Some Examples of Boiler Repair Needs

November 19th, 2014

Boilers are durable, reliable and energy efficient, which are some of the reasons why they are still popular heating systems today. But like any other mechanical system, your boiler will need repair at some point. Heating repairs should always be left to trained professionals, especially with combustion systems. Bartels Heating & Cooling has been repairing heating systems since 1973, so if you need heating repair, call us today.

Types of Boiler Repairs

Here are some of the more common boiler repairs our technicians see:

  • Leaking – boilers use water to heat your home, so developing a leak isn’t unusual. What is important is to repair any leaks right away. Leaks imbalance the pressure in your system that the boiler needs to operate correctly. As a result, you may experience heat loss in that particular area. Leaks can also lead to the development of rust and create water damage, so the sooner you can have a leak repaired, the better for you and your system.
  • Circulator pump problems – the way the hot water from your boiler is pushed through your system is via circulator pumps. When something is wrong with a pump, the water can’t get to the outlet to release heat. Circulator pumps can develop broken seals that cause leaks; dirt can become lodged in the pump, reducing its ability to operate; and other times the pump may be rusted and/or corroded and require replacement.
  • Combustion issues – whether your boiler uses gas or oil, problems with ignition and operation can develop. For instance, dust and dirt can cover the pilot nozzle, causing the nozzle to have a reduced flame or no flame at all. You may develop a broken thermocouple or the burner may develop a crack. Whenever there’s a combustion problem, it’s imperative to have the problem fixed immediately as issues of safety can develop.

Quality boiler repair service in West Chester requires the expertise of a professional. If you are experiencing problems with your boiler, call Bartels Heating & Cooling to day and schedule an appointment with one of our heating repair specialists.

Continue Reading

Warning Signs You Need Furnace Repair

November 12th, 2014

Unless you’re a heating expert, it can occasionally be difficult to accurately gauge the health of your furnace. Most homeowners don’t bother worrying about this, assuming that any major problems will announce themselves with obvious signs like the heat not turning on. This can sometimes happen, but the goal of any homeowner should be dealing with potential problems before they grow into something major and expensive to fix. The following are some of the most common warning signs that you need furnace repair in Fairfield, OH.

Short-Cycling

When your furnace seems to turn on and off rapidly and continuously throughout the day, that is called short-cycling. Short-cycling is a phenomenon caused by actual or perceived overheating in your furnace system. This can be caused by an oversized furnace, a faulty thermostat, or a clogged air filter. The end result is the same, though. The furnace starts up in response to a request by the thermostat, and begins circulating heat. The furnace control system registers a heat output beyond what the furnace should be producing, causing it to shut the furnace down as a safety measure. After the furnace has cooled a little, it starts up again in an attempt to heat the house and the whole cycle repeats ad infinitum. If you notice your furnace short-cycling, call a professional immediately. Prolonged short-cycling wastes a lot of energy and drastically shortens the life of your furnace.

Increase in Heating Bills

It’s always a good idea to keep a close eye on the cost of your heating bills. Aside from the obvious benefit of helping you budget properly, this is one of the first ways that heating problems present themselves. The average forced air system loses about 20-30% of its heat on average to leaks in the ductwork. That translates to quite a lot of wasted money on heat that never reaches its destination. A sudden rise in your heating bills indicates that your furnace is losing heating efficiency, which is a pretty good sign that you have a problem.

If you’re experiencing issues with your furnace, schedule an appointment with Bartels Heating & Cooling. Our professional furnace repair service covers all of Fairfield, OH.

Continue Reading

What to Do If Your Heat Pump Won’t Switch to Heating Mode

November 5th, 2014

We are at the time of year when we switch our heat pump systems from cooling to heating – but what if yours won’t switch? There are a few reasons why a heat pump won’t switch modes, but the first thing to remember is not to panic. Bartels Heating & Cooling has the trained technicians to help you with any heat pump issues you may experience, so if you are in need of a heating repair service in West Chester, call us today!

