HVAC Equipment
How Attic Insulation Makes Your Home Energy Efficient
Unfortunately, there is a staggering number of homes in Canada that have the wrong type of attic insulation. In fact, some homes built prior to 1984 might have insulation that contains asbestos. Remember, insulation serves as a barrier between the outside of the home and the interior. For that reason, you need a safe, quality product. For professional assistance, contact a reputable company for attic insulation removal in Toronto.
Start by having your current insulation tested to determine its type and whether it poses any risk. If there is an issue, you need it removed. Especially for potentially hazardous material, you do not want to do the work yourself. Instead, rely on one of the best attic insulation removal companies in the Greater Toronto Area. The person who does the work will don protective gear and use cutting-edge equipment to remove all the material.
When choosing a superior-quality and safe insulation material for your attic, you will notice a vast difference in the level of comfort inside your home. You will also notice a decrease in the amount you owe each month for heating and cooling. Just as you selected a reputable company for insulation removal in Toronto, you want to hire a top-rated company to place the new product.
Unless you have insulation sprayed inside your attic, it is essential for the technician to follow a specific method for placement when using strips. As an example, the expert needs to lay the new insulation perpendicular to the joists inside the attic. Also, this person should place wire mesh around any fixtures or vents as a way of preventing any loose insulation from seeping inside the house.
With the new system in place, you now have a new and better barrier against the outside elements. While summers in Canada are often hot, the winters are usually quite harsh. Even during the coldest months, your home will remain warm inside. In addition to a comfortable living environment, you will use less energy, thereby reducing your utility bills.
Instead of stressing about removing the insulation yourself, you can depend on a respected company to handle the job. You will see an immediate improvement.
Enjoy Summers and Winters
City Duct Cleaning offers professional insulation removal in Toronto for an affordable price. For more information, we invite you to visit our website or call to speak directly with a company representative. Changing out your attic insulation is an excellent step toward a more enjoyable summer and winter and fewer expenses.
Got Rusted Out Vents?
Here’s something that we frequently see when cleaning air ducts in older buildings.
This heating vent is located in a store on the Danforth, near the front door. It was totally rusted out to the point where almost no air was coming out of the vent. There was a gaping hole in the pipe underneath that was serving it.
If you have vents like this that are in need of repair, call us at City Duct Cleaning for a free estimate.
Another common thing we see while visiting older homes has to do with the return air vent right near the front door… the metal inside is often rotted out because over the years shoes and wet boots have been placed on the grill, causing the metal to rust out over time.
We can fix this for you, and this will help to make your HVAC system much more energy efficient. Repairing rusted out duct connector pipes and the metal boots will also make your home much more comfortable. And when you happen to look in, the metal will be shiny and new again!
After you have replaced any rusted ductwork in your home, you may want to consider sealing the system as needed. Sealing your home’s ductwork saves money, energy and your health. Find out why and how in this short video.
Also read : Dryer Vent and Air Duct Cleaning Testimonials
What about the exterior condenser?
Your outdoor air conditioning condenser unit is an integral part of your HVAC system. It contains the compressor, a fan and a coil.
The smooth and dependable operation of your air conditioning system overall, depends in large part on how clean your condensing unit is.
When your air conditioning is on, the compressor runs, as well as the condensor fan. This moves the required amount of air across that coil.
Grass, weeds and shrubs can severely impede the air flow across the coil, to the point where your system can freeze up. And as with anything, if you want it to work efficiently, it must be clean.
Your outside air conditioning condenser needs attention just like the interior air duct system does. The maintenance required to keep this part of the system clean is very minimal considering the amount of work that it is required to do during Toronto’s long, hot summers.
The compressor and fan will very rarely require any maintenance from a homeowner. Those parts of the system are best left to a trained professional.
The outside coil, however, will need to be cleaned from time to time though, and this is the part that anyone can do themselves if they want to take the time to do it.
It is best to check the cleanliness of the coil at the start of the cooling season, or whenever you first turn on your air conditioning. The coil should also be visually inspected at a minimum of once per month during the cooling season as well, and especially so if you notice that your outside unit is starting to sound louder than it normally does when it is running.
If you have determined that your unit needs to be cleaned, this can be easily accomplished with your garden hose and a stiff brush.
First, make sure the power to the unit is off. Then use a strong spray from your garden hose and thoroughly wash the coil with water only. You can use the brush if needed, but be sure to brush any part of the coil in the same direction as the fins. You do not, under any circumstances, want to bend the fins at all, as this will restrict the air flow going across the coil.
