Barron Heating AC Electrical & Plumbing

Less Dust and Cleaner Indoor Air

November 18th, 2015

Do you feel like as soon as you finish dusting…the dust seems to come right back?

A good deal of the dust in our homes comes from internal sources such as skin flakes, fabric fibers and pets. However, new research has found that in many homes a significant amount of the dust actually originates from outside the living space. The hot or cold outside air that leaks in through gaps and cracks often brings a lot of dust along with it. The air from outside always contains airborne particles such as mold spores, pollen, soot, tire rubber and agricultural dust. Think how dirty patio furniture can get after just a few days without rain.

However, that outside air leaking in around windows and doors is only a small part of the problem. Windows and doors usually represent less than 20% of a home’s air leaks.The air coming in there is often relatively clean in comparison to where the other 80% comes from. Building scientists have recently discovered that in the typical home, most of the incoming air first passes through dirty areas such as the attic, attached garage, outside walls, crawlspace, basement, or even from underground.

This incoming air is often contaminated with visible dust particles such as insulation fibers, pollen and mold spores. It may also contain invisible pollutants like carbon monoxide, automobile exhaust, carcinogenic radon gas, rodent allergens, pesticides and volatile organic chemicals. These can negatively affect your family’s health and safety. For more info, check out this video from Comfort Institute:

It’s a common complaint. Just a few days after a thorough house cleaning, that unsightly dust is back, settling on every surface in your house. Dust can also contribute to respiratory allergy suffering. What’s the answer?

Contact your home performance trained contractor and ask for an Infiltro meter blower door test to pinpoint where the bad air leaks are. This involves installing a computerized machine with a powerful fan in your front doorway, to temporarily pressure test your house. An air leak detector and infrared camera are then used to find the air leaks. Many are leaks you can repair as weekend projects. Others such as leaks in your air ducts, or through recessed can lights are better left to professionals.

Finding and fixing the leaks that let in bad air will make your home healthier and less dusty. Your home will also be more comfortable and have more controllable indoor humidity levels. Fixing these air leaks will even pay for itself through lower heating and cooling bills. In fact, duct leakage alone has been found to waste 20% to 40% of most system’s heating or air conditioning.

Does Your HVAC System Suffer From High Blood Pressure?

November 4th, 2015

Your furnace, heat pump or air conditioner is the heart of your comfort system.

It’s often said that your furnace, heat pump or air conditioner is the heart of your comfort system. Following the analogy further, your air ducts are its veins & arteries.

And just like high blood pressure is bad for your heart, high “duct static pressure” is bad for your heating and cooling system, your comfort – and your wallet.

When you go to the doctor for a check-up, common practice is for the doctor or nurse to measure your blood pressure. Our service technicians now have the instruments and training to do the same for your ducts when we do the seasonal tune-up, or a home and duct performance assessment.

We’ve been doing this for a while now, and the results are often eye-opening. The heating and cooling equivalent to 80 over 120 is “half an inch” of water column pressure for most systems. When we test the duct pressure, we now routinely find pressures significantly higher than this –often over double!

Why does this matter?

Higher Utility Bills: High pressures in the ducts leads to lower airflow. Lower airflow means lower efficiency. Lower efficiency means higher monthly utility bills.

Comfort: Lower airflow leads to poor distribution of conditioned air throughout the home, contributing to hot and cold spots, or the system not keeping up on the hottest or coldest days.

Noise: High static pressure is often a clue as to why a system is excessively noisy – the same repairs to reduce static pressure usually decrease noise as well.

Repairs: Low airflow causes furnaces to overheat internally, and air conditioners and heat pumps to not function smoothly. Many common expensive repairs – or premature total failure – are directly attributable to low airflow.

The good news is that identifying high static pressure allows us to prescribe the right medicine to make your system and your home happier! Each system is different – but most common airflow improvements are fairly simple and economical. And best of all, they pay for themselves through more efficient operation and lower utility bills.

Next time your HVAC contractor visits your home, ask your technician to take the time to check your ducts static pressure and explain the results. If you are having any comfort, dust or high utility bill issues, give a home performance trained contractor a call and they’ll explain your options for home & duct performance assessments.

