1. Regularly vacuum and dust: Vacuum carpets, area rugs and larger floor coverings at least once a week. Use high-efficiency particulate air filters in your vacuum cleaner to capture and hold more allergens. Dust shelves, tabletops and counters weekly. Dust furniture coverings, smaller rugs and similar fabric items regularly; if possible, take them outside, and shake the dust out of them.
2. Take action against mold and pests: Regularly clean your bathroom to prevent mold growth. Scour the corners of the tub or shower, and clean bath mats and shower curtains with hot water and a bleach solution or commercial bathroom cleaner. Turn on the ventilation fan while bathing to vent moist air to the outdoors. Regularly clean under sinks and appliances to remove food particles that can attract roaches, mice and other household pests.
3. Change your HVAC system filter: Keep the filter in your air conditioning system fresh and clean. The filter traps and holds dust and other particulates that flow through your HVAC system. A dirty filter cannot keep the allergens out of your indoor air. Check the filter at least monthly and change as needed.
4. Clean your bedding: Wash blankets, sheets and other bedding in water that is at least 130 degrees. Buy allergy-stopping sealed covers with zippers, and put them on your pillows, mattress and box springs.
5. Maintain appropriate humidity: Keep your indoor humidity at the recommended level of 35 to 50 percent. Use individual dehumidifier units, particularly in the basement, or install a whole-house dehumidifier to control humidity throughout your home.

For 50 years, Conditioned Air has provided top-notch air conditioning sales, maintenance and repair to residential and commercial customers in Naples and Southwest Florida. Contact us for more suggestions on how to allergy proof your Southwest Florida home.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Actually, this is not a new development. An international agreement called the Montreal Protocol in 1987 established a phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons, which harm the Earth’s ozone layer. Over the following years, the protocol was modified and amended. A modification in 1992 established a phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbons. HCFC-22 is also known as R-22. One of its brand names is Freon. The U.S. is enforcing the protocol through the Clean Air Act, and the phaseout is scheduled to be almost entirely in force by 2020.

What does this mean if you own an air conditioner that uses R-22? There could be R-22 refrigerant shortages and R-22 prices are expected to double or triple, so the cost of maintaining your air conditioner could go up. You don’t have to run out and buy a new air conditioner, but you might want to consider doing just that. Why?

• If you have an older air conditioner, it’s probably much less energy efficient than today’s models. A new model will help you hold down your energy costs.
• You’ll know you’re helping the environment by making your carbon footprint smaller. Your new air conditioner will use an environmentally healthier R-410a.

If you really can’t afford to replace your air conditioner at the moment, make sure you schedule timely maintenance. Maintenance will help you avoid costly leaks and the need to replace your refrigerant. And schedule that maintenance sooner, rather than later, as the cost of R-22 will keep rising.

At Conditioned Air, we can help make the right decision for your unique situation. Serving Southwest Florida, we maintain cooling systems and sell a range of air conditioners. Give us a call or visit our website.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about air conditioners and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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But did you know that there’s a new generation of programmable thermostats that can boost your control and savings even more? This new type of programmable thermostat is called the smart thermostat.

Smart thermostats come with a range of features that make them easy and convenient to use. These features include simple touchscreen operation, easy-to-read backlit digital display, alerts that let you know when maintenance or filter changes are due and control of other equipment, such as the whole-house dehumidifier.

Among the more advanced features a smart thermostat offers is the ability to let you program and control your home comfort system remotely. You no longer have to be in the same physical location as the thermostat to program or change the unit’s settings or find out information such as the temperature or humidity in your home. A smart thermostat provides remote programming and operation options such as:

• Remote control: Smaller remote control units let you program the thermostat at a distance, such as from your chair or bed.
• Online interfaces: Some smart thermostats can use your home WiFi connection to connect to the Internet. You can program the thermostat using Web-based consoles and controls.
• Telephone programming: You can even use your phone to program many smart thermostats. Some models can be controlled with specialized applications created for smartphones such as the iPhone. Some smart thermostats will call you if there is a problem, such as a power outage or a system malfunction. You can address the issue over the phone.