If you forgot to turn the power off first and the unit comes on while you are cleaning it, you will get wet for sure!
Once you have the coil looking clean, that is it. It is not recommended that the homeowner remove the top part (condensing fan) in any case. If your unit requires further service at this point it is best to call in a professional.
Keeping your condensing coil clean will save you money because the system will not have to work nearly as hard to do its job.
Some quick tips for starting up your air conditioning at the beginning of the season include:
- If you have a cover on your exterior unit, remove it first.
- Visually inspect the condition of the outside coil and clean as necessary.
- Check or replace your furnace air filter.
- Check the drain tube that comes from the inside coil (normally above your furnace) for proper drainage.
- Close the damper in the bypass tube of your furnace humidifier.
Once the system has been on for about half an hour, go back and check that water is draining out of the drain tube properly.
For best operation of the system in every home, you will need to adjust the air vents at the start of each heating and cooling season.
To set up your air vents for cooling, close the basement vents completely or block them off with vent magnets. On the main floor you want the vents, including dampers, to be half-way open. This setup will help to push more cool air upstairs, where you will need it most.
On the top floor, all vents should be fully open, unless you have an excess amount of air going to very small rooms such as washrooms or closets. And always make sure that return air vents are free and clear of obstacles or obstructions.
Making these small adjustments to your system as needed can have a huge impact on the proper efficiency of your HVAC system, and will do alot to add to your family’s overall comfort level inside your home.
Also remember, on hot days you should always block out direct sunlight, as this will add alot more load to your air conditioner.
If you ever have any questions about your furnace, air conditioner or duct system, no matter how small, feel free to call us and ask. We would be very glad to help!
What a Summer
HOT!!! Yeah no kidding. Here in Toronto it has been exceptionally hot this summer…but are we complaining? No Way!!
But is your air conditioner complaining? Maybe. Whenever you operate the air duct system for heating or cooling, the bottom of the Air Conditioning coil has a greater chance of clogging with dirt.
This can often cause your coil to freeze up and will definitely reduce your air flow down to almost nothing. Give us a call and we might be able to help you over the phone, and if not, then one of our friendly technicians will be happy to stop by and help with your cooling needs.
Here is a useful video that explains some ways of how to stay cool during our extremely hot summers.
Published on Jun 19, 2012
Toronto EMS Public Service Announcement, the dangers of hot weather and quick tips to stay safe.
Rooftop HVAC Equipment
What parts of an air system should be cleaned?
There are three major parts to every air system. The supply and return grills, the interior surfaces of the supply and return air ductwork, and the furnace or air conditioner air handler. All three components must be cleaned when doing an air duct cleaning. If only one or two of the components are cleaned and any part of the system is not done, then contaminants from the third component will rapidly contaminate those that were cleaned.
Alot of duct cleaning companies in the Toronto area quote prices to clean the ductwork and air vents only, and then either skip the very important step of cleaning the HVAC equipment or air handlers, or they ask for exhorbitant additional charges to clean these components if you wanted to have those parts of the system done also.
I have learned this from discussions with a number of air duct cleaners over the years. The price that got them in there was what they consider to be an “introductory” price. Now that they’re in there, they’re going to nail you with extra charges if they can, and if you don’t want to pay extra then you’ll get what you pay for.
At City Duct, every job that we do, whether it is a home in the Toronto area or a business, it always includes the cleaning of the HVAC equipment.
When cleaning the air duct system(s) in a home, we clean the furnace fan, the inside air conditioning coil, the furnace plenums and the air filter. On a commercial job we would always clean the air handler or rooftop equipment, and that always includes the fans, coils (both evaporator and condensor coils), the plenums, air filters… and everything in the air stream.
The cleaning of all air handling components is crucial to any air duct cleaning job. We can also replace worn insulation inside your HVAC units as needed, and often provide scheduled filter changes and maintenance.
We have some very detailed specification sheets that we have been using since we started back in 1987, and they are very similar to the NADCA spec sheets that are in existance today.
The photos above show a rooftop HVAC system that serves an air duct system that we recently cleaned in Markham, Ont. There are two shots of a rooftop exhaust fan that serves a dryer duct system that we recently cleaned in Mississauga. The second of those shots shows what a difference we have made afer having only blown off the lint with our high-pressure compressed air. That fan looked pretty amazing after we washed it too.
Also Read : How to Maintain Your Electronic Air Cleaner
