DeHart Plumbing, Heating, and Air Inc. Blog: Archive for January, 2021

How Often Do I Need to Schedule Duct Cleaning?

Monday, January 25th, 2021
duct-cleaning-with-vacuum

The ducts in your house are hidden from sight, so you won’t have a good idea about how much dust, dander, lint, and other debris builds up inside them over the years. To give you an idea, a six-person home circulates on average 40 lbs. of dust through the ventilation system annually. Plenty of that will stay on the duct walls, and the more that collects, the more dust it will catch. This eventually leads to ductwork with so much build-up that it affects the energy efficiency of the HVAC system and adds to the amount of debris and allergens blown out into the air.

Professional duct cleaning will restore the ducts to near-pristine condition and help significantly to improve the HVAC system. But how often does your home need this service?

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“Is My HVAC Air Filter Protecting My Indoor Air Quality?”

Monday, January 18th, 2021
woman-leaning-back-on-couch-looking-comfortable-in-her-home

The short answer to this is, “No.”

It’s not that the standard HVAC air filter hurts your indoor air quality. In fact, it does help a little. However, it’s not doing much to protect your indoor air quality, because that is not its purpose.

The air filter that comes standard with your HVAC system is actually in place to protect the system itself. It’s placed on the intake side, where your HVAC system draws in air. This prevents the system from sucking in dirt, dust, and other debris that can build up on its components and do the system harm. While it’s a very important component, it won’t do a whole lot to protect or help your indoor air quality in a significant way.

What will, then? A whole-house air purification system.

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How High-Efficiency Furnaces Work So Well

Monday, January 11th, 2021
gas-furnace

Heating and air conditioning systems have improved their energy efficiency vastly over the past 20 years. Today, the US Department of Energy’s ENERGY STAR program certifies the most efficient of these systems, which sometimes perform at 40% greater efficiency than older models. 

The high-efficiency furnace is one of the big success stories in energy-friendly comfort. For many years, the standard efficiency of most furnaces was between 70 to 80% AFUE, meaning that 70 to 80% of the furnaces’ fuel source was converted to heat, the rest lost to exhaust. Today, there are high-efficiency furnaces that score higher than 95% AFUE. 

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“What Happened to My Water Pressure?”

Monday, January 4th, 2021
water-dripping-from-faucet

Let’s say you’ve hopped in the shower on a cold winter morning only to realize that even though it’s warm, the water coming out of the showerhead doesn’t seem to be coming out at the same force that it used to. It could just be the showerhead, right? Limescale can certainly clog things up. That may be the case, but what if your faucets aren’t that powerful either? Well, then it appears you have a drop in water pressure.

If you ever have any questions about your plumbing system or why your water pressure dropped, you can always call us. In fact, you should call us in case you can’t find out what the issue is on your own. This isn’t a problem you want to ignore since it could mean you had a pipe rupture or a major blockage somewhere in your plumbing system. Read on to learn about some steps to take if you find yourself in this predicament.

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