Reasons Your Heat Pump Won’t Switch Modes

Thermostat Problems

Your thermostat is the instrument that cues your heat pump to change modes. Thermostats can malfunction just like any other component, and can require repair. Sometimes the instrumentation inside the thermostat can become dusty and dirty, which can affect how it operates. The wires that connect the thermostat to your system can fray and corrode, cutting off needed electrical flow. Sometimes it can be as simple as an issue of programming. The best way to manage a problem with your thermostat is to call a technician to review and inspect yours for any existing problems.

Refrigerant Leak

Your heat pump needs an exact amount of refrigerant to operate correctly, whether or not the system is cooling or heating your home. During the winter, the refrigerant absorbs the heat in the surrounding air so that your system can heat your home. If there is a refrigerant leak somewhere in your system, the heat pump can’t operate as it should, and the result may be lukewarm air blowing into your living spaces. Refrigerant leaks can be hard to find, and handling refrigerant requires certification, so if you suspect you have a refrigerant leak in your system, call for a technician.

Reversing Valve

The reversing valve in your heat pump is what allows the device to switch from cooling mode to heating mode. The reversing valve can get stuck in a certain position, whether it be a specific mode or in between modes. If the reason for the immobility is traced to the solenoid, the solenoid can be repaired; if the reason for the valve being stuck is attributed to a refrigerant leak or other issue, the valve will need to be replaced.

If your heat pump isn’t changing modes, don’t wait to call for heating repair in West Chester – call Bartels Heating & Cooling today!

Continue Reading

Ways to Tell Your Ductwork Needs Sealing

October 29th, 2014

Calling for professionals to seal holes and gaps in the ductwork of your home’s ventilation system is important to maintain efficient heating and cooling, as well as to protect your indoor air quality from a decline due to contamination entering through the breaks. However…how can you know that your ductwork is in need of sealing when most of the air ducts in the ventilation system remain unseen behind walls and ceilings?

It can be a bit of challenge to detect ducts that are leaking air, but if you know what signs to watch for, you should be able to catch the warnings and call up Bartels Heating & Cooling in time to have the holes sealed before the problem grows worse. Below we’ve listed some of the more common indications that you need to call for repairs on your ductwork in Hamilton, OH.

Warning Signs of Leaking Air Ducts That Need Professional Sealing

  • Odd smells from the vents: When ductwork develops holes, they will usually appear in places that are dusty and musty, such as between walls or in crawl spaces. This will allow air with unpleasant smells into the ducts and then out the vents into your living spaces. Any unpleasant odor emanating from your vents is something you should have professionals investigate right away.
  • Drop in airflow: It only takes a small hole in a duct to cause the airflow inside it to drop noticeably. (Ducts have airtight sealing in order to prevent this air pressure loss.) When you notice lower airflow from the vents into the rooms, it usually means that something is wrong somewhere along the ventilation system, and air leaks are one of the main suspects.
  • High heating/cooling bills: A drop in air pressure will also lead to an increase in your heating and cooling costs, since the heater/air conditioner will need to strain harder to reach its normal temperature. You can expect both higher comfort costs and also an increase in repairs for the system because of the extra stress.

Don’t ignore any of these warning signs. Even if they are not due to leaking air ducts, they definitely point to trouble somewhere in your HVAC system. Call for the professionals at Bartels Heating & Cooling right away. We can handle any repairs for your ductwork in Hamilton, OH, and we also take care of air conditioning and heating repairs. Make us your first stop for indoor comfort.

Continue Reading

Why You Should Consider Zone Control with Your Heating Installation

October 22nd, 2014

A new heating installation can help you improve your comfort and your energy efficiency – but what if we told you there was a way to increase both without a huge hassle? There is–a zone control system. A zone control system gives you a level of control over your heating (and cooling) that a single thermostat can’t, and installing a zone control system with your heating installation in Fairfield can be seamless and easy. Bartels Heating & Cooling has specialized in heating and cooling services since 1973, and we have worked with a variety of systems and upgrades. If you are ready to upgrade your heating system in any way, call us today!