For 50 years, Conditioned Air has provided air conditioning sales, maintenance and repair to residential and commercial customers in Naples and southwest Florida. Contact us for information on the latest smart thermostats and for expert help in selecting a programmable model that works best for your home.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about smart thermostats and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Our HVAC professionals can design, estimate the cost of and install an air conditioning system designed to keep everyone in the home cool and comfortable throughout Florida’s hottest summer days. They can add a dehumidification system that will reduce indoor moisture, preventing problems associated with high humidity. Because the home will feel cooler, the temperature can be kept a bit higher, and energy bills will fall.

Conditioned Air experts can conduct a complex technical assessment of the cooling load — what’s needed to meet your desired comfort level — and can design a system to meet that cooling load. They can provide energy load calculations and an airflow design that will work best. They can work with your architect  and builder to incorporate air conditioner design, ductwork and other elements directly into blueprints and building plans. This ensures that construction professionals will know where cooling system components are going.

At Conditioned Air, our technical abilities are supplemented by our on-site duct fabrication shop. We can work in both sheet metal and fiberboard to create the ductwork system you need.

Whether you’re a construction professional or you’re a homeowner who’s building a dream home, the experts at Conditioned Air can provide the system you need.

For 50 years, Conditioned Air has provided air conditioning sales, maintenance and repair to residential and commercial customers in Naples and southwest Florida. Contact us for help, whether you’re buying and installing a new system or maintaining the one that you have.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about air conditioners and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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Take a look at these mold prevention tips — you may find a few you weren’t aware of or haven’t tried in your home:

• Make sure bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans, as well as clothes dryer vents, go to the outside.
• Wipe condensation from windows before it can be absorbed by walls or window casings. Condensation on other surfaces or in summertime may mean you need to point air conditioner supply registers away from surfaces. It may also signal ductwork leaks or air pressure imbalances.
• Replace air conditioner filters often, using higher-efficiency pleated filters. If in doubt about filter choices, contact a local HVAC expert. Or ask during annual preventive maintenance and inspection visits, when your technician will also clean A/C coils and condensate drains, check for mold and handle other maintenance tasks.
• Keep windows closed when using whole-house ventilation equipment and keep interior doors open for proper return air balance. Or call your home-comfort contractor to adjust your whole-house ventilation system to ensure adequate ventilation through the rooms. Balanced supply and return airflow avoids depressurization, when humid outdoor air is drawn inside the house.
• In summer when the air conditioner is on, relative humidity should be under 55 percent during the daytime. If it’s higher, you could have duct system leaks, an oversized or improperly charged A/C system or inadequate airflow over the cooling coil. Oversized air conditioners control humidity poorly at higher thermostat settings, as short cycling inhibits moisture removal. Contact your HVAC expert for diagnosis and consider positive mechanical ventilation.
• Don’t resort to setting the thermostat temperature lower. This lowers indoor surface temperatures, causing condensation. Set your thermostat higher — it also keeps energy costs down. Each one-degree thermostat set-back decreases cooling costs by about 10 percent, according to The Florida Solar Energy Center.

Having trouble with mold or indoor humidity? Contact the pros at Conditioned Air. Visit our website to learn more or give us a call.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Air quality image via Shutterstock

Heat pumps handle both cooling and heating homes (and heating pools) by absorbing heat from the air nearby, then transferring it. This minimizes costs, since redirecting heat already in the environment is much cheaper than generating heat by combustion, as traditional systems do. Heat pump pool heaters work for spa or hot tub heating, too. Benefits of a heat pump pool heating system include:

