Why Proper Thermostat Placement Is Crucial for Your Heating System

March 24th, 2014

The thermostat does more than control when your heater’s blower motors and heating elements turn on and off. It also monitors the temperature in your home using sensors and uses the information to guide its programming. This is the main reason why having the thermostat in the proper place is crucial for receiving the correct level of comfort in your home; poor placement will mean a heater than runs too often, runs too little, or runs erratically.

If you received a poor heating installation, you may have an improperly located thermostat. In most cases, the only solution is to call up a skilled Hayden, ID heating service technician to move it to a better location. ACI Northwest can assist your with thermostat problems when they begin to affect your heater’s performance.

Here are three incorrect thermostat locations:

WRONG: In a place with too much direct sunlight

If a thermostat sits in too much direct sunlight, it will sense a temperature on average 10°F higher than the room’s temperature, a “ghost reading.” This will lead to a heating system failing to turn on when it should.

WRONG: Near to windows and doors that open to the outside

If a thermostat is near any spot that can receive outdoor drafts, it will register temperatures lower than the room’s actual temperature. This ghost reading will have the opposite effect of the sunlight problem: it will cause the heating to come on before it should, resulting in a stuffy, uncomfortable environment.

WRONG: Located too far from the center of the house

You want a thermostat to register a median temperature for a home so it supplies the right amount of heat to create even warmth. A thermostat located too far from the center of the house will detect outlier temperatures that inaccurately reflect the general temperature, and this will result in uneven heating.

(USUALLY) RIGHT: Outside the master bedroom

This is one of the theoretically ideal spots to install a thermostat, since the master bedroom is usually located at the center of a house, and is not near to drafty doors and windows or direct sunlight. If the master bedroom isn’t ideal, it will at least offer a starting point for finding a good spot.

Re-locating a thermostat takes technicians skilled with heating and electrical wiring. Make sure that you find an experienced company like ACI Northwest to locate the best place to move your thermostat. We have a combined 85 years of experience bringing our customers optimal heating in Hayden, ID.

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Heat Pump Repairs to Plan for this Spring

March 13th, 2014

Because heat pumps provide your home with both heating and cooling, they run throughout much of the year. The only periods when you can expect your heat pump to go inactive are during the temperate stretches during the spring and fall.

We’re only a few weeks away from the official start of spring, and you’ll soon transition your heat pump from heating to cooling. This is the ideal time to take care of repairs that will help your heat pump manage the upcoming summer weather with few operating glitches and without excess energy drain. Here are a few heat pump repairs to schedule for the spring so you’re ready for when the real heat starts.

Call ACI Northwest to repair your heating system in Spokane, WA. We have over eight decades of experience with home comfort systems, and our NATE-certified technicians are ready when you need them.

Heat pump repairs to watch for this spring:

  • Refrigerant leaks – Don’t start the summer with a lowered refrigerant charge inside your heat pump! If you noticed icing along the coils of the outside unit during heating season, you probably have a lowered refrigerant charge from leaking in coils or the compressor. A drop in heating power can also indicate leaking. Remember, the refrigerant level affects the efficiency of both heating and cooling, so you need to have a technician fix the leak and recharge the refrigerant to its proper level so you’ll have the cooling you need for summer.
  • Broken reversing valve – If you’ve kept your heat pump in heating mode for a while, try this test: change it over briefly to cooling mode. If it doesn’t start blowing cool air but still blows warm air, then the reversing valve has probably broken. This valve is what allows the heat pump to change between its two modes. A repair technician can fix this by changing the broken valve for a new one.
  • Worn down motors or compressors – You should always pay attention to strange sounds coming from either the indoor or outdoor cabinet of your heat pump, since they usually warn of impending mechanical failures. Shrieking and groaning noises are often omens of motors or compressors wearing down because of stress, and if either of these malfunctions, the heat pump will either lose power or stop working entirely. Let repair technicians find where the trouble is and fix it.

Make sure you have maintenance performed as well

Spring is when you should schedule professional maintenance on your heat pump to prep it for the summer. If the system has any hidden repair needs, the technician will catch them and know how to fix them. The technician will also clean, adjust, and fine-tune the unit.

