Climate Masters Blog

How Duct Cleaning Benefits Indoor Air Quality

April 23rd, 2014

“Regular duct cleaning? Is that really necessary?” This is something people often ask when they hear about duct cleaning services. It’s an understandable reaction, since it’s difficult to see the inside of the ventilation system in a home and know the level of dust and dirt contamination inside.

But duct cleaning is necessary every few years, and in some cases every year. It will help you keep a cleaner house. It will reduce airflow friction along the ducts so your HVAC system won’t overwork and drain money. It will prevent debris from entering the cabinet of your AC or furnace and create repair needs. And, perhaps most importantly of all, it will raise the quality of your indoor air.

Cleaning ductwork isn’t a job you can perform on your own; it requires specialists with pro-level tools. For duct cleaning in St. Augustine, FL, call up Climate Masters and our indoor air quality team.

Duct cleaning and indoor air quality

How serious is the quality of your indoor air? The U.S. EPA has identified it as a major health threat. Most U.S. citizens spend 85% of their time indoors, and when you consider how much of that time is inside their own homes, the quality of the air there is of great importance. Since most houses have an effective seal against the outside air in order to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures in winter and summer, there is little fresh air circulation.

Here is where duct cleaning plays an important part. Inside your home, your HVAC system circulates air throughout the rooms, and it will pick up dust, dirt, and other contamination and draw them through the return air vents into the ducts. In this sealed environment, the pollutants will begin to build up and then blow out into your living spaces, lowering the air quality. Skin and eye-irritation, asthma, headaches, and cold and flu-like symptoms are common problems due to low indoor air quality. People with allergies are especially hard hit.

But with regular cleaning of your ducts, you remove one of the major reservoirs that collect the contaminants that cause these troubles. It’s difficult to access the interior of ductwork, and the dirt and dust inside is hard to remove—unless you have professionals take on the job. Using power vacuums and agitation equipment, duct cleaning specialists can make your ducts almost like new.

How often you need to have your ducts cleaned depends on your house and living situation. If you have pets or if people with allergies live in your home, you should consider having cleaning done every year. Many homes will benefit from it every other year. Consult with a duct cleaner about the best schedule for you.

To start right away with duct cleaning (how long has it been?) call Climate Masters. We have the tools and the skill to give you a great duct cleaning in St. Augustine, FL.

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What Makes Air Conditioning Repair Different from Heat Pump Repair?

April 15th, 2014

If you’ve ever had the operation of a heat pump explained to you, then you’ll know how similar it is to an air conditioner. Essentially, a heat pump works the same as an AC—it cycles chemical refrigerant through an indoor and outdoor set of coils, absorbing heat along one coil and releasing it from the other—but with the major difference that a heat pump can change the direction of its heat exchange. An air conditioning system can only remove heat from indoors and deposit it outdoors; a heat pump can also move heat from outdoors and bring it indoors.

Homeowners are sometimes interested in what makes repairs different between the two systems. We’ll look into this and see where the two stand apart as far as fixing malfunctions.

If you need heat pump or air conditioning repair in St. Augustine, FL, come to the experienced team at Climate Masters, where we’ve worked on both since 1988.

The differences in heat pump and AC repair

For the most part, repairing an air conditioner and a heat pump are similar. The compressors, fans, capacitors, and motors work in the same fashion, and replacing these broken components is identical between the two systems.

One of the big differences is that heat pumps contain a key component that air conditioners lack: a reversing valve. This device is attached to the line exiting the compressor; as refrigerant leaves the compressor, it first enters the reversing valve. Depending on whether the valve is in an excited or relaxed state (whether an electric current is flowing through it or not), the refrigerant will either move first to the outdoor coils or the indoor coils. If the refrigerant goes outdoors first, the heat pump will operate in cooling mode; if the refrigerant goes indoors first, the heat pump will operate in heating mode. Should the reversing valve fail, it must be replaced or the heat pump will remain fixed in one mode. Air conditioners do not need this repair.

Heat pumps can develop frost over either their outdoor or indoor coil due to loss of refrigerant, while an AC will only experience this on its indoor coil. The actual repair work is similar in both cases, however.

Another important repair difference: heat pumps work more per year than ACs. If a heat pump is your only method of heating your home, then it will run in both hot and cold weather. With regular maintenance (and a heat pump does require maintenance twice a year, not once) you shouldn’t have too many repairs, but in general a heat pump will have more repair needs than an AC system.

