Piles of snow on a slightly bumpy field
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How Snow Affects Your HVAC System

Kentucky doesn’t get nearly as much snow as, say, upstate New York. Even so, we have had a few snowy winters lately, and this one looks to be no different. And even though we don’t live in the tundra, it’s still perfectly normal to wonder how all that ice and snow affect the things that are constantly sitting out in them.

When snow starts to fall, you might start to wonder how your HVAC equipment stands up to the snow. Is it bad for your outdoor air conditioning unit? How about your heat pump? We’ll answer those questions (and more) for you today.

How Snow Affects Your Air Conditioner

It just takes one look at an air conditioner piled high with snow and ice to panic. Should you have covered it? Will it be dead come springtime? Let us quell your fears: your air conditioner will be just fine.

While it might be alarming to see your air conditioner halfway covered in snow, take heart: air conditioners are made to withstand that sort of weather. Manufacturers perform rigorous testing all to ensure that your air conditioner can make it through the harshest winters unscathed.

In fact, you shouldn’t even be covering your air conditioner in the winter. At least, not entirely. By covering your entire air conditioner the way you would cover a grill, you are trapping moisture inside. This will lead to mold and rotten electrical components. If you decide to cover your air conditioner at all, only cover the top to keep any falling debris or icicles out.

How Snow Affects Your Heat Pump

Although air conditioners and heat pumps are extremely similar, heat pumps don’t have the luxury of taking a 6-month break every year. Since heat pumps need to keep your house warm (especially when it snows!), they need to have ways to deal with the cold.

Heat pumps can operate when covered in snow, but their efficiency takes a massive hit. Because of that, all heat pumps have a defrost function. We won’t go into specifics, but it effectively reverses the flow of the heat so the inside of the heat pump warms up and thaws any ice in there. Once the snow melts, the heat pump resumes normal function. The defrost isn’t terribly energy efficient, but it’s much more so than your heat pump powering through frozen coils.

If it gets too cold, though, your heat pump will have a difficult time pulling heat from the air. When that happens, most heat pumps switch to an alternative heat source, often labeled “emergency heat” by the thermostat. This emergency heat usually comes through induction wires. It’s like using a toaster to heat your home. As you can imagine, it’s not terribly efficient. The cost is similar to using a giant space heater to warm up your entire home.

The best-case scenario is something called a dual-fuel system. It uses a heat pump when the weather is around 40-50º and a furnace for when it gets colder than that.

How Snow Affects Your Furnace

Basically, not at all. The more snow there is, the colder it is, and the more your furnace will have to heat your home. However, since your furnace lives inside, it doesn’t have to contend with freezing temperatures and snow.

However, snow can block the vents that let your furnace take clean air from outside (and expel dirty air from inside). If those vents get blocked, the results can be dangerous! So when snow falls, make sure your exhaust vents aren’t stopped up.

Check Back Monthly for More HVAC Tips

We write HVAC blogs every month. If this helped you find some peace of mind about your A/C’s ability to withstand the snow, check back soon! We’ll have more great articles for you.

Or, if you’re in Northern Kentucky, fill out this form for a no-cost in-home installation.

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Winter 24/7 Emergency HVAC Services

XXAs we all know, you can’t plan emergencies. The reality of this, of course, is universally true for every type of crisis, but it can be particularly poignant when your furnace breaks down in the middle of winter.

And while, unfortunately, you can’t reschedule a heating emergency for a more convenient time, you can have a plan ready for solving your heating problem and – ideally – have a plan for preventing your heating problems in the first place.

Winter is here in Northern Kentucky and, if you haven’t been properly maintaining your furnace with preventative maintenance throughout the year, your furnace is at risk of breaking down during the coldest nights of the year. You need a plan now before an emergency arises.

Don’t wait until your furnace starts acting up to start thinking about emergency HVAC services. Steve’s Heating has come to the rescue of hundreds of homeowners experiencing furnace problems. Far too often, we’ve seen these furnaces break down in the middle of winter when families need them the most.

Aside from the obvious discomfort of losing heat during freezing temperatures, a broken furnace will also impact your home, your finances, and – most importantly – the safety of you and your family. Here are three reasons to keep the phone number for a reputable HVAC company on hand this winter.

A Faulty Furnace Can Cause House Fires

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, faulty heating systems are the second leading cause of residential fires during winter, second only to cooking. Freezing weather, in particular, can lead to ignition problems which in turn puts you at greater risk of a more serious incident. But, aside from the risk provided by the time of year, there are already a number of problems that can arise at any time in the year even from something as simple as buildup in your furnaces heating ducts.

If you have a furnace in your home, you need routine maintenance for your heating system, even if it’s only an annual check-up before winter begins. However, if at any point you sense that you may have a problem, it’s important to call an HVAC professional immediately.

A Broken Furnace is Expensive

In general, the cost of replacing a furnace is greater than the cost of standard furnace repair and far greater than the cost of furnace maintenance to prevent your problem in the first place. Of course, similar to other home appliances, there will be instances when completely replacing a furnace is one of the best home investments you can make. If your need to replace your furnace is primarily due to a lack of proper maintenance, however, it can be a costly and otherwise avoidable expense.

An Unmaintained Furnace Creates Safety Hazards

It’s no surprise that homes are sealed tight during winter. And while keeping warm air in is often at the forefront of our minds during winter, there’s still a need to allow pollutants to escape.

Your furnace plays an important role in determining the quality of the air you and your family breathe for hours at a time. Even if a furnace is not “broken” in the traditional sense, a poorly maintained heating system can still lead to safety hazards in your home either by producing excess moisture that leads to mold or by releasing carbon into the air. Worst or all, the signs of a problem are not always overt. While smoke is an obvious cause for concern, mold can grow without detection and carbon won’t be detected at all without a working detector. These subtle signs make the need for regular maintenance even more crucial than they would otherwise be.