ACI Northwest has the maintenance plans and the repair knowledge to keep your cooling and heating in Spokane, WA running with as few issues as possible. To enjoy the upcoming summer in cool comfort, call ACI Northwest.

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How Air Handlers Work in Your Heating System

March 3rd, 2014

If you used a forced-air system to heat your home, such as a furnace or a heat pump, one of the essential components of the unit is the air handler. The air handler performs the crucial task of air distribution through the ventilation system and into the rooms of your house. Without the air handler, the heat from the burners or heating elements in the furnace, or the coils in the heat pump, would go nowhere and you would receive no comfort from your system.

Care and maintenance of an air handler is a major part of the job of heating repair technicians. Contemporary air handlers are too complex and intricate devices for amateur work. When you need repairs for the air handler to restore your heating in Coeur d’Alene, WA, you must call up experienced heating contractors. ACI Northwest has the training and years of experience to help you with any trouble you may have in your air handlers or any other part of your heater.

The operation of the air handler

The main component of an air handler unit is a large blower fan inside a durable casing connected to a blower fan motor. Some air handlers have variable speed motors that can run at lower power to reduce noise and to assist with even air distribution. The blower sends out air into the ventilation system; sometimes this is air from the outside or sometimes from the return vents that re-circulate air. Blower fans can sometimes require repairs if the blades become bent from debris that enters the air handler. A filter rack or filter chambers in the blower help keep dust and debris picked up from the re-circulated or outside air from entering into the ductwork. Sound attenuators help reduce the noise from the blower.

For heat pumps, air handlers also contain the coils necessary for conditioning the air in heating and cooling mode, making it not only essential for air distribution, but also for providing a comfortable temperature. (With a furnace, the air handler usually plays no role in generating heat.) For ductless mini split heat pumps, the air handlers are often referred to as terminal units, and contain fewer components: usually an air filter, coil, and blower.

Keep your air handler working

Because an air handler is a major mechanical part of your heating system, it needs regular maintenance and prompt repairs to make sure it does not wear down and threaten you with a loss of heat. Should you hear loud banging sounds from the air handler, or if the airflow from your vents drops, you should call for professional repairs as soon as you can.

ACI Northwest has many years of experience handling heating system services in Coeur d’Alene, WA. Contact us any time of the day or night when you need help.

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Signs of a Reliable Heating Service in

February 24th, 2014

Because of Internet search technology, it’s easier than ever to find heating services in Spokane, WA when you require them. But there’s a downside to this ease: you’ll have too many choices, and many of those choices won’t be technicians worth hiring. You need to find a way to navigate through all your options to zero in on a heating service that is professional, dependable, and skilled. We’ll go over some of the signs to look for that will tell you that you’ve found the right contractor for your heating needs.

Among your choices for heating, ACI Northwest stands as one of the best. Give us a look and you’ll see why.

Here’s what you should look for in a heating service:

  • Many years of experience: Training and education are important, but even more important is experience. All the training in the world won’t mean much if a technician hasn’t had numerous opportunities to put it to use in the field. Don’t trust to newcomers: look for a company with the years to back up the work it does.
  • NATE-certified staff: The North American Technical Excellence certification is the only industry-wide recognized certification for HVAC technicians. A heating service with NATE-certified technicians on staff can deliver you the quality you need.
  • 24/7 emergency service: Nobody plans to have their furnace’s motors burn out at 3 a.m. on a Sunday night—but it seems that’s when these troubles always happen. Since your heating repair needs won’t occur on a convenient timetable, you need to look for a heating service you can depend on to come to your rescue no matter the time of day or night.
  • A major brand dealer: A reliable heating service will be a licensed dealer for the top brands in the heating world: companies like Trane, Lennox, and Amana. When it comes time for new heating installation, you’ll have a contractor capable of delivering you the best systems on the market.
  • Better Business Bureau Accredited: For more than a century, the Better Business Bureau has provided an excellent index of quality and reliability for U.S. businesses. A heating service worth hiring will have an up-to-date rating as an accredited business with the BBB.