3 Tips For Cleaner Indoor Air

October 21st, 2015

Could your family be breathing unhealthy indoor air?

The Environmental Protection Agency says most of us spend over 90% of the time indoors, and that the indoor air is usually over 10 times more polluted than outdoor air. Respiratory problems such as allergies and asthma plague many families.Their suffering is often made worse by the air in their home. While many issues like poisonous carbon monoxide gas are undetectable with our senses, some homes have mysterious black stains, lingering musty odors, or visible mold. Unsightly excessive dust on the furniture is another common concern. In many homes it seems to reappear just a few days after house cleaning.

Here are some proven ways to reduce dust and help your family breathe easier:

Have A Central High-Efficiency Air Filter Installed: Typical throwaway furnace filters do not even adequately protect your equipment from getting fouled up, let alone protect you from the smallest invisible respirable particles. But be careful with retail store “high efficiency” one inch thick filters – we routinely get service calls after people put them in as they quickly get plugged. This chokes the airflow, which greatly reduces comfort and can even damage your equipment. Ask us about new options for installing a new high efficiency – high capacity air cleaner at the equipment. The best are pleated media filters, typically four to six inches thick, that only need to be changed once a year and don’t restrict your airflow. Note however that even the best filter can’t totally eliminate visible dust in the home, simply because visible dust is heavy and often settles on furniture before it gets to the filter.Test For Contaminated Air Infiltration: Where is that dust coming from? Are you breathing good air or bad air? Fresh air coming in through window and door leaks is usually less than 20% of a home’s incoming air. Building scientists have recently discovered that in the typical home, over half the incoming air first passes through the contaminated attached garage, crawlspace, basement or attic.

Air pollutants such as pollen and mold spores, carbon monoxide, automobile exhaust, crystallized rodent urine proteins, radon gas, crawlspace moisture, insulation fibers and volatile organic chemicals can contaminate this incoming air, and negatively affect your family’s health and safety. An Infiltrometer blower door test pinpoints where the bad air leaks are, and provides guidance on how to fix them. Many can be easily repaired by homeowners as weekend projects. Others such as duct leaks are better left to professionals. Finding and fixing the leaks that let in bad air will make your home healthier, less humid in the summer, less dusty, more comfortable, and even pay for itself through lower heating, cooling and repair bills.

When there are duct leaks it’s important to “Seal Your ductwork” to prevent the contaminants including dust, allergens, and pollutants from entering the air stream in the first place. Aeroseal patented technology is the most effective technique available for sealing ducts. If Aeroseal duct sealing isn’t an option, then hand sealing with mastic is better than not sealing at all. In addition to the indoor air quality benefits, duct sealing can save you up to 30% on your energy bills, while increasing your comfort level by reducing temperature differences between floors and hard to heat or cool rooms.

Repair Leaky Recessed Can Lights: One of the worst common leaks are recessed can lights. They inadvertently connect your living space to your attic – which is often the unhealthiest space in a home. Luckily most of these lights can be upgraded to LED inserts at a reasonable cost. During the Infiltrometer test, ask us to inspect your recessed can lights to see if they are an upgrade opportunity. They quickly pay for themselves through lower electric bills, and the savings on heating and cooling.

You don’t have to put up with unhealthy indoor air. Give your home performance trained HVAC contractor a call! You now have lots of options. They will be happy to chat about these and many other new ways you can help your family breathe easier.

Your HVAC and Home Performance Glossary

October 14th, 2015

“How am I supposed to know what to do?!”

Step one is to find a trained and reliable contractor.
Step two is to get educated.
We’ve made this tool to help you on your journey to a healthier, comfortable and more efficient home.

Air Conditioning

Air Conditioning is a refrigerant based system consisting of an indoor coil at the furnace and an outdoor unit. Much like a kitchen refrigerator- the heat is transferred from inside to outside. A fan distributes the cooled air (heat removed).

AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency)

AFUE is the rated efficiency of a combustion furnace. For example, a 95% AFUE model loses 5% of its produced heat up the chimney. In other words, $1 of fuel combusted in an 80% AFUE model loses $0.20 before it even enters the ducts.

Condensate (Condensation)

Heat pumps, air conditioners and modern furnaces produce condensation and the removal of this collected water is always considered in system design.

Cold Air Return

The “cold air return” is the sucking or intake side of a duct system. This duct pulls air from the home and feeds it to the furnace to be reheated for distribution. Leaks in the return air duct are very important to seal as they allow material to be pulled in from wherever they lead (insulation from attics, dust from crawlspaces, etc.). Unducted wall cavities are not acceptable for cold air returns in the modern HVAC world as they are known to reduce efficiency and cause health safety issues.

COP (Coefficient of Performance)

This is an efficiency rating system that compares the output of heat to the consumption of electricity. An electric baseboard or electric furnace (aka resistance heat source) has a COP of 1.0- for every unit of electricity that goes in, you get one unit of heat energy out. A heat pump may have a COP of 3.0- for every unit of electricity that goes in, you get three units of heat energy out.

$1 of heat with a baseboard heater = $3 of heat with a Heat Pump (3.0 COP)

Ducted Filtration and Furnace Filters

Filters located on either the furnace or grille end of the intake duct protect the furnace components from the build-up of airborne particles. More advanced filtration systems can be effective at cleaning the air in a home, but only if the duct and house leakage has been addressed. Filters are rated on the “MERV” scale based on how small of particles they are able to remove from the air stream.

**The Supply Duct Filters available at hardware stores are not recommended. They will negatively affect efficiency and air quality, as well as damage equipment.

Duct Sealing

According to extensive nationwide studies, duct leakage is a leading cause of wasted energy, poor indoor air quality, excessive dust, and comfort complaints. A study by the U.S. Department of Energy study found that the typical duct system loses between 25% and 40% of its paid-for heat! Leaks are repaired with either hand applied material or a more comprehensive internal seal using an aerosol dispersed polymer (www.AeroSeal.com).

Duct Sizing

Proper duct sizing is of absolute importance in effectively delivering conditioned air to the home. Improper duct sizing can lower the efficiency of the system, limit distribution (effecting comfort), and cause unnecessary ware on equipment.

Electric Resistance Heat

Think “toaster”. Baseboard heaters, wall heaters and electric furnaces are all forms of electric resistance heat technology and produce heat by passing electricity through a material that causes “resistance”, heats up and then radiates that heat either into an air stream or directly into a room. This is a very inefficient form of heating by modern standards and is going the way of the dodo as a primary heating source in most situations.

Fan Motors

There are two types of fan motors in the world of furnaces:
ECM (Electronically Commutated Motor)- These are variable speed motors that can ramp up and down depending on the call from the thermostat or furnace.
PSC (Permanent Split Capacitor)- These are single speed motors that are on or off.

Heat Pump (Ductless Mini Split)

Ductless Heat Pumps are the world’s most popular heating system. For most standard application they are the most efficient and cost effective to install. For this reason, utility companies offer significant incentives to upgrade. This is a zonal heating system that operates on a refrigerant technology (see “Heat Pump” below). They do not utilize a duct system to distribute conditioned air.

Heat Pump (Forced Air)

Heat Pumps are really just an air conditioner that can go in reverse. In addition to the cooling process, these have the ability take the heat from the outdoor air and transfer it to the inside of your home. When the heat bearing refrigerant enters the “coil” at the furnace, the heat is picked up in the air stream and distributed into home. This technology is significantly more efficient at creating heat than propane or electric resistance and even more efficient than natural gas.

Home Performance (a.k.a. Building Science)

Home Performance refers to the understanding that the whole house is a system and each component affects all others. For example: leaks in the ductwork will worsen indoor air quality, raise utility bills, cause drafts, shorten the lifespan of the furnace and negatively affect health; air leaks to the attic through recessed lighting will do all the same things; both together will affect those things but even more so. Because of these relationships, understanding your home’s performance through diagnostic testing is recommended by the US Department of Energy, Energy Star, and Consumer Reports before making any investment in heating, cooling, energy efficiency, or home health upgrades.

