Saddleback Plumbing Heating & Air Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Newport Coast’

What Dana Point Residents Can Do When a Heat Pump Isn’t Operating Properly

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

A heat pump in Dana Point is designed to provide steady, reliable heat in your home throughout the year. So, what do you do when your heat pump suddenly stops producing enough heat? The first step is to figure out why exactly your heat pump has stopped working properly. From there, you can take action to get it back on track.

Reasons Your Heat Pump Isn’t Producing Heat

There are a number of reasons a heat pump might stop producing enough heat. Here are some of the most common ones you’ll encounter:

  • Too Cold Outside – A heat pump can only handle temperatures so low. Most heat pumps are rated for outside temperatures as low as 40 degrees F (though they work best at 50 degrees F and up). If the outside temperature gets below the 37 degree F mark, it’s likely the system won’t be able to produce enough heat. Remember, however, that you should have an emergency heat source. If it isn’t on but the outside temperature is below 37 degrees F, you may have a problem with the outdoor thermostat or emergency switch.
  • Fans – The fans on your heat pump may not be working properly. Simply check this by increasing the thermostat setting on your heat pump. If the fan never comes on, there could be an electrical or mechanical problem in your fan.
  • Thermostat Readings – A simple problem that can stall your heat pump is thermostat failure or calibration problems. Check the thermostat to see if it is working properly and if not, call a professional.
  • Refrigerant – If the refrigerant gets low in your heat pump, you may need to have it recharged. This is a quick and relatively inexpensive process so call for professional assistance as soon as you notice the problem.

If your heat pump isn’t working properly, don’t wait for it to break completely or for the temperature outside to become unbearable. Contact Saddleback HVAC experts for help immediately and get your heat pump fixed before it’s too late. Even a seemingly simple problem can quickly turn into a major issue if it isn’t dealt with immediately.

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Electric Furnace Maintenance Tips from Turtle Rock

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Electric heat is clean – but Turtle Rock homeowners pay for that cleanliness with high utility bills. Depending on the area of the country, electric bills can rival those of gas, oil, or propane. So it is only natural to assume that an efficiently running electric furnace is a must for homeowners who are looking to keep their energy costs down.

Electric furnaces are fairly simple machines. They use heating elements to warm the air, which is then distributed through the ventilation system via a fan or blower. The heating element is made up of a metal wire that is heated by normal electrical current. The element is used to warm or heat something, much like the function of an oven or toaster. Their operation is fairly simple – either they work or they don’t.

When a heating element fails it is usually because it is broken, bend, or misshapen. When that happens, it is time to replace it. You can do some preventive maintenance with a visual inspection of your heating elements. If your inspection does not reveal any problems, you can test the element for continuity. You should know how to use an ohmmeter to test it or ask a professional heating and cooling technician to check the elements for you.

Speaking of visual inspection, you can do a quick check for any frayed or damaged wires, which can be a source for wasted electricity, too. Another way to ensure that your electric furnace is running efficiently is to replace or clean your furnace filters on a regular basis. A clogged filter can make a furnace work harder and lead to premature mechanical failure.

And obviously, if the furnace is not working it is best to check for any blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers in the main electrical panel box. If you find one, make sure you replace it with another of the correct amperage.

Lastly, check to make sure the blower motor is operating correctly. You can have perfectly working elements but if the blower can’t push the warm air through your ventilation system, then all of the steps to ensure the electricity is working are for naught. You can usually hear a noisy motor or smell one that isn’t working improperly. Check it on a regular basis and check the fan belt for any damage or slippage, too.

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How a Furnace Works: A Guide from Newport Coast

Monday, November 14th, 2011

Do you know how your furnace works? Believe it or not, lots of Newport Coast homeowners probably can’t explain the operation of furnace. It probably isn’t at the top of your “to do” list. It’s only important to know that once you set your thermostat to a desired temperature, the furnace comes on and warms the house.

