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Archive for February, 2015

How Duct Cleaning Improves Your Indoor Air Quality

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

When was the last time that you spared a thought for the ducts in your home? Probably not for a while, and no one can blame you for that. After all, what is there to really consider about ducts? They are an avenue for air to travel through, and that’s about it. Now, when was the last time you worried about the quality of the air in your home? Probably quite a bit more recently. People worry about dust and dander a lot more often, because they have a lot more apparent (and harmful) effects on the occupants of the home. What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that there is a strong link between the home’s ducts and the pollutants that lower the home’s air quality. Let’s take a look at how duct cleaning can vastly improve your air quality.

The Ideal Environment

As you already know, the air in the average home is full of all sorts of airborne contaminants. These range from dust and dander to viruses and bacteria. While a lot of these contaminants have limited harmful effects, they can have a major impact on the health of allergy sufferers and those with weakened immune systems. While most people counteract these contaminants by dusting and keeping the house clean, there is one place that is often neglected: the ducts.

Ducts are not only spared cleaning efforts and other human activity, but they are also dark. This makes them the ideal environment for biological pollutants to spread, many of which can be killed by too much exposure to UV light. When a heating or air conditioning system is turned on, all these new pollutants are then blown out of the ducts and into the home, where they can begin infecting people.

Duct Cleaning as a Solution

Duct cleaning counteracts this vicious cycle by periodically removing the buildup of contaminants in your ducts. This both prevents the ducts from distributing contaminants around your house, and removes a lot of the extant ones from your air. Essentially, your ducts become a trap, collecting the majority of the airborne pollutants for removal by your HVAC technician.

If you haven’t had your ducts cleaned in a while, call Comfort Flow heating. We provide duct cleaning services throughout the Florence area.

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How Duct Repair Can Save You Money on Your Heating Bill

Monday, February 16th, 2015

There are several types of heating systems available to homeowners today, including ductless heat pumps and radiant heating systems. Radiant heating systems use a boiler to heat water and move it to the various rooms of the house. A ductless heat pump operates much like an air conditioning system, with a refrigerant line, compressor, coils, and blower fans that help to move heat from one area to another, except that it can also move in reverse, carrying heat from the outdoor air to the inside of the house. The indoor unit mounts onto the wall, eliminating the need for ducts.

Despite all of these options, the most common types of heating systems use the ducts to deliver warm air into the home. In some cases, homeowners have ducted heat pumps for efficient heating and air conditioning. But far more often, homes are equipped with furnaces, which run either via electricity, heating oil, or a natural gas line. This is the most common heating system in the United States, mostly because it tends to be reliable, safe, and long-lasting—as long as you schedule regular maintenance.

If your well-maintained heating system runs into trouble, it may be because of the duct system. Unfortunately, ducts are prone to leaks. And when the ducts have leaks, your home won’t get enough warm air, which means it will take longer to raise the temperature. Your heater could struggle as a result, and some parts may begin to break down as they become overworked.

When a heating system begins to fail, many technicians tend to repair the broken parts and overlook the duct system as a possible source of the issue. But the ducts should be routinely inspected in order to make sure you don’t run into any heating issues because of them. Leaks in the ducts also force you to spend a lot more money on your heating bills as your heating system takes a lot longer to condition your home.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the typical home heating and cooling system wastes about thirty percent of the energy it uses in the duct system. If you at all suspect that you need duct repair service for your home, or if it’s just been a while since anyone has checked out your system, call the friendly professionals at Comfort Flow Heating in Salem today.

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Lupercalia: The Origin of St. Valentine’s Day

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

Many people may think of Valentine’s Day as a holiday essentially created by card and gift companies, but the truth is that the holiday has long-standing roots going back to the Roman Empire. The name “Lupercalia” has its origins in the word “lupus”, which means wolf, and the reason for this is that according to Roman pagan religion, the she-wolf Lupa nursed the two orphaned infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

 

The Festival

The Festival of Lupercalia spanned two days each February, from February 13th to 15th. The festival was about fertility and was led by Luperci priests, known as “brothers of the wolf”. The festival was serious with intention (fertility) but was executed as quite a romp for both the priests and citizens of Rome. The process was this: two male goats and a dog were sacrificed at the beginning of the festival by the priests; two young Luperci were then anointed with the blood from the animals, and the hides of the animals were cut into straps. As food and drink flowed, the male priests would run around the city wearing nothing but thongs made from the animal skins, and they also carried a strap from one of the sacrificed animals. The strap was used to strike the palms of Roman women waiting for the priests in the city, as it was believed that being hit with the strap could help with infertility issues and a safe, healthy labor for women who were pregnant.

 

The Transition to St. Valentine’s Day

The Christian influence of the holiday came around the 5th century. The Roman Empire was still strong, but Christianity was rapidly taking hold throughout the world. It is believed that to try and remove the paganism from the holiday, the deaths of two men, supposedly both named Valentine, were added into the mix. During the 3rd and 4th centuries, a law created by Claudius II forbade young men eligible for military service to marry, because Rome wanted a strong army. The two men named Valentine were priests, and married young couples in secret. Both were found out and executed on February 14th, although in separate years. The Church made Valentine a saint (they chose one), and Lupercalia became St. Valentine’s Day.

 

Here’s wishing you and your loved one a Happy Valentine’s Day!

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What You Need to Know About the Limit Switch

Thursday, February 5th, 2015

You may or may not be aware of this, but your heating system is actually covered in all manner of switches, valves, and other devices designed as safety measures. There are hundreds of different ways that a heating system could begin malfunctioning, and some of the major ones could end up severely damaging the system or proving dangerous to the home’s occupants. That is why so many safety measures are in place, and why you should know about them. Let’s take a look at one of the most important safety measures: the limit switch.

What is the Limit Switch?

The limit switch is a small part that measures the temperature inside your heating system. Specifically, it measures the temperature of the plenum, the largest chamber of any forced air heater. It is designed to shut down the system in the event that the temperature inside the plenum gets too high. Obviously, an overheating system presents a fire risk, not to mention the damage it can cause to parts that are not designed to withstand that level of heat. As such, the limit switch is one of the most important safety measures in your heating system.

However, there are some interactions between the limit switch and the heater of which you should be aware. Foremost among these is short-cycling.

Short-Cycling

Short-cycling is what happens when the heating system won’t stop rapidly turning itself on and off throughout the day. When a heater begins to overheat, it activates the limit switch, which shuts the system down to protect it. However, the limit switch doesn’t actually address whatever problem is causing the system to overheat. When the system has cooled off a bit, the thermostat reactivates it, as it hasn’t reached the desired temperature in the home yet. So, the system restarts and overheats again because the issue hasn’t been solved. This leads to an endless cycle of the system overheating and the limit switch shutting it off.

This behavior is extremely harmful to the heating system, putting it under exponentially more strain than it is designed to handle, and increasing the chances of a breakdown. If you notice this behavior, call a professional immediately.

If you’d like to know more, call Comfort Flow Heating to schedule an appointment with us today. We provide professional heating repair services in the Eugene, OR area.

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