We rely on our HVAC systems year round, but especially during the summer and winter months, because when the temperatures hit extremes outside, you want the inside of your home to be a comfortable reprieve. HVAC winter maintenance is a vital way to ensure that your home stays cozy and warm all winter long. 

The last thing you want is for your HVAC system to break down in the middle of winter, causing the frigid exterior temperatures to seep into your home and force you to wear your heavy coats in order to try to stay warm while you wait for a HVAC technician to come out and fix or replace it. HVAC winter maintenance works to prevent such a situation from happening. Keeping your HVAC system from breaking down isn’t the only reason why HVAC winter maintenance is important, though. Read on to learn more about why HVAC winter maintenance is important. 

#1. Save Money

Your HVAC system accounts for about half of your energy expenses, according to the United States Department of Energy. If your system is in need of maintenance or repairs, this causes it to work harder in order to maintain a consistent temperature throughout your home, which results in even higher energy bills. Having your system regularly maintained will save you money, because you’re ensuring that it only uses the energy it is supposed to in order to function properly. HVAC winter maintenance reduces excessive energy consumption and saves you money. 

#2. Better Air Quality

Did you know that according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside the average American household is 2-5 times more polluted than the air outside? In part, this has to do with pollutants that can get in through a faulty or poor quality HVAC system, as well as poor ventilation. You spend a lot more time inside during the winter months, so it’s vital that you have good indoor air quality. 

Poor indoor air quality can result in adverse health effects such as respiratory issues, irritated eyes, nose, and throats, and more. Maintaining your HVAC systems works to improve your indoor air quality through ensuring that your home is properly ventilated and that your filters and vents are clean, so exterior pollutants are less likely to sneak in. 

#3. Optimize Your HVAC System

You rely on your HVAC system a lot, so you want it to run properly. A system in need of maintenance simply won’t run as well as one that is regularly maintained. If you’re noticing higher energy bills, uneven or uncomfortable temperatures throughout your home, weird smells or sounds, that it’s been harder to breathe, or even if it’s just that it’s been a year or so since the last time you have your system maintained, these are all markers that you should call an HVAC technician to come out and tune-up your system. 

In order for your HVAC system to function as it should, regular maintenance is a must. HVAC winter maintenance will keep it running smoothly, so that you don’t need to worry about uneven temperatures or any of the other problems that come with a system that needs to be serviced. In the winter especially, the last thing you want is for your HVAC system to not perform as it should. You want to optimize it, and HVAC winter maintenance is a way to ensure that you can.

#4. Protect Your Investment

As with anything, if your heating and cooling system isn’t maintained, it simply won’t last as long as one that is. The average length of time you can expect an HVAC system to last is over 10 years. However, if you don’t maintain it regularly, you’ll need to replace it sooner than that, because it breaks down faster from simple lack of maintenance. HVAC winter maintenance is a fantastic way to protect your investment and increase your HVAC system’s lifespan.

#5. Keep Your Warranty Valid

Depending on the manufacturer of your HVAC system, they may require regular maintenance in order to keep the warranty valid. If it breaks down and you haven’t been maintaining it? It might not be covered under your warranty. Rather than risk an expensive repair or replacement bill, maintenance will help protect your system and your bank account, as well as improving the overall comfort of your home. 

Ensure Your Comfort With HVAC Winter Maintenance

R & D Heating And Air wants you to stay comfy and warm all winter long. We provide inspections and maintenance to keep your HVAC system running as it should. Your comfort is our priority. Let us help you this winter; contact us today to schedule your inspection or maintenance! 

Contrary to popular belief, the inside of your home tends to be more polluted than outside. With how Americans typically spend 90% of their time indoors and with how that percentage usually increases during the frigid winter months, improving your indoor air quality in winter is essential. Bad indoor air quality can lead to respiratory problems, irritated eyes and throats, headaches, fatigue, and more. Here’s what you need to know about what causes indoor air pollution and what you can do to improve your indoor air quality in winter, and all year round. 

What Causes Indoor Air Pollution?

When the Environmental Protection Agency states that the air inside the average American home is two to five times more polluted than the air quality outside, that’s quite a shock. It makes sense how outside air can get polluted, with fossil fuel emissions, greenhouse gases, and more. There’s a lot contributing to pollution and climate change outside. But your home? Even if you burn multiple candles in every room, it surely can’t make the air inside your home that much worse, right? So, what causes indoor air pollution?

Indoor air pollution is caused by a number of factors, some of which originate inside your home, and others are brought in from outside it. Common culprits of indoor air pollution include: cleaning supplies, bug spray, paint, tobacco, pet dander (such as shedding), and more. Volatile Organic Compounds, also called VOCs, play a significant role in indoor air pollution. VOCs are gases emitted by household items, like air fresheners, and these can be two to five times higher than in outside air. Natural gas emissions such as from your gas stove, can even exceed emissions outside your home. 

Your indoor air quality in winter is also impacted by outdoor air. Smoke can get in through your windows or HVAC system, pollutants can latch onto the dust that gets inside your home, and other elements that seep into or are brought into your home, such as dirt and other allergens. 

Why Is Indoor Air Quality In Winter Worse?

There are many things inside your home that can result in indoor air pollution and worsened indoor air quality in winter. Mold, mildew, dust, and so many factors worsen the very air you breathe and pose potential health risks. Your indoor air quality in winter can be made worse by the very things that you do to make your home more comfortable in winter: insulation. These result in a high concentration of indoor air pollutants, and thus, your indoor air quality in winter is worsened. 

