Tag Archives: Bisbee

Handy Ways to Remember Your Filter Changing Schedule: A Tip From Bisbee

Changing the air filters in your furnace and air conditioner is an essential maintenance task in your Bisbee home. The benefits of having a fresh filter for the air circulating in your home are numerous. The better air quality is good for your respiratory health, fewer allergens permeate the air, your system runs more efficiently and you save money. So why is it so difficult to remember to replace those filters? To help prevent those issues, try some of these tips to remember your replacement schedule.

Set Reminders for Later

Think of the last time you inspected and replaced your air filter. Was it more than three months ago? Replace it now. Can’t remember? Replace it anyway. Go ahead; this post will wait. Now that you’ve taken care of that, set a reminder for three months from now. Try one of these systems to remind yourself:

  • Put it into your cell phone calendar.
  • Use a calendar application that sends email alerts to remind you.
  • Circle the day on your wall or desk calendar.

Whatever method works best for you, make sure to use it and stick to it. While you are at it, set monthly reminders to inspect the filters. The EPA recommends making the switch every three months, or whenever the filter is visibly dirty.

Make a Connection

If you don’t like to have reminders, or perhaps find yourself forgetting to even set the reminders, hope is not lost. Try scheduling filter changes to coincide with something you will remember, or putting it on the same day as other routine maintenance tasks. Here are some examples:

  • Make the day of the month the same as that of your birthday or anniversary. Bonus points if your birthday is June 25, since that combines with Christmas to take care of two replacements a year. Just remember March and September and you are all set!
  • Three months is about as often as cars need oil changes, so do both on the same day. Drove 3000 miles already? Time to change the furnace filter.
  • Schedule on a holiday. In the U.S., for example, Martin Luther King Day, Easter Sunday, the Fourth of July and Columbus Day are all approximately three months from one another.

The Failsafe

If all else fails, hire a professional to inspect and change the filters for you, and rely on his appointment keeping skills to make up for any memory lapses you may have. It will cost a bit more than DIY, but at least it will get done, and the maintenance will save you on the costs of wasted energy.

Saving Energy with Air Conditioners: Some Pointers From Bisbee

Air conditioners can definitely make it easier to get through a particularly hot and sticky summer in Bisbee. But they are also pretty expensive to run, especially if you live in an area with long, hot summers. Fortunately, there are quite a few things you can do to help your air conditioner keep your home cool without running up those astronomical energy bills.

  • Think about Your Thermostat – Most people set their thermostat at one temperature and leave it there. But does it really make sense to pay to keep your home cool all day long when no one’s home? Instead, try turning up the temperature when you leave the house and then again at night before you go to bed. It’s likely you won’t notice the difference and even an adjustment of a couple of degrees can make a big difference.
  • Multiple Climate Zones – When you are home, of course, you want to set your thermostat to a temperature you’ll be comfortable with. But that probably still means you’ll be cooling a lot of empty space. Installing a multi-zone system allows you to set different temperatures for different parts of your home. You can keep the spaces you use regularly cool and comfortable without wasting money paying to cool the unoccupied parts of your home.
  • Ceiling Fans – It might seem silly at first glance to use a ceiling fan at the same time as an air conditioner. But the truth is that using a ceiling fan to compliment your air conditioning system can actually save you a lot of money. Ceiling fans use next to no electricity to operate and they can make the house feel a few degrees cooler. With that added help, you can turn your thermostat up a few degrees without sacrificing indoor comfort and save yourself quite a bit of money – more than enough to cover the cost of running the ceiling fan.
  • Keep Things Sealed – Making sure your house is well sealed and insulated is another important way to keep your energy usage down during the summer. The more cool air that escapes, the harder your system has to work and the more energy it will use.
  • Proper Maintenance – Keeping up with the recommended maintenance for your air conditioning system is the best way to make sure it maintains the highest possible level of energy efficiency. Over time, it will ensure your system stays efficient longer as well – well beyond the initial lifespan estimates.

What to Do if Your Ceiling Fan Does Not Work: A Tip From Bisbee

A ceiling fan is a great addition to your Bisbee home. It can keep you cool all on its own on moderately warm days and it will help to take on some of the cooling load even on days when you do need to use the air conditioner as well. Plus, you can even use your ceiling fan in the winter to keep the warm air from your heating system circulating properly.

But just like anything else, your ceiling fan will encounter some sort of problem from time to time. While there are certainly some things that you cannot fix on your own, it is a good idea to check on a few items before you call in a professional repair person.

For instance, if you switch on the fan and nothing happens, make sure that all of the controls are in the place they should be. Most ceiling fans have a chain or dial on the body of the fan itself that controls the direction that the fan turns and can even turn it off. However, there is usually also a power switch on the wall. If you flip the switch and the fan does not turn on, there is a good chance that the setting on the fan itself is in the off position.

After ensuring that all of these switches and controls are calibrated properly, you can also take a look at the fuse and the breaker that the fan is connected to. If the breaker is thrown or the fuse is blown, the fan is not getting power and you will have to replace the fuse or reset the breaker to restore power to that circuit.

If that does not solve the mystery either, you may want to test the blades themselves to see if they seem to be stuck on a physical impediment. Ceiling fans do occasionally need to have their bearings lubricated and this is a relatively simple task that you can carry out on your own as well.

However, if none of these actions seems to solve the problem, then you will probably need to call in a professional to assess the situation and make the necessary repairs. There may be a mechanical problem within the fan itself or the wiring could be frayed or fused and these are not repairs you should attempt to make on your own.

