YOUR HVAC SYSTEM QUESTIONS & MORE, ANSWERED

SEER stands for seasonal energy efficiency ratio, which measures the efficiency of your heating and cooling equipment. The SEER is the amount of cooling your system will deliver per dollar spent on electricity, as compared to other systems. For example, a 3-ton unit may have a SEER efficiency rating of 13, 14, or 15. The higher the SEER, the more efficient the system will be. The SEER rating of any given unit can range anywhere from 13 to 21 SEER. Ratings are a lot like MPG, miles per gallon in a vehicle. The higher the number, the greater the efficiency will be.

Each split system cooling unit has a nominal SEER rating. This rating can be increased with the upgrade of the same series indoor unit. The SEER rating of a system is derived based on the combination of equipment installed in the home. The outdoor equipment (heat pump or air conditioner) as well as the indoor equipment (evaporator coil and furnace, or air handler), play a vital role in the total rating.

Your heating and cooling systems work incredibly hard to perform their functions for your home on a daily basis. The constant stopping, starting, and continual operation can wear down any machine if the proper care and maintenance are delayed for any reason. However, by performing regularly scheduled maintenance, you can maximize the lifecycle of your heating or cooling unit and guard against many common equipment failures. Preventive maintenance inspections performed on a regular basis can uncover leaks, rust, rot, soot, frayed wires, and corroded electrical contacts that the naked eye may not notice. You should have maintenance done on your system regularly to ensure maximum efficiency and prevent possible problems that may occur in the future.

The air conditioning unit in your home works to cool air by taking warm air in your home and blowing it over evaporator coils that contain refrigerant, usually Freon or Puron. When the warm air goes over the coils, the refrigerant absorbs the heat from the air and changes from a liquid to a gas. The cooled air is then blown into the air ducts in your home and delivered to different rooms and parts of your house through vents. The refrigerant gas is returned to condenser coils, and using pressure, it’s converted back to liquid again. The amount of cool air that is delivered to your home is determined by your thermostat settings.

Your furnace works in a similar way that your air conditioning system works, and HVAC repairs and maintenance are just as important. When the temperature in your home drops to a certain level, your pilot light turns on, and heat is produced through combustion in the furnace’s burner. From there, the air is warmed by being blown through a heat exchanger and continues into your home’s air ducts. Exhaust from the combustion process is blown out of your home through a flue or chimney.

Since they are electronic, programmable thermostats are more accurate and efficient than thermostats that contain mercury. With a programmable thermostat, you can control the temperature in your home at different times of the day without ever touching your thermostat. Because everything is automatic, you will never forget to change the setting on your own.

Express Air Heating & AC Inc is the best resource for identifying and supplying the correct, current parts for your system as well as pricing and availability. We work on all makes and models.

There are many factors that affect the sizing and specifications of your system. This includes square footage, insulation, window surface and configuration, graphic location of your home, duct sizing and arrangement, and many others. We can perform an in-home load analysis to determine which equipment combinations will perfectly suit your home and your family’s needs. Depending upon the construction of your home, one (1) ton of air conditioning can cool anywhere from 300 to 800 square feet of home. The only way to ensure that the size of the system you’ve purchased will be large enough to cool your home, but not any larger than you need, is to have your home’s individual heating & cooling needs evaluated by a licensed professional.

Most factory warranties cover parts that fail during the warranty period due to a defect in the part. The warranty, however, doesn’t cover labor. A warranty certificate was included with your homeowner information packet and is specific to the model numbers, serial numbers, and installation dates of your products. If you cannot find your warranty certificate, we will also be able to provide you with the information.

At least once a year, heat pumps, air conditioners, and gas-fired furnaces require a professional tune-up. Inspections on broiler and furnace systems should include ductwork, pipes, dampers, valves, the chimney, registers, radiators, pumps, blowers, fuel lines, the gas meter, and the oil tank, and every part of the inspection should also include inspections of the fan, compressor, indoor coils, outdoor coils, line kits, and refrigerant lines.

Standard filters work to keep your system and its ductwork clean, but they don’t really improve indoor air quality. To do that, you need a media filter. The media filter rests between the main return duct and the blower cabinet and will improve dust and particle removal by seven times that of a standard filter. However, upgrading to a pleated media filter will help in removing everything from insecticide to dust to airborne viruses from the filtered air. Always choose a filter that matches your blower’s capacity. For optimum efficiency and filtration, we recommend that you replace your disposable filters at least once a month. If you have washable filters, they should be routinely cleaned at least once a month.

We are your troubleshooting experts and will be delighted to assist you with this. With over 35 years of experience, you can trust that our family-owned and -operated company has the technical skills, advanced up-to-date training, and commitment to successfully repair, service, and install your HVAC system.

PTAC units, also known as packaged terminal air conditioners, are unique air conditioning units. They act much like a standard window or wall air conditioning unit, but they are meant for through-the-wall installations. Besides providing your cooling comfort in the hot weather days of summertime, they are also known to provide heat to warm your surroundings in the cold winter days as well. These units are not meant for every application where a window or wall unit can go. There are many reasons for this; one being that they require more work or installation and are a permanent fixture to the house. With a window air conditioning unit, all you really need to do is open the window and remove the air conditioner, while with a PTAC, you invest in opening a hole into the wall for the actual sleeve.

PTAC units also do not come in as many varied BTU sizes as window or wall air conditioning units do. Both styles of units work exceptionally well and use the same basic parts, and both air conditioning units actually require the same maintenance of the filters. PTAC units are generally larger in size, more expensive in cost, and require a level of specialized care. When the PTAC does need repair, this is where we come in. We have a crew of professionally trained servicemen who only work on PTAC units; this is their skilled specialty. They will gladly come to your home and diagnose all functions of the unit to get it properly up and running. Doing this will ensure you have peace of mind that the unit will be repaired correctly. They will explain to you what actually needs to be done, what the cost will be, and when you can expect a proper working PTAC returned to you.

A BTU is a British unit of measure. A BTU is otherwise known as a British thermal unit. It’s the amount of energy needed to heat one pound of water to one degree Fahrenheit.