An important similarity: both need professionals to work on them

No matter what problems afflict your heat pump or air conditioning system, they need a trained technician to fix them. Don’t attempt the work yourself or hand it off to amateurs. For heat pump and air conditioning repair in St. Augustine, FL, you can trust in Climate Masters. We have 24-hour emergency service for your convenience.

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What Is Dirty Sock Syndrome?

April 8th, 2014

What is dirty sock syndrome? You may not have heard of it – at least not as it applies to your HVAC system – but it can definitely impact your home. It refers to parts of your air conditioner which smell, and the issues that smell reflects. Air conditioning maintenance in St. Augustine can usually handle dirty sock syndrome, which is a fairly common problem in systems around here. Our climate is made for it, which means it crops up much more often than you’d think.

The professionals at Climate Masters can handle air conditioning maintenance in St. Augustine, which includes dealing with the causes of this smelly syndrome. Call us today. 

Dirty sock syndrome is usually caused by one of two things. The first is the presence of mold, fungus and similar organic compounds within the air conditioner itself. Florida has the humidity to make mold a problem, and when it grows in your air conditioner, it can result in a foul smell that gets blown through you entire house, and this ultimately effects your indoor air quality.  A similar effect can be caused by common household odors, such as pet smells, tobacco smoke and smells from rotting food, which will get circulated throughout the house by your system. In both cases, you’re getting a great big stink every time you try to cool your air.

The solution varies depending on the sort. Molds and bacterial growth are fairly easy to treat. A good maintenance session should clear them out of your system, and regular visits will likely keep them out permanently. In-house odors can be a little trickier, but a service technician can help by making recommendations such as circulating fresh air more regularly, or repositioning certain components such as the laundry or a home gymnasium. More extensive corrections can include installing an exhaust hood in your kitchen, setting up a dehumidifier for your home, and rerouting vents so that they don’t circulate the smells so readily.

Dirty sock syndrome can certainly inspire a few chuckles, but it’s no laughing matter, especially when you’re sitting in the middle of the odor.  If the odor is more than you can stand, then give us a call today. We’ll have it cleaned up and set your air conditioner back on track!

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Preparing Your Air Conditioning Unit for the Summer

March 28th, 2014

We’ve finally reached spring, and although we may still encounter cold days here in St. Augustine during the next month and a half, the summer will leap upon us before we know it with its infamous Florida heat. You’ll switch on your air conditioning, and probably keep it running all the way through September. Make sure that your AC is ready to do the work.

Climate Masters can assist you with preparing your air conditioning in St. Augustine, FL for the heaviest summer conditions. We have helped St. Johns County since 1988 endure the sun and sweat of Florida summer, and with one call to us you’ll be on your way to bolstering your cooling system for the season.

Some Steps of Summer AC Preparation

The most important stage of preparing an air conditioner for long spells of hot weather is a maintenance visit from a professional HVAC technician. Spring is the usual time to have this done, not only because it preps for the summer, but because it’s usually one of the less busy times for technicians. (During the summer, they have numerous emergency calls to attend to.) Air conditioner maintenance checks will inspect the AC to see that all its systems are operating without impending repair needs. The technician will check that you have the correct level of refrigerant, all electrical connections are tight, and no excess dust or dirt is clogging any of the components.

Maintenance will also catch malfunctions that you may not have noticed yet. This is the next important stage of AC preparation: having any repair needs—even small ones—taken care of right away. You do not want to begin the summer with an air conditioner running with a fault that will impair efficiency and may lead to a break down during one of the hottest days of the season.

Finally, make sure to have your air filter changed out so you’ll have a unit free from any contamination that might either lead to debris entering the AC cabinet of a restriction on airflow. For the rest of the summer, change the filter once a month to maintain the best performance from your cooling system.

Start With Maintenance Now!

Call Climate Masters today and talk to us about our maintenance program. We offer two visits per year, one in the spring for your AC and one in the fall for your heater. A friendly technician can give you more details about how we can ready your air conditioning in St. Augustine, FL for the summer.

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Why Duct Repair Is Necessary

March 21st, 2014

Most homes have forced-air system for their heater or air conditioner—often both. With the exception of ductless mini split heat pumps, forced-air systems distribute their heated and cooled air through a set of ducts that lead to vents into rooms. Ductwork can sometimes develops breaks and gaps along their length, and when this occurs it’s necessary to call up a professional duct repair service to seal up any leaks and restore the ducts to their original condition.

