Saddleback Plumbing Heating & Air Blog: Archive for January, 2015

Why a Heat Pump Won’t Switch from Cooling to Heating (and Vice Versa)

Friday, January 30th, 2015

As you probably already know, part of what makes heat pumps such great choices for home heating is that they can fulfill both heating and cooling roles. This saves you money and space by removing the need to install an air conditioner in your home. However, being able to provide both of these functions also makes the heat pump a more complicated system. The more complicated a system is, the more ways it is possible for the system to break. If your heat pump won’t switch from cooling to heating, or vice versa, read on to find out why.

How a Heat Pump Works

Heat pumps are not combustion based systems. They don’t burn any kind of fuel to create heat. Instead, they siphon heat from the surrounding air and move it from one place to another. This is done through the use of the two primary parts of a heat pump, the inside unit and the outside unit. These two units are connected to each other by a conduit that both provides power and refrigerant. When the heat is turned on, the outside unit evaporates refrigerant inside a coil to draw thermal energy out of the air. The refrigerant gas, now carrying all of that thermal energy, flows inside to the inside unit. The inside unit then condenses the refrigerant back into a liquid, releasing the thermal energy so that it can heat the home.

The Reversing Valve

The direction the refrigerant flows through the system is what determines whether the heat pump is in heating or cooling mode. If the refrigerant is flowing one way, the outside unit captures heat to send it inside. If the refrigerant flows the other way, the inside unit captures heat and sends it outside. The part that determines the direction of refrigerant is called the reversing valve.

The reversing valve is a 4-way junction in the heat pump’s refrigerant line, which determines the direction that refrigerant flows through the system. In heating mode, a slide in the valve forces the refrigerant to flow in one direction. In cooling mode, the slide moves to force refrigerant to flow in the opposite direction. If a heat pump won’t switch modes, it’s a sign that the reversing valve is stuck in one position. If the valve can’t move, the refrigerant flow can’t be reversed and the heat pump becomes stuck in one mode.

If your heat pump is having issues, schedule an appointment with Saddleback Plumbing today. We provide professional heat pump repair throughout Lake Forest, CA.

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What Can Cause Damage to My Water Line?

Thursday, January 22nd, 2015

There are some really big repairs homeowners really don’t like to deal with: replacing roofs, re-wiring their homes and repairing either a water line or sewer line. While these types of repairs are ultimately good for your home and you, they are big repairs that tend to be costly. There are a few ways in which water lines can become damaged, and here are some of the more common scenarios our Saddleback Plumbing technicians have seen:

  • Aging of pipes – over the years, water lines have been made of a various metals, and some age better than others. Metals like iron can last over a hundred years while galvanized piping lasts about 50. If your water line is made of a type of metal that ages earlier than other types, it may age more quickly.
  • Corrosion – it’s hard to keep metal from corroding when it constantly comes into contact with water; safeguards are taken to help reduce the level of corrosion on piping, but once it starts it doesn’t stop. Corrosion leads to cracks and holes, which will cause your water line to leak.
  • Tree roots – tree roots are incredibly strong. They can wrap around a pipe and crush it or they can infiltrate small cracks and holes and as they suck up the water in the line, become stronger and bigger.
  • Ground shifting – the ground doesn’t necessarily stay put over the years, and even small shifts can cause a break in a water line.
  • Pressure – if a major clog forms deep in the system, the pressure from this clog can cause the water line to burst.
  • Fluctuating temperatures – if your water line pipe is exposed to highly fluctuating temperatures, the metal will expand and contract. Enough expanding and contracting can weaken the pipe and cause cracking, which can eventually lead to a break.
  • Freezing – it takes a lot to freeze a water line pipe, but if it does freeze, the ice crystals put tremendous pressure on the pipe from the inside; many times, this pressure is enough to cause a break in the pipe.

Soggy areas in your yard, dirt in your water and low water pressure are all signs that you may have a water line break. If you are seeing these signs, then it may be time to call Saddleback Plumbing and schedule an appointment for water line repair service in Trabuco Canyon.

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Plumbing FAQ: What Is Water Hammer?

Wednesday, January 14th, 2015

If you notice a loud knocking noise in your pipes whenever you use a sink or after you take a shower, don’t write it off as a usual household noise. Water hammer is a plumbing term used to describe a specific circumstance that could be hazardous to the pipes. If the noises seem to occur whenever you shut off a tap in the home, you should seek an Irvine plumbing specialist immediately.

The Problem with Water Hammer

Water hammer occurs when water is forced suddenly to stop or reverse, creating pressure waves that can vibrate against the pipes. Not only is this sound somewhat obnoxious; it can also cause problems for your pipes. The pressure can cause your water line to collapse or burst, which can mean flooding in your home or a damaged foundation. Generally, plumbing systems contain air chambers that help to prevent water hammer from occurring, but there may not be enough chambers, or these may become clogged or waterlogged over time.

