You may have heard of ductless air conditioning systems, which establish multiple units throughout your house and allow you to adjust the temperature in each section individually, as well as turning off the air in parts of the home that aren’t being occupied. Those are attractive features, especially in Austin, TX, where summers get hot and a little flexibility with your air conditioner can come in handy.
But if you own a perfectly functional centralized air system—cooling the air in a single location before plowing it through the home via a system of ducts—then simply replacing it with a ductless system may be more than those benefits are worth. The solution? Zone control systems: the perfect way to bring the convenience of a ductless air conditioner to an existing centralized system
A zone control system is designed to be installed in your existing ducts by a trained technician. They divide your ducts—and therefore your home—into individual sections, marked by valves and shutters that can shut off the flow of air to each section. Individual thermostats and controls are on hand to let you open and close the valves as you wish, shutting the air off if you aren’t using the space and tweaking the temperature to suit individual tastes.
Besides the more passive benefits of greater control—preventing family members from bickering about the temperature in different parts of the house—a zone control system can do wonders for your cooling bills. By shutting the air off in parts of the home, you can reduce the strain on your system and prevent it from wasting energy in unnecessary cooling. Not only does that lower your monthly costs, but it can extend the life of your air conditioner considerably.
Zone control systems work best in larger homes and there are other factors to consider before scheduling an installation. Call Intelligent Air Services to set up a consultation with a trained professional!
Indoor air quality is a serious concern, and while your heater or air conditioner can set your household temperature exactly the way you’d like it, the presence of dust and other contaminants can still make your home a less-than-pleasant place to be. Here in Austin, TX, you can adopt numerous means to combat low indoor air quality, including electronic air cleaners and UV air filters. Both perform the same basic task, but they do so in different ways and have slightly different effects. We’ve broken down the difference below to help you make an informed choice as to which one best meets your needs.
An electronic air cleaner creates a field of static electricity at the apex of your centralized heating and air conditioning system. Particles which pass through it become ionized, which causes them to stick to nearby surfaces. Cheaper electronic air filters simply allow the dust to stick to the walls and furnishings of your home, which keep them out of the air and allow you to clean them up more quickly.
Electronic air cleaners are highly effective at eliminating all types of common airborne contaminants, including:
- Harmful bacteria and germs
- Mold particles
- Pet dander
- Dust
Electronic air cleaners can also an effective way to rid your home of lingering odors.
It is important to choose a quality electronic air cleaner with a high-efficiency filter (preferably with a MERV rating of 10 or higher) for best results. Higher-end models collect the dust in a chamber in the cleaner itself, which keeps it out of your home completely.
UV air filters use ultra-violet light to kill biological contaminants, making them better in terms of bacteria and germs, but less effective than electronic air cleaners as far as non-organic dust goes. The UV light is extremely effective, not only killing germs but preventing them from replicating, all while remaining perfectly safe for your family members (including any and all types of pets). If anyone in your household suffers from asthma, allergies, or chronic illness, it is well worth it to consider adding a UV air filter to your home
Generally speaking, UV air filters work better if illnesses are a specific concern, while electronic air cleaners work better if you want more general cleaning services. Contact the experts at Intelligent Air Services today to find out more!
You may have heard about geothermal air conditioning and heating systems, which draw upon the ambient heat in the earth to warm and cool your home. The system runs a series of tubes below the earth, which maintains a constant temperature once you get down below a few feet. The tubes carry a mixture of water and antifreeze through them, which either release heat from your home into the ground (in the summer) or pull heat from the ground into your home (in the winter). There’s a high up-front cost, but the benefits will serve you well over time, especially in a town like Austin, TX, with large tracts of property. Here are 3 qualities of geothermal air conditioning that you should keep in mind when considering a purchase.
Because the bulk of the geothermal system is underground—away from the ravages of weather and safe from wear and tear—repairs are often infrequent at best. When repairs are needed, they’re usually fairly simple affairs and can be completed very quickly.
The electricity you use for this system mainly goes into the pump circulating the liquid. The actual heat transference takes place with the temperature in the ground, which costs nothing and is infinitely renewable. That means your monthly heating and cooling costs will go down quite a bit, without skimping on the quality of heated and cooled air.
On top of everything else, geothermal energy is extremely environmentally friendly. It uses very little energy and produces no toxic byproducts. That means you can cool your home in a very green way, doing your part for Mother Nature in the process.
If you’re interested in geothermal air conditioning, call Intelligent Air Services today! We have the skills and experience to do the job right!
An air conditioning system is based around the use of refrigerant: a chemical compound that makes the whole process possible. Your system first compresses the refrigerant and shifts it from a gaseous to a liquid state (which releases heat into the surrounding atmosphere), then moves it to an evaporator coil, where it is shifted back into a gas (which pulls heat in from the surrounding atmosphere). That cool air is then moved into your home while the gaseous refrigerant returns to the start of the cycle to begin it anew. Contrary to popular belief, the refrigerant isn’t consumed: it needs to stay at set levels determined by your make and model of the air conditioner in order for the system to work. But when leaks spring up or refrigerant levels otherwise run low, it can have a bad effect on your air conditioner: the last thing you need in the middle of another hot Austin, TX summer.
