Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling: HVAC Tips

Blue Mountain Plumbing Heating Cooling Thornton, Denver

 

Thank you for visiting our helpful HVAC tips page, here you'll find some beneficial tips when it comes to dealing with your home's plumbing or HVAC systems. Have a question that you need to get answered? Call Blue Mountain Plumbing Heating & Cooling at (720) 839-4015.

 

Plumbing Tips:
  1. Exercise the emergency shut offs and valves in the plumbing system.
  2. Have your water heater flushed every year to reduce sediment buildup and a loss of efficiency.
  3. The average life of a tank style water heater is 10-12yrs, replacement is recommended after this time.
  4. Check your toilets periodically to make sure they are not running water and shutting off properly. If you hear or see water running this can quickly use 100’s to 1000’s of gallons of water.
  5. Check rubber washing machine hoses for cracks that could lead to a costly flood.
  6. Your water pressure can be too high, it should be 50-75psi. If it is higher than this it can damage your plumbing system.
  7. Slow bathroom sink drain? Check the pop up assembly by pulling the stopper out and cleaning the drain and stopper.
  8. If temperatures get below freezing you might have troubles with frozen pipes. To help prevent this keep the thermostat at a good temperature and open any doors and cabinets that access plumbing pipes.
  9. Get your plumbing professionally checked between winter and spring to ensure you do not have any leaks caused by pipes cracking in the winter time. Check out our spring plumbing tips for maintenance and repair from winter damage.
  10. Don’t forget to disconnect hoses from the yard faucets during freezing temperatures to prevent freeze cracks.

 

Heating Tips:
  1. Replace your air filters every 1-3 months.
  2. Replace the batteries in your thermostat for proper operation.
  3. Every manufacturer recommends annual maintenance by a licensed contractor.
  4. Modern furnaces have high failure rates caused by dirty flame sensors that can be pulled and cleaned easily.
  5. If you have radiant heat it is more efficient and comfortable to set the thermostat’s at one temperature all winter.
  6. Many furnaces are oversized and cause short cycling, this is when the furnace overheats and you can hear it come on and off several times an hour. This will cause premature wear and even cause the furnace to fail.
  7. Leave all the vents open throughout the house. Systems are designed to have a certain amount of air flow through them and if you have a dirty or too thick of a filter or you close all the vents on the first floor to get air to the second floor you can cause problems in the furnace operation.
  8. Many furnace systems have humidifier’s that have a water pad inside. These should be changed every season per the manufacturer.

 

Cooling Tips:
  1. Replace your air filters every 1-3 months.
  2. Have a licensed HVAC contractor check your system every season.
  3. Leave all the vents open. If you have an underground basement then the system is not sized for this space and there is minimal to no heat gain in this space, therefore these vents should be closed during the cooling season only.
  4. Many air conditioners have too much Freon causing issues with performance and could cause damage to the compressor.
  5. If your air conditioner is running but there is no cold air coming in the vents your system may have leaked Freon. These systems are contained systems and should not need Freon every year. EPA regulations state residential air conditioners can have 0% expectable loss of Freon. In this case a qualified technician should do a leak search and repair the leak.
  6. In two story homes, it is common to have only one air conditioner that is located on the bottom floor. As a result of resistance to air through ducting the top floor will be the last place to get comfy, mainly during the cooling season. Try switching the thermostat Fan switch from Auto to ON and changing your air filter to the inexpensive EZ-Flow filters. This will improve air flow to the top floor and help.
  7. Many homes have evaporative coolers and these should have maintenance 2 times a year. Also they have water pads that should be changed every season. An exception is for high efficiency units and they have 5 year pads. 
  8. Home owners can take a hose and spray the outside of the condenser coils every season to keep them clean and keep the unit more efficient.