5 Preventive Measures to Keep the AC Cooling Your Sacramento Home

It is can be very inconvenient to return home to an air conditioning system which is blowing heated air instead of cooling the home during the hotter months of the year. Sacramento homeowners can take several measures to avoid the costs and inconveniences associated with such a malfunction. This article discusses some of those preventive measures.

Your HVAC System & Landscaping

One of the most common reasons why an AC may fail to cool a home is the lack of the recommended clearance around the outdoor unit. Flowers and shrubs can overgrow and block the flow of air around that external unit of the AC. Debris, such as litter from trees, can also constrict the flow of air around the unit.

This reduced airflow affects how easily the heated air from your home can be cooled before being recirculated through the ductwork. Avoid this problem by trimming any shrubs or flowers which reduce the clearance around the unit. Clean the yard frequently so that debris isn’t allowed to accumulate close to the external unit of your air conditioner. The prolonged accumulation of debris around the outdoor unit can result in high HVAC repair Sacramento bills.

Check the Filter Frequently

The air filter of your AC system can also have an adverse effect on how well the system can cool the home when the weather is hot. Clogged filters prevent air from flowing freely through the system. Consequently, the rate at which the AC cools your home will be compromised.

Different models of filters come with different recommendations about the interval of cleaning or replacing them. However, those recommended filter change or cleaning intervals can be affected by the specific conditions in your home. For example, the filter in a home with several pets may clog faster than a home without pets that shed dander.
It is therefore a good habit to set a reminder so that you can check the filter on a monthly basis. Remove that filter in accordance with the procedure stipulated in the user manual of the AC unit. Hold it against the light and clean or replace it in case you cannot see light filtering through it. This method will ensure that you can always intervene before a dirty filter causes the AC to blow heated air through your home.

Enclose the Units

The system can blow heated/warm air in case something affects a section of the electrical wiring within the indoor or outdoor unit of the air conditioner. This is particularly possible in case you have young children or pets which damage any exposed wiring.

You can protect your kids and pets from being shocked by electricity and also protect the AC from damage by enclosing the indoor and outdoor units in a protective cage or wall. This will keep curious kids and pets from the electrical wires of those components.

Use a Programmable Thermostat

Warm air coming from your AC can also circulate in your home in case some components of your HVAC system, such as the condenser, wear out due to working excessively when you set the thermostat low during the hot months of the year. The AC will keep cycling on and off frequently in a bid to maintain the desired temperature. Over time, some components will wear out and unfortunately fail.

You can avert such premature failure by installing a programmable thermostat. Set that device to change the temperature setting depending on the hours when you are away or within the home. For example, the thermostat can automatically raise its temperature setting during the hours when you are at work. The settings can then change shortly before you get back home in the evening. Our technicians always have the latest technology available to install.

Using a programmable thermostat will reduce how much work the different AC components have to do. Consequently, they will last longer and you will reduce the chance that your home will be warm yet the AC is running. Heating and air conditioning professionals in Sacramento can help during the installation of the new thermostat.

Clean Inside Your Home

The dust and other contaminants inside your home can clog the filter and ducts of your air conditioning system. Those clogs affect how freely conditioned air can flow into the different rooms of the home. Regular vacuuming and dusting can remove that dust before it takes a toll on the AC system and affects how well the home is cooled during the summer.

Keeping your home dust and dander free will go a long way towards averting many of the reasons why an air conditioning system blows warm air when it is expected to cool the home. However, the steps above are no guarantee that the system will not have any defects over time. Call an air conditioning repair technician in Sacramento and let that experts at Fox Family Heating and Air inspect and fix any issue which could have compromised the effectiveness of the AC.

Furnace Repair in Sacramento

furnace repair

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As 2018 progresses through February, it seems more and more people are still needing furnace repair in Sacramento. A lot of our calls coming right now are ones where customers are saying their furnace is just blowing cold air. Nobody wants that right? You go to turn on the furnace and it sounds like the system is working but it really is just not blowing warm air.

About Your Furnace

The furnace has a sequence of operation that it goes through every time you call for the furnace to come on. The thermostat tells the control board at the furnace to turn the inducer motor on. The inducer motor pulls the exhaust out of your furnace and sends it through the flue pipe and out of the house. When the inducer motor comes on, the pressure switches will verify the inducer motor is working by sensing a negative pressure the manufacturer has preset to a specific setting.

As long the pressure switch pulls in and tells the control board it’s working the ignition sequence begins. An ignitor will perform a controlled spark or hot surface ignition. If that happens correctly, the control board tells the gas valve it can now open and pour gas across the spark or hot surface ignitor. This will cause the flames to ignite in a controlled fashion specifically the way the manufacturer wants it done.

After the flames ignite a flame sensor stands in the middle of the flame and senses that the flame is indeed on and sends a signal back to the control board that the ignition has started up safely and according to the engineer’s specifications. Once the flame is on, the blower motor will push your room temperature air across the heat exchanger, heating it up anywhere from 30-60 degrees. That will end up being the warm air that comes out of your registers in your rooms!

Is Your Furnace Failing?

If at any point in the sequence of operation for your furnace, any of these steps fail, the furnace will go into safety mode automatically and shut the flame down. Most of the time it will shut down and try again three times. After the third time, it will just start blowing room temperature air. Eventually the homeowner will notice the furnace is not working right because it’s just blowing cold air. This is what alerts the homeowner to call for a furnace repair service in Sacramento. Nobody wants cold air blowing in their house when it’s 32 degrees outside and this is the reason people need a good furnace repair service in Sacramento.

Call Fox Family Heating, Air Conditioning and Solar

Fox Family technicians are trained to thoroughly evaluate your furnace from head to toe so that you can get your home heating again at the most crucial times of the year. If your furnace needs heating repair, there is no one more that you can trust than the Fox Family Heating, Air Conditioning and Solar technicians here in Sacramento.

We know its honor to be invited into your home to service your furnace and HVAC system. In addition, we promise to try to earn your trust and respect because we know there are so many HVAC companies here in the Sacramento area to choose from. We’re not like the big companies who are just trying to sell you a new furnace! We can actually repair any part on your furnace as long as they make the part still. Some furnaces are so old they just don’t make the parts for them anymore. Usually that is around the 20-year mark for a furnace. So, if you are dealing with a furnace repair in Sacramento, trust Fox Family Heating, Air Conditioning and Solar, Inc. to come out and let you know what is going on with your furnace.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][mk_page_section bg_color=”#ed4622″ full_width=”true” has_top_shape_divider=”true” top_shape_color=”#ffffff” top_shape_bg_color=”#ed4622″ bottom_shape_color=”#ffffff” sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column width=”2/3″][mk_padding_divider][mk_fancy_title tag_name=”h3″ color=”#ed4622″ size=”36″ force_font_size=”true” size_tablet=”20″ size_phone=”15″ line_height=”90″ font_weight=”bold” txt_transform=”capitalize” margin_bottom=”0″ font_family=”Lato” font_type=”google” align=”right” drop_shadow=”true”]Need Service? Call Now: 916-877-1577[/mk_fancy_title][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][mk_padding_divider][mk_button dimension=”flat” size=”large” align=”center” margin_right=”0″ bg_color=”#0066cc” btn_hover_txt_color=”#ed4622″]BOOK NOW[/mk_button][/vc_column][/mk_page_section]