Emergency Heating And AC Repair Service: Is It On Or Off? Is That All You Know About Your HVAC System? | Fort Worth, TX

4/3/2022

Your HVAC system is an important part of your life, especially in Fort Worth, TX. It runs for many hours a day almost every day of the year and when it stops running, that’s when you need emergency heating and AC repair service.

The more you know about your HVAC system the more you’ll understand the professional care and maintenance required from an emergency heating and AC repair service to keep it running properly.

What Does HVAC Mean?

The abbreviation stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Many can’t come up with ventilation; however, it’s an important part of your heating and cooling system. Even the most basic HVAC system has several components, so many that it’s wise to have an emergency heating and AC repair service number on hand.

Thermostat

This is one part of the HVAC system with which most people are familiar. It is connected to your system by wires and dictates when it will provide hot or cold air. The location of the thermostat is important for efficient heating and cooling. It should be installed close to the center of your home, away from enclosed or drafty areas.

Some systems are controlled by multiple thermostats, which makes the systems more efficient. Multiple thermostats give you the option of setting different temperatures for different parts of your home, based on their use. For example, during a Fort Worth, TX summer, you can keep your upstairs temperature higher during the day when your family is at work or school.

If you have a programmable thermostat, it can be set with different temperatures during the week and on weekends while more advanced programmable units enable you to set temperatures at different times on different days.

When there is no one home, it is more efficient to set your thermostat a few degrees higher in the summer and a few degrees lower in the winter. If you have a programmable thermostat, it’s smart to have it start warming or cooling your home about 30 minutes before your family starts arriving. This is an efficient way to save on your energy bills. Be sure to contact your emergency heating and AC repair service for more information about programmable thermostats.

Condensing Unit

This is the second-most familiar part of your HVAC system because it sits on the outside of your home and you probably see it every day, even if you didn’t know it is called a condenser.

The condenser is the part of the system that releases heat during summer and if you have a heat pump, it collects heat in the winter. This is a vital part of your system that won’t be overlooked by your emergency heating and ac repair service.

Condensers are made of the same basic parts regardless of whether they are strictly for air conditioning or are split condensers that also function with a heat pump. They have a condenser coil, a compressor, a fan, and multiple controls.

The condenser coil is a heat transfer system where the warm air is removed from your home during the summer and released outdoors. This coil system is what you see on each side of your condensing unit. The tubes you see in the coil are filled with a liquid that will become a gas as the cold liquid moves through the condenser tubing. That becomes the cool air that comes out of your venting system.

The compressor is the key part of this system because it compresses the refrigerant liquid and pumps it into the coil, where the refrigerant goes from hot to cold.

The fan that you see at the top of your condenser is what helps cool the refrigerant from a hot gas to a liquid. Your emergency heating and ac repair service will make certain that your condenser fan is in good condition to prolong the life of your entire system.

Heat Pump

These units are similar to condensers that are key to HVAC systems. Heat pumps are better suited to moderate climates like Fort Worth, TX because they aren’t efficient in temperatures that consistently drop below 20 degrees. Heat pumps can also provide air conditioning.

Heat pumps are considered to be environmentally friendly because they run without using fossil fuels. In the summer they work by removing heat from the inside air and creating cooler air; in the winter, they remove heat from the outside air and move it inside. That might seem odd but it works. Have a conversation with the experts at your emergency heating and ac repair service.

Furnace

Your furnace provides the heated air to keep your home warm during the winter. It can be located anywhere in the home but it will usually be in your attic or in your basement. Your thermostat is linked directly to the furnace so temperature changes will result in the furnace responding immediately to provide more heat.

Your emergency heating and ac repair service can help you decide which type of furnace is best for the winter weather in Fort Worth, TX, and for your type of home. There are four types of furnaces available.

About 50% of US homes have a natural gas furnace. These work like a gas range only with a much larger burner, which is activated when your thermostat sends information that heat is required.

There is a newer natural gas furnace which is called a modulating furnace. The difference is that instead of turning on and off, based on your home’s temperature, a modulating furnace is constantly on, increasing or decreasing the size of the flames based on the temperature in your home.

A newer natural gas furnace will run with an efficiency rating of up 98%; older ones have a rating closer to 60%. Have your furnace inspected by your emergency heating and ac repair service at least once a year.