The most common furnace is fueled by natural gas but there are other examples of heating equipment such as boilers, electric baseboard, or geothermal. But let’s look at how a gas furnace works since natural gas is found in most U.S. households. Gas furnaces use natural gas or propane to provide energy used for generating heat.

When the temperature in your home falls below the level set on the thermostat, an electric pilot light automatically ignites to heat a burner inside the furnace. This burner uses gas to generate heat within a combustion chamber inside the furnace. After the furnace senses that the thermostat has triggered the flame and that it is properly lit, the actual spark (or ignitor) is turned off.

Simultaneously, a motor in the furnace pulls in air from an exchange or return, which could be a grill in the floor, ceiling, or wall of a house. That air flows through ducts into the plenum of the furnace. The plenum is on the opposite side of the heat exchanger from the burner.

Gas will typically burn for at least two minutes before the blower starts to disperse heat throughout your home. This extra time gives the air an adequate period of time to warm up and also so that cold air won’t be pushed through the vents into the rooms in your house at the start. After either the preset time (roughly two minutes) or pre-established temperature is reached, the blower’s motor is turned on and it blows air over the heat exchanger, which usually consists of a series of copper tubes or pipes. When a fan blows air onto the heat exchanger, the air is heated. This heated air is then blown through a series of ducts to heat your home via vents in the floor, walls or ceiling. Exhaust fumes from the combustion process exit the furnace through a gas flue or chimney.

Just as the heat in your home turns on when a certain temperature is reached, it also turns off after the rooms are warm enough, thanks to your thermostat. The thermostat again senses the temperature in the room. When the room warms up to the temperature set by you at the thermostat, the gas valve is switched off, stopping the flow of gas. After the gas is turned off, the blower motor will still run for a few minutes, allowing the heat exchanger to cool off a bit. In some furnaces, the blower motor never shuts off, but operates at low speed to keep air circulating throughout your home.

In a nutshell, your thermostat is the brain in your heating system and your furnace is the brawn, doing most of the work.

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Alternatives to Air Conditioning in Your Fountain Valley Home

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Let’s face it – we rely pretty heavily on air conditioning to keep us comfortable during the warmest months of the summer in Fountain Valley. So, what do you do when the mercury dings 90+ and your air conditioner is either broken or you are in a place without AC? Luckily, there are alternatives. Here are some of the better options:

  • Move Air through the House – As simple as it sounds, air circulation can have a huge impact on the temperature inside, especially in the late afternoon. Mid-afternoon sun will hit your roof no matter how many trees you have planted. The result is a decent amount of heat pouring into your home. But, if you open the windows and let a cross breeze through, amplifying it with fans, especially ceiling fans, moving air will carry that heat out of the house later in the day when the temperature drops.
  • Block Direct Sunlight – Unless it’s 90+ degrees outside, most of the discomfort in heat comes from direct sunlight. Block that direct sunlight and you severely reduce how warm it might get in your home. Trees planted along western, eastern and southern walls do this very effectively, especially if they are deciduous and will allow in the warming sun in the winter.
  • The Power of Water – Feel warm? Get some cool water and place it on your forehead, arms or legs. A bowl of cool water in front of a fan can be soothing as well, assuming humidity isn’t a problem. If it is, consider getting a dehumidifier to run in lieu of an air conditioner for those days that aren’t too hot. They are less expensive and can reduce discomfort significantly.
  • Evaporative Coolers – Evaporative coolers are extremely popular in Europe and Japan where energy costs are relatively high. They use up to 80% less electricity than air conditioners, don’t require refrigerants linked to global warming, and they work extremely well in dry heat. There are evaporative coolers available that can cool your entire home, though the most common devices are those designed for a single room. They are sometimes called “swamp coolers” as well.

I’m sure we’d all rather have a comfortably air conditioned room to lounge in during the hottest months of summer, but in lieu of electric powered comfort, keep in mind the simple, effective ways people have been staying cool for centuries. For more information about how to keep cool this summer, contact your HVAC contractor.