HSPF (Heating Season Performance Factor)

HSPF is the standard rating system for Heat Pumps. This is a rating given by regulatory agencies to compare the efficiency at which the heat pump operates.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

“Indoor air quality” refers to the potential impact of your home’s air on occupant health and comfort. IAQ is judged on the presence of humidity, dust, radon gas, mold, fiberglass particulate, carbon monoxide and many other conditions. IAQ should be considered a high priority as it will affect both the long and short term health of occupants. Poor IAQ can exacerbate or cause: asthma, sinus infections, chronic respiratory ailments, eczema, fatigue, headaches, and many other issues.

Refrigerant

Refrigerant is the substance used in air conditioning and heat pump systems to transfer heat between the interior and exterior of the home. The refrigerant is transported in copper tubing between the indoor and outdoor coils. When the refrigerant is pressurized it absorbs heat from the air around it.

Registers (aka Grilles)

Registers, grilles, diffusers, and grates are all basically the same thing. In the industry they are commonly referred to as “grilles” or “diffusers.”

SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio)

SEER is the standard rating system for air conditioners. This is a rating given by regulatory agencies to compare the efficiency at which the air conditioner operates.

Static Pressure

Static pressure is the outward pressure of a substance against its container. In this industry we are concerned most often with the static pressure of the air in the duct system. Good static pressure allows for even distribution throughout the home, efficient removal of heat from the furnace’s heat exchanger or refrigerant coil, and less noise [LR1] from the air ejecting from the grille. Bad static pressure can exacerbate leakage, damage heating equipment, and significantly lower efficiency.

Supply Air

“Supply air” ducting is the delivery system for conditioned air- warm or cool. Supply air ducts should always be well sealed as any air that is lost out these pressurized ducts is lost to the outside, even when it is in a wall or floor cavity.

How to solve HOT and COLD rooms…

October 7th, 2015

Have you ever wondered why some rooms are not as comfortable as others, and sometimes an entire floor can be uncomfortable? This can be very frustrating however, the good news is it can be fixed. There are many reasons why this happens, but the most common issue is air flow. When an HVAC system is installed there are a lot of assumptions made and very few checks and balances to ensure the system is working properly.

The first step is to find an HVAC contractor who is trained, understands how air flow works in the home and is able to measure and test. The easiest repair is simply what is called air balancing. Dampers should have been installed when the house was built, but unfortunately many homes are lacking them. If your home is missing dampers, they can and will need to be added.

Your contractor will provide what is called a room by room load calculation to determine how much air flow is required to the rooms. He or she can then do simple steps to ensure the proper amount of air flow is being directed to each room.

The most important part of testing is to ensure your duct system is in good working order. It must be sized properly and free of any duct leakage. Both these problems can rob a home of the precious air that is needed to be comfortable. Duct systems can be repaired and sealed to make sure the right amount of airflow is being distributed throughout the house. In some cases it is necessary to replace the entire duct system to guarantee proper sizing, insulation and no duct leaks. A good duct system is key to making your home more comfortable and providing your family with the clean healthy air.

And there is another benefit. Unlike any other repair you do in your home, fixing your ducts can actually help pay you back. A good duct system will use less energy and save on monthly utility costs.

Solving Drafts (and other common problems) with Duct Repairs

July 31st, 2015

Leaky ducts cause drafts, dusty homes and higher utility bills!

There are a number of reasons that you might feel drafts or inconsistent temperatures throughout your home. However, there is one culprit that is more common than all others: leaky ducts.

When your ducts are leaking into the walls, crawlspace, attic or floors, some of the air that is supposed to be delivered to the home never makes it where it is supposed to. That paid for heat (or cool) moves through the structure to outside.

When the duct work is sealed either by hand or with our preferred method, AeroSeal, the air is delivered to all areas as was hopefully intended.

In addition to causing inadequate air delivery, duct leakage causes the home to suffer pressure imbalances which are a leading contributor to the introduction of unconditioned dirty air from the crawl space and attic. This introduction of “bad air” will contribute to poor indoor air quality, exacerbating respiratory issues, and cool drafts moving through the home.