The most telling symptom of low refrigerant is the appearance of frost on the evaporator coils, something most people don’t consider to be a serious problem. Unfortunately, it is. That frost represents cooling power that should be going into your home, which means your air conditioner needs to work harder to do its job. Even worse, the frost keeps the refrigerant inside the coils and cooling the air outside the coils, further lowering your system’s efficiency.
All of that spells higher costs for you, both in the form of monthly energy bills—which will spike to reflect the added effort of the system—and in the increased stress on the system as a whole. Eventually, it will result in a serious breakdown, requiring a very expensive repair call to fix.
Thankfully, a good air conditioning technician can hunt down the cause of lower refrigerant levels and fix it before recharging the refrigerant. Call Intelligent Air Services today to make that happen!
We usually think of insulation in our homes as a wintertime benefit: keeping warm air inside and helping the house stay comfortable on even the coldest days. But insulation serves a much larger purpose than that: improving overall efficiency and giving your air conditioner a break in the summer just as it gives your heater a break in the winter. That’s no small consideration here in Austin, TX, with the heat and humidity skyrocketing every summer. How does insulation help your air conditioner? We’ve provided a quick breakdown below.
Insulation isn’t a one-way system. It slows the transfer of thermal energy through its material, which is a fancy way of saying that it keeps hot air out of your house just as readily as it keeps cool air in. For your air conditioner, that means that it allows it to cool your house down more quickly and keep it cool for longer periods of time. The results save you a great deal of money on monthly cooling bills as well as reducing the strain on your air conditioner, which lowers the risk of a more serious breakdown in the future.
A good gauge for measuring the quality of the insulation is to check its R-values, which measure the effectiveness with which it prevents the transference of heat. Different insulation materials have different R-values and depending upon your budget, you’ll want to find the type with the best R-value you can. You’ll also need to factor in the amount of space you have available in your crawlspaces and other key locations, and whether your existing insulation is sufficient to do the job.
Thankfully, you can pick up the phone and call the experts at Intelligent Air Services to help you out. We’ll spell out your options for you and assemble a plan to fit your unique needs!
Austin, TX bakes every summer amid high heat and staggering humidity levels. We need our air conditioning systems to function every time we turn them on, and when problems arise, they need to be dealt with as quickly as possible. The good news is that there are many qualified service technicians in the Austin, TX area to fix any issues with your system. But before they can come in, you need to spot the signs that something is wrong. Air conditioners are delicate devices and experience numerous different types of problems. But a few common symptoms tend to appear over and over again, and if you spot them, you can help fix the problem before it gets much worse.
- Strange Noises. This can include any noise that isn’t a part of your air conditioner’s regular functions: buzzing, whirring, groans, clanking, or even sounds of dripping liquid.
- Low Air Flow. If the air isn’t coming out of your vents with the same power that you’re accustomed to, there may be a blockage somewhere affecting it. Or it could mean that the fan or fan motor is experiencing trouble, or that a breach has opened up in the ducts.
- Less Cool Air. The air might be blowing at full blast, but if it isn’t cool, or at least not as cool as it should be, it is a sign of a big problem. Possible causes can include low refrigerant, compressor issues, or warm air leaking in through a duct breach.
- Higher Bills. Sometimes, there’s no apparent issue on the surface, but a quiet problem is forcing the system to use more energy than it should. When that happens, you’ll see a spike in your monthly energy bills, even if you’re not using the air conditioner any more often than normal.
Whenever you detect problems with your air conditioner, turn off the system and call the friendly professionals at Intelligent Air Services right away.
Posted in Air Conditioning
Austin, TX is a very humid city. In fact, our humidity is probably a greater problem during the summer than the high temperatures. Your air conditioning system can deal with the humidity to a certain extent, but to really address the problem, you should install a dehumidifier in your home: lowering the humidity to acceptable levels and resolving a number of problems in the process. What kind of problems, specifically? Here are 4 that you should be aware of.
- General Discomfort. When the relative humidity levels rise above 50%, your whole home feels warmer. You sweat more, your skin feels clammy, and the air often has a stagnant, moldy feel to it. All of which makes for a decidedly uncomfortable home.
- Damage to Furnishings. High humidity affects furnishings drastically, especially wood furniture and wooden floors. They can warp under the additional moisture, and in extreme cases, the high humidity will bubble paint and damage wallpaper as well. Relative humidity levels between 30% and 50% are optimal for your home and its furnishings.
- Increased Sickness. High humidity helps breed germs and bacteria, which can increase the amount of sickness in your home. This is of special concern to households with newborn babies, elderly residents, and/or people afflicted with asthma or similar conditions.
