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Thomas Hoffmann Air Conditioning - Furnace & HVAC Repair St. Louis

Thomas Hoffmann Air Conditioning - Furnace & HVAC Repair St. Louis

Archives for February 2019

The Top 5 Benefits of Zoned HVAC Systems

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One of the best ways to optimize your HVAC system is by installing a zoned system.

If you’re a homeowner, you likely inherited your HVAC system from the previous resident. The reason is that updating the HVAC system is usually not at the top of a buyer’s priorities. Eventually, though, you may decide that you want to upgrade and optimize your heating and cooling process. One of the best ways to do so is by installing a zoned system. Here are 5 benefits.

st. louis man changing thermostat

Energy Efficiency

The best way to think about HVAC energy efficiency is to treat its function like you do the lights in your home. There is a good chance that you turn them off when you’re not using a room, so why wouldn’t you do the same with your heating and cooling? What a zoned system allows you to do is heat and cool specific areas in your home, rather than the entire space. Utilizing this function will inevitably lead to higher energy efficiency.

Cost Savings

When we talk about energy efficiency, we’re referring to how hard your HVAC system needs to work to control the temperature in your home. While lowering energy usage is a positive development on its own, the most appealing benefit of doing so is saving money. Using a zoned system allows you to only spend your money where it counts, and not in areas of your home that you don’t need heating or cooling in.

Extended System Life

You will start to enjoy the cost savings of energy efficiency right away, but that isn’t the only domain in which you benefit. The other is extending the life of your system. Zoning leads to less usage, and less usage leads to less wear and tear on your machinery. The result should be you not needing to replace your system for a very long time. Less efficient methods, on the other hand, will cost you more in the long run due to repairs and replacements.

Comfort

Perhaps the toughest part about living with other people is you butting heads over your preferences. One source of such a disagreement could be temperature, as some people get hot easliy and others get cold easily. If you like a cool room at night and someone else likes it much warmer, you can both be happy with a zoned system.

Smart Capabilities

Lastly, your zoned system will most likely come with a smart thermostat. These pieces of technology often have a variety of convenient capabilities that increase your comfort. The most popular of them are advanced scheduling and remote control from smartphone applications.

Now that you know the benefits of zoned systems, it is time to make a choice. You have three primary options. They are installing one right away, getting one next time you need a new system, or choosing not to purchase one at all. For many, energy efficiency, cost savings, an extended system life, comfort, and smart capabilities will motivate them to get a zoned system. If you are interested in this technology, give Thomas Hoffmann Air Conditioning and Heating a call 24/7 at (314) 471-7625.

6 Reasons to Consider Purchasing a Humidifier

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If you are experiencing these issues, it might be time to get a humidifier installed in your home.

We are in the midst of Winter in St. Louis, and the air is as dry as it’s going to get all year. What you might not know about this effect is the adverse outcomes it can have for your health. A few of them include dry skin, sinus issues, and throat pain. If you are experiencing these issues, it might be time to call an HVAC provider and get a humidifier installed in your home. We explain why in the following passages.

st. louis man with dry throat

Moisturize Your Skin

Depending on the weather outside, your indoor air could have a suboptimal level of humidity. A typical outcome of this issue is dryness, itchiness, and flaking of the skin and lips. Though you can use lotions and other moisturizers to keep this effect at bay, it is generally preferable to stop the problem at its source. Increasing the humidity inside your home is an excellent way to do so.

Throat Protection

Just like the skin, your throat can also dry out due to a lack of humidity. What can happen as a result is discomfort and irritation. Additionally, if you contract an illness, you will be much more uncomfortable than you would be in optimal humidity. A humidifier can make your living space much more hospitable for your throat.

Sinus Soothing

The sinuses are a notorious problem area for many people. Complications with them often lead to pain, facial pressure, headaches, bloody noses, and poor breathing. While it may seem counterintuitive to add fluid to your nose, doing so helps significantly. Humidity and the moisturizing effect it has keeps your sinuses lubricated and functioning correctly.

Kill Germs

The way many illnesses work is that first, somebody releases a virus into the world. As you walk around interacting with your environment, you pick that organism up and get infected. While humidity won’t protect you from germs on doorknobs and other objects, it will get rid of the ones in the air quicker than a home that is dry.

Warm Your Home

Something you’ve probably experienced in the past is a difference between wet and dry heat. The former has high humidity, while the latter does not. Though wet heat gets a bad name in places like Florida, some moisture is actually a positive thing in colder climates. A humidifier will make your home feel warmer while costing you little in electricity bills.

Reduce Snoring

Dry air can make your throat, mouth, and nose not function properly. The biggest reason why is inflammation. One of the most annoying results of this effect is snoring, which families often have severe issues with. What a humidifier can do is make the air healthier, lubricate the respiratory system of everyone in the house, and reduce snoring in the process.

If you think a humidifier might increase your comfort at home, then you should definitely look into it. The best way to do so is by talking to a local St. Louis HVAC company about getting a system that increases the humidity in your entire home. Give us a call 24/7 at (314) 471-7625.

3 Signs That Your HVAC System Is Affecting Indoor Air Quality

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Your HVAC unit should always provide clean, fresh air, and an environment where you feel comfortable.

HVAC systems have been wrongfully blamed many times for causing unexisting or unrelated health issues. Most health myths related to them have been busted. However, there is a grain of truth in all the nonsense people take for granted: your AC could actually affect your health and the air quality.

st. louis woman holding nose

Let’s see what are the causes of bad indoor air and how you can change that by fixing your HVAC problems.

The Temperature Varies too Much

One of the most common causes of AC-related health issues or physical discomfort is a variation in temperature that is too great. Whether it is because of a malfunction in the AC unit or because people overdo the heating or cooling, big temperature differences from the outdoor air to the indoor air cause discomfort on the long-term.

If you feel like your air conditioning is too powerful and you need to turn it off soon, it might be just that. Try to adjust the flow of the air to a lower setting, as it will improve the performance of the machine and your comfort.

Your HVAC Unit Releases an Unpleasant Odor

This is a clear sign that your HVAC unit needs some maintenance asap. If strange odors are emanating from your ducts, your health could be at risk from fungi, mold, poor air flow, and even contamination from pests or a small animal that found its end in your duct system.

As soon as you notice a bad smell, call a professional who can inspect the ventilation system and stop using it until the issue is found. If odors are released even when the unit is on standby, consider temporary blocking the ducts and getting fresh air by opening the windows.

The Air Humidity Is Not Effectively Controlled by Your System

If you only take temperature into consideration when adjusting the settings of your AC unit, you might miss a very important aspect: the control of indoor humidity. If your AC unit is not equipped with a hygrometer (an instrument that shows the level of humidity in the air), get one separately and check its values.

If the AC unit cools the air too fast, humidity won’t have time to go anywhere and the result could be quite uncomfortable. Again, an oversized or overzealous unit is usually the culprit. This needs to be fixed.

Your HVAC unit should always provide clean, fresh air, and an environment where you feel comfortable, and barely noticing the system itself. When you start noticing drastic changes in the air and in your comfort levels, it is time to call a professional and have a diagnosis. If ignored, an AC unit that spoils the indoor air can eventually lead to pain, discomfort, allergies, asthma, rashes, etc.

Monitoring your HVAC system’s performance and having regular maintenance done should prevent these issues, so make sure to not skip the yearly routine check-up. Give Thomas Hoffmann Air Conditioning and Heating a call 24/7 at (314) 471-7625.

Filed Under: Blog

Updated: February 17, 2020