have some choices about how to fuel your pool heater. It’s important to understand what your choices are so that you can make the best choice for you and your home. If you are looking to replace or upgrade your pool heater, a new pool heater installation in Ponte Vedra may offer you the opportunity to consider a new type of pool heater that may be a better fit for your home than your current one. Having expert experience at hand for your installation is an important part of the process, so call the people you can trust: Climate Masters.

Fuel Types

Here are the four main fuel types used with pool heaters:

Electric Resistance Heaters

As the name indicates, electric resistance pool heaters use electricity to heat the water in your pool. The way an electric resistance heater works is by heating an element called the resistor, which resides inside the heater. Water flows through the inside of the pool heater and is warmed by the resistor. The resistor can lose heat quickly during the transfer process, so electric resistance heaters are typically used for small pools, like therapy pools.

Solar Panels

Solar panels can be used to collect heat, which is how they can help heat your pool water. Pumps push the pool’s water into the solar panel where the water is heated; once it reaches a specific temperature, it is pumped back into your pool. It is recommended that you use a back-up system with a solar pool heater for cloudy days.

Gas Heaters

Gas heaters use natural gas or propane to heat the water. Inside a gas heater, a combustion chamber heats coils; the pool water passes over these coils and the heat from the coils transfers to pool water. Gas heaters have been widely-used, but gas can fluctuate in price, which can be of concern to some homeowners.

Heat Pumps

Heat pump pool heaters have become increasingly popular. Heat pumps heat by transferring heat from one location to another. An air-source or water-source heat pump can be used with a pool heater; using a small amount of electricity, these heat pumps transfer the heat they harness from either the air or the water and apply it to the pool water. However, the heating process can be slower using a heat pump than with a gas heater.

As you can see, you have a number of choices when it comes to installing a new pool heater at your Ponte Vedra home.

Need some help with your pool heater? Call Climate Masters today and schedule an appointment with one of our experts.

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What Factors Go into Professional Duct Design

January 22nd, 2015

The ducts in your home are perhaps the most vital components in delivering warm or cool air to your living space when you switch on your home HVAC system. When you turn on the heating or air conditioning system in your home, the air that comes out through the vents must first go through a set of ducts which provide a pathway both towards and away from the indoor air handler.

The air handler is the portion of your heating or AC system that contains all of the vital indoor components involved in conditioning your home, including cooling coils, heating elements, and a blower fan. The blower fan sucks in air through the return grille where it usually first passes through a filter to eliminate particles that could damage the air handler or contaminate the air. It then moves through the ducts and is conditioned at the air handler, where it goes back through the ducts that lead to the supply vents in the home.

A single leak or any fault in duct construction can reduce the amount of heating or cooling you feel in your home. It can also cause your unit to become inefficient, taking far longer to increase or decrease the home’s temperature than it should. That’s why designing an HVAC system for new construction is a job for professionals who will take into account the following factors.

  • Materials: There are actually many different types of materials to choose between in duct design. Most ductwork professionals prefer sheet metal ducts to flexible materials, but this will depend on the conditions in your home.
  • Sizing: Ductwork must be sized according to the size of the home and the heating or cooling capacity of your system. This requires some careful engineering calculations, and ducts that are oversized or undersized may run into a number of problems over time, including poor efficiency.
  • Construction: An expert will take the time to decide on the most efficient layout, usually including few twists and turns to provide the most direct route.
  • Location: The location of the ducts can have quite an impact on the efficiency of your system. If ducts are located in an unconditioned area, heat may transfer into or out of the ducts unnecessarily.
  • Sealing: A professional knows that standard duct tape is not the proper sealant and comes prepared with professional-grade materials and tools.

At Climate Masters, our technicians have experience working with ducts of all sizes, and we’re the place to call for ductwork design in new construction in St. Augustine.

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Ways to Save Money with Pool Heater Installation

January 15th, 2015

As we enter the cooler months of the year, you may be ready, or already have, turned on your pool heater. Pool heaters can be wonderful for you and your pool, but they do cost money to operate; if you are looking for some ways to reduce these costs while enjoying your pool through the winter, you may want to consider these suggestions from our Climate Masters technicians:

Choose a “Green” Pool Heater Type

There are a number of pool heaters that can effectively warm the water in your pool, but there are a couple of types that can do it using less energy. The first type is the heat pump pool heater. Heat pumps work by transferring heat from one location to another and they can do the same with the water from your pool. Heat pumps use no fossil fuels and very little electricity, making them very energy efficient. The second type of pool heater to consider is the solar pool heater. Using a solar hot water collector, this type of pool heater uses the heat from sunlight to warm your pool’s water.

Maintain a Set Low Temperature

While it would be nice to dive into 85 degree water all the time, you can probably be consistently comfortable at more moderate temperatures. Unlike your home’s thermostat, setting a lower temperature on your pool heater and leaving it there can help save on energy usage.

Use a Solar Blanket

Solar blankets, also known as pool blankets or solar pool covers can significantly reduce your pool’s evaporation while also helping to heat the pool water. In fact, the US Department of Energy states that solar blankets can help reduce pool heating costs anywhere from 50-70%.

Maintain Your Pool Heater

During annual maintenance, your pool heater will be cleaned, adjusted and lubricated as needed and tested for performance, keeping it in good working order.

Your pool heater installation in St. John’s County, FL should keep your pool’s water comfortable without breaking the bank. Need help with your pool heater? Call us today!

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Heat Pump or Furnace: Which Is Best for Heating?