- Increased Strain to Air Conditioning. High humidity forces your air conditioning system to work harder to make your home feel comfortable. Not only does that result in higher energy bills, but it could create problems requiring a repair technician down the line, as well as decreasing the overall life of the unit and forcing you to install a new one before you should.
If you’re facing these kinds of problems, or even if you want to give your air conditioning system a little help during our hot and humid summers, then give the experts at Intelligent Air Services a call today.
Posted in Indoor Air Quality
Air conditioners need to be properly sized before they are installed. And we don’t mean physical size, though obviously, you need a unit that can fit into the appropriate spot in your home. We’re talking about the relative power levels of the system.
If the system is underpowered, it will struggle to cool your home. That much is self-evident. But it may surprise you to learn that an overpowered system can be just as damaging: short-cycling on and off multiple times throughout the day, and wasting energy as well as adding stress to the system. Summers in the Austin area are too brutal for such difficulties. A trained Manor HVAC professional can measure your air conditioner’s size, applying these 6 factors to determine its exact power levels.
- Physical space. Physical space is the base measurement, with about 12,000 BTUs (British Thermal Units) per hour for every 500 square feet of space you need cooling.
- Sunlight exposure. Homes with big windows—especially with an eastern or western view—will let in a lot of sunlight, which means you need a more powerful unit to cool the home.
- Insulation. Insulation keeps the heat outside from coming in, so if your home has a lot of it, you don’t need an air conditioner as powerful.
- Family members. Homes with big families tend to generate more heat, necessitating a bigger unit.
- Kitchens. Kitchens generate a lot of heat when cooking or washing dishes. Depending upon your home, it will require a more powerful unit.
- Energy Efficiency. If your home has cracked under the doors or around the windows, cold spots, drafts, or similar factors, it needs an air conditioner sized to address them properly.
The experts at Intelligent Air Services have the necessary skills and experience to size your new air conditioner properly before installation, making sure you have the right system to do the job.
Posted in Air Conditioning
“Short cycling” is a term used to describe when an air conditioner turns on and off rapidly throughout the day. It could mean a system that shuts off before it has finished cooling your house, only to turn on again a few minutes later. It could also refer to a system that cools the air too quickly, turning off only to turn on again too soon. In either case, it spells trouble for your air conditioner. With another hot and humid summer on its way for residents of Round Rock, TX, trouble is the last thing you need. Why is a short cycling air conditioner a problem? Read on for the answers.
Air conditioners spend far more energy to turn on and off than they do simply running. Furthermore, they often engender a great deal of wear and tear in the process, as moving parts create friction when they startup. Not only does short cycling thus increase the risk of a major repair issue (and shorten the overall life of your system), but it will raise your monthly energy costs right at the time when they tend to spike anyway.
Short cycling can be caused by a number of different mechanical issues, including a lack of refrigerant and a malfunction in the converter array. It can also be more systematic, created because your air conditioner is too powerful for the space it needs to cool. If your air conditioner has exhibited short cycling since its installation, this is probably the case, and you might need to think about replacing it again (especially if it’s still under warranty). Otherwise, a repair session can usually correct the problem and keep those short cycling problems under wraps.
If you’re experiencing short cycling problems, then give the experts at Intelligent Air Services a call today!
As spring deepens and summer grows nearer, the Austin air conditioning season will kick in. You can expect your home’s air conditioner to perform steady work during the months to come. If you have kept the AC in excellent shape through routine annual maintenance (something you should schedule each spring), then it should provide you with few issues during the season and deliver you energy-efficient performance.
However, if you have ineffective or damaged ducts connected to your AC, you may be harming your air conditioner’s performance and efficiency. If you notice that your AC is losing airflow, creating hot spots around the house, or is sending out musty smells from the vents, contact indoor air quality professionals right away to see if the ductwork requires repairs.
The trouble with ductwork and your air conditioner
Unless you have a ductless air conditioning system, your AC uses a network of ducts to distribute cooled air around the house. These ducts must retain an airtight seal along their length, or it will result in air pressure dropping inside the ventilation system. This will cause trouble for your air conditioning system since it will force it to work harder to overcome the loss in air pressure. It will also allow warmer outdoor air into the ducts, raising the temperature of the air. You can end up paying 20%–30% more on your cooling bills because of this damage—and the air conditioner’s lifespan will be shortened.
If you are uncertain if poor ductwork is causing issues with your air conditioning, call on professionals to perform duct testing. This service changes the pressure inside your ducts and uses gauges to see how rapidly it loses pressure. The faster the pressure drops, the more holes are in the ventilation system. The professionals can arrange for duct sealing that will make the air conditioner regain its efficiency once more.
Don’t delay if you have even the slightest concern about the integrity of the ductwork. The problems will only worsen and cost you both a loss of comfort and an increase in energy bills.
For duct testing, duct sealing, and comprehensive air conditioning service in Buda, Kyle, Austin, or surrounding areas, call on Intelligent Air Services today