Keeping your home comfortable in the fall

Now that the weather is starting to cool, the Tampa Tribune has published some tips on keeping your home comfortable when you are staring to open windows and let air in.

You can read the entire article here, but here are some highlights:

The article says not only to open windows but to use fans for comfort. Jay Hoover, president of Integrity Air, recommends that you be sure to turn off fans when you leave the room to save energy.

The article says that doing laundry at night when it is cooler helps as well as replacing standard incandescent lightbulbs with the new compact flourescent bulbs, which give off much less heat. Compact flourescent bulbs are more energy efficient, give off less hest and last longer. However, they contain mercury, and must be disposed of with care and time of replacement.

Also running the bathroom exhaust fan for 10-20 minutes after a shower will help lower indoor humidity.

The Benefits of Routine Maintenance

I received a phone call from a customer who wanted to know the age of the central air system we in installed in her home.

"This will be easy", I thought. "I'll just pull the invoice from our file."

The invoice wasn't there. Our current customer files only go back to 2000, and it seemed that our customer's system was older than that. So I climbed up into our attic and found the pre-2000 invoices in a box.

Our customer's system was installed in December 1998. The average life expectancy of a central air system is 12-15 years, and this one was nearly 10 years old and remarkably, had never broken down and shows no sign of doing so. I can look at two reasons for this fortune:

1) The customer invested in quality filters and changed them regularly. This is the air conditioning equivalent of brushing and flossing each day. Good filters will help keep your indoor coil clean which helps with indoor air quality and efficiency.

2) This system had regular tune-ups and inspections under our Top Performance Program. We see this system twice a year, so any minor issues get resolved before they become major ones.

Doing this may not guaranty a long life for your system, but the money invested in a regular maintenance program will help your air conditioner run at Top Performance for a long time.

Beware of AC Copper Thieves

You’ve probable read or heard on local news that, with the rising price of copper, there is an increase in the theft of central air outdoor units in the Tampa Bay airwaves.

Copper everywhere is at risk of being stolen. Thousands of dollars of damage are done to half-built houses when thieves rip out the walls for a few hundred dollars worth of copper wire.

In the case of central air outdoor units, the places most at risk are abandoned houses and businesses. For example, bars and nightclubs would get hit in the morning or churches would become victimized on weekdays when no one is there.

Many churches have put chain link fences around their outdoor units. Also available are various kinds of alarms (much like home security systems) to notify you when someone is tampering with your outdoor unit.

The sad thing is that many central air contractors acquire scrap copper from old units they have replaced. Some contractors would be happy to freely give these old units to someone who would take them away. Instead, criminals would rather cost a church or business thousands of dollars in damages to steal under $100 worth of copper.

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Cooling an enclosed porch or addition.

If you are planning to enclosed a porch or add a room to your home, one of the challenges you face is how to cool the new space.

You could run duct to the new space from your home air conditioning system, but in most cases your home system isn’t large enough to cool the new space.

You could use a window unit, but window units can be noisy and use a lot of electricity, and may not be able to suitably cool a large porch or room.

The answer to the question of how to cool an addition or an enclosed porch is the minisplit or ductless system.

A minisplit is a central air system (either straight cool or heat pump), and can have a capacity as large as 3 tons and an efficiency as high as 18 SEER, so it can cool a very large room or enclosed porch while saving electricity and money.

Most minisplits also have a remote controller which not only serves as a thermostat, but can adjust fan speed and direction to your comfort.

Integrity Air would be happy to answer any of your questions about how a minisplit can meet your comfort needs

Various Methods of Improving Indoor Air Quality

Some folks are looking for improved indoor air quality because of allergies, pet dander or tobacco use in the home. Here are some solutions offered by Integrity Air:

1. Have your indoor coil cleaned if needed. This will also improve the efficiency of your air conditioning system.

2. Use quality filters. A quality, pleated cardboard filter, or Integrity Air can provide a metal frame and polyester, tackifed filtrers. If you can see through your filter, then it’s not good enough. Another test is to hold your filter horizontal and shake pepper on the top to see how much falls through. Anything more than a few grains should be a cause for concern.

3. Install an electronic air cleaner. Ideally installed at the same time a new indoor section is installed, this device, attached to the indoor section, sends an electric charge through particles and then collects the particles like a magnet. Most of these devices can trap up to 98% of particles 0.3 microns in diameter.

4. Install a Whole House HEPA filter. HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air filter. Like the electronic air cleaner, this device is attached to the indoor section and filters all the air going through your air conditioning system. Most of these devices can trap up to 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns in diameter.

5. Install a UV-C light in your indoor coil. A UV-C light kills bacteria, germs and other stuff growing in the condensation on your indoor coil.

If you are looking for more information about indoor air quality, feel free to call Integrity Air at 932-2665 and we would be happy to help you with whatever solution works for you.

Tips on saving energy and money with your central air conditioning

1. When receiving quotes for new central air, ask your contractor about a high efficiency system. Your old system was probably 10 SEER when new and less efficient now in its old age. The industry minimum for new systems is now 13 SEER, but 14-16 SEER and higher efficiencies are available. The initial investment may be higher, but over the average 15 year life of a central air system you will gain a return on that investment through lower electric bills.

2. Have your system inspected at least once a year. And a good time to have this done is in the spring before it gets hot. This may also head off problems which may shut your system down in the heat of summer.

3. Have your ducts checked for leaks. Remember when you left the door open in the winter and Mom said, “are you heating the outdoors”? Having your ducts checked for leaks and those leaks sealed will help you to keep from cooling your attic. And while the air conditioning service tech is in your attic he can….

4. See if you have enough attic insulation. One of our customers converted a garage into air conditioned living space without realizing that the attic above had no insulation. Correcting that problem allowed us to install a system one half ton smaller than his existing one. And last but not least,

5. Buy quality air filters and change them regularly. This is the brushing and flossing of maintenance, the easiest thing you can do not only to improve efficiency of your central air but also improves indoor air quality.

Hopefully these tips are helpful in gaining some savings in your energy bill. If you have any questions or if there is anyway we can meet your comfort needs please call Integrity Air @ 813-932-2665