Electric furnaces are a good option if you don’t have natural gas service or if you want a smaller furnace. These have an electric heating element rather than a burner. These furnaces will last longer than other types but can be more costly on a monthly basis, depending upon the current cost of electricity in Fort Worth, TX.

Two other options are propane or oil furnaces. Either of these options will require you to have fuel delivered to your home, either propane gas, which can be stored in a 500-gallon cylinder or oil, which can be stored in a tank in your basement. Discuss these options with the professionals at your emergency heating and AC repair service.

Heat Exchanger

Every furnace has a heat exchanger, which absorbs the heat generated by your furnace and transfers it to the air going into your duct system. Heat exchangers are made of alloys that are temperature-resistant to help prevent them from developing cracks.

You need to have your emergency heating and ac repair service check your heat exchanger for any signs of damage at least once a year. That’s because heat exchangers generate carbon monoxide, an odorless gas that can be deadly. This gas is normally vented to the exterior of your home. You won’t know you’ve got a problem unless you have it checked by a professional emergency heating and AC repair service.

Blower Motor

Once the air in the heat exchanger reaches the preset temperatures, the blower motor powers a fan that will push the warm air into your duct system and through your vents. Basic blower motors operate at one speed but you can purchase a variable speed blower to better control how the air is distributed throughout your home.

Discuss the benefits of a variable-speed blower motor with the experts at your emergency heating and ac repair service, including how they save on energy, are quieter and can help reduce humidity during a Fort Worth, TX summer.

Combustion Chamber

This is where the natural gas, propane gas, or oil is mixed with oxygen to start the fire that heats the air in your furnace. This is also called the burner. The mixture is ignited by either the pilot light in your furnace or by a glow stick.

The glow stick is an electronic ignition that will automatically spark to start the fuel mixture. Most people are familiar with pilot lights from their stoves or water heaters. The pilot light in your furnace can go out just as it can in your water heater. In that case, you have to relight it.

A high-efficiency furnace will have a second combustion chamber that captures the carbon monoxide and unburned fuel, compresses the mixture, and ignites it so you use all of the energy for which you’ve paid.

Evaporator Coil

This is what helps to reduce the humidity in your home during a Fort Worth, TX summer. It sits inside your system’s indoor air handler. The evaporator coil works by having the warm air which is removed from your home by the system’s fan blown over the coil, which then cools the air and is distributed throughout your home.

When that warm air hits the evaporator coil, it causes condensation, which results in lower humidity in your home.

The condensation that forms on the evaporator coil can result in a build-up of mold, dirt, and dust on the coil. This can lead to problems with heat transfer and lower air quality in your home. This build-up can damage your system and could lead to a breakdown. This is another reason for annual check-ups by your emergency heating and ac repair service.

Refrigerant Lines

These are the two lines, each made of copper, you see leading from your condenser unit into your home.

The bigger of the two lines is called the suction line. It carries the refrigerant and is insulated. The smaller of the two lines is uninsulated and is called the liquid line because it carries a warm liquid. Contact your emergency heating and ac repair service if you see any problems with these lines.

Ducts

HVAC systems are also called forced-air heating because the air from the system is forced through a system of ducts throughout your home. The ducts are generally round and made of sheet metal. That’s because sheet metal is a non-porous surface that is highly unlikely to have mold or bacteria infestations.

Ductwork should not run through attics, garages, or a crawl space without being fully insulated. This type of ductwork can be rerouted through a home but that can be an expensive proposition.

There are other types of ductwork available, such as flexible air ducts or fiberglass-lined air ducts. The flexible ducts are great because their flexibility makes them easy to install. The fiberglass-lined ducts are well insulated but the fiberglass doesn’t age well and you can end up breathing air containing bits of the fiberglass. This needs to be discussed with your emergency heating and ac repair service.

Air Registers

These are what most people refer to as vents. Air registers are attached to the ends of the ductwork, covering the hole where the duct blows air into a room. These registers have what is called a damper, which can control the direction and amount of air coming into the room.

There are vent covers but they do not have dampers. A vent cover simply covers the hole where the duct ends and allows air to pass through. Whether you have a register or a vent is a personal preference. Emergency heating and AC repair service professionals do recommend that you keep at least 75% of your registers open so you don’t unbalance the duct system.

Returns

These are the registers that look like vent covers but are much larger. They’re larger because they are sucking the air out of your house in order to reduce the air pressure and to supply air to your HVAC system.