And while maintaining the air quality of your home can be easily achieved through routine furnace maintenance, a complete breakdown of your heating system during winter can leave you in conditions not meant for habitation.

Stay Warm and Have Peace of Mind this Winter

When you have a problem with your furnace or another component of your HVAC system, you need a solution now rather than later. And you need a professional that you can trust to do the job right.

When your home or business is experiencing a heating problem, Steve’s Heating can come to your rescue. We offer year-round 24/7 emergency furnace repair and other HVAC services to residents of Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati. Have peace of mind and reduce the time it takes to solve your problem by keeping our phone number on hand. Our trained HVAC technicians are always available and just a phone call away.

Along with emergency services, we also offer regular maintenance and replacement services for your heating and cooling systems. Learn more about all of our HVAC services or request an appointment today. Thank you for reading, and Steve’s Heating and Cooling looks forward to keeping you and your family comfortable and safe this winter.

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Spring AC Repair-HVAC Maintenance

Spring is officially here which means summer is right around the corner!  Spring has seemingly decided to be hot to this point, prompting people to use their AC.  We’ve already repaired a lot of AC units, and it’s early in the season.  If you don’t want your AC to break, consider now is the ideal time to make sure your home HVAC systems are working perfectly with proactive maintenance.

With spring, the weather can be very unpredictable, so it is important to have your systems working in order to keep your home comfortable at all times.  This will also make the transition into summer easier, which is important because we all know that the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky summers can get extremely hot.  Taking precautions to make sure you have AC the moment you need it will be well worth it when the time comes. When maintenance is a regular happening through the seasons, it is much more infrequent to experience problems.

You may be wondering, what is included in HVAC maintenance?  We check if dust is accumulating, dirt on coils, allergens or bacteria in duct systems, and much more.  This is just a small part of our maintenance program, the “comfort club.”  If something does happen unexpectedly we also offer repair services where we send our team out, examine the problem, and fix what we need to.  As we said before, with a maintenance program this is much more unlikely.

Maybe you want to gear up your AC for spring, or maybe you’d just like to be on top of thingswith your HVAC system. Steve’s Heating can fix, monitor, and replace your system.  If you’d like to join the comfort club, or have any questions, contact us!

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Trane

Getting the Most From Your Trane Furnace

When it comes to heating and cooling solutions, having more options is definitely preferable. Each structure has its own HVAC needs and so a wide range of appliances have been developed to allow people the maximum control over these essential systems. Making sense of the many options available to you will enable you to make the most informed decision. The Trane furnace system offers users many distinct advantages to homeowners in particular though some commercial spaces can benefit from it, as well.

Cut Down on Temperature Variation and Save Money

The Trane XC95m is the preferred heater of many homeowners. The XC95m is equipped with a special gas valve that is designed to regulate the temperature output with much greater precision than other gas furnaces. This valve modulates the flow of gas to prevent excess heat from being generated. Too much fuel causes temperature spikes and ends up increasing your monthly gas bill. Furnaces without this modulating valve feature burn excess fuel throughout their lifespan. Even if such a furnace is a bargain initially, it can end up costing you a lot more in the long run.

Protecting Your Trane Furnace

The cost-saving advantages inherent to the Trane design are only going to be realized if homeowners make the effort to arrange for regular maintenance. All furnaces and HVAC components require a little attention in order to perform correctly. Regular maintenance will:

  • Verify that all components are intact and working correctly
  • Remove dust, grit, and debris from the air intake vents
  • Ensure that the system is operating at peak efficiency
  • Give homeowners the benefits of a reliable heating system

Considering a New Furnace?

The XC95m is an excellent furnace. It is a preferred furnace among many homeowners who value it for its quiet function, efficient operation, and money-saving design. We are pleased to offer this line of products to our customers considering a new furnace. Our customers can depend on us for the parts and services necessary to keep this valuable system working correctly.

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HVAC Maintenance

It Is That Time Again: HVAC Maintenance

Here at Steve’s Heating and Cooling, we are serious about helping you get the most out of your HVAC system. That is why we recommend bi-annual maintenance on your appliances. Just as you cannot expect your car to run well without its needed maintenance, you must maintain your HVAC system to get the life and quality performance you expect from it.

Why Do I Need Maintenance?

Maintaining your HVAC system is important whether you have top-of-the-line appliances, such as Trane, or something less reliable. The last thing you want is for your furnace or air conditioning unit to shut down unexpectedly, leaving your home at dangerously extreme temperatures.

Not only does maintenance lengthen the life of your entire HVAC system, but it also gets you better quality heating and cooling. Systems that are not well maintained reduce your indoor air quality by releasing allergens into your air every time they run. Some of the common indoor allergens that are worsened by a poorly-maintained HVAC system are:

  • Mold
  • Dust
  • Pet Dander

What Maintenance Do I Need?

We recommend you have your HVAC system serviced every spring and fall. When you call us for maintenance, our skilled technicians go through a lengthy checklist to make sure your appliances are functioning at their best. Just a few of the things you can expect our technicians to do are:

  • Lubricate and inspect the function of individual parts within your appliances
  • Replace any worn belts, wiring, and other parts
  • Clean out built up dust, dirt, and debris
  • Inspect for leaks and other serious hazards

We Want to Keep You Comfortable

When you stay on top of your bi-annual maintenance, you can expect your HVAC appliances to last longer, perform better, and reduce indoor allergens. Eventually, when your old appliances must be replaced, we can get you a great deal on one of our long-lasting Trane appliances. We are proud of our status as a premier Trane dealer because we know how trustworthy the products are. Let us help keep you comfortable all year long by giving us a call today to schedule your HVAC maintenance.