Envirotech Air Quality Services Blog : Archive for October, 2014

How Often Should I Schedule Duct Cleaning?

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

The ductwork in your HVAC system plays a very important role in your comfort. Maintaining your ductwork with scheduled cleaning is as important as maintaining the other parts of your HVAC system. Plus, there are several important benefits to scheduling duct cleaning in Lake Worth. Hiring professionals is always best when it comes to any kind of maintenance or repair of your HVAC system, so call the people you can trust: Envirotech Air Quality Services.

What Happens During a Professional Duct Cleaning Appointment?

Here is a general overview of what happens during a routine duct cleaning appointment:

  • Thorough inspection of your system
  • Ductwork is opened at various access points
  • The first major vacuum is performed
  • Second inspection of system
  • Smaller, harder-to-reach areas are vacuumed and cleaned
  • Any sticking debris will be removed with brushes and pneumatic tools
  • Final inspection is performed to ensure all the ductwork has been thoroughly cleaned
  • Access ports are closed
  • All vacuumed contaminants will be removed from home

When Should Ducts Be Cleaned?

The recommended frequency for cleaning your ductwork is every 3-5 years, unless you have pets and/or smokers in your home. In those cases, it’s recommended that you schedule professional duct cleaning every 2-3 years.

What Are the Benefits of Professional Duct Cleaning?

Duct cleaning can benefit you, your home and your system in the following ways:

  • Better energy efficiency – significant buildup in your ductwork can restrict air flow. Restricted air flow forces your system to work harder, and any time your system has to work harder, it uses more energy. By removing the dirt and dust buildup with a professional cleaning, you can help increase your system’s efficiency.
  • Improved indoor air quality – dirt and dust in your ductwork can enter directly into your living space, which can be problematic, especially for any allergy sufferers in your home. Removing dirt and dust with a professional cleaning can help to significantly improve your indoor air quality.
  • Less strain on your system – an HVAC system that has to fight the effects of dirt and dust in the ductwork over a period of years operates with a significant level of stress, which can cause wear and tear, malfunction and breakdown. You can help reduce this wear and tear with professional duct cleaning.

When was the last time you had a professional duct cleaning in Lake Worth? If it’s been more than 5 years, call Envirotech Air Quality Services today.

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What the ENERGY STAR Label Means on an Air Conditioning System

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014

When you choose a new air conditioning system, one of the most important things is saving money. For some homeowners, this means saving at the time of purchase by choosing a relatively inexpensive model. However, your new air conditioner will only cost you more every month if you don’t choose a system with a high efficiency rating.

The U.S. government requires manufacturers to post information about the efficiency of air conditioners via the EnergyGuide label. This label lets you know the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) of the unit, as well as whether or not it has received the coveted ENERGY STAR label. Here’s what all of this means for your air conditioning system.

Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio

The SEER indicates how much energy an air conditioner uses to cool a space during a typical cooling season. This is displayed as a number over 13, as this is the current minimum for all air conditioners sold in the U.S. In Florida, this minimum will raise to a SEER of 14 in 2015. A higher SEER indicates a more efficient system.

ENERGY STAR

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has its own set of standards for what qualifies as a truly efficient system. If a system contains the ENERGY STAR label, this means it has met E.P.A. guidelines for both efficiency and performance. While ENERGY STAR air conditioners all have high SEERs, they must also emit few pollutants into the environment and still give customers the high performance they would expect from any air conditioning system.

Other Factors to Consider

The ENERGY STAR label is one of the best ways to ensure your new system saves you some money over the years. In fact, the savings over time will likely offset the price tag of a more efficient system. However, there are a few more steps you must take to keep your system as efficient as possible. Only allow a trained professional to install your system. Change the air filters every month. And schedule maintenance twice a year to restore efficiency and extend the lifespan of your unit.

Call the professionals at Envirotech Air Quality Services for quality air conditioning services in Wellington.

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Should I Replace an Old AC with a Heat Pump?

Wednesday, October 15th, 2014

Replacing an aging air conditioner can be a great opportunity. Why? Not only will you benefit from greater energy efficiency and better reliability, you can also install a new kind of system that may benefit your home more than your current setup. One option for your new air conditioning installation in West Palm Beach is a heat pump. The name “heat pump” may be confusing, but be assured that a heat pump can offer your home great cooling in addition to great heating. While the operation of a heat pump is quite simple, the device itself is complex, and calls for professional installation. Envirotech Air Quality Services has been helping with air conditioning installation, repair and maintenance since 1987, so if you are in need of a new AC system, call us today.

Benefits of a Heat Pump

One of the best ways to assess whether or not you should replace your aging air conditioner with a heat pump is to review the benefits a heat pump can offer you:

  • Both heats and cools – thanks to a component called a reversing valve, a heat pump can provide your home with both warm and cool air. This means if you have been using separate systems, you can pare down your whole-home systems to one manageable device.
  • Better energy efficiency – a heat pump does not use any fossil fuels and only needs a small amount of electricity to operate – about 25% of that of an air conditioning unit. This can save you money on energy costs, particularly if you have a combustion heating system.
  • Better humidity control – because heat pumps operate on a low, continuous cycle instead of blowing forced air, the moisture control can be up to 30% better than with a traditional air conditioning system.

