Comfort Flow Heating Blog:
Posts Tagged ‘Heating’

How Long Does a Furnace Installation Usually Take?

Monday, May 8th, 2023
technician-working-on-furnace

If you are investing in a furnace replacement this spring, you may have questions about the installation process. Installing a new furnace in the spring is a great idea because the system has time to settle in before the heavy-use seasons in fall and winter.

The good news is, our team are experts at furnace installation in Salem. We are answering all of your questions about furnace installation below, including how long the process takes. It’s great to have an understanding of what to expect during furnace installation so you are prepared the day of. Keep reading to learn more about how long furnace installation can take and what factors influence the timeline.  

Continue Reading

Homeowners Need to Know This About Thermocouples

Monday, April 24th, 2023
jets-of-a-natural-gas-furnace

If you have a furnace that uses a pilot light, you may have heard of thermocouples. But you may be wondering, what does a thermocouple do exactly? The short answer is that it is a safety mechanism that protects your furnace and home.

If you don’t already have a thermocouple on your furnace, you definitely want to invest in one sooner rather than later, and our team is here to help. Keep reading to learn more about this valuable addition to your home‘s furnace, and how it works. Then give us a call to schedule thermocouple installation for your heater.

Continue Reading

What You Should Know About Your Furnace Heat Exchanger

Monday, December 20th, 2021

burners-inside-furnaceIf you’re like many homeowners here in the Florence area, there’s a good chance that you use a gas-powered furnace to keep your home and family warm. Furnaces are a great choice—both powerful and cost-efficient when properly installed and well-maintained. Today’s furnaces have an even higher efficiency rating than ever before. In fact, the highest rating now available for a gas furnace is 98%.

But this efficiency doesn’t mean much if you aren’t using your furnace as safely as possible. Furnaces are not inherently dangerous, but there are components within them that could cause one to become dangerous if it misses professional services, such as annual tune-ups.

The heat exchanger is one example of this. A cracked heat exchanger is definitely a potential hazard, and we’re going to dive into the “why” behind this below. While this problem is more common in an older system (10–15 years old), we encourage you to keep this information on hand and stay on top of your maintenance appointments even if you have a brand new system! Read on to learn more.

Continue Reading

Should a Ductless HVAC System Be Your Next Installation?

Monday, April 12th, 2021

ductless-air-handler-mounted-up-on-wallWhat if we told you that when you’re looking to heat or cool your home, there’s an effective and efficient way to do both from one system? There is: the ductless HVAC system. Also referred to as a ductless mini-split or ductless heat pump, this type of central heating and cooling is becoming increasingly popular both in our area and throughout the country.

Ductless systems are effective at keeping homes warm in the winter as well as cool in the summer. If you’re looking to replace your air conditioner this spring and have also been considering a heating system replacement, then this may be just what you’re looking for.

Continue Reading

Have You Scheduled Heating Maintenance Yet?

Monday, November 9th, 2020

white-question-mark-on-blue-backgroundMaybe you are coming back from a First Saturday Park Walk in Eugene or perhaps you’re simply returning from running some errands. Whatever your day looks like, you are going to want to come home to a warm, comfortable house. You have a reliable heater, so you are pretty reassured that your home environment is going to be where you want it to be.

What if there was a way to guarantee your comfort when you came home though? You wouldn’t just be “pretty sure,” you’d be 110% sure that your home will be optimally cozy when you walk in the door. The services we provide for the systems used for heating in Eugene, OR can provide this confidence. For now, though, we’d like to focus on the easiest service to knock out before the weather really gets cold: heating system maintenance.

Continue Reading

4 Ways to Boost Your Heating Efficiency This Season

Monday, November 11th, 2019

jets-of-a-natural-gas-furnaceWinter is coming faster than we think, and we want you to be prepared. Sure, we might not have a climate that’s as bitterly cold as other parts of the world, but our winter seasons still pack quite the punch and require a fully functioning heater to keep us warm.

Having a great heating system is about many things—reliability, effectiveness, and efficiency. You want a heater that’s going to work as efficiently as possible. Our heating seasons are definitely too long to be overpaying for comfort! The good news is, there are several simple steps you can take that will boost the efficiency of your heater, and save you money as a result.

Continue Reading

Is It Time for Heater Replacement?

Monday, April 13th, 2015

Our daytime temperatures are finally starting to climb, but our nights are still cool enough to warrant the continued use of our heating systems. Spring is a great time to assess your home’s needs, and if you found that you were struggling with your heating system this winter, it may be time to consider a replacement system. Most people think of replacement as something that occurs when your heater finally kicks the bucket, but it’s always a much better scenario to replace your system before you are completely without heat. Here are some ways to help tell if it’s time to replace your aging heater in Eugene, OR:

Continue Reading

What Is Short-Cycling, and Why Should I Worry About It?

Friday, April 3rd, 2015

Have you ever noticed your furnace behaving strangely? Shutting itself on and off every couple of minutes, for example? If you have, you’ve got a pretty serious problem. That behavior is one of the most damaging things that can happen to heating systems, known as “short-cycling.” So what is short-cycling, really? What does it do, and why should you care? Read on to find out.