Correcting Water Hammer

There are a few different ways you may be able to stop water hammer from occurring, but in any case it will require the expertise of a professional. You may be able to have a plumber install a pressure-reducing valve at the water supply, but this can cause the pressure from our sink or shower to feel too low. A plumber may instead recommend additional air chambers to properly trap water using a pocket of air as a cushion, or you may only need to clear out an existing air chamber that is clogged.

Some plumbers actually recommend against air chambers as they may need to be quite large and can occasionally become waterlogged. You may be able to simply install a water hammer arrester at the source which also provides a reliable source of air cushioning. Depending on the state of your plumbing system, an expert may instead decide to install valves that shut slowly, or they may need to redesign some of the pipes that lead to that faucet only.

There may be any number of solutions for water hammer, but a plumber must assess the state of your pipes to determine the proper course of action. Call Saddleback Plumbing to let a trained professional evaluate and repair your plumbing in Irvine.

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The Heat Exchanger: The Secret of a Furnace’s Success

Wednesday, January 7th, 2015

Furnaces have a number of components that help them to operate safely and effectively, but there are 3 key components that could be dubbed the “workhorses” of the system: the blower, the burner and the heat exchanger. While every component is necessary, should a problem develop with any of these 3, you most likely won’t have any heat, or won’t have safe, sufficient and efficient heat. Today we’re going to talk about the heat exchanger: how it works, why it’s important and how a cracked heat exchanger can be a serious problem. But remember that for any furnace repair issues you may have in Orange County, the experts from Saddleback Plumbing are always available.

What Is a Heat Exchanger?

The heat exchanger in your furnace is a medium-sized, serpentine component that sits directly above the burner. The tube of the heat exchanger is open at both ends, which allows the toxic combustion byproducts to enter at the burner level and exit through the flue, which is connected to the top of the heat exchanger. The warm air that is generated on the outside of the heat exchanger is the warm air that is blown into your home.

Why Does a Heat Exchanger Work Like This?

The heat exchanger is the component that separates the toxic byproducts from the combustion, including carbon monoxide, from the warm air; without it, these byproducts would be blown into your home along with the heat.

Why Is a Cracked Heat Exchanger Dangerous?

Heat exchangers have an average lifespan similar to that of your furnace: about 15-18 years. The heat exchanger is constantly heating and cooling, which causes the metal to expand and contrast regularly throughout the winter months. After years of this action, cracks can develop in the heat exchanger. The reason this is dangerous is that a crack in the heat exchanger can allow the toxic byproducts to escape and enter your home, including carbon monoxide. Heat exchangers can’t be repaired once a crack develops, but they can be replaced.

The best way to ensure that your furnace is repaired properly is to hire a professional. The trained and certified experts at Saddleback Plumbing are available for any furnace repair in Orange County that you may have, so if you are experiencing problems with your furnace, call us today.

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When New Year’s Day Was Not on January 1st

Thursday, January 1st, 2015

Some holidays fall on shifting calendar days for every year, such as Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November) and Easter (the first Sunday after the first full moon to occur on or after March 21). Other holidays, such as Valentine’s Day and Halloween, are fixed. No holiday has a more solid calendar date attached to it than New Year’s Day. It has to fall on January 1st because it celebrates the first day of a new year. That only makes sense…

…except that, like most things that at first appear obvious, there is a bit more to the story. The beginning of the year was not always on the first of January. As with an enormous numbers of traditions in the Western World, the establishment of January 1st as the inaugural day of a new year goes back to the ancient Romans.

The modern solar calendar is derived from the Roman model, but the earliest Roman calendars did not have 365 days in a year spread over 12 months. Instead, there were 304 days spread over 10 months. The Romans believed this calendar originated with the mythical founder of the city, Romulus. If Romulus were a real person, we can credit him with a poor understanding of the seasons, as this abbreviated calendar soon got out of sync with Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Numa, one of the Kings of Rome (probably also fictional) receives credit for creating a longer year with two added months, Ianuarius and Februarius, bringing the number of days in the year to 355. The new month of Ianuarius, named after Ianus (Janus in contemporary spelling), the god of beginnings, would eventually be known in English as January. But when this new calendar was instituted, January was not the first month. March, named after the god of war, remained the first month, and March 1st was New Year’s Day.

This extended calendar still did not keep in synch with the seasons. In 45 BCE, Julius Caesar instituted reforms to align the calendar correctly according to calculations of astronomers, with an additional 10 days distributed across the year. January also became set as the first month, and offerings to the god Janus on this day started the tradition we now know as New Year’s. The date still fluctuated during the ensuing centuries, with a number of Western European holy days treated as the beginning of the year instead. It wasn’t until the next calendar reform in 1582, the Gregorian Calendar, that the date of the New Year was fixed at January 1st.

However you choose to celebrate the beginning of the current calendar, everyone here at Saddleback Plumbing hopes you have a wonderful 2015!

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