Most technicians recommend that homeowners seek out services for their furnaces once a year. This can improve efficiency for the winter and take care of some of the wear and tear the heater may have developed over the year.
Boehmer Heating & Cooling Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Bethel Park’
Even Newer Heaters Should Be Serviced
Monday, January 25th, 2016Is Your Home Properly Insulated from Top to Bottom?
Monday, December 21st, 2015At first passing, most homeowners feel their homes are well-insulated. This is because when we think about insulation, we usually refer to the rooms in which we do our living. If your home has an unfinished basement, attic, or both, you may actually find that these spaces are not well-insulated, and this lack of insulation in these areas could be costing you a lot in terms of comfort and energy efficiency. The home energy specialists at Boehmer Heating & Cooling have seen this many times, and can help determine if you do need additional and/or better insulation in these spaces of your home.
Is It Time to Repair Your Boiler?
Monday, November 16th, 2015Many homeowners in our area enjoy the use of a boiler system to heat their homes. If you are one such homeowner, you need to be aware of signs that can indicate that it is time for an expert to attend to your boiler before a full breakdown ensues. To help you discern these signs, and get ahead of a potential repair for your boiler system in Bethel Park, our experts have put together some of the more common signs or problems to be aware of:
Tips to Save Money This Winter
Monday, October 12th, 2015The cold weather isn’t here yet, but there’s a definite chill in the air. Winter can be a very expensive season between heating costs and other winter-related expenses. While you can’t heat your home for free, you can reduce your costs by taking some simple steps ahead of the heating season. Here are some tips from the heating and cooling experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling.
Suffering from Late Summer Allergies? Upgrade Your Air Filter
Monday, September 7th, 2015This is the time of year when everyone starts shifting gears from summer relaxing to back-to-school. However, if you are an allergy sufferer this may be one of your most challenging times of year thanks to allergens like ragweed. However, you have a great tool at your disposal for countering the effects of late summer allergies: your AC’s air filter. The standard air filter that comes with your air conditioner isn’t going to help you much, but an upgraded air filter installed by the indoor air quality experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling can help alleviate many of your allergy symptoms.
How Does a Geothermal System Cool My House?
Monday, August 3rd, 2015It may seem a strange idea to cool your home using the natural resources of the Earth, but that’s exactly what happens when you have a geothermal system in Bethel Park, PA. However, cool air isn’t generated, as we’ll explain more below. The important thing is that should you be interested in using a geothermal system, or have one that needs servicing, that you hire professionals who have experience with this type of system. The HVAC specialists at Boehmer Heating & Cooling have been working with geothermal systems for a number of years, and can help you with all of your geothermal needs.
Why Keeping Your Thermostat at a Consistent Setting Doesn’t Save You Energy
Monday, July 13th, 2015There are a lot of so-called “helpful tips” passed along regularly by friends and neighbors. One of these tips is that you’ll save more energy when you keep your thermostat set at a steady temperature all the time rather than changing it for when your home is unoccupied or at night. Simply put, this is false. It can be hard remembering to turn your thermostat up and down, which is why the experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling strongly recommend installing and using a programmable thermostat in your home. But first, let’s take a look at why keeping your thermostat at the same temperature doesn’t save you energy.
What Are These Noises from My Boiler?
Friday, March 20th, 2015Boilers are known for their quiet operation. Unlike forced-air heating systems, which may have loud fans and motors running at all times, boilers have far fewer moving parts, and these are usually out of the way of your living space. You might not notice that your boiler is in trouble until you move closer to the unit itself, but when you hear loud rumbling, rattling, or other noises, it can seem quite alarming.
When you notice odd sounds from your boiler unit or anywhere in your home heating system when you run the boiler, call Boehmer Heating & Cooling.
Common Noises and What They Mean
If you hear a rumbling or rattling noise from the tank of your boiler, it could mean trouble. Most likely, the source of the rumbling is sediment in the tank. Sediment builds up as hard water moves into the pipes with your water supply. Hard water is water that has a high concentration of minerals like calcium and magnesium. These can leave deposits in the tank, which can then rattle around and cause a bit of noise.
More important than the noise, however, is the effect that these minerals have on the performance of your boiler. When sediment builds up too much, the volume in the tank decreases, which means that pressure increases. Long ago, a boiler in this position could be at risk of exploding, but this is not a concern today. Safety features on the boiler should shut down the unit if the pressure becomes too high or water may leak out from a relief valve. Either way, this is not an ideal situation to be in, and you should have a technician look at the system as soon as you can.
