Thousand Oaks, CA is a warm city, like most of Southern California, and we don’t tend to worry much about heating bills getting too high. That doesn’t mean you should pay more than is necessary to keep your heater running, however, or that you shouldn’t take advantage of upgrades to the system to help improve its function. For homeowners looking for such upgrades, we strongly recommend an energy recovery ventilator, which is placed in your attic and can help you save money in the summer just as much as the winter.
AZ Air Conditioning and Heating Blog
Cut Down on Energy Bills with an Energy Recovery Ventilator
December 19th, 2016How Does Dry Air Affect Your Home?
December 12th, 2016It’s easy to forget that Southern California is basically a desert, and that dry air still affects towns like Torrance, CA in ways we don’t always acknowledge. Temperature control is usually the name of the game in household comfort: keeping our homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But dry air can be a much bigger problem this season than cool air. Our winter temperatures are quite mild, but low humidity levels are a problem you can’t always ignore.
Check Your Vents to Find Problems with Your Heater
December 5th, 2016Most heating systems in the Burbank, CA area are forced-air furnaces, which generate heat from a centralized locale and then blow it into your home with a system of ducts. It’s a simple and effective way to keep your home warm in a mild climate like ours. Moreover, by checking the vents periodically, you can spot the signs of a problem with your heater. And while only a trained professional can diagnose an issue accurately, you can give yourself a leg up by checking the vents and looking for any of the following issues:
Strange Noises
Strange noises mean anything that you don’t normally associate with the normal functioning of your system: groans, hums, whistles or any other unusual sound. They tend to carry through the ducts, which means you can often hear them if you listen at the vents. Strange noises tend to start and stop in sync with the starting and stopping of your furnace.
Low Air Flow
Low air flow can be caused by breaches in the ducts, a clog or blockage, or a problem with the fan motor, among other issues. It lowers the system’s efficiency, and the hot air sitting in your furnace can cause components to overheat.
Low Heat Levels
Sometimes, the air flow can be just fine, but the air feels cooler than you might expect. This usually means a problem with the burners or some kind of breach that introduces cool air into the system. This can cause the same problems that reduced air flow does: adding strain to your system, which raises the possibility of a breakdown somewhere else (as well as causing your monthly bills to spike).
If you notice anything odd about the air coming out of your vents, shut the system off and call AZ Air Conditioning and Heating right away!
Be Careful of Pouring These Foods Down the Drain
November 28th, 2016The holidays mean lots of gatherings, lots of friends and family, and lots of cooking. As we get closer to Christmas, you’re apt to be using your kitchen a lot in the next few weeks. But in your hustle and bustle to prepare the perfect meal, keep an eye out for foods that should not go down the drain. They can result in stubborn clogs or even damage your garbage disposal if you aren’t careful. We see a lot of repair calls caused by the wrong foods here in Thousand Oaks, CA, and we firmly believe that an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure. Here’s a list of foods you should toss in the regular trash instead of down the kitchen drain.
Is Your Heater Suffering from Reduced Air Flow?
November 22nd, 2016Most homes in the greater Los Angeles, CA area rely on forced-air furnaces to generate heat in the winter. These systems use gas burners or electric coils to heat the air in their chamber, then blow the air through the ducts into your home. It’s a safe and reliable system, but it can encounter trouble from time to time, like any system. And that can include a reduced air flow from the vents.
The furnace could be functioning exactly as needed, but if the air doesn’t get where it needs to go, it’s going to cause some serious problems. The causes are usually fairly simple — a problem with the fan motor, bent fan blades or some manner of blockage in the vents themselves — but unless those problems are identified by a trained technician and corrected, it could add up to a very expensive repair.
How Does a Heat Recovery Ventilator Help You?
November 21st, 2016A heat recovery ventilator and its cousin, the energy recovery ventilator, are designed to improve your home’s efficiency in the winter and save you money. Most homes in the Torrance, CA area lack adequate insulation, owing to our hot summers and mild winters. An HRV or ERV can be a great way to help make up that difference without the difficulty of installing new insulation in your home. Here’s how it works.
How to Respond to a Heating Problem
November 13th, 2016The good news about living in Burbank, CA and other towns in Southern California, is that a heating problem rarely proves a disaster. Unlike the East Coast, where a broken heater can be actively dangerous in cold weather, we can usually get through by dressing warmly and keeping an eye on the elderly and similarly vulnerable residents.
But what’s the proper procedure for responding to a heating problem? Only a trained technician can diagnose and correct the specific problem, but you can do a great deal to help out your own cause in the interim.
3 Advantages of Commercial IAQ Products
November 7th, 2016IAQ stands for “indoor air quality,” and it can be as important to your commercial operations as the heating and air conditioning system. Here in Thousand Oaks, CA, there’s so much more to making your business space work than providing a comfortable temperature. Fluctuating humidity levels, dust and dirt in the air, and the presence of biological contaminants like germs and mold can all wreak havoc with your operations.
The timely installation of an indoor air quality devices can make life easier for you in a number of ways, and with the right team on your side, you can select the types of device that best suit your needs. Here’s a quick list of 3 ways installing an IAQ unit can help your business.
3 Signs of Trouble With Your Water Heater
October 31st, 2016Water heaters benefit a great deal from our dry and mild climate here in Los Angeles, CA, which means that yours can likely go for many years before needing replacement. Sooner or later, that day will come, however, and because water heaters usually do their jobs quietly in out-of-the-way locations like your basement, it can be hard to spot the problem until it’s a raging crisis.
This is doubly unfortunately because many issues with water heaters can be addressed without replacement if they’re caught quickly. Ideally, you can schedule a maintenance session from a trained plumber once a year to spot any potential issues and plan to correct them. But you can augment that by checking for signs of trouble from your water heater throughout the year. Here are three specific ways to do that.
The Benefits of Solar Air Conditioning
October 23rd, 2016With summer finally an end here in Torrance, CA, the time has come to take a long, hard look at your air conditioning system, and decide if it needs replacing. If you need to change out an old air conditioner with a new one, look into the benefits that solar air conditioning can provide your home. There’s a significant up-front cost, bu the long-term benefits are immeasurable. And with the solar technology advancing in leaps and bounds the last few years, now is the best possible time to invest in a system that could change your life.