ACI Northwest has 85 years of experience with professional heating services in Spokane, WA. We’re accredited with the BBB, offer the major brands, and our NATE-certified technicians ready to help you 24 hours a day. When you need excellent service for your furnace, heat pump, boiler, or geothermal heating system, make ACI Northwest your first call.

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How Can Geothermal Improve My Heating System?

February 17th, 2014

If you’ve heard of geothermal heating, you might think that it’s out of your reach as an option for your home. But there’s a good chance that your house is in an ideal location for geothermal installation, and in the hands of trained technicians the process is not burdensome all. It’s definitely an alternative to consider if you want to upgrade to a new heating system.

And make no mistake, geothermal heating can be a major improvement over your current heater. If you already have a heat pump, a geothermal model will offer some impressive benefits. The benefits are ever greater if you plan to switch from a standard furnace.

Here are some way geothermal can improve your heating system in Hayden, ID. Call our geothermal experts at ACI Northwest to learn more.

Geothermal offers reliable heating

Standard air-source heat pumps can have trouble returning high levels of warmth when the temperature drops too far and extracting heat from the outside air becomes difficult. But a geothermal heat pump (a ground-source heat pump) uses the stable temperature of the earth so it never will encounter an outdoor temperature too cold for it.

Geothermal reduces energy bills

There are few heating systems available today that run with such high energy efficiency as geothermal ones. Although some homeowners shy away from the cost of installation, the U.S. EPA has found that most geothermal systems will pay for themselves with energy savings in 5–10 years… and they will last much longer than that.

Geothermal helps the environment

Where furnaces produce a large amount of exhaust and emissions, a geothermal heat pump produces almost none at all. If you want to “go green” with your home, a geothermal system is one of the best ways to achieve it.

Geothermal is quiet

Since much of the work in geothermal systems occurs underground, they run with almost no noise pollution.

Geothermal is safe

Going hand-in-hand in the lower emissions, geothermal systems pose almost no safety risks due to burning fuel or potential fire hazards.

There are a few drawbacks to geothermal systems, and the main one is that they will not work with every property. If you are interested in having a geothermal heat pump installed for your heating in Hayden, ID, you should contact specialists and have them look over your home and property to determine if geothermal is the ideal choice. You should also have these specialists handle the installation if you do decide on geothermal; trust us, this is an immense task, and you’ll be glad to have experts handling it.

Contact ACI Northwest today, and we’ll find out what kind of geothermal system will benefit you, and will make sure you have a great installation.

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The Original Valentine’s Day Greeting Cards

February 14th, 2014

It’s hard to imagine Valentine’s Day without the traditional greeting cards, whether accompanying a gift of flowers and candy, or sent between children in a school room. For commercial greeting card companies, February 14th is as important to them as the December holidays, Easter, and Mother’s Day.

Valentine’s Day as a celebration of romantic love predates printed greeting cards by a few centuries. In fact, the reason that sending romantic greeting cards became popular was because of the most un-romantic thing you can imagine: a reduction in postage rates.

In 1765, Parliament authorized the creation of “Penny Posts” that used a uniform rate of one old penny per letter throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Printers took advantage of the ease with which people could send letters to each other on Valentine’s Day by crafting cards with love poems on them. Many of these verses were collected in 1797 in the book The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which was a resource for the lover with a romantic soul but not the most confident poetry style.

By the mid-19th-century, the Valentine’s Day greeting card was flourishing across England. Although people still followed a tradition of creating handmade Valentine’s Day cards from lace, ribbons, and flowers, commercially produced cards now overtook them. In 1835, the English post office mailed 60,000 valentines. As production expenses dropped, the English card manufacturers branched out creatively with humorous and sometimes vulgar cards… many of which we would find startlingly familiar in the 21st century. One of the common jokes on these cards was to design them to look like marriage certificates or court summons.

Across the Atlantic, the United States was slower to embrace the popular British custom. It wasn’t until 1847 that a U.S. printer mass-produced greeting cards for Valentine’s Day. Only two years later, American journalists noted how rapidly people in the country had embraced the tradition, turning into a fad that has never died down. The woman who printed the first U.S. Valentine’s Day card, Esther Howland, is today recognized by the Greeting Card Association with the annual “Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary.”

