What Are Energy Efficient Curtains

April 5, 2021

Energy-efficient curtains are something you can put over your windows to significantly reduce your energy bills. They keep outdoor air from coming in and prevent air in your home from leaking out. These curtains have a sponge-like lining on their back that faces the window. Less Heating and Cooling If you have energy-efficient curtains, your heating and cooling system doesn’t have to work as hard. This results in lower energy bills as half of them are because of heating and cooling your home. The curtains can pay for themselves in lower energy bills. Warm Weather You should buy a curtain with a light color lining for warm weather. The color will reflect heat instead of absorbing it. You should keep your curtains closed during the day. The curtain can reduce solar heat in your home by up to 33%. Cold Weather You should open your energy-efficient curtains on sunny days, so you benefit from the sun heating your home. This takes the pressure off your heater. Close the curtains when the sun sets, so they can prevent heat transfer through windows. This can prevent up to 10% of heat loss. Automate Your Windows Your home may have windows that are...

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How Does A Ductless Mini-Split System Work?

March 9, 2021

Mini-split systems are a way to heat and cool your home with no ductwork. They’re a great solution for home add-ons, renovations, and garages. They’re easy to install and give you a way to zone your home. How Do Mini-Split Systems Work? There are two main parts to these systems. There’s an outdoor compressor unit and an indoor air-handling unit. You can have up to four indoor units attached to an outdoor unit. The indoor units can be in a wall, ceiling recess or floor mounted. Each one is independently controlled. Each indoor unit is attached to the outdoor unit through refrigerant tubing. It’s in the outdoor condenser unit where the refrigerant either collects heat to warm your home or releases heat to cool your home. Can You Zone With This System? Since each indoor unit is independently controlled, you can zone your home. This means you can choose the temperature for each room on its own. You don’t need to heat or cool rooms nobody is in. in Peoria, IL, installs and repairs mini-split systems. We’ve been in business for over 35 years and have an A+ rating with the BBB. Can They Save You Money? Mini-split systems save...

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How Often Should You Get HVAC Maintenance?

February 8, 2021

Peoria, IL, has unruly weather, and you might need to turn on the heat one day and the air conditioning the next. At , we offer essential maintenance services to keep your home’s heating and cooling systems running smoothly all year long. Follow these tips from our skilled technicians so that you know when and how often to schedule heating and cooling tune-ups. How Often and When to Maintain Your Heat Pump Heat pumps perform both heating and cooling functions. Because you’ll use a heat pump year-round to maintain comfort in your Peoria-area home, you’ll need heat pump maintenance twice each year. We recommend a spring tune-up and an autumn maintenance visit. Our heat pump maintenance services include measuring the refrigerant level, cleaning and lubricating all the moving parts, cleaning the condensate line, and running a system performance test. We also check the thermostat, wiring, and controls. When to Schedule Furnace or Boiler Maintenance We recommend an annual tune-up for your furnace or boiler. The best time of the year to do this is in early to mid-autumn before the nighttime temperatures drop below freezing. Our furnace and boiler maintenance includes checking gas supply valves, measuring flow rates, cleaning the...

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How Often Should You Change Your Furnace Filter?

January 10, 2021

When you had your HVAC system installed, you were likely told to make sure you change the furnace filter on a regular basis. However, you may not be clear on just how frequently it should be changed. In the article below, we’ll give you some information about how often you should replace your air filter as well as why it is important to do so. What Does an Air Filter Do? Air filters are one of many important parts of a well-functioning HVAC system. As their name implies, they filter out particles like dust, dirt, pollen, and other debris. This means that the warm or cool air your HVAC system pushes out into your home will be cleaner and safer to breathe. All the members of your household will appreciate cleaner and safer air, especially those who suffer from asthma or allergies. When Should I Replace My Air Filter? If an HVAC filter isn’t replaced, it will become too full to properly do its job. The filter can only trap so many particles. Once it is full, more contaminants will be released into your air ducts and sent into the rooms in your home when your system blows warm or...

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What Exactly Does an Air Purifier Do?

December 3, 2020

Air purifiers come in all shapes and sizes with prices that range from less than $100 for portable single-room units to over $5,000 for whole-home units. But, what exactly do air purifiers do, and what are some of their benefits? How Air Purifiers Work Different types of air purifiers work in various ways, and some work better than others. Before investing in an expensive whole-home unit, it’s important to know which one will be best for you. All purifiers have the same goal of removing pollutants from the air to improve indoor air quality. Air purifiers can clean the air in one of two different ways: active or passive. Active purifiers use electrostatic precipitation or ionization. Passive purifiers use filters and are thought to be more efficient since they physically trap and remove particles. Ionization purifiers produce ions that are dispersed throughout the air and attach to pollutants. This makes them heavy, causing them to fall to the floor and other flat surfaces where they can easily be vacuumed or wiped up. Some air purifiers have an electrostatic plate that collects these ionized particles, but they still aren’t as efficient as those that use filters. There are several other types...