We need to emphasize the necessary part of that last sentence. Repairing broken ducts isn’t an option, and you can’t decide to just “live with” a few gaps in your ventilation system. We’ll explain why you need to schedule professional duct repair in St. Augustine, FL as soon as you sense that something has gone wrong with the ductwork in your home.

Climate Masters has the skilled indoor air quality technicians with the right equipment to take care of fixing your ducts so you won’t encounter any of the problems listed below.

Problems That Broken Ducts Cause

  • Heating/cooling system inefficiency: Ducts are designed to form a tight seal along their entire length, from the HVAC system all the way to the ducts. This maintains the air pressure necessary for the flow of the heated and cooled air from the system. Gaps in the ducts will cause a drop in air pressure and loss of temperature. This will not only reduce comfort, but it will place a strain on the HVAC system that will result in higher bills. (In fact, one of the first warnings people receive that they have ductwork breaks is a sudden spike in energy costs.)
  • Dust and dirt infiltration: Breaks along ducts will often open onto closed and unused areas of a home, such as the gaps between walls and crawlspaces. These areas contain large amounts of dust, dirt, and residue left over from construction, and this will be drawn into the ventilation system. This can lead to damage to the heating and cooling system, and it will also cause a drop in the quality of the indoor air. If the air entering the ductwork is humid, it can contribute to the growth of mold and bacteria.

Damaged ducts will rapidly cause a deterioration of your comfort, a rise in your bills, and the many problems that can come from low indoor air quality (which are especially troublesome if there are people in your home with allergies).

Thankfully, duct repair is usually not a difficult task for professionals. Using metallic tape and mastic sealant, ductwork repair specialists can fix up the leaks in the network and return everything to normal in your home.

Don’t try to make repairs yourself, and don’t grab for the duct tape! (Duct tape isn’t meant for ducts anyway.) Call Climate Masters and schedule an appointment with our quality experts in ductwork services in St. Augustine, FL.

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Comparing Centralized Heating Systems to Ductless Mini Split Systems

March 12th, 2014

Ductless heating systems are not new to the HVAC world, but they may seem new to homeowners. It’s only in recent memory that ductless systems shifted from commercial use into homes. Before then, when people wanted heating in their home, they needed central heating like a furnace or a standard heat pump.

As a homeowner, you now face a major choice with your heating: a centralized system that uses ducts, or a ductless mini split. This isn’t an easy decision to make, and finding an answer depends on your future plans for your home, as well as your home’s current condition. But there is help available: call Climate Masters and speak to our specialists in heating. They are experienced with both central and ductless heating installation in St. Augustine, FL. They’ll assist you with making the right choice for your situation.

How Does a Ductless System Work?

For the most part, ductless systems are heat pumps, and work in the same fashion: moving heat from the outside to the inside. (They also reverse direction to deliver cooling.) The difference is the air distribution system. Instead of a central indoor unit and air handler that send the conditioned air through ducts, mini splits have multiple smaller blower units mounted on the room walls, each connected to the single outdoor unit. These units blow conditioned air directly into the rooms.

Centralized vs. Ductless

The main advantage of using centralized systems is that many homes already have ductwork systems in place, even if they use a radiant heater, for their air conditioner. It makes sense for most homeowners to install a centralized heater to make use of this ductwork. For houses with pre-existing ventilation, ductless installation makes the most sense for add-on rooms.

Where does ductless come out ahead? Not to point out the obvious, but ductless mini split systems don’t require ducts, and that carries some major advantages. It means the air won’t pick up the dust and contamination that can gather in ducts, and there are no ducts that require regular cleaning and repairs to seal leaks. Ductless mini splits also permit zone control without requiring any special installation: individual blower units can be shut off where they aren’t needed. This means large energy savings.

Find the Right System for You

Ductless comes with many advantages, and may sound like the superior choice. However, ductless mini splits are probably best for new construction and any home that doesn’t have ductwork already installed. You’ll need to have installation professionals look over your house to determine if ductless or centralized will work better. Call Climate Masters and make an appointment with our St. Augustine, FL heating installation technicians today and find out which wins for your home: ductless or centralized.