• Quiet operation
• Highly efficient design requires a fraction of the energy used by standard pool or spa heating systems
• Provides consistent pool or hot tub temperatures, acting independently or as a backup to solar power
• Recycling heat from the air is safe technology
• Potentially hazardous fuels aren’t used and don’t need to be stored in or near your home
• Uses environmentally friendly, EPA-approved R-410A refrigerant
• Low maintenance
• Self-contained equipment comes factory-refrigerant-charged, properly wired, quality-tested and ready to go. The unit just needs to be connected to the pool or spa pipe system and power source.
• No need for costly specialized piping, a flue or vents
• Versatile units can be installed in almost any spot
• Use your pool comfortably anytime

Make sure to purchase an AHRI (Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute) performance-certified unit, with an excellent warranty on compressor, functional parts and labor. A ComfortSwim™ heat pump from Conditioned Air will work with any type of existing automated system. These units supply all the benefits listed — and more.

Call us at Conditioned Air for a free, no-obligation investment analysis, which provides comparison costs between solar and fossil fuel pool heating. We’ll also determine how long it will take to recoup your investment in your system, so you can decide if it’s time for you to install or upgrade your pool heating. Visit our informative website to learn more or just give us a call.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Pool image via Shutterstock

An excellent way to combat airborne mold spores plus other lung irritants in your home’s air is with an air purification system. Whole-home air cleaners are designed to remove a high percentage of harmful, breathable particles and contaminants from the air, including:

• Pollen
• Dust
• Animal dander
• Chemical vapors from cleaning products
• Emissions from home-improvement projects or hobbies
• Odors
• Mildew and mold spores
• Insect debris
• Viruses and bacteria – bioaerosols
• Ozone – some systems are also capable of destroying this pollutant
• And other harmful particles

The most effective and efficient air cleaning technology can be incorporated in your central air conditioning and heating system. Many systems use both physical barriers (for instance dense, pleated air filters) and UV light equipment, working together to clean the air. The air cleaner also helps keep your home comfort system from accumulating dirt internally and thereby extends its life.

The efficiency of the purification system is determined in large part by the air filter. A filter that’s rated higher on the MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) scale is capable of trapping more of the smaller (and often more unhealthy) particles in the air. Flat fiberglass filters are generally low on the scale; the denser, pleated filters are higher on the scale, which ranges from 1 to 16 for residential use. MERV 16 filters remove over 95 percent of particles as small as .3 microns, and are generally sufficient for hospital use. (Filters rated MERV 17 to 20, true HEPA filters, are generally used for industrial applications in larger, more powerful commercial A/C systems.)

Improving your home’s air quality with a whole-house purification system helps shield your family from the ill effects of indoor pollution such as:

• Allergy flare-ups
• Sinus irritation
• Watering eyes
• Fatigue
• Concentration problems
• Colds too often passed between family members

Questions about whole-house air purification? Talk to the experts at Conditioned Air. Visit our website for information or just give us a call.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Air purification image via Shutterstock

When purchasing an air filter for your southwest Florida home, you can compare its relative efficiency at removing airborne particles from your air supply using the MERV rating. This minimum efficiency reporting value rating ranges from 1 (low level of efficiency) up to a maximum of 20.

• Flat panel air filters (with MERV ratings 1-4) are often used in residential air conditioning and heating systems. Their purpose is mainly to protect the HVAC equipment from accumulating damaging materials on the internal surfaces. Low-MERV filters aren’t intended to improve indoor air quality and will miss microscopically small particles like viruses and bacteria. They’ll also miss some of the airborne pollen, dust, insect allergens, pet dander and mold spores that are a big concern here in Southwest Florida.
• Extended surface (pleated) filters are rated medium or high on the MERV scale. Medium-efficiency filters (MERV 5-13) are moderately effective at removing potential lung irritants and other airborne particles.
• MERV 7-13  filters are almost as effective as much-higher-rated HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters, but much less expensive. Medium-efficiency filters have other advantages; they allow better airflow rates and run more quietly than HEPAs (and other high-efficiency products) because they’re less air resistant.
• Higher-efficiency filters (MERV ratings 14-16), look like true HEPA filters and are sometimes mistakenly called by that name.
• True HEPA filters are rated MERV 17-20, however, and will often overpower home cooling equipment, blocking airflow. So they’re not used often in residential systems, but more often in hospitals and laboratories.