The greeting card industry certainly has reason to thank Ms. Howland. Her idea of going into business printing romantic greeting cards, which came to her after she received a traditional English valentine when she was 19 years old, now sells 190 million cards in the U.S. every year. That number doesn’t include the smaller exchange cards used in elementary school classrooms, which would swell the number to 1 billion. (Who receives the most Valentine’s Day cards each year? Teachers!)

Whether you send out Valentine’s Day cards—handmade, store-bought, digital—or not, we at ACI Northwest hope you have a happy February 14th.

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3 Key Furnace Safety Features

February 4th, 2014

Furnaces have an underserved reputation among heating systems for poor safety, particularly gas-powered furnaces. There is no question that carbon monoxide leaks are dangerous, and faulty wiring on an electrical furnace might lead to a fire. However, these occurrences are rare because furnaces have safety features to prevent hazards. If you keep your furnace well maintained, it should pose no more danger to you than any other comfort system.

Rely on ACI Northwest for the maintenance and heating repair in Spokane, WA that will keep your furnace in the safety zone.

Here are three key safety features we’d like to highlight:

  1. Thermocouple/mercury sensor: A potential safety hazard in a furnace that uses a pilot light is that the pilot light might go out and stop burning the gas from the burners. If this happens, gas will flood the combustion chamber, and then a single spark could cause an explosion. To prevent this, the gas valve is hooked to a device called a thermocouple, which records the heat coming from the pilot light. If the pilot light goes out, the electric current in the thermocouple stops, causing the gas valve to close. Recent furnaces use a mercury sensor to perform the same job.
  2. Limit switch: This device serves a function similar to the thermocouple/mercury sensor. It is located just below the plenum of the furnace and detects its temperature. If the plenum grows too hot, the limit switch shuts off the burner to prevent flames from getting outside the cabinet. The limit switch can be adjusted, but we do not advise you do this on your own: let a technician decide the best setting for it.
  3. Circuit breakers: For electric furnaces, the most important safety feature is one that applies to much of your house: the circuit breaker panel.  To prevent a power overload or possibly a fire, the circuit breaker will trip and shut off the furnace. If your furnace repeatedly trips the circuit breakers, you should have a repair technician examine it, since something larger may be wrong.

A furnace isn’t an inherently dangerous piece of equipment as long as it has its safety features working. It’s essential to schedule regular maintenance for a furnace so that all these fail-safe devices are functioning correctly. You should have a maintenance check-up once a year to catch any possible failures, safety concerns, or upcoming repair needs.

At ACI Northwest, we want your family to stay safe throughout the winter. We are ready to bring you the heating repair in Spokane, WA you need to keep your furnace working without danger—and we can answer your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Things to Expect from a New Heater

January 27th, 2014

We hope that you have had a pleasant and safe winter so far here in Washington State. But if your current heater hasn’t been living up to its former standards, and the winter has been a chillier one for you than usual, perhaps the time has come to toss out the old and welcome the new with heating installation in Spokane, WA.

ACI Northwest has Spokane heating installation technicians ready to assist you with installing a new heater for the rest of the winter season. Here are few things you should expect once we have set up your new heating system:

  • Popping/rumbling sounds from the ducts: Odd sounds from your heater are usually a sign of trouble. However, one sound you should expect when you first turn on your heater if it uses ductwork is a popping or rumbling noise that sounds like shaking metal. This is from the metal of the ducts, expanding and adjusting to the sudden first increase in temperature. Only worry about it if it persists.
  • A decrease in your energy bills: If this is the first new heating system you have gotten in many years, you can expect to see lower energy bills—and that will certainly make you feel even better about your investment. Home heating energy efficiency has increased immensely in only a decade, so your new heating system will have improved performance over your last one. In addition, your previous heater probably lost much of its efficiency near the end of its service.
  • Quieter operation: Another advance in heating technology over the years is the decrease of operating noise through more efficient engines and better sound-proofing on the cabinets. Don’t worry if you can hardly hear your new heating system operating—that’s exactly how it should sound.
  • Better thermostat controls: New heater installation should go hand-in-hand with new thermostat installation. A programmable thermostat will give you increased control over the heat in your home, and wireless models are even better.