Noises from your boiler, from the baseboard heater or radiator, or from the pipes underneath your floorboard can all indicate trouble. Often, noises from locations besides the boiler tank itself could indicate circulator pump trouble. This can lead to uneven heating or none at all.
Call us today at Boehmer Heating & Cooling. We can drain sediment from your boiler or find a suitable solution with our boiler repair service in Bethel Park. In some cases, a replacement is necessary, but we can help you to find the best system for your replacement needs quickly.
The Basics of an Electric Boiler
Friday, January 30th, 2015With the massive popularity of natural gas as a fuel source for home heating systems, it’s not surprising that so many people view it as the only option. Though natural gas is a great choice for many reasons, it is thankfully not the only option available. Whether due to limitations on the availability of natural gas, or simply the desire to use a non-combustion system, more and more people are making use of electric heaters in their home. Let’s examine one of the more common electric heaters, the electric boiler, and how it can benefit your home.
How it Works
An electric boiler is actually fairly similar to one powered by natural gas. The only real difference is that an electric boiler eschews any sort of combustion to create heat, instead using several heating elements to warm the water being circulated around the house.
In a gas boiler, the heat exchanger is suspended over the flames of the burner assembly. Water flows through the heat exchanger and is heated by the fire below before flowing into the house. An electric boiler is a little different, with the heating elements actually inside the heat exchanger with the water supply. The heating elements themselves are basically very thick metal wires, coiled and connected to the electricity supply. As the system runs an electrical current through these wires, it meets resistance that causes the coils to heat up. The now-hot heating elements heat the water in the heat exchanger before distribution.
Why Install an Electric Boiler?
There are many reasons to prefer an electric boiler over other heating systems, the first of which being efficiency. Electricity is often more expensive as a fuel type, compared to natural gas. However, natural gas heaters vent a lot of heat out of the house as combustion gases, which are useless to the heating system and dangerous to the homeowner. As an electric boiler does not combust fuel, almost all of its heat goes directly into the water used to heat the house. Electric boilers also require a lot less maintenance, due to their lack of moving parts compared to combustion heaters.
If you are interested in installing an electric boiler, call Boehmer Heating & Cooling to schedule an appointment. We provide quality boiler installation services throughout Bethel Park.
Pittsburgh AC Repair Question: Why Is My Air Conditioner Not Cooling?
Monday, May 7th, 2012Designed for one to two decades of life, your Pittsburgh air conditioner is able to run virtually trouble free with just a little maintenance annually. If these little things like changing the air filter and cleaning the drain are not done regularly, the neglected units can really lose their cooling power.
The Basic Course
Through a process which involves the rapid evaporation and condensation of chemicals called refrigerants, air conditioners use compounds that have properties that allow them to change rapidly from gas to liquid and back again at low temperatures.
Heat is absorbed when the liquid evaporates and transforms into gas, making the space around it cooler. Compressing it tightly together again, the heated gas condenses back into liquid with a residue of unwanted moisture that must be released and is vented usually to the outdoors.
The newly cooled air is distributed through the house by means of ductworks, pushed by fans driven by electric motors. As the air moves along, it passes through a filter and can be further de-humidified.
Problems in the System
If the filter is clogged, movement of the cooled air is slowed to the point we might think the unit is broken. If the condensate drain is plugged, the motor can get damaged and stop producing. Regular maintenance performed by the home owner or as a service of Boehmer Heating & Cooling can avoid or eliminate these simple aggravations.
When the heat builds, however, and cool relief seems nowhere near the air ducts, it may be time to call a professional to dig deeper to find the reason and suggest solutions.
Back to Cool
If not serviced regularly, the amount of refrigerant in the coils may decrease over time or the coils themselves could get clogged and impede the evaporation/condensation process. A leak in the coils could drain the system, rendering the unit useless and wholly unproductive.
There are belts on each of the two separate fan motors which may be worn or loose, causing the fans to blow less efficiently. The motor may need to be oiled or have a broken part that doesn’t allow it to push the air at all.
Most of the time, these fixes are relatively minor and do not threaten the life of the air conditioning unit. Schedule an annual inspection and service from a certified Pittsburgh HVAC company like Boehmer Heating & Cooling to take it off your list and stay cool.