HVAC Trends 2021: Seven Issues That Require A Professional Heating And Air Conditioning Service | Dallas, TX
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There’s a long list of reasons why you may encounter problems with your home’s heating and air conditioning system, including poor installation and substandard service procedures. However, the predominant reason why you may find yourself seeking a professional heating and air conditioning service technician is failure to implement a regular HVAC maintenance program. Besides compromising the unit’s energy and operational efficiency, failing to routinely maintain the system has wide-ranging consequences, which can be costly to remedy.
These implications include malfunctioning thermostats, blocked condensers, and frequent moisture leaks as well as power-related mishaps and dirty blowers, coils, and filters. With this in mind, you should have a good idea of the issues that commonly denote a problem with your home’s heating and air conditioning infrastructure. These issues have been detailed below.
Poor Performance
The weather in Dallas, TX can get really hot, with experts reporting that the area experiences cooler temperatures for only 23 days annually. In the same context, the average temperature recorded in this area only remains below 40 degrees Fahrenheit only six times every year.
During the hot season, Dallas, TX residents have to endure 17 days of temperatures above 100 degrees. Therefore, having a poorly performing heating and AC system comprises the comfort of your house. It also shows that it could be time to schedule a meeting with your preferred air conditioning service contractor. Poor HVAC performance can be denoted by the inefficient cooling of rooms and extensive humidity problems, which make the indoor air stuffy.
Moreover, your home’s heating and cooling appliance could be considered to be performing poorly if the air conditioner has trouble maintaining an ideal temperature and a weak and ineffective airflow pattern. Other indicators of poor performance in an HVAC system include frequent switching on and off. Luckily, a professional heating and air conditioning artisan can help improve the performance and efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling unit.
Strange Noises In the Furnace
When your home’s furnace and air conditioner are in tip-top condition, you shouldn’t be expecting to hear any noise except maybe a little hum as it works to keep you and your family comfortable. Strange sounds may originate from the unit’s ductwork, furnace, and air conditioner.
Each sound points towards a unique problem with either part or whole of the heating and cooling apparatus. Homeowners often call for a heating and air conditioning service when they hear squealing and screaming noises from the air conditioner or bubbling, hissing, buzzing, popping, rattling, and booming in the ductwork. Loud banging and whistling sounds may also be a cause for alarm. Here’s what these noises mean when they occur in the furnace.
When your furnace begins to produce a squealing or whistling sound, it could point to an issue with the blower or heat pump. Particularly, it could mean that there’s a frayed belt or that the blower and its housing unit require thorough cleaning from an air conditioning service specialist.
The whistling noise mostly occurs when something is hindering proper airflow. In this regard, the whistling sound may develop if the unit is running on unclean air filters or when there are closed vents and dampers within your home. Your HVAC technician can help get rid of the noise by either changing your unit’s air filters or replacing your heating system upon request.
Past that, knocking and rumbling sounds may also occur in your furnace. Although knocking noises rarely indicate a catastrophic problem with your home’s HVAC system, they often develop when the vibration damper was installed incorrectly. This causes sounds made by the blower to echo throughout the unit. When your home’s heating component produces a rumbling sound, it’s mostly due to burner issues. Under such circumstances, you should request a prompt air conditioning service since laxity in remedying the problem may lead to higher levels of carbon monoxide being produced. Carbon monoxide poses wide-ranging health risks to you and your family, with some of its long-term effects including brain and heart damage.
Additionally, a loud bang originating from your home’s heater should warrant you to seek the attention of a professional HVAC technician. In most scenarios, a loud bang tells you that your system could be experiencing ignition problems, issues that occur due to extensive gas build-up in the combustion chamber. The loud bang may also happen as your unit’s ductwork expands and contracts while trying to make your indoors comfortable. Whichever the case, it’s always advisable to work with an experienced heating and air conditioning service technician when seeking solutions to furnace ignition problems.
Strange Ductwork Noises
As aforementioned, strange noises coming from the ductwork shouldn’t be taken lightly. However, not all the sounds warrant you spending your hard-earned cash on comprehensive heating and AC repairs. For instance, popping noises may develop when duct walls contract or expand depending on the HVAC unit’s activity. It could be due to cold metal ducts expanding after a warm rush of air has passed through the ductwork or vice versa.
Besides that, some noises point towards a serious issue within the heating and cooling system. For starters, a rattling sound may occur when there are loose metal pipes in the unit that are constantly colliding with each other. The pipes may have become loose due to the sealant holding them together growing ineffective over time.
Also, they may have caved due to the static pressure that builds up within the ductwork. With that in mind, scheduling an air conditioning service may help you avoid ductwork issues. Through in-depth inspections, your technician can detect clogged filters that may be causing the pressure drop that’s making the ducts shake and vibrate.
Other worrying sounds originating from the ductwork that homeowners in Dallas, TX, and beyond should never ignore include booming, scratching or buzzing, hissing, and bubbling. When booming noises can be heard, it’s often due to the ductwork attaching to the plenum, which is the air distribution box that’s a key component of air circulation.
It’s in the air distribution box that significant temperature swings occur. In that case, lesser ordinary sounds coming from this part of the HVAC unit mean that there could be a lack of enough expansion joints or dampers to isolate the ground.
