Lower Your Monthly Bills By 50%!
January 23, 2010
Lower Your Monthly Bills By 50%!
With energy prices skyrocketing, what can you do to significantly cut the cost of heating your home?
Here are some options for helping reduce your monthly heating bills:
- If your furnace is over 15-20 years old, a new, high-efficiency furnace can dramatically reduce the cost of heating your home by 20% – 40%.
- If your family can’t agree on a comfortable temperature, or if you’d just as soon close off rooms you’re not using to save on heating, a zoned system can help you save both energy and money.
- Did you know you can extract heat from chilly outside air to heat your house? This is the magical power of a heat pump that uses refrigeration technology rather than fuel combustion. Some homeowners have lowered their heating and cooling costs by as much as 50% by installing a heat pump.
Humidity: The Key to Health and Aging Well?
January 23, 2010
Humidity is one of your skin’s best friends. It’s an essential for healthy, beautiful skin. In fact, the beauty benefits of humidity could be one reason why Cleopatra spent so much time floating down the Nile. However, if you don’t live near the Nile, you can use a humidifier to add moisture to your skin. This is especially important during winter when household air is warm and dry due to heating.
According to the EPA and other indoor environmental experts, the relative humidity inside your home should fall somewhere between 30 and 50 percent, depending on the temperature outside. More specifically, when the outside temperature is 20°F or above, the recommended relative humidity for inside is 35 to 40 percent.
Why are proper levels of humidity so important to your skin (the body’s largest organ) and general good health?
Low humidity causes dry skin, dry hair, itching and chapping. When skin becomes dry and irritated, eczema can flare. Mucous membranes in your nose and throat dry out, increasing discomfort and susceptibility to colds and respiratory illness. With low humidity levels, body moisture evaporates so quickly that you feel chilled even at higher thermostat settings. Dry skin can look tight, dull and flaky.
Adding a humidifier to your home can remedy these problems and help skin look younger and healthier.
Furnaces
January 23, 2010
Furnaces
What’s up with the cold draft in my home?
When it comes to repairing and providing maintenance for furnaces, you can rest assured that your investment will be protected when you use One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning®.
A home furnace is a major appliance that is permanently installed to provide heat to an interior space through intermediary fluid movement, which may be air, steam, or hot water. The most common fuel source for modern combustion furnaces in the United States is natural gas; other common fuel sources include propane (LP), fuel oil, coal or wood. In some cases electric resistance heating is used as the source of heat, especially where the cost of electricity is low. Combustion furnaces always need to be vented to the outside. Traditionally, this is through a flue, which expels heat along with the exhaust.
Central Warm-Air Furnace: A central warm-air furnace is a type of space-heating equipment in which a central combustor or resistance unit–generally using gas, fuel oil, or electricity–provides warm air that circulates through ducts leading to the various rooms.
- A forced-air furnace is one in which a fan is used to force the air through the ducts.
- In a gravity furnace, air is circulated by gravity, relying on the natural flow of warm air up and cold air down; the warm air rises through ducts and the cold air falls through ducts that return it to the furnace to be reheated, thus completing the circulation cycle.
The furnace typically is divided into three primary components:
- The burner (includes the heat exchanger, draft inducer and venting) – The flame originates at the burners and is drawn into the heat exchanger by the negative pressure produced by the draft inducer. The hot gasses produced by the combustion of the flame pass through the chambers of the heat exchanger and heat the metal walls of the heat exchanger. The gasses cool as they transfer the heat to the heat exchanger and are at about 120 degrees as they exit on a high efficiency furnace. The cooled gasses then enter the draft inducer blower and are pushed into the venting pipes. The exhaust gasses then are directed out of the house through the vent pipes.
- The blower and air movement - The blower creates a negative pressure on the intake side which draws air into the ductwork return air system and blows the air out through the heat exchanger and then into supply air ductwork to distribute throughout the home.
- Controls and Safety Devices - The controls include a gas valve, ignition control, ignitor, flame sensor, transformer, limit control, blower control board, and flame roll out switch. A limit control is a safety device that will open the electrical circuit to the ignition control and stop the gas flow if the furnace over heats. The flame roll out switch does the same thing if the flame was rolling out of the heat exchanger instead of being completely induced into it by the draft inducer.
Morvents One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® can help you make the best decision on which furnace maintenance service or plan is best for you.