Causes of Short-Cycling

There is one major cause of short cycling when it comes to furnaces: clogged air filters. The air filter is a fiber mesh that is inserted into the air return duct of the furnace. It is designed to protect the furnace against any particles that may blow in from the ducts, such as dust and dirt. The air filter captures these particles, while allowing the air to flow through it and into the furnace. While this works fairly well under normal circumstances, the air filter has no way to actually get rid of the particles that it captures. That means that sooner or later it will need to be cleaned or replaced. If this is not done, the air filter will become so clogged with particles that it will restrict the air flow into the furnace.

When the air flow into the furnace is obstructed, its internal temperature will begin to rise. Eventually, it will rise high enough to activate the limit switch, which is designed to shut down the furnace if it is in danger of overheating. This is only a temporary fix, however, as the air filter is still restricting the air flow into the furnace. Once the furnace starts back up, it will overheat again and be shut down again. This process will continue as long as the air filter remains clogged.

The Results of Short-Cycling

If not fixed immediately, short-cycling will start to inflict severe damage on the furnace. The startup sequence of the heating cycle is the most stressful, and also happens to be the part that the furnace becomes trapped repeating. This constant repetition of the most stressful part of the heating process puts the system under much more strain than it was designed to handle. A furnace often has its lifecycle severely shortened if left to short-cycle for a long period of time, and will have an increased chance of breaking down.

If you suspect that your furnace may be short-cycling, call Comfort Flow Heating for our comprehensive heating services in the Florence, OR area.

Continue Reading

What Are Some Of My Options For A New Heating System in Salem, OR?

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

Heating systems in Salem and other Oregon towns are absolute necessities during the cold winter months. Now that temperatures are rising, you may want to replace an old, used system for a newer and more efficient one. Most people are accustomed to either forced air furnaces or boiler systems, and they’re both effective means of getting the job done.  But they’re not the only ways of heating your home, and alternative methods cold offer some benefits that you might not have considered otherwise. “What are some of my options for a new heating system in Salem, OR?” you ask.

We’ve outlined three popular choices below:

  • Radiant heating. Radiant heating is used in boiler technology, but a formal system takes it in a much different direction. Metal tubes and reflective tiles are placed beneath your floor, through which heated water is circulated. This warms the room from the floor up, transferring warmth directly through furniture and your feet. It’s very efficient – costing much less in monthly heating bills as forced air furnaces – and it also eliminates problems such as drafts and blown dust.
  • Heat pumps. Heat pumps combine the effects of a heater and an air conditioner, using cycled refrigerant to alternately warm and cool the air. That gives them increased efficiency, as well as combining heating and cooling needs into a single unit. Like radiant heating, heat pumps are very cost-effective, and while they struggle a bit in cold weather, they can be paired with electric heaters that still save you money on costs.
  • Geothermal heating. Geothermal heating often appears in houses on large property lots, since they often require a fair amount of space. The system buries a series of coils 6-8 feet beneath the earth, where the temperatures remain constant. Liquid is pumped through the tubes, which swaps heat back and forth with the earth. As with the other systems we’ve discussed, it’s very inexpensive month to month, and environmentally friendly to boot.

If you wish to discuss some of your options for a new heating system in Salem, OR, call upon the experts at Comfort Flow Heating for help. We’re fast and efficient, and we can spell out your options with you before performing the installation. Give us a call today!

Continue Reading

Reasons to Consider a Reverse Cycle Chiller

Thursday, February 27th, 2014

Most businesses take up larger spaces than residential homes, and therefore they require air conditioning and heating on a more advanced level. One of the comfort systems that we recommend for business owners is the reverse cycle chiller, which works effectively in all temperatures and at a lower cost than many rooftop package unit heat pumps.

If you are interested in learning more about reverse cycle chillers, or if you want to schedule installation, call Comfort Flow Heating. We specialize in commercial installation, maintenance, and heating repair in Salem, OR.

What is a reverse cycle chiller? It works similar to a heat pump, except that it doesn’t heat and cool the air. Instead, it works on water. Its heat pump unit is connected to an insulated water tank to which it either removes or adds heat. The conditioned water is then pumped from the tank and to the various places where either heating or cooling is required.

Why should you consider a reverse cycle chiller for your commercial building? Here are a few reasons:

  • No backup burner required: If you use a standard air-source heat pump, it requires a backup burner to supply heat when the system switches from cooling mode to heating mode. This burner is important to make sure that the heat pump doesn’t continue to blow out cold air while the coils defrost. With a reverse cycle chiller, hot water from the tank defrosts the coils and removes the need for the extra burner. This saves energy and assures you’ll receive warm air instead of cold air when you want it.
  • Efficient operation in cold temperatures: An issue that air-source heat pumps can encounter is that when the temperature drops below freezing they will struggle to remove heat from the cold air. Reverse cycle chillers operate through water and do not have trouble with lower temperatures. Even when the temperature outdoors is freezing, a reverse cycle chiller can heat water to above 100°F. (Don’t worry about the water in the chiller freezing; the constant cycling through the system prevents this.)
  • Energy conservation: Reverse cycle chillers are a popular alternative when a geothermal ground-source heat pump is not possible. These chillers use up to 10% fewer kilowatts per hour than a geothermal heat pump, and because of their efficiency at providing heat, they require no supplementary source like heat strips that are often necessary for ground-source heat pumps.

A reverse cycle chiller may not be the optimal choice for your building, so let the professionals at Comfort Flow Heating evaluate your needs to help you select the best option for comfort for your workers, customers, and clients. We can provide heating installation and heating repair in Salem, OR for your company, and then deliver the maintenance to keep the system running for many years.

Continue Reading