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How to Fix and Prevent Hot Spots in Your Home

November 17, 2020

Maintaining optimal comfort is of utmost importance for your Peoria home. Unfortunately, when trying to achieve this optimal comfort, you may run into hot spots that can leave you frustrated and confused. Although hot spots can be kind of mysterious, the good news is that some simple tricks from can help overcome this problem. Follow the Sun One major cause of hot spots in many homes is natural heating from the sun. As the earth rotates, it changes the angle at which the sun hits your home’s exterior. This can cause certain parts of your home’s interior to heat up as the heat energy is transferred from the outside to the inside. Therefore, if you want to help prevent hot spots, it’s a good idea to close the curtains in the rooms where the sun is shining directly to prevent excess temperature gain. Address the Problem Head-On If you want to tackle a hot spot problem head-on, your best bet is to install a ductless mini-split system from . Unlike central HVAC systems that are designed to heat and cool an entire home, these systems are only designed to heat or cool one room at a time. This means that...

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Heat Pump Technology Explained

October 20, 2020

When it’s time to replace your heating or cooling system, consider getting a heat pump. In moderate environments like that of Peoria, IL, heat pumps offer energy efficiency and convenience. These systems offer both heating and cooling functions, and you might wonder how they can do that. Here are the details of how a heat pump works to keep your home comfortable all year long.   Cooling Phase 1 The heat pump’s liquid refrigerant passes through the indoor coil. Air from your home is blown across it. From there, the refrigerant absorbs the heat. The cooled air then passes through the ducts. The liquid refrigerant turns into a gas. Cooling Phase 2 The refrigerant goes through the compressor, which pressurizes the gas. It gets hotter and moves to the outdoor coil. From there, the heat is released into the outdoor air. The refrigerant condenses back into its liquid form. At this point, the refrigerant is ready to move into the evaporator coil again. These phases complete a heat pump’s cooling cycle.   Heating Phase 1 To heat your home, the heat pump’s reversing valve reverses the refrigerant cycle. The source of heat is now the outdoor air. Even air temperatures...

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Should I Get an End-of-Season AC Tune-Up?

September 19, 2020

Having a reliable air conditioner is very important for those all over the Peoria, IL, area. To ensure that your air conditioner stays efficient and effective, you need to have regular maintenance and repairs completed. One important service to take advantage of is an end-of-season air conditioner tune-up. There are four important reasons why you should have this service done. 1. Ensures Repairs are Made One advantage of a service at the end of the season is it will ensure that all necessary repairs are made. During this service, can fully inspect your system to make sure all parts are working well. If necessary, we can also make repairs to ensure it continues to work well and is prepared for the next summer season. 2. Save on Energy Bills Toward the end of the summer months and into early fall, most people would expect that the weather would cool down. However, those that have been in Peoria long enough know that hot days can continue far into fall. When you have your AC tuned up, you can be assured that it will be running efficiently. 3. Improve Air Quality In many situations, an air conditioner tune-up service will also include...

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Will Air Purifiers Help with Musty Smell?

August 11, 2020

If you’ve noticed a musty smell in your home, it could be due to mold growth in hidden areas. Having an air purifier running in places that smell musty can not only remove the smell but can also improve the health of the air in the space. It’s important to have an air purifier with an activated carbon filter in order to remove odors from the air circulating in your home. Benefits of Air Purifiers The molds that create musty smells can also decrease the quality of the air in your home. This can cause health issues in both the short and long term. Activated Carbon Filters Air purifiers can come with activated carbon filters. These filters are highly porous and have a lot of surface area. They’re able to remove gasses from the air through adsorption. The filter will hold on to the odor-causing gasses until they are replaced. Proper Air Purifier Maintenance Getting the properly sized air purifier in your home can help you prevent musty smells in your rooms. It’s important to keep them properly maintained so that they can operate as efficiently as possible. Activated carbon filters need to be checked every month and replaced on...

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How to Read HVAC Gauges

July 16, 2020

HVAC gauges can be a valuable tool for telling you how a system is functioning. These tools are very useful for troubleshooting any heating or cooling system with refrigerant. However, it can be a little tricky to tell what the gauges all mean at first glance. To actually get useful information, you will need to learn how to read these gauges. Reading Analog Gauges The most common type of HVAC gauge is simply the classic analog readout. This style has needles that swivel around to tell the level of pressure in the AC system. The blue gauge will tell you the low-pressures while the red gauge will tell you the high-pressures. In addition to low-pressure and high-pressure chamber gauges, some gauges will also have a readout for the compressor output. Keep in mind that the base numbers will give you some information, but a lot of the data will rely on additional variables like the temperature of the refrigerant. When using an analog gauge, you may need to do some calculations to get a full picture of the system’s condition. Reading Digital Gauges Reading a digital gauge is even simpler. These gauges can calculate values like subcooling and overheating automatically....

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