January 8th, 2015

If you’re looking for a new central heating system in Florida, there are generally two options for you to choose from: heat pumps and furnaces. A heat pump is a heating and air conditioning system that uses refrigerant to operate. Furnaces are the most common heating systems found in homes in the U.S. When you’re choosing a new system for heating in St. Augustine, FL, it’s best to speak with a professional first. But here at Climate Masters, we’ve put together this guide as a starting point to choosing the best solution for you.

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are praised for their efficiency in both heating and cooling applications. This is because less energy is required to move heat around than to generate it, and a heat pump uses refrigerant to pump heat from place to place. The technology used for this process is the same used in air conditioners, with refrigerant removing heat from the home and dispersing it outdoors. But with a heat pump, the flow of refrigerant can reverse, removing heat from the outside air and bringing it indoors.

Many people recommend heat pumps for home heating in Florida. This is because it seems unnecessary in some cases to have a separate heating and air conditioning system when you can combine these units into one. Furthermore, heat pumps are known to save homeowners money as the years go on.

Furnaces

But a furnace is still a great choice for heating installation as well. This is especially true if you don’t actually need a new air conditioner just yet and if you’ve already owned a furnace in the past. First of all, furnaces are less expensive that heat pumps in most cases. This is an important consideration for homeowners who are worried about the cost of an unexpected heating breakdown. And today’s furnaces are more efficient than ever before. The government requires that furnaces sold in the United States meet certain requirements, including having an AFUE of 80% or greater. The AFUE of your new furnace, short for annual fuel utilization efficiency, may even be well over 90%, whereas furnaces built decades ago had an AFUE closer to 50%, using a lot of energy to heat even a small space.

Still not sure which type of unit is best for your home? Call the heating experts at Climate Masters to find out more information about possibilities for your heating in St. Augustine, FL.

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Why Is My Heat Pump Stuck in Cooling Mode?

January 5th, 2015

You press the “heat” button on your dual-mode thermostat only to feel cool air come from your heat pump. While we may not be as cold as other parts of the country, our nights are getting chilly, and no one wants to add to that chilly air with more chilly air. Why is your heat pump stuck in the cooling mode? Because something has happened with the reversing valve, and you’ll need to call for heat pump repair in St. Augustine.

What Is the Reversing Valve?

The reversing valve is a component that allows your heat pump to change from heating to cooling and back again by changing the directional flow of the system’s refrigerant. The reversing valve is a medium-sized metal tube with four nozzles – three on the bottom and one on top. There is also a small electronic component on top of the pump called a solenoid. This component helps push the sliding mechanism inside the reversing valve from side to side as needed so that the refrigerant flow can change direction.

A “Stuck” Reversing Valve

The reversing valve is a complex component, and sometimes it can get stuck, either in a mode or in between modes. There a few reasons why a reversing valve can become stuck:

  • A bad solenoid
  • A refrigerant leak
  • A problem with the dual-mode thermostat
  • An issue with the sliding mechanism

The main reason for a solenoid to malfunction is because one or both of the wires in the component fray or become corroded; the good news is that a solenoid can be replaced. But should a refrigerant leak develop within the valve, the valve will need to be replaced. Thermostats can also suffer from frayed and corroded wiring, and they can also malfunction due to too much dust or dirt on the instrumentation. In a worst-case scenario, the thermostat can also be replaced. Lastly, should the sliding mechanism malfunction, there is no way to repair it and the valve will need to be replaced.

If your heat pump is stuck in any way, call for heat pump repair in St. Augustine. The trained experts at Climate Masters can help with any issue you may have, so call us today!

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12 Grapes for 12 Months: An Unusual New Year’s Tradition

January 1st, 2015

Across the world, many cultures have specific traditions to celebrate the transition from the old year to the new. In the U.S. and Canada, we associate New Year’s with the ball in Times Square, kissing at the stroke of midnight, resolutions, and singing “Old Lang Syne.” But for many Spanish-speaking countries, one of the key traditions has to do with eating grapes as fast as possible.

The “twelve grapes” tradition comes from Spain, where it is called las doce uvas de la suerte (“The Twelve Lucky Grapes”). To ensure good luck for the next year, people eat one green grape for each of the upcoming twelve months. However, you cannot just eat the grapes during the first day of the new year any time you feel like it. You must eat the twelve grapes starting at the first stroke of midnight on Nochevieja (“Old Night,” New Year’s Eve) as one year changes to another. And you have to keep eating: with each toll of midnight, you must eat another grape, giving you about twelve seconds to consume all of them. If you can finish all dozen grapes—you can’t still be chewing on them!—before the last bell toll fades, you will have a luck-filled new year.

Where did this tradition come from? No one is certain, although it appears to be more than a century old. One story about the Twelve Lucky Grapes is that a large crop of grapes in 1909 in Alicante, Spain led to the growers seeking out a creative way to eliminate their surplus. But recent research through old newspapers shows that perhaps the tradition goes back almost thirty years earlier to the 1880s, where eating grapes was meant to mock the upper classes who were imitating the French tradition of dining on grapes and drinking champagne on New Year’s Eve.

It can be difficult to consume grapes this fast, and the lucky grapes of New Year’s Eve have seeds in them, making the job even trickier. (Seedless grapes are not common in Spain the way they are over here.) For people to manage eating all the grapes before the last stroke of midnight requires swallowing the seeds as well and only taking a single bite of each grape.

Oh, there is one more twist to the tradition: you have to be wearing red undergarments, and they have to be given to you as a gift. The origins of this part of the tradition are even more mysterious, and it’s anybody’s guess why this started.

Whether you go for the grape challenge or find another way to ring in New Year’s, all of us at Climate Masters hope you have a great start to the year and a fruitful 2015.

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