Furnaces are put under extraordinary strain during the winter, even in a relatively warm area like Southern California. If you’re using your furnace at all this winter, and we’re going to assume you are if you’re reading this blog, then you should make sure to take some steps to help the system deal with the added demand you’re placing on it. If you take care of your furnace, after all, it will take care of you. The following are two of the best tips you can follow to keep your furnace functioning properly this winter.
Saddleback Plumbing Heating & Air Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Orange County’
Keep Your Furnace in Good Shape With These Tips
Monday, January 15th, 2018Sink Issues You Should be Aware of
Monday, October 9th, 2017
The average homeowner uses the sinks in their home many times a day. We wash our hands after using the bathroom, after taking out the trash, before and after cooking, etc. You probably take your sinks for granted at least some of the time, but you’d surely miss them if they started to malfunction. There are a number of issues that can affect a home’s sinks, some trivial and some not.
It’s important that you be aware of these problems, and their symptoms. The faster you can identify that your sink is having some sort of issue, the faster you can get it professionally repaired and the better off you’ll be. Let’s have a look at some of the issues that can afflict your sink, and when you should call a professional.
Air Conditioner Parts You Need to Know About The Compressor
Monday, June 22nd, 2015Air conditioners are complex systems, and it’s unreasonable to expect you as a homeowner to know exactly how they work. After all, you don’t need to know how your car works down to the smallest detail in order to drive it. However, there are a couple of air conditioner parts that you should know a bit better. One of these parts is the compressor. Let’s take a closer look at the compressor, and how it can affect the wider system.
Water Heater Parts: The Anode Rod
Monday, May 18th, 2015Your water heater is one of the hardest working appliances in your house. You probably don’t use your heater or air conditioner every day, but you almost certainly use hot water. If you use a storage water heater, as most people do, your water heater is working day and night to provide you with hot water. All of that water exposure should cause your water heater to rust into oblivion within a couple of years. Why, then, do water heaters last up to a decade under constant water exposure? The answer lies with a part called the “anode rod.” Let’s take a closer look at what the anode rod is, and why you need to have yours checked at least once a year.
3 Signs That Your Air Conditioner Needs Repairs
Monday, April 27th, 2015Problems with your air conditioner, as with most HVAC systems, are progressive in nature. The longer a problem is allowed to persist, the more likely that it will spread to other parts of the system. Some problems can even cause the entire air conditioner to break down if left alone for long enough. So how can you identify problems in time to stop them from damaging your system? By recognizing the signs. Read on for 3 common signs that your air conditioner needs repairs.
Types of Indoor Air Purifiers That Can Benefit You
Monday, April 20th, 2015Though your indoor air may seem clean, chances are you are inhaling millions of microscopic contaminants with every breath you take. The average home contains many varieties of airborne pollutants, including dust, germs, pollen, and mold spores. These various contaminants are responsible for allergy attacks, as well as illnesses like the cold and flu. Fortunately, there are air purifiers available on the market that combat the contaminants that cause poor indoor air quality. Let’s have a look at a few different types of indoor air purifiers.
3 Major Benefits of Radiant Heating Systems
Monday, April 6th, 2015Radiant heating systems are boiler-based heaters, which use hot water to distribute heat throughout a house. The boiler heats and distributes water through pipe networks in the walls and subfloors of each room. As the water flows through the pipes, it transmits heats through the pipes and into the rooms. The concept of radiant heating dates back to ancient times, when the Romans would have hot water channeled through canals under their floors.
Despite its long history, however, in modern times radiant heating has been eclipsed in popularity by forced-air systems. This is unfortunate, as modern hydronic radiant heating offers a lot of unique advantages. Let’s take a look at 3 of the major benefits that you can garner from installing a radiant heating system.
Energy Efficiency
Having an energy-efficient heating system is a great way to reduce your home’s operating costs. The average forced-air heating system loses around 20 to 30 percent of its output to leaks in the ductwork, according to the US Department of Energy. Radiant heating uses water pipes instead of ductwork, which enables it to deliver far more of its heat to the target destination. As water is a much more effective thermal conductor than air, a room serviced by a radiant heating system will also heat up faster and stay warm for longer.
Health
Forced air heating systems often negatively affect the indoor air quality of the homes in which they are installed. Airborne contaminants have a tendency to collect in ductwork, and are circulated throughout the house whenever the heater is turned on. Using a forced-air heater too much also has a tendency to dry out the air in the house. These two factors contribute to allergy attacks and illnesses. Radiant systems circulate heat without affecting the air quality inside your home, so you can use them as much as you want without worry.
Comfort
When warm air is pumped into a room, it will immediately rise to the ceiling. As it cools, it will slowly sink to the floor of the room. This creates uncomfortable hot and cold spots in rooms heated by forced-air systems. Hydronic radiant heaters, by contrast, don’t use air as a medium to transport heat. The thermal energy moves directly through solid objects, keeping it near the floor of the room where people are most able to benefit from it.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of radiant heating, call Saddleback Plumbing. We provide heating services throughout Orange County.
Why Am I Not Getting Enough Hot Water from My Water Heater?