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What to Expect with Geothermal Heating Installation

March 7th, 2014

Geothermal heating has become popular during the last ten years because it saves homeowners money on their annual bills, provides reliable comfort levels regardless of the outside temperature, and benefits the environment with its low amount of emissions.

However, some people feel a bit nervous about geothermal systems as a heating option. It’s a big step to take that moves them out of the familiar wheelhouse of furnaces and boilers, and the upfront costs can seem intimidating. They may also wonder if the land they live on will even work with geothermal heating and cooling.

We’re here to help you with some information about what you can expect with installation of geothermal heating in St. Augustine, FL. At Climate Masters we understand that this is a major decision, and you want to make sure it’s the right choice for you. We have the experience to help make your geothermal installation as stress-free and effective as possible.

Geothermal May Not Work For Your Home or Property (Although It Probably Will)

It’s true that geothermal heating won’t work for every home. Sometimes there isn’t sufficient space either horizontally or vertically to lay the underground refrigerant coils, or the landscape isn’t appropriate for heat exchange. However, no heating or cooling system will work for every home, and the majority of homes can have effective geothermal heating installed.

Geothermal Installation is Extensive

The refrigerant coils of a geothermal system must be placed down into trenches around your home at least 6–10 feet deep in order for them to work effectively. The process of drilling can require 3–5 days, with trenching and pipe connections requiring 3–7 days. This doesn’t include the indoor work with electrical connections and necessary duct modifications, or the period of design work beforehand. You’ll need to plan in advance and work with your contractor to come up with a timetable that works for you.

Although Expensive, Geothermal Will Pay Back Its Costs—And More

The time, labor, and materials involved give geothermal installation a higher price tag than installing most other home comfort systems. However, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that a properly installed geothermal heating and cooling system will pay back its original costs in 5–10 years. With an estimated lifespan of 20 years for the indoor heat pump unit and 50 years for the underground coils, you’ll have many years of savings beyond the payback period.

Don’t take chances with inexperienced installers when it comes to heating installations in St. Augustine, FL. Climate Masters has served St. Johns County since 1988, and we can help you get an excellent geothermal installation that will serve you efficiently for many decades. Give us a call today and ask our professional HVAC specialists about geothermal heating.

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Reasons to Install a Dehumidifier in Your Furnace

February 28th, 2014

Florida is infamous for its high humidity, and if you’ve lived here for even a single season you’ll understand why. Humidity causes more than discomfort; however, it can cause problems throughout your home. With the heating installation of a dehumidifier onto your furnace, you can help remove the moisture from the air the furnace circulates through your home—a “whole-home humidifier” solution to your troubles from Florida’s muggy climate.

Having a dehumidifier installed isn’t difficult: you only have to call Climate Masters and ask about our dehumidifier installation in St. Augustine, FL. Our indoor air quality specialists will be glad to tell you about your options and schedule a professional installation that will take care of your home’s humidity problems.

Why Install a Dehumidifier? Here Are a Few Good Reasons:

  • Increased comfort: Humidity makes a house feel stuffy and uncomfortable. Whatever the temperature in your home, humidity will cause you to find it hotter than it should be because the moisture that condenses on your skin releases extra heat.
  • Prevent mold and mildew: High humidity inside a home will promote the growth of mold, mildew, and other bacteria, often in places you can’t see such as your vents. All these pollutants can lead to health troubles like nausea, dizziness, breathing problems, and flu-like symptoms—especially if they are growing in the ducts connected to your furnace. They also will damage building material and create musty, unpleasant odors. A humidifier on your furnace will help keep these contaminants from growing inside your home.
  • Prevent damage to furnishings: High humidity leads to such damage to your home’s décor as peeling wallpaper, warping floor boards, wet spots on the floor and ceiling, and damaged furniture finishing.
  • Alleviation of other health problems: Aside from the issues with mildew, high humidity can contribute to trouble sleeping, asthma, and increased problems with allergies.

You Need a Whole-House Dehumidifier

Although you can purchase portable dehumidifiers for single rooms, these are only useful to combat mild problems in part of the house. To effectively reduce the humidity throughout your home, without making the air too dry, you should have a professional install a whole-house dehumidifier onto your furnace. Make sure you have the dehumidifier serviced annually so that it works its best.

The indoor air quality specialists at Climate Masters are dedicated to helping you have the most comfortable and safe home environment possible. Call them today to talk about a heating installation in St. Augustine, FL that will help you control high humidity.

