Bartels Heating & Cooling Blog: Archive for February, 2015

The Benefits of Professional Sheet Metal Ductwork Installation

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

Most modern AC and heating systems require a set of ducts for air delivery. Air is conditioned at the indoor air handler, and a blower fan pushes this air into the ducts, which serve as a pathway to the different rooms in your home. But these ducts may potentially suffer from a number of different problems. Poor duct installation and care leads to problems such as uneven heating and cooling, poor energy efficiency, and broken HVAC equipment.

Only allow your new ductwork to be installed and serviced by a sheet metal ductwork specialist in Fairfield. Call Bartels Heating & Cooling for your ductwork installation, repair, and cleaning needs.

The Benefits of Sheet Metal

Sheet metal ductwork is the most common type of ductwork found in home. There are other options, however, including ductboard and flexible ducts. But sheet metal is proven to be effective, standing up to damages. Fiber ducts can be difficult to install, and the potential exists for fiberglass to move into your ducts. Sheet metal is tough and effective, plus it comes in many different shapes and sizes for ease of installation.

Why Choose Professionals

If you pick a professional for ductwork installation, you can feel assured that the ducts in your home are tightly sealed. When ducts are first installed in a new home, the job is not always completed by HVAC professionals. This is why so many homes suffer from leaky ducts—most homes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In fact, the EPA estimates that the typical home HVAC system loses about 20-30% of its heating and cooling power in the ducts.

HVAC professionals will make sure that the ducts are sized properly for your home and for your HVAC system. They will install the ducts in an efficient way, establishing the most direct route possible between the air handler and the vents in your home. After installation, they will test the ducts with an air pressure test and they may do a test run of your heating and AC system as well. Professionals have all the tools and expertise to ensure that all of the parts are just right.

Call Bartels Heating & Cooling for quality ductwork services in Fairfield today!

Continue Reading

What to Check before Calling for Furnace Repair

Monday, February 16th, 2015

When your furnace stops working or begins to malfunction, your first instinct is probably to call an HVAC technician to examine your system. That’s a good habit to develop, but before you call for professional help there are a few things you should check first. It is possible that your furnace malfunction is actually very minor, and something you can fix yourself. Even though you will likely need to call a professional anyway, examining certain parts of your system beforehand can help isolate and identify the problem. Let’s take a look at what you should check before calling for furnace repair.

The Thermostat

The core of any central heating system is the thermostat. It is the brain of your furnace system, which will not act without an order from the thermostat. As such, a malfunctioning thermostat can pretty effectively cripple your entire furnace. If your furnace stops working, you should always check your thermostat before doing anything else. Examine the display on the thermostat and make sure that all the information and settings are correct. An incorrect display is a sign that something is wrong with your thermostat.

The Air Filter

The air filter is responsible for protecting your furnace from dust and debris that blows in from the ducts. Though it does this job well, the filter has no way to rid itself of any particles that it collects. If not cleaned or changed out every 1-3 months, the air filter can become clogged. This restricts the air flow through the system, trapping heat inside the furnace and causing it to overheat. When this happens, it trips a device called the “limit switch,” which shuts the furnace down as a safety measure. If your furnace suddenly shuts down and won’t restart, it is possible that it overheated due to a dirty air filter. If you replace your dirty air filter, that might be all that is needed to solve the problem.

If your furnace is experiencing any sort of issue, call Bartels Heating & Cooling to make an appointment today. We provide professional furnace repair service throughout the West Chester area.

Continue Reading

Some of the Unusual Movies Released for Valentine’s Day

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

Hollywood has always tried to match movies up to the seasons to draw droves of viewers to the theaters: October is packed with fright-offerings, while the winter holidays skew toward warm and pleasing family films (as well as Oscar hopefuls). Valentine’s Day falls in an odd spot when it comes to the movie release calendar, however, since February tends to be a slower time for the film industry. The studios are as likely to slot strange movies that don’t fit anywhere else in their annual schedules into the Valentine’s Day weekend as they are films with powerful romantic appeal.

So, while the second weekend of February has featured hugely successful romantic comedies like Hitch, The Wedding Singer, and (of course) Valentine’s Day, some truly weird choices have debuted in this weekend as well. And a few have even gone on to tremendous success despite the bizarre match with the holiday. Here are a couple of the odder Valentine’s Day movie releases:

  • Dracula (1931): Yes, this Halloween perennial and the start of Universal Studio’s Classic Monsters actually came out on Valentine’s Day! But perhaps this makes some sense, as the Dracula legend has often received a “doomed lover” approach in the many years since Bela Lugosi made the aristocratic vampire a screen icon.
  • The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Does any film seem less appropriate for Valentine’s Day than this unnerving and sometimes very violent psychological thriller? What’s even more astonishing than the film’s release date is that The Silence of the Lambs eventually nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture, an almost unheard of occurrence for a movie released so early in the year.
  • Daredevil (2003): This Marvel comic adaptation featuring Ben Affleck as a blind superhero does contain a romantic subplot, but the stronger connection to Valentine’s Day may just be that Daredevil wears a bright red costume.
  • A Good Day to Die Hard (2013): The least successful of the Die Hard film franchise, this is an excellent example of a studio dropping a film into a weekend where it doesn’t fit in the hopes that it works as counter-programming. (It didn’t.)
  • Wayne’s World (1992): Now here is an example of counter-programming that clicked with audiences. This comedy based on a Saturday Night Live sketch turned into one of that year’s biggest hits and spawned a sequel.

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day with a trip to the movie theater, or you have your own special plans, everyone here at Bartels Heating & Cooling hopes you and your loved ones have a wonderful weekend.

Continue Reading

Noises You Shouldn’t Hear from Your Boiler

Wednesday, February 4th, 2015

Boilers are some of the sturdiest and reliable home heating systems on the market today. They have fewer moving parts than most systems, which means fewer chances to have a breakdown. However, boiler systems are not invulnerable. There are a few problems that can arise with boilers of which you should definitely be aware. Most of those problems begin with unusual noises coming from the boiler itself. Let’s examine some of the noises that you really don’t want to hear from your boiler, and what you should do if you do hear them.

Rumbling

A rumbling noise coming from your boiler is a sign that it is kettling. Kettling is a serious issue that is caused by mineral deposits building up on the inside of the boiler’s heat exchanger. These mineral deposits are caused by hard water (water with a high mineral content) running through the boiler over a period of years. As the water runs through the heat exchanger, it deposits small amounts of minerals on the walls of the pipe. Eventually, these mineral deposits build up enough to restrict or block the flow of water through the heat exchanger. This causes the water to evaporate in the pipe, creating steam and putting immense pressure on the heat exchanger. This is what causes the rumbling sound you hear when a boiler is kettling. If you hear this sound, you should shut your boiler down right away and call a professional to fix it.

Gurgling

A gurgling sound is often heard in the pipes that are connected to the boiler, and run throughout the house. Gurgling is often accompanied by uneven heating, or even no heating at all depending on the layout of your heating system. It is caused by air bubbles in the pipes, which impede the flow of water and lessen the system’s ability to heat. The way to solve this problem is to drain all the air out of the system, which is best done by a qualified HVAC technician. Once the whole system is purged, the gurgling should stop.

If you are hearing strange noises from your boiler, make an appointment with us by calling Bartels Heating & Cooling. We provide quality boiler repair in the Hamilton, OH area.

Continue Reading