The Basics of Heating and Air Conditioning

Heating and air conditioning are two things that many modern homeowners can't do without, but what many homeowners don't spend much time thinking about is how this complex system keeps them warm in the winter months and cool in the summer months.

When talking about home heating or anything related to air conditioning, you could be referring to any device that provides your home with either hot or cold air in a given situation. In recent years, there has been a rise in the devices available to homeowners to not only keep them comfortable, but be more efficient while doing it.

This increased efficiency is a good thing to have simply because they deliver the same level of either hot or cold air into the home while, at the same time, using less power. This lowered power consumption means that your utility bills will be lower because you aren't using as much gas or electricity in order to keep these devices operational.

The heating side of heating and air conditioning deals with devices like gas or electric based hot air furnaces, electric heating systems and boilers in order to keep a family's home warm when the temperature outside drops.

No matter what kind of system your home uses to provide warm air, it's important to keep the system running at all times. By resorting to preventative maintenance, you not only dramatically lower the chance that some unforeseen issue will happen, causing your home's heating to die out just when you need it, but you can prolong the life of the system as well.

Regularly scheduled maintenance on your home's heating system can include performing tasks like checking the compressors and coils for leaks, cleaning the coils if necessary and replacing air filters. Beyond these things, you can also increase the life of your heating system by making sure that all motors and fans are working properly.

Another important aspect of heating and air conditioning maintenance is to make sure that all wiring and controls are functioning properly. Those that aren't could short out and damage the whole system. Heat pumps and exchangers are two other important components of your heating system that should be checked and maintained regularly in order to assure that the system is working at maximum efficiency.

Many of the same rules that you would follow in heating maintenance apply to air conditioning maintenance as well.

Components like humidifiers, air cleaning systems, programmable thermostats and outdoor condensers make up the cooling half of heating and air conditioning and their job is to see to it that you don't have to suffer through the months of summer when temperatures outside rise.

Because some parts of the air conditioning system, like the condenser, are outside of the house, maintenance involves protecting your system from the elements. In that respect, part of your preventative maintenance routine should involve checking the unit for things like branches and leaves that can fall into it.

While there are a number of different things that you, as a homeowner, can do to make sure that your heating and air conditioning systems run as they should, never hesitate to get in touch with a professional if there's any aspect of maintenance that you think might be too difficult for you to handle.