Besides that, scratching and buzzing in the ductwork could mean that small pests such as bees, raccoons, mice, and squirrels may have found their way into your home’s heating and air conditioning system. Scheduling a heating and air conditioning inspection with a reputable air conditioning service provider can help identify if indeed your unit could be suffering due to a pest infestation. During the service, the technician may also seal any openings that made it possible for the intruder to gain access to the system in the first place.
In the same line of thought, a hissing sound in the ductwork is a clear indication that something’s amiss in your home’s heating and air conditioning unit. Air conditioning service experts advise homeowners to treat hissing HVAC noises with utmost seriousness since they often point towards a substantial refrigerant leak. To remedy such situations, they can recommend a refrigerant line repair or replacement service. A bubbling noise may also indicate a slow leak that involves gas bubbles being produced into the refrigerant line. In such cases, requesting a comprehensive duct inspection from a reputable HVAC service provider can help detect and fix the leak to avoid further property damage. A detailed inspection after the fix should be done to ensure that there are no more leaks or weak points.
Strange AC Noises
Modern air conditioners have robust features that prevent them from producing excessive noise as they try to keep you and your family comfortable. Specifically, they’re designed with an inherent sound-dampening technology and two-speed compressors to ensure that the noise levels remain under 50 decibels.
In most scenarios, worrying sounds may begin to develop in your air conditioner due to loose components such as bolts and compressors. The noises, which are often lower-pitched, include squealing sounds. High-pitched screaming noises may also occur, depicting serious problems that only qualified heating and air conditioning service professionals can help resolve.
In the case of squealing noises, they’re notably prominent in units experiencing fan motor and blower motor problems. Buzzing inside the air conditioning unit indicates that it could be having unbalanced fan blades, failing outdoor motors, and condenser coils that require a comprehensive cleaning service.
Besides that, just like hissing sounds in the ductwork, high-pitched screaming noises in AC should warn you of an impending catastrophe within your home’s air conditioning infrastructure. If you hear your home’s AC producing this noise, you need to immediately turn off the entire unit and wait for professional assistance from a well-trained air conditioning service technician near Dallas, TX. Such a noise denotes a destructive refrigerant leak, the kind that can adversely affect your health and that of your family. Destructive refrigerant leaks can also pose serious environmental risks.
The System Neither Produces Hot nor Cold Air
Although the fact may be quite obvious, an HVAC system that produces neither warm nor cold air is a sign that an air conditioning service expert needs to service the heating and cooling unit in your home.
To ascertain this phenomenon, HVAC specialists recommend turning on the system and standing next to a return vent to see if there’s any warm or cold air originating from the unit based on your predetermined temperature preferences. If the temperature doesn’t change after some time or your home’s HVAC appliance won’t switch on at all, you could be experiencing a malfunction.
In some cases, there could be a significant leak in the refrigerant line, and in other instances, it could be having a short circuit in the HVAC’s electrical connections or a technical issue with the unit’s compressor. Regardless, an immediate air conditioning service is recommended lest you risk further damaging your home’s heating and air conditioning infrastructure.
Frequent Short Cycles
HVAC systems maintain favorable indoor conditions throughout your home through a series of heating and cooling cycles, regardless of the weather conditions outside. Therefore, although the system may go on and off more often during the hot or cold seasons, it shouldn’t do so constantly. In that context, if your home’s heating and AC unit is cycling more frequently than expected, it may be time to consult with a professional air conditioning service technician.
In most cases, an HVAC upgrade or maintenance service can help restore the unit’s operational efficiency. However, sometimes a new system for your home may be in order. Only a professional HVAC artisan can help accurately determine what’s needed depending on your circumstances.
Thermostat Problems
As predetermined, your home’s heating and cooling apparatus keeps you and your loved ones comfortable through a series of cycles. In that context, most units rely on the thermostat, which is considered the brain of the HVAC system. Essentially, it dictates when the unit will go off when it will come back on, and the temperature your home should reach for your comfort to be guaranteed.
When there’s a thermostat issue, the entire unit is bound to suffer and consequently your comfort. There are a few signs you could follow when trying to troubleshoot thermostat problems.
For starters, your home could be having thermostat issues if the indoor conditions and its readings are both different. Additionally, if the thermostat has no power yet you just replaced its batteries, there could be a problem. Other signs include an air conditioner that cycles on and off more frequently and your home’s HVAC system receiving no power at all. Regardless of the issue, your heating and cooling infrastructure won’t work effectively if there’s a thermostat problem. In that case, you should make a point of consulting with a professional air conditioning service provider to discover your options.
The technician may recommend that you replace the existing thermostat with programmable models. With the latter, you can set it to lower or increase the temperature limit when you’re home or away. For instance, you can program the thermostat to lower the temperature once you’ve left for work, allowing you to save off your home’s monthly energy expenditure in the process. Your air conditioning service technician may also recommend a thermostat that functions through your WiFi. That way, you can control it from your mobile phone or tablet from any point of convenience as long as you can access a WiFi network.
Why Choose Our Air Conditioning Services
HVAC systems require a regular heating and air conditioning service for them to operate optimally and remain in pristine conditions for a long time. While you can opt to work with air conditioning service providers that appear on top of your Google search results, choosing One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas guarantees timely solutions delivered with unmatched professionalism.
We have offered air conditioning services to residential and commercial properties in the Dallas, TX area since 1988. Our NATE-Certified technicians dutifully go through ongoing training programs to ensure they remain updated on the latest trends in HVAC technology.