You will only get the full benefits of your new heater if you have it installed professionally. Amateur installation frequently leads to malfunctions, poor heating, and full breakdowns. Let the experts take on this complex task and have it done for you fast and properly. At ACI Northwest, our expertise means we will get your heating installation in Spokane, WA done right the first time. You’ll have many years of trouble-free comfort ahead of you with ACI Northwest behind you.

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How Air Handlers Fit into Your Heating System

January 22nd, 2014

The most common type of heating systems found in homes are “forced-air” systems. These include furnaces and all the varieties of heat pumps (air-source, geothermal, ductless). Forced-air systems use the distribution of heated air sent into your home to provide you with comfort.

A key component for a forced-air system to work is a device that, well, forces the air to move. These components are called air handlers, and we’ll explain in a bit more detail how they fit into your heating system.

For your heating system installation in Spokane, WA, contact a company with decades of experience and a solid reputation: ACI Northwest.

Air Handler Basics

Although one of the prime functions of an air handler is to send out conditioned air into a ventilation system (or straight into a room if it is a ductless system), they are far more complex than just a box with a fan. A standard air handler houses a blower motor and fan, filters, dampers, and (for heat pumps) heating and cooling elements. They can also contain extra options, depending on the system to which they are hooked. Some air handlers contain a heat recovery device that increases energy efficiency, and others can contain humidifiers, which help to alleviate the dryness that often comes from heating a home.

For a furnace or a standard heat pump, a heating system will have one large air handler connected to the cabinet of the system. For ductless mini split heat pumps, a series of smaller “terminal units” are positioned throughout the house, and usually contain a smaller number of components—enough to allow them to condition and send out the required amount of heating. These terminal units are linked back to the cabinet through refrigerant and power lines.

Professionals Must Install Air Handlers

An air handler is an essential part of a team, an important component in a larger system that can include ducts, venting, burners, motors, air filters, etc. In order for an air handler to correctly perform its job, it must have installation from professionals with the training to correctly connect it to the distribution system and the heating cabinet. This is not work to trust to amateurs.

ACI Northwest carries the top brands of air handlers, and we have extensive experience with heating system installation in Spokane, WA as well as repairs and maintenance to take care of the air handler that is taking care of you.

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What Are My Spokane Heating Options?

January 14th, 2014

Keeping your Spokane house warm during the winter is both easier and more complex because of today’s home comfort technology. It’s easier because you have more options to fit your needs, and they supply better comfort than older heaters. It’s more complex because—well, the more choices you have, the more difficult it is to make a choice.

To help you navigated the rocks and shoals of heating systems in Spokane, WA, we’ve put together a list of your main options for heating systems. ACI Northwest can install all of these, so give us a call for help in making the decision for your new heater installation.

Furnaces

Furnaces heat air and then distribute it through a ventilation system. Furnaces have the advantage of flexibility—they can use a variety of different fuels—and heating power. Furnaces reach high temperatures and are capable of combating the strongest winter cold. On the downside, furnaces can be costly to run (especially electric furnaces) and require more repairs than some other systems.

Heat pumps

The big plus of heat pumps is that they work as both heaters and air conditioners. They also use a small amount of energy to run and can provide large savings in heating bills. However, heat pumps sometimes struggle with providing sufficient heating during heavy cold weather.

Boilers

Boiler use hot water to heat up a house, and therefore do not require any ductwork to operate. They provide cleaner heat than systems that use ducts (which can get dusty), operate quietly, and have long lifespans with few repairs. They do not heat up homes as fast as furnaces, however, and damage from water leaking can be a problem.

Geothermal

These systems are essentially heat pumps that use the natural heat of the earth as their exchange medium. Geothermal is incredibly efficient, safe, and beneficial for the environment. However, the installation process is extensive and often expensive, and not every property will benefit from geothermal.

If you still feel confused about the best heating for your home, don’t worry: you should have experts involved from early in the process to help you make the best decision. ACI Northwest can examine your home and perform a heat load calculation to determine what your best options are. Once we’ve done that, we’ll make sure you receive a great installation for your heating in Spokane, WA. We have more than 85 years of experience to put to work for you.

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