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Why You Should Use a Heat Pump

February 19th, 2014

The heat pump… a remarkable machine. The heat pump uses a simple concept—basically, creating a reversible air conditioner—to give homeowners a two-in-one answer to their comfort needs. During the summer, you set the heat pump to cooling mode, and just like an AC it cycles refrigerant through an indoor and an outdoor coil to remove the heat from your home and place it outside. But when colder weather comes along (or as cold as it gets in Florida), you set the heat pump to heating mode, and now the refrigerant direction reverses. Presto! Heat moved from outside and brought inside.

Heat pumps have some disadvantages, but a heat pump for your home in St. Augustine, FL will experience almost none of them. That’s why we think they’re great choices for installation here. To schedule an appointment for quality heat pump installation, call Climate Masters today and speak to one of our heat pump specialists.

The Heat Pump Advantage

You already know the main advantage of a heat pump: it takes care of the jobs of both a heater and an air conditioner. That’s money saved and space saved. And heat pumps hook up to the existing ductwork for your air conditioner (and furnace, if you used one), making them easy to install for professionals. If you don’t have ducts, the heat pump has you taken care of as well: ductless mini split heat pumps need no ductwork at all.

A specific reason that heat pumps are such good ideas for Florida is because of our climate. First of all, during cooling mode, the process of heat absorption along the indoor coil also removes moisture from the air, helping to control humidity. Second, heat pumps do not encounter a problem they often face in cold climates: struggling to extract sufficient heat from outdoors during heating mode. In places where the temperatures can drop well below freezing, a heat pump will lose efficiency. In Florida, however, we almost never have this problem. Heat pumps are ideal no matter the time of year.

Finally, heat pumps offer savings on your heating bill. You’re used to your AC costing less to run than a furnace or a boiler. That’s because those heaters must burn fuel to create heat. But a heat pump is just like an AC: no fuel burnt to create heat, only a small amount of electricity to run the mechanical parts so heat can be moved. An average family of four can save up to 30% on their heating bills each year if they switch to a heat pump.

Sounds Great! When Can I Get One?

We need to slow you down a bit. Heat pumps are fantastic choices for home comfort… but they still won’t work for every home. Call on Climate Masters today to find out about how well a heat pump in St. Augustine, FL will work for you.

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Who Wrote the First Valentine’s Day Love Poem?

February 14th, 2014

The celebration of Valentine’s Day is often seen as a modern institution, even if the roots of the holiday go back to Late Antiquity and the figures of St. Valentine of Rome and St. Valentine of Terni. It’s difficult to separate our view of February 14th from the more recent phenomenon of greeting cards, comical cupids, and specialty treats from candy companies.

However, not only are some of these traditions older than we might think (mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards were an enormous success in early 19th-century England), but the earliest Valentine’s Day love poem comes from none other than the first great English author, Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote in the second half of the 14th-century.

Chaucer’s most famous work is The Canterbury Tales, an enormous collection of linked stories in poetry and prose. But his 700-line poem “Parlement of Foules” has the special distinction of being the first surviving record of a connection between Valentine’s Day and romantic love. Chaucer probably composed the poem in 1381–82. At the time, he was a member of the court of King Richard II, holding an important bureaucratic position in London. The date suggests that Chaucer wrote “Parelment of Foules” to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of the English king to Princess Anne of Bohemia.

The poem follows the dream of the narrator, where he walks through Venus’s temple and discovers a meeting of birds where they all choose their mates. This is where the mention of St. Valentine’s Day appears (English modernized):

For this was on St. Valentine’s Day,

When every bird cometh there to choose his mate.

The poem also contains a familiar Valentine’s image, Cupid with his arrows:

Under a tree, beside a well, I saw

Cupid our lord his arrows forge and file;

And at his feet his bow already lay.

When Chaucer mentions St. Valentine’s Day, is he referring specifically to February 14th? Late winter isn’t a time when birds in England would mate. However, the date for the start of spring—when some birds would have started nesting in England—was on February 23rd in the calendars of the time, certainly close enough for Chaucer to take poetic license and nudge it a bit to match with Valentine’s Day.

Love birds remain a popular symbol of Valentine’s Day even now, and for this we can thank Chaucer. In fact, he may very well have invented the link between love and Valentine’s Day, although we will probably never know for certain.

Whoever started these traditions, all of us here at Climate Masters hope you have a pleasant February 14th.

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