Before purchasing a MERV 14 or above filter, be certain it’s compatible with your cooling system’s fan and motor capacity. Professionally retrofitted residential home comfort systems may be able to accommodate true HEPAs, along with certain high performance houses that might come equipped with a HEPA-compatible system.

Questions about air filters or how to install one in your particular HVAC system? Contact Conditioned Air for expert advice for Southwest Florida homeowners. Please visit our website to learn more or just pick up the phone.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about air filters and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Air filter image via Shutterstock

Huge power surges, due to a lightning strike for example, last no longer than a split second. In that instant of time, they can ruin your TV, computer, HVAC equipment and other electronic devices.

Smaller surges are daily, often unnoticed, occurrences in most homes. These surges slowly damage the same vulnerable and often expensive electrical equipment, shortening their useful life. Many Southwest Florida homeowners have found all this out the hard way. Small spikes happen when motor-powered devices switch on or off, causing excess strain on the system. Any of these items may cause a surge:

• Refrigerator
• Toaster
• Computer printers
• Power drill
• Hair dryer
• Vacuum cleaner
• Even your central air conditioner or heating system

Large, external power surges (which can destroy electronics in your home instantly) may occur due to accidental or unpredictable events, such as:

• Vehicles crashing into power poles
• Animals climbing or sitting on electrical wires
• Trees falling or being blown onto power lines
• Lightning strikes

Thunder storms can be quite frequent around this time of year, so our region is vulnerable. Every year in the United States, an average of 30 million points on the ground are struck by lightening, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

A surge protector is a simple, cost-effective way to protect valuable household belongings – including your HVAC equipment – from both small and large power surges. Be certain to plug all electronic items into high-quality surge protectors, including televisions, Blu-Ray and DVD players, music systems, game systems, computer equipment and printers. Also connect satellite or cable TV cables, telephone lines, fax machines, modems and, of course, all components of your heating and air conditioning equipment to a surge protector.

If you’re wondering what type of surge protector is right for your HVAC system, or if you have other home comfort questions, contact the professionals at Conditioned Air. Serving Southwest Florida, we’re ready to supply expert service and advice. Visit our website for details, or call us.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Surge protector image via Shutterstock

Regularly scheduled preventive maintenance (which includes coil cleaning) is the most cost-effective way to ensure that your system is always in top shape.

Why are coils so important? Here’s how they function:

• The evaporator coil (indoor or cold coil) absorbs heat from inside air blown over it by the air handler fan
• The condenser (outdoor or warm coil) repels heat as the fan blows outdoor air over its surface

Of course, the air blown over the coils is filled with dust, pollen, mold spores and other lung-irritants, allergens and air pollutants, causing coils to get dirty and become less efficient. The evaporator coil and condensate drain pan are especially vulnerable to bacteria and mold. Recirculation of these contaminants will ruin your indoor air quality.

Here in Southwest Florida, we depend upon our central air conditioners for much of the year, so coil cleaning is well-advised and it’s simple to set up. Just call your local HVAC expert. Remember, ignoring economical preventive maintenance for your home comfort system can lead to:

• Higher monthly energy costs
• Frequent equipment breakdowns and repairs
• A shortened life span for your system and a possible need  for early replacement
• Poor indoor air quality
• Poor ventilation and airflow, possibly leading to health issues and leaving unpleasant, stale odors around the house
• Compromised comfort level in the home, or parts of the home
• Energy waste and harm to the environment

To avoid all of these issues in your home and maintain excellent air quality for your family, just talk to your air conditioning contractor to request a routine inspection and maintenance visit. Your technician will clean coils using specialized equipment and perform all other necessary upkeep tasks to get your A/C ready for summer.

Questions about coil cleaning and system maintenance? Contact the professionals at Conditioned Air. Visit our website to learn more or just give us a call.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Preventive maintenance image via Shutterstock