If you are looking for your air conditioning installation in West Palm Beach to provide great year-round comfort and better energy efficiency, a heat pump may be just what you need. Call Envirotech Air Quality Services today and schedule an appointment with one of our trained installation experts.

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Is a Heat Pump Worth It Just for Air Conditioning?

Wednesday, October 8th, 2014

To understand how a heat pump works means understanding how an air conditioner works: essentially, the two are identical, except that the heat pump has extra components and the construction to allow it to reverse the direction that it operates, so instead of removing heat from indoors and depositing it outdoors (standard air conditioning) it can also remove heat from outdoors and release it indoors, working as a forced-air heater.

If you are planning to replace the air conditioning system in your home, a heat pump is a good option to investigate. However, are you planning to replace both the air conditioner and the heater? If you only need to have the AC replaced, you may wish to reconsider installing a heat pump. Or you might be best served by deciding to have the heater replaced as well as the air conditioner, and use a heat pump in place of both.

Whatever your best choice for air conditioning in Lake Worth, FL, you will find the experts to help you make the best decision at Envirotech Air Quality Services. We offer a wide variety of systems, and you can trust in our experience to find the finest installation for your home comfort.

The Best Use for a Heat Pump

There is no question that a heat pump can provide the level of cooling power to match the best air conditioners of comparable size. If you are worried that the split function of a heat pump means it will suffer reduced cooling power, put your mind at ease: heat pumps have enormous cooling capacity and will work as well as any air conditioner of around the same size.

However, you don’t want a heat pump to handle only the cooling side. Doing this squanders a terrific opportunity to save money. Heat pumps are generally more expensive than standard air conditioners, so if you install one just to take care of air conditioning, you are probably better served with a cooling-only system. This isn’t just a question of price, but also of potential. Heat pumps are extremely effective heating systems for warmer climates such as those in Florida. A heat pump consumes much less energy than a gas-powered heater or an electric resistance heater while it runs, and this can save you a few hundred dollars each year off of your heating bill. It’s wasteful to let this great opportunity go past because you only plan to use the heat pump for cooling.

Find Out If a Heat Pump is Right for You

So you’ve decided that if you install a heat pump, you’ll install it as a replacement for both the heating and air conditioning systems in your home. Now what? Well, you will have to call professional HVAC technicians to handle figuring out if a heat pump is the best choice for your heating and air conditioning in Lake Worth, FL. Once they’ve determined this, they will install the system so that it gives you many years of great performance.

Envirotech Air Quality Services provides heating and air conditioning that keeps our customers satisfied. Call us today for any heating or AC installation you need.

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Moisture Control and Mold Remediation

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014

Nobody wants to find out that there is mold developing inside the ventilation system of their homes. Unfortunately, this is a common problem in Florida because of our high humidity. The combination of elevated moisture levels and the dark confines of ductwork makes ventilation systems an ideal place for mold to grow. Mold can reach many other areas of a house given high enough humidity, growing under floorboards, above ceiling tiles, and within drywall.

Mold presents a danger to both building material and the health of those inside a house. Some molds release toxic spores that trigger a number of symptoms in people who breathe them, and they pose a special hazard to sufferers of asthma and allergies. You need to have professional remediation services to eliminate mold when it starts to infiltrate your home’s ventilation system and building material. Envirotech Air Quality Services performs quality mold remediation in Wellington, FL and the surrounding areas; we specialize in protecting your indoor air quality and removing dangerous and damaging molds.

Moisture Control as a Means to Combat Mold

There is a variety of ways that specialists eliminate mold from a home, but one of the most important steps in mold remediation is to stop the mold from returning. It doesn’t do much good to get rid of a mold infestation in the floorboards of a home only to have the mold return a few weeks later. To help keep mold away, specialists will control the moisture in the affected area. Once the excess water in the building material removed, it will be unlikely for the mold to return.

When mold remediation specialists come to your home, they will first perform mold assessment to find out how serious a problem you have. Mold growth often lies in hidden spaces, so if you’ve spotted mold growing in a few locations, the chances are high that it has also spread to many others that you can’t see. The remediation technicians will locate all the spots they need to address, and also track down the source of the high humidity that allowed the growths to occur in the first place.

Once the technicians have performed the necessary mold remediation, they will start the moisture control process. Blowers and dehumidifiers dry out the previously affected areas and extract as much moisture as possible from them so the mold will have a difficult time returning.

Remember that it isn’t enough just to remove the mold: mold remediation in Wellington, FL requires more commitment to eliminating the reasons the mold started to develop in the first place. When you call on Envirotech Air Quality Services to get rid of the mold in your home, you can trust that we will do a thorough job that will leave your house mold-free for many years. Contact us today to schedule your next appointment with us.

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