Plus, cold air can stagnate, there are more people inside – especially if you have people over, winter is cold and flu season, and if you have issues with your heating system, that can contribute to worsened indoor air quality in winter.

How Can You Improve Indoor Air Quality In Winter?

Luckily, poor indoor air quality can be helped. You want the air you breathe to be good quality, especially if it is where you are spending most of your time. Your HVAC system is one such way that you can improve your indoor air quality in winter. The Environmental Protection Agency states that one way to reduce VOCs in your home is through proper ventilation, something your HVAC system helps with.

Regularly changing the air filters in your system will ensure that they continue to filter the air in your home, trapping dust and dirt and other contaminants, which improves your indoor air quality (IAQ) while also extending the lifespan of your heating system and improving its efficiency. Proper ventilation is essential to improving the air quality of your home, and if you don’t maintain your HVAC system, you can actually end up with worsened air quality, due to the fact that it’s not being cleaned and ergo, can’t do its job properly. 

Scheduling regular furnace maintenance also helps your indoor air quality in winter, because if your heating system is having to work overtime in order to do its job, it can bring more dust and pollutants into your air. 

In addition to contacting your local HVAC technician, you can also try the EPA’s recommended source control, which is regularly cleaning your home from pet fur and the like, opening your windows to get fresh air circulating now and again, getting an air purification system, using indoor plants, and more.

Do You Need Help Improving Your Indoor Air Quality In Winter?

R & D Heating And Air knows how essential your indoor air quality is for your health and comfort, especially in the winter months. There’s no need to tolerate poor indoor air quality in winter. If you’d like to improve your indoor air quality in winter or any other time of year, our trained professionals can help. We specialize in air quality enhancements for your systems so that you can breathe easy. To learn more about how we can help you improve your indoor air quality in winter, don’t hesitate to contact us today!

Your thermostat is essential to the comfort of your home, so if you need to replace your thermostat, it’s important to have that done as soon as you can. If your thermostat isn’t working, this leads to uncomfortable temperatures, with either your home being too hot in the summer or freezing cold in the winter. Your thermostat maintains a consistent, comfortable temperature so that no matter the season, you can find relief from outdoor temperatures inside your home. 

In many cases, thermostats can be repaired, making for a quick, easy fix to your heating and cooling systems. In other cases, repairs aren’t enough, and you’ll need to replace your thermostat.

Here are nine signs you can watch out for that may indicate it’s time to replace your thermostat. 

Inconsistent Temperature

A properly running HVAC system keeps the entirety of your home at a consistent temperature. If some rooms are warmer or colder than others, this could mean that your thermostat is impacting how well your system runs, resulting in rooms closer to the HVAC system closer to the desired temperature, while rooms further away are hardly affected. 

Wrong Temperature Readings

Your thermostat should not just show your desired temperature, but also the current temperature in your home. If your thermostat starts to fail, it can begin showing false temperatures. If your thermostat claims your home is a certain temperature, but it’s colder or warmer than that, it’s likely that you’ll need to replace it.

Increasing Energy Bills

When your thermostat isn’t working properly, you may find yourself with suspiciously high energy bills. This can happen when your thermostat doesn’t respond to changed settings or when it’s running for longer than it’s meant to, resulting in more usage than you want and ergo, a higher energy bill. 

Doesn’t Respond To Changed Settings

Thermostats are supposed to adjust to any changes you make to the set temperatures. But if your thermostat doesn’t respond to your changed settings, this typically means that there’s a problem and that you may need to replace your thermostat. 

Your HVAC Unit Won’t Start

The thermostat controls whether or not your heating and cooling systems run, so if your heating or cooling system isn’t turning on, this is likely an issue with the thermostat. Wiring can loosen, making it so that the connection between your thermostat and your HVAC systems breaks, resulting in your HVAC unit not starting when you want it to.

Your HVAC Unit Runs Constantly

Conversely, if your HVAC unit is running constantly, this could be another issue with your thermostat’s wiring, leading to your thermostat telling your systems that they need to be running when they don’t. 

Your HVAC Unit Turns Off And On By Itself

Another frustrating indicator of your thermostat needing replacement is when your heating or cooling turns itself on and off, instead of running when it’s meant to and turning off when it’s achieved your desired temperature. This indicates faulty wiring in your thermostat, meaning that it’s sending inconsistent signals to your system. 

Your HVAC Unit Short Cycles

If your HVAC unit short-cycles, this means that it does turn on when it’s supposed to, but then it turns itself off before reaching the temperature you set it to. This short-cycling can mean that your thermostat is coming to the end of its days. 

It’s Old

Nothing lasts forever. As with anything else, the older your thermostat is and the more wear it sustains, the more trouble it will have working and it may begin to malfunction. If your thermostat is old and outdated, it’s time to upgrade to a newer model. 

Do You Need To Replace Your Thermostat?

Having a functional thermostat is crucial to having a comfortable home. If your thermostat fails, this means that you’ll likely end up paying more than you should on your energy bills and that your home isn’t a comfortable temperature – or, at least, doesn’t stay at a comfortable temperature for long. When you replace your thermostat, you’ll both save yourself money and ensure the comfort of your home.

Here at R & D Heating And Air, we understand the importance of maintaining a comfortable climate in your home and the role that your thermostat plays in that. If you suspect your thermostat of malfunctioning, we can see if the issue is something simple repairs can fix. If not, we can replace your thermostat. We provide exceptional thermostat repairs, replacements, and other services throughout Utah. To schedule a service or for any questions you may have, please feel free to contact us at R & D Heating And Air today!