Friday, March 20th, 2015You’ve been relying on the same water heater for years. It has always delivered the right amount of water to keep your family happy: every morning, everyone gets to enjoy a hot shower (as long as they don’t stay in too long). But then one day, the hot water starts to run out earlier. There is more of a rush not to be the last person to hop in the shower each morning. And perhaps you’ve started to notice the hot water running out at other times of the day.
What’s wrong? Does your water heater need to be replaced? Or does it only need repair work?
To answer these questions requires professional plumbers with experience repairing water heaters. You can call Saddleback Plumbing and talk to our experts in water heaters in Orange County, CA to find out if you need repair work—or a new water heater.
Water heater repairs
There are a number of malfunctions that can cause a water heater to start to lose its supply of hot water. One of the more common is a broken dip tube. The dip tube is responsible for drawing in cold, fresh water into the storage tank, and then depositing it at the bottom of the tank where it receives heat. If the dip tube breaks, it will mean the cold water will start to gather at the top of the tank, where the pump removes the rising heated water to distribute it through the house. If cold water starts to mix at the top of the tank, it will soon replace the hot water, making it seem as if the system is running out of heated water too quickly.
Another problem that can result in a loss of the hot water supply is trouble with the burners in a gas furnace. If the burners are not igniting or not receiving sufficient natural gas, they will struggle to warm up enough water for your needs. If you have an electric water heater, loss of hot water can occur if one of the two heating elements fail.
Water heater replacement
At a certain point, a water heater will simply start to work inefficiently due to age. If your water heater is at or past its manufacturer’s estimated lifespan and it starts to lose heating power, you should probably have it replaced. Consult with a water heater professional to make sure that this is the best choice.
Call Saddleback Plumbing today for answers about water heaters in Orange County, CA. We have more than 30 years of experience installing, repairing, and maintaining water heaters in the area.
Hard Water and Your Water Heater
Wednesday, March 4th, 2015Modern water heaters are built to endure, and they will resist corrosion and other damage for many years, provided that they receive annual maintenance visits from professionals. However, one factor in your home that may threaten your water heater with damage and even an early replacement is hard water coming from the municipal supply. This is a serious issue, and if it’s occurring in your home you should contact Saddleback Plumbing right away. We not only provide excellent repair service for water heaters in Orange County, but we can also install water softeners to eliminate hard water trouble.
Why hard water is a problem for water heaters
Hard water is water that contains a high amount of minerals suspended in it, principally magnesium and calcium. These minerals often enter the water supply on its way from the municipal treatment plant through ground water seepage. Hard water is almost never harmful to drink, but it can cause major issues for your home’s plumbing and its water heater.
The high temperatures inside a water heater tank will create a substance called limescale from the minerals inside hard water. Limescale will begin to build up along the inside of the tank. Because limescale acts as an insulator, it will prevent heat from escaping naturally from the tank. The result is a temperature imbalance inside the water heater that will often lead to overheating and high pressure that can damage the system. In addition, limescale deposits will start to block valves and connections in the water heater, creating additional pressure problems that can lead to leaking.
Repair technicians can de-scale a tank to remove the deposits from hard water and restore the water heater. However, if you are encountering hard water issues, you will need to go a step further and get to the root of the problem with the installation of a whole-house water softener. This will both protect your water heater and the rest of your plumbing, which will suffer from calcite deposits in the piping that will create spikes in water pressure.
Saddleback Plumbing is experienced with working on water heaters and installing and servicing whole-house water treatment systems. If you are experiencing trouble with your water heater due to hard water, give us a call right away. You can trust to our more than 35 years of experience with servicing water heaters in Orange County and finding solutions for water quality problems.
How Tankless Water Heaters Work
Thursday, February 5th, 2015When most people hear the words “water heater,” they typically think of the big, cylindrical appliance that resides in basements or closets. These days, though, homeowners have the option of installing a tankless water heater. It may seem a little wacky that you can have hot water from a device that doesn’t hold any heated water, but the process is actually fairly simple when explained. However, the installation of a tankless water heater in your home can be complex and should be left to a trained expert. This is where Saddleback Plumbing comes in. The experts at Saddleback Plumbing have been helping customers install, repair and replace hot water heaters in the Orange County area since 1981, and they bring this experience to every job they do. Have a water heater issue? Call us today!
Direct Heating
Tankless water heaters, also known as on-demand water heaters, can provide almost instantaneous heating because they heat the water directly when it is needed. There are two ways in which a tankless water heater is fueled: electricity or natural gas. Both fuel types use a key component to heat the water immediately: a heat exchanger. The way a tankless system works is that the hot water process is triggered when you open a hot water tap. Two things happen simultaneously: first, the heat exchanger is heater, either by gas or electricity, and second, the cold water intake opens and the water starts to flow to the heat exchanger. Once in the exchanger, the cold water absorbs the heat from the heat exchanger, becomes hot, and flows into your home as needed.
Benefits of Tankless Water Heaters
There are several benefits to installing a tankless water heater that makes them worth considering for your home:
- Energy efficiency – there is no standby heat loss with a tankless system; standby heat loss can account for up to 25% of a storage tank water heater’s energy use, which can be significant.
- Endless hot water – with a tankless system, you won’t have to worry about running out of hot water.
- Longer lifespan – tank water heaters have an average lifespan of 8-12 years while a tankless water heater has an average lifespan of 12-15 years.
Interested in what a tankless water heater can do for you? Call the experts at Saddleback Plumbing today!