What Is a Zone Control System?

A zone control system is a series of motorized dampers that are installed into the supply vents of your ductwork. The dampers are connected to a main control panel, which controls when and how much the dampers open and close in order to maintain the temperature of a zone. Zones are established by you: they can be individual rooms, a group of rooms or an entire floor – the decision is yours. Each zone has its own thermostat, which is also connected to the main control panel. Zones operate independently, which allows you to set different temperatures per zone.

What Are the Benefits of a Zone Control System?

Here are some of the benefits you can gain with a zone control system:

  • Better energy efficiency – a zone control system allows you to use only the cooling and heating you need. This can help reduce the operation of your system, which helps reduce energy usage.
  • Customized comfort – the independent operation of the thermostats in each zone allows you to set a temperature that is comfortable in each area versus setting a single temperature for all areas.
  • Less stress on your system – heating and cooling only what you need puts less stress on your system, which can help reduce wear and tear and prevent premature aging.

A zone control system can help enhance your new heating installation in Fairfield tremendously. Interested to see what a zone control system can do for you? Call Bartels Heating & Cooling today and schedule an appointment with one of our installation experts.

Continue Reading

How to Tell a Furnace is Your Best Choice for Heating

October 15th, 2014

With all the hype around more modern systems like heat pumps and radiant heating, it’s easy to overlook the furnace as a viable heating option. There is a good reason that the furnace remains the most popular heating choice in America, however. Let’s highlight the reasons why a furnace might be the best choice for your home.

Convenience

The number one reason to choose a furnace as a heating system is that it is the most convenient to install and maintain. Natural gas, the most common furnace fuel source, is readily available in most areas of the country. Because of the popularity of furnaces, it is easy to find an HVAC company that is well versed in installing them. Maintenance is also much easier, as replacement parts will be easy to find.

Flexibility

Furnaces come in a wide variety of types and sizes, making it more likely that you will find one that perfectly suits your home. Keep in mind the way furnaces interface with ductwork, as well. Many homes are outfitted with ductwork for central air conditioning. Oftentimes, furnaces can use this same ductwork without problems. Radiant heating, on the other hand, requires that an entire network of pipes be installed that only that system can use.

Furnaces also tend to heat up faster than other systems, like boilers. Water is a better conductor of thermal energy than air is, but it also takes longer to absorb that energy. A furnace can reach target temperature and begin actually warming the house well before the boiler even begins to approach the right temperature.

Like any system, a furnace has its drawbacks. It isn’t the most energy efficient heating system available, which may result in slightly higher heating bills than if you used other systems. The reduced cost of installation and repairs can often compensate for those factors, however.

If you would like to install a new furnace in your home, call Bartels Heating & Cooling. Our HVAC experts install furnaces throughout West Chester. We’d be happy to help you pick the best furnace for your home. Call us today!

Continue Reading

Heating Options for the Winter Season

October 8th, 2014

As we begin to move into the cold months of winter, people are beginning to think about the state of their heating system. After maintenance and repairs, upgrades are the most common reason that HVAC professionals are called during this season. If the sheer amount of options for heating your home this winter seems daunting, don’t worry. We’ve assembled some information to help you make the right choice.

Furnaces

A furnace is a quite common and reliable option for heating your home. Furnaces are the core of forced air systems, heating air through combustion and circulating it throughout the house using a fan. Oil, wood, and natural gas are common fuel sources, though natural gas is the most widely available.

Boilers

Boilers distribute heat through water instead of air. This necessitates running pipes throughout the house instead of ductwork. There are a number of options for boiler systems, often referred to as “radiant” heating systems. Baseboard heaters and radiators are more traditional methods of distributing the thermal energy throughout the home. Recently, however, pipes installed in the walls and subfloor of a room have also become popular. Boilers, like furnaces, can burn a number of fuels. Again, natural gas tends to be the most common.

