Saddleback Plumbing Heating & Air Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Mission Viejo’

Will My Air Cleaners Reduce Health Risks? A Question from Mission Viejo

Friday, November 18th, 2011

There is a lot of talk these days about how important it is to have a good air cleaner in your Mission Viejo home. If you don’t have one, you’re putting yourself at risk, or so says common knowledge. But, do air cleaners really reduce health risks, and if so, by how much?

What Air Cleaners Do

Before we can say whether an air cleaner has any positive health effects, we must first look at what they do. Air cleaners are designed to remove certain particles from the air inside your home. Different air cleaners are designed for different levels of removal.

Ratings like the MERV of an air cleaner measure how small of particles the device can remove. Additionally, the type of cleaner will determine what it is best at removing. Mechanical filters are the most efficient at removing dust, pollen, and dander while electronic filters are best for smoke, bacteria and mold spores.

So, What Impact Does this Have on Health?

The big question then is what kind of health benefits you will gain from a high end air cleaning system. If your home isn’t prone to a large number of contaminants and you have good ventilation, the difference may not be that big, but for those with a well-sealed home, pets, humidity problems or any number of other indoor air contaminant sources, an air cleaner has a tremendous impact on your health.

The problem is that when the house gets sealed up so tightly, we put our bodies at risk of contamination from gasses and pollutants that would otherwise dissipate into the air. Those with asthma are put at an increased risk as they breathe in a variety of different triggers like dust, mold and dander.

An air cleaner removes these threats and while they don’t have a proactive effect on your health – you won’t suddenly lose weight or never again get the flu – they can remove many of the negative effects that poor air quality has on your body.

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The Energy Efficiency Rating of Central Air Conditioners: What Is it and Why Is it Important? A Question From Brea

Monday, September 26th, 2011

When you are shopping for a central air conditioning system in Brea, you will have to evaluate your options based on a number of different factors. For instance, you will need to decide which type of system is the best match for your home and for your particular cooling needs. It is also important to make sure that the central air conditioner you choose is the right size for the cooling load it will have to take on.

However, it is also very important to evaluate your central air conditioning options based on how energy efficient they are. This will have a great deal to do with how much you pay in terms of cooling costs each month, which makes it easy to see why you should take it into account before you make a purchase.

The energy efficiency of a central air conditioner is generally expressed as a seasonal energy efficiency rating, or SEER. The SEER numbers you will typically find on the latest air conditioning systems range from eight to 19.5 with the higher numbers signifying a more energy efficient model.

So it is pretty easy to figure out that a central air conditioner with a higher SEER will save you some money monthly because it will use less energy to get the same job done. But central air conditioners with high SEERs also typically have high price tags. So to determine how high of a SEER you need, you will need to know more exactly how much more money you will save as you move up in the rankings.

You can do this by comparing the SEER of the system you currently use with the new system you are considering and compare how much your current energy usage would cost you with each model. Basically, you want to pick a central air conditioner that will save you enough to offset the purchase price of the unit.

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What Types of Air Conditioning Systems Are There? A Question From Trabuco Canyon

Monday, August 15th, 2011

Picking out the right air conditioning system for your Trabuco Canyon home can actually involve a lot of steps. There are many factors to consider and you will need to understand how each type of air conditioning system functions to know what will be best in your house. Of course, before you can compare them, you need to know what the different types of air conditioning systems actually are.

Packaged air conditioning systems are probably the type that the majority of people are most familiar with. They consist of an outdoor compressor unit that is connected to an indoor air handler or furnace through ductwork within the house. The air is cooled by the compressor and then blown into the house where it is circulated through the ductwork by the air handler.

Packaged air conditioning systems are appropriate for most residential buildings and they come in a variety of sizes so that it is easy to match one to the size and dimensions of your home. However, these types of air conditioning systems do require ductwork, so if you do not already have it installed in your house, putting it in can add considerably to the overall installation costs.

If you do not want to have ducts put in or if you are only trying to cool a small space within your home, you may want to opt for a ductless mini-split system. These types of air conditioning systems are becoming more and more popular because of their excellent energy efficiency and flexibility when it comes to installation options.

Ductless mini-splits also require an outdoor compressor unit, but this is connected to one or more indoor units through refrigerant lines rather than actual air ducts. These refrigerant lines are much easier and less costly to put in place than ducts are, so mini-split systems can be installed for much less than a packaged air conditioning system in a home that does not already have ducts.

These ductless mini-split systems can include only one or many indoor units. Each of these units is controlled independently of the others, making it possible to maintain different temperatures in different parts of your home.

For larger buildings and commercial spaces, central air conditioning systems are generally the preferred option. They are set up essentially the same way as packaged air conditioning systems but on a much larger scale. However, just like packaged air conditioning systems, central air conditioners rely on ducts to get the cooled air to the various areas of the building.

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The Advantages of an Air Conditioning System in Aliso Viejo

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Just about everyone knows that air conditioning systems keep your indoor environment cool and comfortable during the hot summer months, which is very important when you live in a place like Aliso Viejo. While this may be enough of a benefit for you, there are also some other benefits to having a central air conditioning system installed in your house as well.

For instance, if you have someone in your household who is more susceptible to extreme temperatures than most people, an air conditioning system can actually help improve their overall health. Babies certainly fall into this category, as they have more difficulty than older children or adults do controlling their body temperature.

Also, many elderly people or people suffering from certain medical conditions, particularly heart conditions, are especially sensitive to the heat. If they are unable to stay cool, it can be very dangerous and damaging to their health, and an air conditioning system helps to guarantee that they will be able to stay cool and comfortable even on the hottest days of the year.

Aside from direct health concerns, air conditioning systems can also help to alleviate the symptoms of colds and allergies. They do this by controlling the level of humidity inside your home. If the air in your house is too moist or too dry, it can exacerbate cold and allergy symptoms, as well as dry out skin and make the indoor environment generally uncomfortable.

Proper humidity control is also important because it helps to ensure that any air filtration or purification system you have in place is able to operate at peak efficiency. Many of these units have a hard time extracting particulate contaminants from the indoor air that circulates through them if that air is too humid or too dry. With a state of the art air conditioning system in place, however, you will not have to worry about whether or not the humidity level in your home is out of balance.

It is also worth noting that a central air conditioning system can be preferable to a window mounted unit because it provides for a more even distribution of cool air throughout the house. Also, when you have a central air conditioning system, the condenser which is the source of most of the noise and vibrations that air conditioners make will be located outside and out of earshot. With window mounted units, on the other hand, there is really no way to block out or diminish the noise.

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