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Maintenance: Cleaning Your Conditioner Coil Will Save You Headaches Later

Friday, July 29th, 2011

You have plenty of things to clean all over your house. But do you really have to clean your air conditioner too? Well, if you want it to keep working well, you do. In fact, cleaning the coil of your air conditioner is a quick and easy process, especially if you do it on a regular basis, and it can save you a great deal of frustration later on.

Like any machine, your air conditioner needs a tune up from time to time in order to continue to function properly. While a lot of this is taken care of if you have an annual maintenance service performed by a professional, your air conditioning coil will benefit greatly by being cleaned more often than that.

In fact, during your annual maintenance visit, your air conditioning technician can easily demonstrate for you how to get to the coil and clean it. This is a relatively easy task that you can carry out every month or so when your system is in use to help ensure optimal health and functioning for your system.

Of course, your air conditioning system will still run whether you clean the coils on a regular basis or not. For now, that is. Allowing more and more debris to build up on the coil, however, can have a big impact on the overall energy efficiency of your unit. An air conditioner with a dirty coil will have to work harder to keep your house cool, and that will be reflected by an increase in energy consumption.

Also, an air conditioner with a dirty coil that is having to work harder to keep your house cool will wear out more quickly than one that is working properly without added impediments. The added wear and tear that this causes to various other parts within your air conditioner can cause them to malfunction and need to be replaced sooner than they should.

This means more costly repairs, even if they are minor ones. It also means that your entire air conditioning system will probably not last as long as it may have with proper care. You will have to replace it sooner, adding even more to the cost of having and running the equipment.

Cleaning your air conditioner coil regularly is a simple and effective way of helping to keep the entire system running smoothly and efficiently for many years to come.

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What Are High-Efficiency Toilets?

Friday, July 15th, 2011

Everyone has a toilet in their home. In fact, you probably have more than one. And you probably do not give much thought to the type of toilet you have. After all, a toilet is a toilet, right? Well, there are actually several different types of toilets, and while they all get the basic job done, there are reasons to favor one type over another.

One such distinction falls on what are known as high-efficiency toilets. These toilets use significantly less water than standard toilets on each flush, thereby saving you money on your water bill every time you use them. No toilet on the market today is permitted by law to use more than 3.5 gallons of water per flush. High-efficiency toilets, by contrast, generally use between 1.6 gallons and 1.1 gallons.

That might not seem like a huge difference, but just think about how many times in a day someone flushes the toilets in your home. That will add up fast. Installing a high-efficiency toilet can save you as much as 12,000 gallons of water a year. And depending on the size of your household and the number of toilets you have, that figure could be even higher.

Of course, a lot of people shy away from high-efficiency toilets because they are concerned about performance. It seems unlikely to them that a toilet that uses so much less water could work effectively all of the time. The truth is, though, that many high efficiency toilets work even better than conventional ones at clearing the bowl in one flush. And high efficiency toilets do not clog any more than regular toilets. In fact, they often do better in that area as well.

Another thing to bear in mind is that toilets last for a long time. This means that the toilet in your home could be quite old. Toilets made before 1980 use much more than modern toilets are allowed to use per flush. Some of them actually go through five gallons or more of water each time you use them. By replacing an older toilet with a new, high-efficiency model, you will be setting yourself up for some significant savings on your water bill each month.

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What Is the White Substance around My Showerhead and Faucet, and Why Is it There?

Monday, June 13th, 2011

For many people, it is common to notice a buildup of some type of white substance on showerheads and faucets around the house. Of course, this looks bad and would seem to indicate a problem. But what is it really? And what can you do about it?

Well, to begin with, this type of buildup is usually nothing more than mineral deposits. The minerals are in the water that flows through the faucets and can settle out on the fixtures, particularly in the shower where a lot of the water you use evaporates. When the water evaporates, it leaves these mineral deposits behind, and they can cause quite a buildup over time.