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are forced air systems that have a couple of unique advantages associated with them. The first advantage is that a heat pump can operate as both a heater and air conditioner. This is accomplished through a reversing valve that can reverse the flow of refrigerant between the indoor and outdoor units of the heat pump. This obviously saves you the cost of having one unit for each function, as most homes do.

A heat pump is named for its ability to move heat from one space to another. When in heating mode, the outdoor unit will actually absorb thermal energy from the air around it and direct it into the house. Utilizing this thermal energy saves money on your heating bills, because the heat pump doesn’t have to work as hard as other heating systems. This is the second advantage to installing a heat pump.

If you are interested in installing a new heating system for your home in Hamilton this winter, call Bartels Heating & Cooling.

Continue Reading

Duct Cleaning Question: Why Do the Ducts Get Dirty in the First Place?

October 1st, 2014

You have probably heard that the ductwork in your home requires regular cleaning—usually once every three or four years—in order for the heater and air conditioner to work at their most efficient, and to prevent the indoor air quality from plunging. Regular professional duct cleaning is crucial for maintaining health, comfort, and energy-efficiency in a home.

However, people often wonder how a ventilation system can reach a level of dirtiness where it becomes necessary for trained experts with special equipment to come to a home to clean it. It’s easy to look over a clean house and think that it’s impossible the ducts could have enough contamination in them to create problems.

But no matter how clean a home appears, dust and dirt and other pollutants will find a way into the ventilation system until they reach a level that makes it necessary to call professionals to remove them. Bartels Heating & Cooling is available to handle the job of duct cleaning in Fairfield, OH when you need it.

Why Ducts Develop Contamination

To understand how your ducts become dirty, you need to first understand how the ventilation system operates. There are two types of ductwork in a home’s ventilation system: the return ducts and the supply ducts. The return ducts draw air in from the rooms in a home, where the blower sends the air through the heating/cooling system. The supply ducts then distribute the conditioned air to the registers around the home and into the rooms. The air is eventually drawn back into the return ducts.

For the most part, this is a closed loop. Modern homes have heavy air sealing on them to prevent heat loss and gain. But this means scant fresh air enters the house to clear away dust, dirt, pollen, dander, and other debris. The contamination in a home enters the return vents along with the air, and then circulates in the closed loop through the ventilation system and the home. Over the space of a single year, the average six-room home will circulate more than 40 lbs. of dust through its ventilation system.

This amount of contamination will start to catch along the sides of the duct walls, beginning a process of accumulation that increases as more dust, dirt, lint, etc. gathers. It only takes about a year for a layer of dust to coat the insides of ducts, and another one or two for this buildup to start creating serious airflow issues for the HVAC system. At this point, cleaning is necessary.

Professionals must handle duct cleaning because it takes special equipment and training to access all of the ventilation system and change the pressure inside it in order to agitate the contamination from the ductwork walls. The process only takes a few hours, and it will restore the ducts to like-new condition, resulting in energy savings and a healthier indoor environment.

Since 1973, Bartels Heating & Cooling has delivered quality duct cleaning to Fairfield, OH and the rest of Southwest Ohio. Give us a call to schedule your duct cleaning with us today.

Continue Reading

Why a Boiler Might Be the Best Choice for Your Winter Heating

September 24th, 2014

Homeowners have a number of choices when it comes to home heating. In fact, there are so many choices, it may be hard to determine which system will work best for you and your home. One system you may want to consider is a boiler. Boilers have been around for a long time, and today’s models are very energy efficient. You also get a choice in fuel type for boilers, including oil, gas and solid fuel, such as wood or wood pellets. If it’s time for a new boiler installation in West Chester, call the people who can help you from start to finish: Bartels Heating & Cooling.