Homes with duct leakage can suffer these issues:

Excessive dust and toxic airborne particulate
Drafts
Unexplained odors
Uneven heating or cooling (especially the extremities of the home)
Excessive indoor humidity
Increased asthma, allergy and other respiratory symptoms
Higher than expected heating or cooling bills

If you, or anyone you know, have experienced any of these challenges, it’s important that you contact your local home performance trained HVAC contractor to explore the solutions that are available.

Check out the video below to see how one homeowner solved their drafts:

I can’t believe I’ve never seen this before!

July 21st, 2015

Blower Door Demonstration on Home Improvement’s Tool Time… Enjoy!

Is Your Home A/C Ready?

May 27th, 2015

Wes Diskin performing a Home Performance Assessment

The first step in purchasing an Air Conditioner

Before you buy an Air Conditioning Unit, you’ll want to be sure the cool air you’re paying for is not being lost through faulty ducts, home air leakage, and poor insulation. There is a lot a green air conditioning contractor can do to get your home A/C ready!

Now, adding air conditioning CAN be as simple as calling the HVAC company to install a unit. But, as with all things HVAC, the most simplistic answer is not the smartest answer in the long-run. Having diagnostic tests run on your home (or a home performance test) is the only way to know the condition of the home and therefore the only way to install the most cost-effective, comfortable, energy efficient, and healthy air conditioning possible.

Here’s a sample run-through of what you should expect before an A/C install. Be sure to choose a Heating & Cooling company that has a thoroughly trained Home Performance team.

Assess the Current Situation: Furnace, Fuel, Investment

The first thing that should happen is to look at the heat delivery system currently in place. If the furnace and ducting system test well and are in good shape, it’s possible to use the ducting that’s already there. If not, ductless may very well be the way to go. Ductless also offers the option of zonal A/C, which can be handy for certain homes.

Next, it’s important to think about the fuel type. Folks who have natural gas as their heating fuel can pretty easily add an A/C unit to the existing system (if it tests well) and go with a less expensive installation cost. However, if a homeowner is using a more expensive heating fuel like electric, propane, or oil, it probably makes more sense to convert the whole system to a forced-air or ductless heat pump (which both include A/C) because the efficiency of the heat pump technology will allow that new system to pay for itself rapidly.

Diagnostics are Key

A Blower-Door Test is the key to understanding air flow patterns and problems. What is the heat gain in the home?

To be truly A/C-ready, you’ll want a trained Home Performance Technician (all estimators at Barron can do this) to run diagnostics on your house. They will use a blower-door, an infrared camera, a smoke-puffer, and/or other devices as needed to test the air flow and leakages in your home. There are a lot of questions to answer, such as:

What is the heat gain in the home?
Where does the sun come in, which direction is the home oriented, what kind of windows are in place?
What is the condition of the attic?
How much and in what rooms are there air leakage problems?
Can the ducts be used effectively (are they leaky?)
How much insulation is in the attic, crawl space, and walls?

Without first answering these questions (and taking action to address them), there is no way to ensure you’re dollars spent on conditioned air are being spent effectively. Attic insulation is especially important, as attic temperatures can run very high, making it harder for your A/C unit to do it’s job. If you’re using ducts to deliver your A/C, having them sealed tightly is also a pretty huge deal. Because duct-work is pressurized, leaky ducts can lose massive amounts of conditioned air; not to mention leaky ducts can carry in a bevy of nasty particulates from your insulation or dirty crawl space. A knowledgeable HVAC contractor will be able to apply the principles of building science to your specific home, to get a whole-house perspective.

