Fort Collins Heating & Air Conditioning Blog

Month: October 2018

Winter in this area can be truly beautiful. It Let Your Pipes Freezecan also be a whole lot of fun! Of course, coming home to a house full of frozen pipes or a flooded basement due to a burst pipe sucks the fun right out of things. Trust us on that one. That is why our plumbers in Wellington, CO want to ensure that homeowners have some tricks up their sleeves. What kinds of tricks? The kinds that will help you to limit the risk of frozen pipes this winter season!

No, you do not need to purchase expensive heating units designed to keep your pipes warm in order to keep them safe this winter. These tips are practical, effective, and, best of all, simple! If you’ve ever experienced problems with frozen pipes, then you know how much you want to avoid them. And, if you haven’t, consider yourself lucky—but don’t push that luck. Instead, keep these tips in mind and reach out with any questions that you may have.

Keep Your Cabinets and Drawers Open

Okay, this one is not going to result in a finely tuned aesthetic for your home, but do you really care that much? We’re talking about the purely functional, here, and keeping cabinet doors and drawers open is actually a very effective way to keep your pipes from freezing over. It may look strange, but the benefits outweigh any such concerns.

Basically, you’re just allowing for airflow around any pipes passing under your cabinets, behind drawers, etc. You heat your home in the winter, but keeping these doors and drawers closed can prevent that heat from warming up pipes in these areas. That missing airflow may mean the difference between water moving through your pipes or freezing up and leading to ruptures from the pressure within!

Insulate Your Pipes

Normally, we’d be telling you that adding insulation to your home is something that only trained professionals can do. And this is true, in most cases. When it comes to insulating your pipes, though, you can do the job yourself. You just need some pipe insulation tubing and something to cut it down to size .

There is no messy spray or R-value calculation to worry about here. Just buy the tubing, snip it to size, and pop it over your pipes. While you’re at it, be sure to check if your hot water line is insulated, too. If not, then you’re allowing heat to transfer through that pipe out into the air surrounding the water heater. Just an extra tip for you!

Keep the Water Trickling

You’ve probably heard this one before, but you may have written it off as a waste of water. Water is only wasted, though, when you’re really not using it. In this case, you are using the water. Just not for what you normally do.

Keep a small amount of water flowing through your pipes, and you’ll be investing in the safety of those pipes. Sure, you’re paying for water you’re just pouring down the drains—but at least there is water flowing to drain, right?

Schedule your plumbing services with Fort Collins Heating & Air Conditioning. Big enough to serve, small enough to care.

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A quick look at the calendar will tell you we AC Replacementare well on our way toward the coldest time of the year. Right now is the perfect time to schedule your heating maintenance and—if you think your heater may not have another winter’s worth of reliable service left in it after all—your heating replacement. Does this mean you should forget all about your air conditioner until next spring, though?

Absolutely not.

If your air conditioner was struggling at the end of this past cooling system, or if you were unhappy with it or its performance for any reason, then now is a great time to schedule your air conditioning replacement, as well. And, as always, you want a trained professional on the job. While an air conditioning installation in Loveland, CO, at this point in time may seem counter-intuitive, there are plenty of reasons to have it done sooner rather than later.

There’s a Lot to Be Said for “Just Getting It Out of the Way”

If you contact us just before summer is gearing up again to replace your air conditioning system, then we are of course going to replace that air conditioning system. We’ll do it the right way, every step of the way, just as we would at any other time of the year. That being said, it may not be on as expedited a schedule as you’d like, particularly if it is in the midst of AC tune-up season.

Simply put, this is an extremely busy time for air conditioning technicians everywhere, not just those on our team. Because of this, you may have to wait longer than is ideal to have your new system put into place. Summer can come in fast and it can come in hot around here. By replacing your air conditioner now, even if you are not going to need it for a while, you can avoid the potential wait time you may face when spring is winding down.

How Great Is Your Memory?

Okay, so investing in a new air conditioning system may not be the type of thing that you’re as likely to forget about as, say, picking up milk or eggs at the market. However, you may not be quite as on top of it as you’d hope when the summer season is drawing near once more. It doesn’t matter if you forget about the AC replacement until you’re ready to fire it up for the first time, or if you just cut it a little closer to the heat than you intended due to a brief memory lapse.

When the weather does heat up, you don’t want to be scrambling to get as big of a job as a full AC replacement done in time. You want to fire up your system (after having it tuned-up,  of course) and enjoy its best performance possible. That’s what you’ll get when you schedule your AC replacement and other services with our team.

Schedule your AC services with Fort Collins Heating & Air Conditioning. Big enough to serve, small enough to care.

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Low indoor air quality is a really common indoor air quality factor in poor health and comfort for homeowners across the country. It’s a problem that not a lot of people know they have, and those that do know they have it often aren’t sure how to fix it. If you suspect that your home’s indoor air quality is lower than it should be, but you aren’t sure how to fix it, read on for some tips. You can improve your indoor air quality! You just need a bit of professional help to do it.

Airborne Contaminants

All day, no matter where we go, we breathe in millions of various microscopic particulates. Most of these particles are harmless, but some are not. The issue is worse indoors, because the lack of constant air flow traps contaminants inside for us to breathe over and over again. Some common airborne contaminants include dust, dander, pollen, dirt, mold spores, viruses, and bacteria. Breathing in these kinds of contaminants for a long period of time can cause all kinds of problems, including allergy attacks, asthma attacks, increased flu infection frequency, and the like. If you think this may be why your indoor air quality is lower than it should be, then the best thing you can do is to install an air purifier.

Air purifiers are designed to strain contaminants of various kinds out of your air supply, usually by being installed in your home’s ductwork. Air filters, for example, passively snare particles that come into contact with them using fiber mesh. Ionization purifiers draw contaminants out of the air using ion clouds. You should consult with a technician to find out the best kind of air purifier to meet your home’s needs.

Humidity Issues

Chronic humidity issues are another common cause of low indoor air quality. Air that is too humid will make it very difficult for your body to cool itself, and will promote mold growth in the darker areas of the home. Air that is too dry will weaken your defenses against infection, and will make certain parts of your house more prone to damage by sapping the moisture from them. If you’re worried about the effects of chronically humid or dry air on you and your home, consult with a professional about installing a dehumidifier or humidifier.

As with air purifiers, there are a variety of different kinds of both humidifiers and dehumidifiers. Most humidifiers operate by either vaporizing water and blowing it through the ducts, or by spraying a fine mist. Dehumidifiers, by contrast, use desiccants or refrigerant to siphon excess moisture out of the air. Also like air purifiers, you should consult with a professional technician in person to determine which system would be best for you. If you’re looking for the best Loveland HVAC services, we can help you out.

Fort Collins Heating & Air Conditioning provides comprehensive indoor air quality services. Contact us today to schedule an appointment with one of our professional technicians. We’ll make sure that your indoor air quality is restored to the level it should be.

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