In areas where the water is very hard, this type of buildup problem will be greater, but it is actually a relatively easy problem to fix. The best way to get these mineral deposits off of your shower and faucet fixtures is to allow them to soak in vinegar overnight. After an appropriate period of soaking, the mineral deposits should come off easily with moderate scrubbing.

But no matter how many times you remove these deposits, they will always come back. They are simply a result of the makeup of your local water, and so unless you take greater action, you will have to repeat this process on a regular basis if you want to stay residue free.

However, there is another option. Rather than having to soak all of your fixtures in vinegar every so often, you may want to consider having a water softening system installed in your home. These systems are appropriate in areas where the water is very hard and they can go a long way towards eliminating buildup of sediments and minerals all over your home water system.

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What Causes Low Water Pressure?

Friday, April 15th, 2011

Low water pressure in your home can make just about everything from showering to cleaning more difficult. It is frustrating, but it often seems like there is very little you can do about it. In fact, you may be able to improve your water pressure in a variety of ways, but the appropriate technique will depend on the root cause of your problem.

There are several different possible causes for low water pressure. If the problem is limited to certain areas or fixtures in the house, it may very well be because the pipes feeding that area or fixture are too small. Smaller pipes will only allow a smaller amount of water to pass through at once, making it impossible for you to get the force you are after.

Fixing this, of course, means putting in larger pipes, and that may be easier said than done. However, if the problem is on a small scale, you should not have too much trouble or need to pay too much to have a professional complete the job. A problem in a particular fixture can also result from small clogs or backups in the fixture itself, and this is a relatively easy situation to remedy as well.

A low water pressure problem that affects your whole house can result if the main pipes feeding into your house are too small. This could be the case if your house has been added onto since it was built or if you have more people living there now and using more water.

Replacing those incoming pipes is a big job, but it is often the only way to increase your water pressure and make it possible for the system to satisfy the water needs of the house. This is definitely something you will want to have a professional work on, and while it can be costly, it will be well worth it in the end.

Another possible reason that you might have low house-wide water pressure is that you live at the end of the area water system or that you use an improperly located well. If your well is downhill from your home, for instance, you should consider installing a booster pump that can help move the water into your house more efficiently. The same remedy can work if you live on the outskirts of town and at the limit of your town’s water system.

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Why Is There a Sewer Smell in Our House?

Friday, February 11th, 2011

Detecting a sewer smell in your house is never pleasant on a number of levels. Of course, the main thing you are most likely concerned about is that the smell makes it hard to be in your house. After all, who wants to live in a place that smells like a sewer?

But there are other reasons to be concerned when you smell something like this as well. For one thing, since this is not the way that your house should smell, it likely means that there is a problem somewhere in your sewer, drainage or venting system. Also, gasses that generate that sewer smell can be made up of methane and hydrogen sulfide, both of which are quite dangerous and not the types of gasses you want your family to be breathing on a regular basis.

In most cases, you will need to call in a professional to determine the exact cause of the sewer smell and eliminate it. This can sometimes be expensive if the problem is widespread or difficult to locate, but it does not have to be. Some causes of a sewer smell in your house are relatively easy to remedy, particularly for an experienced professional.

For instance, the smell may be the result of leaks in certain pipes and can be eliminated when those leaks are repaired. Or a low water level in your toilet could be the culprit. The constant presence of water in your toilet bowl is actually what keeps those sewer gasses from seeping up and into your house. So if the water level in the toilet bowl drops for some reason, the gasses can be allowed to escape into your house. This is especially likely if you have a toilet that does not get used often and where the water may have evaporated over time.

Another common reason that a sewer smell can develop in your house is that the vent pipe has become clogged. Since it is the job of this pipe to vent sewer gasses out of your home, it is not surprising that a blockage in this system could cause the odors to build up inside. Depending on your skill level, you may be able to tackle the project of unclogging the vent pipe on your own or you may need to call in a professional plumber to get the job done.

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