Great Tips About Hvac That Anyone Can Use
A lot of people out there just don't realize how much goes into the HVAC trade. They may just think that people know this stuff because they try hard at it, and that's the case most of the time. However, you should still learn some easy to follow information so you can get the lowdown on all of this.
Let your friends and family know about the discounts that are possible via ENERGY STAR. There's a lot of savings that can be had here, so why hold this good news all to yourself! You can save those closest to you hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
Do not be surprised if the HVAC contractor you choose does an evaluation on your home. Any good contractor will spend time looking at the system you currently have and what the needs are for your home. They will also take a look at your duct system and look for air leaks.
Before you hire anyone to do any work on your HVAC, be sure to get a written estimate which has itemized costs listed on it. This will ensure that comparing one contractor to another will be simple as you can see what one offers that another doesn't, or what price they're charging for the same items.
Make sure that your contractor provides a home assessment. Not every HVAC solution is for everyone. Your home could have special needs for heating and cooling. Your contractor should do a walk around of your space to judge what is best. If they aren't be sure to request one.
During the fall, leaves can gather around your HVAC. Make sure the unit's fan grill is cleaned frequently when the leaves begin to fall. Because the fan requires a clear path for air to enter, you may encounter issues with your system if the fan gets blocked up.
Clean your filters! If you have a window unit air conditioner, there will be a filter right under the grill you can vacuum. If you have a furnace or outdoor units, they will also have filters to be cleaned or replace. A dirty filter can make your unit inefficient or even let it overheat.
If your evaporator coil, found inside your home, becomes dirty, your unit will lose efficiency. Just pop off the front panel of the furnace and check to see that the coil is dry. Using a brush attachment on a vacuum, gently clean the coil of any dust or other debris.
Try to stay away from HVAC contractors that ask for upfront payments before click here they are willing to get started on the work they were hired to do. In many cases, this means that they are more concerned about getting paid than they are about making sure the job is done well.
If you currently have a manual thermostat, consider installing a programmable one. You can set your system for different temperatures depending on time of day and if anyone is home. Also, you can set upper and lower temperature settings to allow for a comfortable range of temperatures so that heating and cooling don't kick in when not needed.
Now you have the HVAC advice that you need to proceed with this sort of a thing. Don't delay and take care of it all now if you want to be sure that you're getting the most out of all of this. You will be happy you did when thing work out well for you!
Can the AC filter in your home, office or local mall protect you from Covid-19?
When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last week that malls in New York could not reopen until they installed high-efficiency particulate air filters capable of trapping the virus that causes Covid-19, Harvard environmental health researcher Joseph Gardner Allen was thrilled.
"I've been writing consistently since early February about how healthy buildings should be the first line of defense against the novel coronavirus," said Allen, who directs the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"I'm really grateful that we have a leader in the country -- somewhere -- who was finally talking about healthy buildings, ventilation and filtration," Allen said. "That hasn't happened before. It just hasn't happened."
A push to action
Allen was one of 239 scientists who wrote an open letter to the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies, asking for a change in their guidance to the public on how the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, can spread.
Current guidance only focuses on "hand washing, maintaining social distancing, and droplet precautions," according to the letter, published Monday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The health agencies are ignoring the tiny droplets of virus that sputter and spray from our mouths, become aerosolized and then float away into the air, the scientists said, as a likely means of transmission.
"They don't want to talk about airborne transmission because that is going to make people afraid," co-author Donald Milton, a professor of environmental health at the University of Maryland, told CNN in a prior interview.
"The best vaccine against fear is knowledge and empowering people to take care of themselves," Milton said. "Why wearing a mask is important is because it blocks the aerosols at their source, when it is easy to block them."
MERV ratings
In his edict to New York mall owners, Cuomo was talking about HEPA filters, which have the highest MERV ratings, between 17 and 20.
What's MERV? It stands for "minimum efficiency reporting value," and it's how filters are rated in their ability to trap tiny particles. The MERV ratings go from one to 20: Filters with higher MERV ratings are more effective than filters with lower ratings.
At the highest end, HEPA filters are used by hospitals to create sterile rooms for surgeries and to control infectious diseases, and are able to remove 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria and other airborne particles with a size as small as 0.3 microns. For comparison, Covid-19 is thought to be between 0.06 to 1.4 microns.
"Filters are rated at their worst performance, so 99.97% is the worst it will do," Allen said. "And that's rated for a particle size of 0.3 microns, but smaller and larger it actually does better. So the point is that it's capturing nearly all particles."
Unfortunately, most businesses and home owners may find it difficult to retrofit their existing system to accommodate a HEPA filter, or any filter higher than the rating recommended by the system's manufacturer.
Doing so can actually impair the system's performance: Smaller pores in HEPA air filters make it more difficult for it to push air. Using denser filters can affect the efficiency of the unit and strain the fan, while decreasing indoor air quality -- the opposite of what you desire.
"HEPA filtration is not always going to be feasible or practical," Allen said. "But there are other filters that can do the job. What is recommended now by the standard setting body for HVAC is a MERV 13 filter."
High-efficiency filters in the 13-to-16 MERV range are often used in hospitals, nursing homes, research labs and other places where filtration is important.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lsY92_nmCH1u72gjMYI4ZChOCJLeKAXLe9ieG5qDeR4/edit?usp=sharing