May 14th, 2009
Air conditioning is a great home feature to have during the hot Summer months, sleeping through the night is made much easier and it seems every friend that you have shows up when the mercury hit 28 degrees or more.
Well how do you keep the cool air flowing well not spending a fortune? Well it all starts with SEER. The efficiency of a air conditioning system is measured by it’s SEER rating “Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio”. This rating is set by Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute.The higher the SEER rating the more efficient the air conditioning system.
A SEER rating is the Btu rating cooling output during a typical cooling season divided by the total electric energy input in watt hours during the same period.
For example, consider a 5000 BTU/h air-conditioning unit, with a SEER of 10, operating for a total of 1000 hours during an annual cooling season (e.g., 8 hours per day for 125 days).
The annual total cooling output would be:
- 5000 BTU/h * 8 h/day * 125 days = 5,000,000 BTU
With a SEER of 10, the annual electrical energy usage would be about:
- 5,000,000 BTU / 10 BTU/W·h = 500,000 W·h
The average power usage may also be calculated more simply by:
- Average power = (BTU/h) / (SEER, BTU/W·h) = 5000 / 10 = 500 W
If your electricity cost is 20¢/kW·h, then your operating cost is:
- 0.5 kW * 20¢/kW·h = 10¢/h
Hope this helps clear up SEER ratings for everyone interested. So now that you know you can stay cool for less money with some informed shopping before installing your air conditioning system.
A-1 Ductworks is a Furnace and Duct Cleaning Company that specializes in Indoor Air Quality for the Fort McMurray Alberta Area. Contact us at 780-598-5966 for free estimates on Indoor Air Quality products and services
Tags: Air Conditioning, alberta, fort mcmurray, Furnace and duct cleaning, SEER
Posted in Air Conditioning, Energy Saving Tips | 1 Comment »
May 13th, 2009
Can You Find The Furnace Filter?
Your furnace system is the lungs of your home; the air that you breathe is first passed through the furnace system where it can be cleaned, humidified, heated or cooled.
Having a good furnace filter should be a high priority for your furnace system and your health. Furnace filters were originally designed to protect your furnace fans and other components. With increased knowledge of Indoor Air Quality filters were developed to both protect the furnace system and the residents of the home.
Your home is full of airborne contaminants such as:
· Dust on the floors and surfaces that are disturbed by activity in the home.
· Smoking, burning candles lint from laundry and cooking are just a few duct sources
· Hair and skin flakes from humans or pets. Did you know that humans shed an estimated 1.5 pounds per year.
· Pollens and dust that leak into the home through open windows or air intakes.
Dust particles can be so small that they are inhaled and exhaled from your lungs without getting trapped. Some particles are too large to get be inhaled but the dangerous particles are those that are breathed into your lungs and get trapped there. These particles are the ones that can cause respiratory illnesses. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3M filters, alberta, electrostatic filters, fort mcmurray, Furnace duct Cleaning, Furnace Filters, MERV
Posted in Air Purifiers, Allergies, Furnace Filters, Furnace duct Cleaning, Indoor Air Quality | 1 Comment »
May 11th, 2009
Here at A-1 Ductwork we have two main types of cleaning when it comes to cleaning dryer vent systems.
Dryer Vent Cleaning Technique
1. Standard Cleaning Procedure: All dryer vents are cleaned from the outside using high pressure compressed air with a reverse skipper ball that sends the skipper ball rocketing down the venting to the base of the dryer. Once the skipper ball has gone as far as it will go we start to retract the skipper ball back towards us pulling all the debris and and lint back to the outside where it is collected into a large truck mounted vacuum system.
2. Challenge Cleaning: This type of cleaning is preformed when the dryer system is completely plugged up of not accessible from the outside due to height or concealed from sight. We disconnect the dryer from the venting and insert the Viper Cleaning System into the venting using the Air Whip fitting. The Viper System is a high pressure compressed air cleaning system that uses different fittings that are attached to the end. 250 pounds on air pressure is forced through the Viper System that forces the air out forward, using the Air Whip fitting which has many small air tubes that whip around in the ducting loosing the debris and lint from the walls of the venting well pushing and the lint to the outside of the home. This method is used when cleaning commercial dryer vent systems. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: alberta, Dryer Vent Cleaning, fort mcmurray, furnace cleaning, viper system
Posted in Air Purifiers, Dryer Vent Cleaning | 1 Comment »
May 8th, 2009
Air Conditioning System
Your air conditioning system is made up of two parts, first the condenser unit which sits outside the home on a concrete block outside the house and the evaporator coils which sits above your furnace in the plenum of the ductwork. When the air conditioning system is in action warm or hot air is drawn from the return air grills in the home into the furnace through the blower and the heat is absorbed into the refrigerant gases in the A/C system the gases expand and are pumped out in pressured lines to the condenser unit outside where a large fan extracts the heat and compresses the gases to nearly a liquid and very cold state, the manipulated refrigerant gases are then sent back to the evaporator coils above the furnace and cold air is pushed into the supply side of the furnace system. The warm air from the return side of the furnace system is again absorbed by the refrigerant gases and the process starts over again.
