Celco Heating and Air Conditioning Blog : Archive for September, 2013

What Are Some of the Benefits of Heat Pumps?

Monday, September 30th, 2013

You may have heard of a comfort system called a heat pump, but don’t know exactly what it does or what makes it different from the many other HVAC systems available. That’s understandable. The name “heat pump” can be a bit misleading: although it can provide you with effective heating in your home, it can also function as an air conditioner! Although there are some drawbacks to heat pumps, and not every Colorado home will benefit from getting one installed, they offer a number of tremendous advantages that should put them high on your list of heating systems to consider.

For answers to more questions about heater models and installation, contact Celco Heating and Air Conditioning. We’ve been offering heating services to Fairfield, CT for over 35 years.

We’ll describe a few of the benefits a heat pump can offer you.

The biggest appeal of a heat pump is that it offers a two-in-one solution for comfort: warmth in winter, cooling in summer. A heat pump operates similar to a standard air conditioner. It uses refrigerant cycling through a closed loop to remove heat from one location and release it in another. But where a regular AC can only run the process one direction—absorbing indoor heat on the evaporator coil and then releasing it outdoors from the condensing coil—a heat pump can switch the direction of the refrigerant and make the evaporator coil act as a condensing coil, and vice versa. Now heat comes into your home. With a heat pump, you’ve got Colorado’s warm and cold weather covered in one installation.

Because a heat pump uses forced air to distribute heating or cooling through your home, it can hook up to existing ductwork with few issues. If you already have a central air conditioner or furnace in your home, getting a heat pump installed will present little trouble for trained technicians.

But before you leap at getting a heat pump, remember that each home has specific needs. A heat pump may not fit the needs of your home. Contact a professional HVAC company to help you make the choice. Experts can perform a heat load calculation to determine what system will work best for your house. No matter what system you end up getting installed, Celco Heating and Air Conditioning has the experience with heating Fairfield, CT homes to get the installation done right.

Tags: Fairfield, Heating
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on What Are Some of the Benefits of Heat Pumps?

The Top 3 Ways to Improve Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

You want to be comfortable in your home in Connecticut, whether the sun is shining or snow is falling. But you also want the air you breathe indoors to be protected from excess dust and other particles. Because modern homes are well sealed against the outdoors to improve the efficiency of their heating and cooling systems, there is little opportunity for fresh air to get inside. This, along with the possibility of biological contaminants growing in your ducts, can lead to a decline in air quality inside your home. This can be especially worrisome if there are people with allergies living in your house. Your indoor air quality in Stamford, CT is something we take seriously at Celco Heating and Air Conditioning, so we wanted to draft this blog post for you to give you some ideas on how you can improve the quality of air in your house.

Here are three recommendations to improve the air in your house:

Regularly change your filters: Furnaces and air conditioners both rely on filters to trap dust and other contaminants in their air flow so they won’t damage the interior. A clogged filter will not only make your system work harder, but it can cause the air quality in your home to decrease. You should change filters once a month when your system is frequently running, and every three or four months during other times.

Repair broken ducts: Because ducts are usually hidden from us, it’s difficult to notice when they develop cracks or breaks. Gaps along the metal of ducts can result in your air conditioner or heater drawing air from other parts of the house, like the attic or a crawlspace. The air quality in these spots is usually lower than in the rest of the house because of the dust that settles there. You don’t want this air blowing from your vents. A routine maintenance check from a professional can locate where repairs need to be made.

Install UV germicidal lights: Nobody wants mold or other biological contaminants growing inside their ductwork. Unfortunately, these enclosed dark spaces are prime places for microbacteria to grow, especially if there is excess moisture. UV germicidal lights use high-frequency waves to destroy these pollutants and keep them from coming back.

Although you can take care of changing your filters on your own, you’ll need trained experts to seal broken ducts and set up UV germicidal lights. Celco Heating and Air Conditioning can handle these tasks for you when you want to improve your indoor air quality in Stamford, CT. We can come up with other solutions as well, so contact us today and make sure you’re breathing the best air possible.

Tags: Indoor Air Quality, Stamford
Posted in Indoor Air Quality | Comments Off on The Top 3 Ways to Improve Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality

Types of Air Conditioning Systems

Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

You have more choices than you once did when it comes to the type of air conditioning system you want in your Connecticut home. We at Celco Heating and Air Conditioning want to give you a short list of the most common kinds of AC systems to guide you toward the best one for your needs. If you need Fairfield, CT air conditioning experts, look to Celco Heating and Air Conditioning.

Split AC systems: This is the most common type of home air conditioner. It consists of two units: an indoor evaporator, which houses the evaporator coil that absorbs heat from inside your home, and an outdoor unit—or condenser—that blows out hot air. The fan in the indoor unit blows cool air from the evaporator into a series of ducts that distributes it across your home. This is an effective system for a house with a furnace for heating, since the air conditioner can use the same ductwork.

Heat pump: This is similar to the split system—except that it can reverse its operation and blow warm air into your home during the cold season. Something to keep in mind is that heat pumps make effective air conditioners, but when it comes to warming your home, they do not provide as much heat as a furnace or a boiler.

Ductless mini splits: Although used in commercial buildings for many years, ductless mini splits have recently started to appear in homes. As the name implies, they don’t require ducts: instead, they use a series of indoor air handlers with blowers connected by refrigeration lines to the outside compressor and condenser unit. It is similar to a window unit AC, except the part hanging outside the window is placed much farther off. Aside from the advantages of not needing ducts, ductless mini splits allow you to control the temperature in separate rooms independently of one another. You can choose to cool only the parts of the house that are being used, which adds up to energy savings.

Although this list will give you some idea of what system is best for your home, it is always a good idea to call on HVAC experts to help you make the right choice for your specific needs. When you need that help, or if you are ready for a new air conditioning installation, Celco Heating and Air Conditioning is available in Fairfield, CT to give you premium quality service that will give you both cool and efficient air conditioning.

Tags: Air Conditioning, Fairfield
Posted in Air Conditioning | Comments Off on Types of Air Conditioning Systems

Why We Celebrate Labor Day

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

We hope our present and future customers had a pleasant Labor Day this September. We know how hard you work to ensure that you and your loved ones have a good life, and we feel the same way about the work that we do throughout the year. Home comfort is our business, so you can rely on our technicians to take care of any issues that you may have. To many of us, Labor Day means BBQ, the start of the football season, and spending quality time with our friends and family. But there is much more to this holiday, and we wanted to share its true purpose with you.

Like many US holidays, the origins of Labor Day are somewhat disputed. While many cite Peter J. McGuire’s (of the American Federation of Labor) suggestion of a demonstration and picnic as the inaugural Monday, others cite Matthew Maguire, then secretary of the Central Labor Union of New York. In the wake of the massive and violent Pullman Strike of 1894, which pitted George Pullman and US Marshals and Military against workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company outside Chicago. Designated as a federal holiday by Congress and President Grover Cleveland in 1894, a mere six days after the strike ended, Labor Day has since become a way of recognizing the contribution that hard working Americans have made to this country.

We wish you all the best, and hopefully you took the time to relax, eat some good food, and take a load off.

Tags: Holiday
Posted in Happy Holidays | Comments Off on Why We Celebrate Labor Day