The Benefits of A/C Readiness

Taking the time to truly be A/C Ready has the obvious benefit of getting the most bang for your buck, but it can be nice to see all the ways and angles that your home, health, and pocketbook will benefit from looking at the big picture. Having your home tested (with Home Performance) and analyzed for A/C Readiness in the end will mean:

You’re investing in a permanent and lasting change in your whole home, and not just adding an A/C unit that is more or less only a temporary fix (depending on the state of your home).
Any energy upgrades you make will prolong the life of the A/C unit, since it won’t have to work as hard, and there will be less repairs.
Big changes to the building envelope and energy upgrades can help when you decide to sell your home.
The equipment chosen is guaranteed to be properly sized for your particular home and cooling needs. Detailed diagnostics give us all the clues to choose the best possible system with dialed-in performance.
The air you breathe will be cleaner and healthier, which can often relieve certain types of medical symptoms suffered by you and your family.
You will be assisting the planet by creating a more energy efficient home!

Low-Level CO Monitors Keep Your Family Safe and Healthy

May 4th, 2015

It just makes sense to discuss the major dangers of Carbon Monoxide with your HVAC company. Any malfunctioning combustion appliance, such as a furnace, water heater, room heater, or fireplace can be the culprit (along with generators, motor vehicles, and anything else exhausting post-combustion byproducts).

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a deadly, colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. It is produced by the incomplete burning of various fuels. CO is often called the “silent killer” and is responsible for the most accidental poisoning deaths in the country. This is serious stuff. And though most people know that high levels of CO are deadly, it is less well-known that low levels of CO are also very detrimental to your health.

What Are the Dangers?

What is the best way to keep yourself and your family safe? First, you need to understand the difference between a CO Alarm and a Low-Level CO Monitor? Those in-the-know often refer to the first kind as a “Death Alarm,” because by the time it actually goes off, the amount of CO in your home is at near-deadly levels. If your CO Alarm goes off, do not check the alarm, do not try to find the source of CO, do not pass GO, Go straight outdoors, and call 911.

Here is a typical Carbon Monoxide Alarm (or death alarm). These can be picked up at nearly any general store for about $15-$40. If your CO alarm cost somewhere in that ball park, you have reason to be concerned.

Research shows that long-term exposure to low-levels of CO can cause permanent brain damage and neurological damage. It can also compound many health problems such as heart and lung disease, anemia, diabetes, asthma, depression, and learning and concentration problems.

Some people are more susceptible to CO poisoning, such as: children, fetuses, those with compromised immune systems, and the elderly. Many of these people also happen to be those who are at home the most. It is understood that indoor air quality is already usually much more polluted than outdoor air, but if you have an unknown low-level CO leak, your air quality could be in seriously bad shape.

What Can You Do?

Install at least one low-level CO Monitor like the one pictured here. These usually cost between $125 and $200. Your HVAC professional should have these available. It should be installed at eye-level and battery powered in case of a power-outage.
Maintenance. The importance of following guidelines for yearly (or more frequent in some cases) maintenance on your appliances cannot be underestimated. Be sure to ask your technician to check CO levels with an electronic CO Analyzer. Also ask for an inspection and leakage test on the heat exchanger. It’s also a good idea to have your chimney inspected as a possible source of CO problems. Lastly, be sure all appliances are venting to the outside of your home.
Check your garage. Cars emit huge levels of dangerous CO, so having an attached garage is usually not a healthy thing. Unfortunately, many people have attached garages. So, there are a few things you can do (short of detaching your garage). First, do not let your car idle in the garage. At all. Even with the garage door open. CO can still get trapped, and still infiltrate your home. Next, have your garage tested for air leaks into living space and seal seal seal! Last, you can install an exhaust fan in the garage to force out those toxic gases.

If you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, call your HVAC contractor and they can walk you through all of the CO safety precautions. But either way: DIY or through a contractor, it is really important to double check this critical health and safety issue for yourself and your family.

Check out this very informative video about Carbon Monoxide.

Propane to Ductless – A Case Study

April 28th, 2015

Here is an interesting case study on a 1980’s Bellingham A-frame home. This is the first of many case-studies we will be creating.

This project was a smashing success, with the homeowners saving around $2,000 per year and they were finally able to heat their entire home. Plus, the interior ductless heads are strategically placed, attractive, and offer independent heating zones.

Take a moment to check out the case study, which highlights the homeowners feelings with the results, and walks you through the whole home performance process.