Before Starting your air conditioning system up for the season there are a few things that you should do for preventative maintenance. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: A/C, Air Conditioning, cleaning, fort mcmurray, furnace
Posted in Air Conditioning | 1 Comment »
May 6th, 2009
Indoor Air Quality
We spend up to 90% of our time indoors and more than half of the population in North America suffery for at least one allergy. Spring and Summer are the worst time of the year for people who suffer from any allergies, so this year add these tips to your regular spring cleaning regimen to help eliminate the needless suffering.
1. Before you enter your home brush off your clothes and shoes to remove any pollen spores and debris that you may picked up during the day.
2. During hot Summer days where the humidity levels can rise up over 80% in the home the perfect weapon against both the hot air and the poor indoor air quality due to high humidity levels is the Air Conditioning System. A good Air Conditioning system will keep the home in the 30 – 40% humidity range eliminating molds and forcing the air to run through the furnaces air filters. If your home is not equipped with Air Conditioning then a portable Air Conditioner will still decrease the humidity levels in the home. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: air purifiers HEPA, Air Quality Index, Allergies, AQI, IAQ, Indoor Air Quality
Posted in Air Purifiers, Allergies, Indoor Air Quality, Mold, Sick Building Syndrome | 1 Comment »
May 6th, 2009
Lifebreath TFP Air Cleaner
Indoor Air Quality is a major concern for many people who suffer from allergies or asthma. Last week I installed one of our best Indoor Air Quality warriors in the Lifebreath TFP air cleaner.
My customer was faced with breathing problems that caused her to cough constantly when in the comfort of her own home. She called our company to have the furnace duct cleaning service performed and ask what other steps she could take to improve the indoor air quality in her home.
This is a fairly new home but has never had the furnace system cleaned in its five year existence. First we preformed our Viper cleaning method to insure that all the debris would be removed from the system. Next we removed the the drum humidifier that was never cleaned and full of mold and calcium buildup and not providing much humidity to the home, we replaced this with our Generalaire SL-16 Flow Thru Humidifier. After removing the sources of the poor indoor air quality we installed the best air cleaning system available today in the Lifebreath TFP air cleaner. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: air cleaner, fort mcmurray, furnace cleaning, Indoor Air Quality, Lifebreath
Posted in Air Purifiers, Allergies, Furnace Filters, Indoor Air Quality, Mold, Sick Building Syndrome | 2 Comments »
May 5th, 2009
Generalaire SL-16 Humidifier
Fort McMurray Alberta is a very dry place, it can be at times as dry as a desert. This can be devastating on hard wood floors, furniture and peoples sinus’s.
Most homes are only equipped with a plate humidifier which is a tray of water that refills with a float valve and sits above the furnace heat exchanger. When the warm air of the furnace is blown into the home it passes over the tray of water and provides humidity into the home. Unfortunately this is not a very effective form of humidifying and usually results in not enough humidity in the home and sometimes water over flows onto the furnace heat exchanger that can causes rusting and shorten the life span of the furnace.
Some homes are equipped with a “upgraded drum humidifier” I use the term loosely. Drum humidifier’s are slightly better at providing humidity but with water sitting constantly in a tray filled by a float valve this type of humidifier is faced with the same problems as the tray humidifier with flooding and mold build ups. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: fort mcmurray, furnace cleaning, Generalaire, Humidifier
Posted in Humidifiers | 1 Comment »
May 4th, 2009
Over the weekend I had many furnace duct cleaning jobs and during our Spring promotion we are offering a free dryer vent cleaning with the Furnace duct cleaning service. During one call I found a dryer vent that had never been cleaned and the home owner was not aware that cleaning the dryer vent at least one per year is a recommended fire hazard prevention method.
This dryer vent was barely moving any air and was about 75% plugged over, the dryer was very hot and the plastic ribbed dryer venting had signs of melting in places. I showed this to the customer before I went outside and cleaned the venting using a reverse skipper method with high pressure air.
I had the customer come outside to view the large amounts of lint that was being removed from the venting as the customer stood there in shock. “I had no idea” said the customer as I assured him that most customers do not realize how much lint is built up in the dryer venting so I decided to offer a few tips to home owners about dryer venting.
1. Lint traps only remove about 75% of the lint that builds up during the drying cycle, the remainder is dispossed of out the venting. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: alberta, Dryer Vent Cleaning, fort mcmurray, Furnace duct Cleaning
Posted in Dryer Vent Cleaning | 2 Comments »
May 4th, 2009
Today I was faced with a furnace duct cleaning challenge, Kodiak Fitness in Fort McMurray Alberta had a septic backup and it had flooded the in floor ducting.
I had advised the customer to contact a sump pump company to first draw all the liquid out of the duct system before I start the cleaning process. Duct cleaning a system with in-floor ducting provides challenges that you do not face when cleaning a suspended ducting system, such as access is only available where ever the heat register is located. In a suspended furnace duct system you can make more access holes as required.
The good side of having a in-floor ducting system is there are fewer air leaks in the system which means stronger suction from the vacuum system. Because we have limited access holes we will use a combination of the Duct Brush system and the Air Viper system to completely clean the duct system. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Benefect, duct cleaning, fort mcmurray, furnace cleaning, Furnace duct Cleaning
Posted in Furnace duct Cleaning | 1 Comment »