What Heating and Air Conditioning Services Do I Need in the Spring?
After the winter is over in Vancouver, Washington, the city starts feeling alive again. Flowers begin sprouting, children start playing in the parks again, and birds can be heard chirping.
Spring is a great time to be in Vancouver. It means that temperatures will start rising again. While it will not be sweltering yet, it is a great time to prepare your HVAC system before the summer. Here’s our guide to six heating and air conditioning services to have in the spring so you won’t be caught out in the heat of the summer.
1. HVAC Testing
Spring is the perfect time to test your air conditioning after it has been out of use during the winter months. You should make sure that everything is running well before the sweltering temperature in the summer arrives. Testing usually just involves checking the inside and outside of your home while running the system to make sure nothing unusual happens and can be done without the use of Vancouver heating and air conditioning specialists.
2. HVAC Repair
If you do notice something amiss, it’s time to call in the professionals. If your HVAC system is acting up, get someone in to come and take a look. HVAC repair can involve a number of factors, including:
- Cleaning HVAC coils, drains, and elements
- Checking connections, thermostat functionality, and motor operations
- Inspecting refrigerant pressure
- Lubricating parts
- Testing safety controls
3. New HVAC Installation
If your HVAC system has seen better days, it might be time to install a new unit. Old air conditioners may cost you more in maintenance and repair than the price of installing a new one. New air conditioning systems come with a host of benefits, including better energy efficiency, reliability, and performance.
When installing an HVAC system, qualified technicians do load calculations to make sure the right HVAC is being installed. If this isn’t done, premature wear and tear of the system may happen, which shortens the life span of the HVAC, increases energy bills, and causes inconsistent temperatures in the home. This is why it’s so important to have a Vancouver heating and air conditioning professional do this work for you.
4. Repair Air Ducts
The air ducts are how the air travels through your house to all the various rooms. Over time, these can get filled with dust and other detritus, severely impacting how well your system functions. Before considering a new HVAC system, it might be worthwhile to see the performance benefit you can get by having your air ducts cleaned. While it might be possible to do some of this yourself, air ducts make up a pretty large system behind your walls, and cleaning them is not as straightforward as it may first appear. Hiring professionals to clean your air ducts will ensure the job is done properly.
5. Install a Programmable Thermostat
These devices make it easier for you to regulate the temperature in your home. If you don’t have one yet, now is your chance to get one installed while it’s still spring. Programmable thermostats come with a range of different features. Your thermostat options include:
Manual thermostat
These thermostats are not programmable and are the most basic thermostats that you can buy. They are operated manually, meaning that when the thermostat is set to a temperature, they will continue delivering that temperature until someone changes the temperature on the thermostat or turns it off.
Programmable thermostat
These allow you to change the temperature in your house without having to do it manually. With programmable thermostats, you program the device to a set schedule. This might involve the house being warmed for a couple of hours in the morning when people are getting ready for work and a couple of hours in the evening when people are coming home but not during the day when everyone is away or at night when everyone is asleep.
Touchscreen thermostat
Touchscreen thermostats are similar but can be operated just with a touch. This usually makes it a little easier to program them.
Wireless thermostat
These allow you to control your thermostat from anywhere, even if you are not in the same building. Wireless thermostats can now be controlled with Wi-Fi and an app on your phone, so if you decide to go home early, you can switch the heating on with the press of a button, meaning you come home to a nicely warmed house.
Learning thermostat
A learning thermostat has all the benefits of programmable thermostats but only requires you to manually program it a few times. After you’ve done it, this recent thermostat technology can predict your preferences, meaning that it can set programs without your input. They also can connect to wireless networks, allowing you to set, monitor, and manage it from wherever you are, with a smartphone or computer. These are useful for people who have consistent schedules
Smart thermostat
Welcome to the world of the future. The latest in thermostat technology allows you to talk to your thermostat.
6. Replace Dirty Air Filters
You may be able to do this last one by yourself. Air filters improve the air quality in your home by filtering dust, pollen, and other allergens. If the air filters in your home are dirty, your air conditioner will not be able to function as well as it should.
Ideally, you should check air filters once a month. If you have disposable filters, you can replace a dirty filter with a new one. If your system uses reusable filters, you just need to wash the filter and put it back where it was.
Making sure that your HVAC system is in good working order before summer means recruiting HVAC professionals who have plenty of experience. Entek has more than 75 years of dedicated HVAC service experience, and our technicians can effectively create sustainable HVAC solutions for your Vancouver heating and air conditioning system.
We consider the health and safety of our customers and staff a priority. For this reason, we use eye protection, masks, and gloves, and practice disinfecting and hand washing. We also check the temperatures of our technicians and staff daily, minimizing the risk to you.
