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As the summer heat intensifies, so does the strain on your air conditioning system. Keeping your home cool without overworking your AC and ending up with huge utility bills can be challenging, but it’s essential for saving energy and money, and reducing wear and tear on your AC system. The last thing you want during a heatwave is an unexpected breakdown that prompts the need for AC repair in Pittsburgh. Here are some practical tips to help you conserve energy during the hot summer weather.
Did you know that the air filters that come standard with your HVAC systems aren’t there to protect your indoor air quality at all? They certainly don’t hurt, but they’re actually in place to protect the interior components of the HVAC systems themselves from dirt, dust, and other debris that can get in and harm their components.
So, when we talk about air filters, we’re talking about air filtration systems—systems that will help improve the health, breathability, and safety of your indoor air. And don’t worry, finding just the right air filtration for you home isn’t something we expect you to do all on your own. This is what we are here for! We are home comfort and home efficiency experts and you can count on us to lead you the right direction with your air filtration options, which all starts with MERV.
Comparatively speaking, our summers are fairly mild in our part of the country. Still though, heat is relative to what we’re used to—so when an air conditioner breaks down on an 80°F+ day, we have a right to complain! Of course, we don’t ever want you to reach that point, if we can help it. The best way to prevent any problems with your air conditioner is by scheduling annual maintenance with a professional—or biannual maintenance if you have a year-round heat pump.
But even with maintenance, repair needs can still crop up. Ignoring or delaying them can only cause more harm to your AC system. Some good news in all of this is that most AC repair issues do give out signs and symptoms well before they cause your system to break down entirely. While we would never recommend a homeowner formally diagnosing or trying to repair a faulty AC by themselves, you can certainly spot the signs that you need air conditioning repair, and give us a call from there.
As the summer draws to a close in the upcoming weeks, you may still need your air conditioner for a bit longer. A heat wave can come at any time, and humidity levels can rise out of control. But if your air conditioner shows signs of slowing, you may be tempted to put off repairs until next year’s spring shows its head.
But we believe this is a mistake. Read on to find out how much worse your air conditioner can get the longer you wait, and why we think it’s in your best interest to make AC repairs ASAP. For more advise or to reach out to a qualified technician for your air conditioning repair in Bethel Park, PA, give us a call!
When your air conditioning bills are higher than usual, you may come to think that’s just the hand you’ve been dealt. After all, air conditioning equipment does become less efficient with time, and variations in the weather certainly have an effect on how much energy your system requires. While AC equipment and outdoor temperatures can certainly be at fault for your high bills, there may be other factors under your control.
Conditions within the home influence how well your air conditioner works, and these are often things that can be repaired. Check out some of the home troubles that can make energy bills soar, and call our team to help you get the changes you need.
We know how much you’d love to run the air conditioner at full blast all day when it starts to get hot and humid outside. However, this simply is not doable when you factor in the cost of energy. Besides, running your air conditioner all day long would really wear out the system, potentially forcing it to fail far sooner than expected and to require frequent repairs. Your system is designed to cycle off for long periods of time because your air conditioner needs a break!
Give your system a bit of a break this summer by following our expert tips and by calling our thorough, experienced team for all of your air conditioning needs in Pittsburgh.
If we could offer you an air conditioning system that was guaranteed never to break, we’d do it in a Pittsburgh minute. We can’t do that because such an air conditioning system doesn’t exist, but what our experts can offer you are some great tips on how to avoid air conditioning repair and reduce your incidence of repair.
When your air conditioner malfunctions or breaks down, it can be easy to jump to the worst conclusions:
Sometimes, it can be this: the thermostat.
Thermostats are sensitive instruments, and because they control when your air conditioner cycles, problems with it can look like a lot of other (potentially bad) things. If you’ve ruled out the possibility of other problems, it may be time to focus your air conditioning repair in Pittsburgh on your thermostat, with the help of a trained professional from Boehmer Heating & Cooling.
There are a few signs that your thermostat may be malfunctioning:
As we stated above, thermostats are sensitive instruments, so even small things can alter their proper operation. Here are some common causes of thermostat malfunction:
Thermostat repairs are best handled by a professional, and it’s important to make them as quickly as possible before the issues can cause more problems. If you need thermostat or any other air conditioning repair in Pittsburgh, be sure to call the company that has been around for 80 years: Boehmer Heating & Cooling.
Strange sounds coming from an air conditioner are usually warnings that the system needs to have professionals look into it to see if there are repair needs that must be taken care of soon. Some of the more prominent warning noises are grinding and groaning mechanical sounds, screeching, slapping and clanging, and rapid clicking.
A less obvious noise, but one that is still a cause for great concern, is a hissing that sounds like escaping steam or gas. When you hear this noise from your AC, do not wait: call for air conditioning repair in Pittsburgh, PA right away. Boehmer Heating & Cooling is on call 24 hours a day to service your AC with the necessary help to get it working again and out of danger of a major breakdown.
The hissing sound coming from an air conditioner is the high-pressure refrigerant escaping from a leak along the lines, in the coils, or from the compressor. The refrigerant inside your AC is at a set level, known as its “charge,” that must remain the same for the air conditioner to work correctly. Refrigerant does not dissipate during normal operation, so losing charge isn’t a problem…unless a leak occurs.
When the refrigerant charge in an air conditioning system starts to drop, the AC will have a harder time absorbing sufficient heat along the indoor coil, and this will result in a drop in cooling power. As the evaporator coil struggles to absorb enough heat, the refrigerant will remain too low a temperature, and this will cause ice to start to form across the coil, which will further drop the heat absorption. Eventually, a solid block of ice will cover the coil and no heat exchange—and therefore no cooling—will take place.
The loss of refrigerant also means a change in pressure throughout the AC, and that can cause damage to the system. Most troubling of all is the damage that the low refrigerant can cause the compressor, which may eventually overheat without sufficient refrigerant. A burnt-out compressor usually means the whole air conditioner must be replaced.
The safest and surest way to deal with leaking refrigerant is to call for professionals. You will have a hard time finding the leak on your own, and even if you could seal it, you would not know how much refrigerant to recharge or even the right blend to use.
Call Boehmer Heating & Cooling when you have a hissing system that needs air conditioning repair in Pittsburgh, PA. We’ve delivered comfort since 1933.
We use our air conditioners a lot during the summertime, when our temperatures are warm and a little cool air is a welcome relief. Unfortunately, most repairs come at a time when you need your air conditioner the most, and rather than waiting for a repairman, some homeowners might think of trying to fix the problem themselves. Take the matter of ice building up on the coils. “Can’t I just scrape the ice off the coils?” you ask (a pretty frequent air conditioning repair FAQ). In point of fact, you really shouldn’t it won’t solve the problem, and can actually make things much worse.
The problem with the ice lies in where it forms: the evaporator coils, which serve to cool the air. When ice forms, it serves to insulate the coils from the air it’s supposed to cool, making it harder for the air conditioner to do its job. It also indicates something is wrong with the refrigerant pressure in your system.
So why not just scrape the ice off? Because while the ice creates problems, it’s not the source of the issue. It forms when refrigerant levels are lower than they should be in your air conditioner, usually because of a leak. You can scrape the ice off, but it will just reform again until you seal the leak and recharge refrigerant levels. Even worse, your efforts to scrape the ice off could damage the coils, and turn a relatively inexpensive repair into an extremely costly one.
If you know you can’t just scrape the ice off the coils, the next step is to call in the experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling. We have the answers to many air conditioning repair FAQs you may have, and always perform repairs with professionalism and pride. If you spot ice on your coils, give us a call. There’s no one better to handle air conditioning repair in Pittsburgh!