What Is SEER?

This entry was posted in Air Conditioning and tagged , , , on by .

If you’ve been looking at air conditioners, you’ve probably noticed that they all seem to have a SEER rating. But what does this actually mean?

The SEER, which stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, is a measure of how energy efficient a particular air conditioning model is. So when you’re shopping around for the best deal on an air conditioner for your home, this is something you’ll absolutely want to pay attention to.

Interpreting SEER Ratings

The SEER rating system is relatively simple – the higher the SEER, the more energy efficient the product. But because a higher price tag typically comes with a higher SEER rating, it’s important to know just how much more efficient a higher rated unit will be. It helps you decide whether paying significantly more for a higher rated unit is worth it in long term savings. Will it actually save you enough each month to make up for the difference in price?

Evaluating Your Energy Usage

A big factor here is how much you will use your air conditioner. If you live in a place with very hot and humid summers where the air conditioning runs constantly, you’re probably best off with the highest SEER you can find. When you consume that much energy to keep your home cool, you want to get as much as possible out of it, and that’s what a high SEER model can do for you.

On the other hand, if you live in an area that doesn’t have the harshest summers, you may be better off with a slightly less efficient (and therefore cheaper) model. Keep in mind, too, that the actual percentage increase in energy efficiency goes up by smaller and smaller increments the higher in SEER ratings you get. For instance, while a 10 SEER unit may be almost 20% more efficient than an 8 SEER model, a 12 SEER is only about 10% more efficient than that 10 SEER.

Finding the Right Balance

The best way to decide what SEER rating is best for you is to determine the annual cooling costs with your current unit and then calculate your savings in dollars based on the percentage each model would improve your efficiency. If you don’t currently have an air conditioner, this can be a bit tricky, but a professional contractor or air conditioning salesman can help you estimate your total monthly cooling costs with the various units.

How to Judge the Quality of a Ceiling Fan

Like just about anything else on the market these days, there are good ceiling fans and there are low quality ones. With such a seemingly simple piece of equipment, it can be tempting to just grab the cheapest one you can find. After all, how much of a difference can it really make? In fact, the quality of the ceiling fan you buy can have a significant impact on its performance level and how long it lasts.

Of course, you do not necessarily want to go out and buy the most expensive thing you can find either. There are many good quality ceiling fans that will not cost you an arm and a leg, but you need to know how to find them and separate them from the rest of the pack.

One of the first things to look for when you are evaluating your ceiling fan options is how much of an angle the blades have. This angle usually ranges from eight to 15 degrees and the bigger the angle, the more air the fan can move at once.

However, cheaper fans with a less powerful motor cannot handle the resistance that a higher volume of air generates. What that usually means is that the units with the smaller blade angle are less powerful and will be less effective at circulating air throughout your room. Even when they are running at the same speeds, the blades with the smaller angle will move less air, and so they will not keep you as cool.

You should also check the various ceiling fans you are considering to make sure they are the right size to fit your room. To be safe, a ceiling fan’s blades should be no less than seven feet above the floor. But if you have very high ceilings, you may want to add something that can extend the fan down closer to the floor so that you will still feel all of the cooling effects it produces.

The various ceiling fans on the market right now all have many different features that can influence your decision as well. For instance, you may want to opt for a fan that has programmable settings or that comes with a remote control for more convenient access. But if these are not features you care about, you can probably save quite a bit by going with a no-frills model.

Does Your Humidifier Have an Odor?

This entry was posted in Indoor Air Quality and tagged on by .

The best way to avoid those dry, uncomfortable winters is to have a high quality humidifier in your home adding much needed moisture to your indoor air. This can help lessen the severity of cold and allergy symptoms and even reduce the risk of asthma attacks. But if you notice a strange or musky smell coming from your humidifier when you turn it on, you probably won’t want to use it as often.

Fortunately, a problem like this is relatively easy to fix. That’s because it’s probably caused by stagnant water or a buildup of mold or mildew inside the humidifier itself. This isn’t a particularly pleasant thought, of course, but it does mean that the smell is pretty easy to get rid of. All it takes is thorough cleaning with the right materials.

Before you clean out your humidifier, always make sure it’s unplugged. The first thing to do is to remove the filter and change it. In some cases, that will take care of the entire problem and you won’t have to invest any more time in this project.

If your humidifier doesn’t have a filter or if the smell persists even after the filter has been changed, a deeper cleaning is probably in order. Begin by getting rid of the water in the reservoir and washing it out thoroughly. Next, scrub out all the interior areas of the humidifier you can reach with bleach and water. Make sure you get the evaporator belt while you are in there – it’s a particularly tricky component that can contribute to the musky smell. Be sure to rinse out the bleach thoroughly afterwards or it will be introduced into your indoor air when you turn humidifier back on.

Once that’s done, reassemble the unit and run it as normal with a fresh supply of water. That should solve the problem, but to keep it from happening again, there are some simple preventative steps you can take. First of all, don’t leave water standing in the reservoir for any length of time.

Whenever you’re not using your humidifier, dump out excess water and dry the interior thoroughly to prevent the growth of mold or mildew. You can also add vinegar or baking soda to the water in your humidifier to help keep any unwanted smells from coming back. Ideally, this will never again be an issue for you. If it is, and you have kept your humidifier clean, you may need to have it more thoroughly cleaned or inspected.