Some Benefits of Boiler Heating

Here are some benefits to consider when looking at installing a new boiler in your home:

  • Even heating – boilers distribute heat radiantly through radiators, baseboard heaters and radiant floor heating. This helps disperse the heat evenly as compared to a forced-air system in which hot air is blown.
  • No dust – boilers are closed systems and do not use air to distribute the heat. As such, they don’t disperse dust particles the way a forced-air system can.
  • Easy to zone – boilers use a system of pipes to deliver the hot water or steam to the distribution points; it is easy to create heating zones with piping systems.
  • Quiet operation – the only time you’ll hear a boiler running is during the short time it takes to heat the water in the system. Otherwise, the distribution is quiet.

Condensing vs. Non-Condensing

As we mentioned above, different fuel types can be used to operate a boiler. Many times, boilers are classified by fuel type, but there are also two other considerations when it comes to boilers: condensing and non-condensing.

Condensing boilers reuse the heat that would normally exit the system through your system’s flue to reheat the water via a secondary heat exchanger that is part of the system. Reusing this latent heat energy helps make a condensing boiler very energy efficient. Conversely, a non-condensing boiler does not make use of this latent heat, and may be less efficient.

Boilers can be great choices for your home heating, but the best way to assess what system will work best is to consult with a trained specialist. If you are considering the installation of a new boiler in West Chester, call Bartels Heating & Cooling today and schedule an appointment with one of our installation experts.

Continue Reading

How Does Duct Cleaning Help Your Heating and Air Conditioning System?

September 17th, 2014

Fall is a great time to clean and maintain your heating and air conditioning systems, including your ductwork. Ductwork can often be overlooked, mostly because it isn’t as visible as the other parts of your system. But like the other parts of your HVAC system, your ductwork can become dirty, and the best way to remove dirt and dust build-up is with a professional duct cleaning service in Fairfield, OH. Bartel’s Heating & Cooling has been servicing heating and cooling clients since 1973, and we have the trained technicians to help you with all your ductwork needs.

What Happens During a Professional Duct Cleaning?

Here is a general overview of what to expect during a professional duct cleaning appointment:

  • The technician will connect a vacuum hose to your air duct system via access ports. Each outlet is sealed off to ensure no contamination occurs during the cleaning.
  • The technician will remove each grill and thoroughly clean it. He/she may also air-blast the first few feet of the duct to clean the entrance area.
  • The technician then inserts a tool called an air sweep, which is fastened to a high pressure air hose, and sends it down the entire length of distribution ducts. The air sweep breaks loose sticking contaminants like dirt, dust, grime, fungus, and other material that may be inside the ducts. This material is then sucked along the duct to the trunk lines.
  • The technician will replace the grills and clean around them with a HEPA vacuum cleaner, ensuring all supply and return lines have been completed cleaned.
  • The trunk lines (lines which carry the air between the furnace and the lateral ducts) are swept and brushed clean in the same manner as above.
  • The technician will clean the fan, blower compartment, plenum, AC coil, return air compartment and the air handling side of the furnace with an air pressure tool and a vacuum.
  • The technician will check the entire system again to ensure all vent work has been cleaned.
  • The technician will complete a thorough clean-up of the entire work area.

How Does Duct Cleaning Help Your HVAC System?

  • Better energy efficiency – if the build-up in your ductwork was substantial, it may have reduced air flow; this can cause your HVAC system to use more energy as it struggles to achieve the temperature you’ve set. Removing this build-up helps the system to operate normally again.
  • Less stress for your air conditioner – a dirty system is a system under stress; when an HVAC system operates under stressful conditions for long periods of time, it can age the system prematurely. Keeping your ductwork clean helps reduce this effect.

It’s recommended that your ductwork is cleaned every 3-5 years. How long has it been since you’ve had a duct cleaning in Fairfield, OH? If it’s been longer than this, call Bartel’s Heating & Cooling today and schedule an appointment.

Continue Reading