Well the sun has started to shine and the temperatures have started to rise….and now is the perfect time to think about getting your air conditioning installed or serviced.

What is a heat pump?
This is a question I get a lot! Most of us have been in this trade for so long that we take it for granted that everyone knows but let’s step back and try to answer the question…

 
The simplest answer is a heat pump is an air conditioner that can run backward. This means that in the winter the outside coil will get cold and the inside coil will give off heat, and vice versa in the summer. It is a very versatile and energy efficient piece of equipment that would benefit most homes and workplaces.

Did you know….?
The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty to protect the earth’s ozone layer and phase out the production and importation of ozone depleting substances. As of January 1st 2010 the next phase out took effect, from now on, no new R-22 equipment can be manufactured or imported, and the annual allowable amount of HCFC’s is reduced by 75%.
What is R-22?
R-22 is a gas, which is the main refrigerant used in air conditioning equipment.
What does this mean to you? Does your equipment use R-22?
95% of the Air Conditioning equipment in use today is using R-22.
What can you do?
Maintain your equipment properly and professionally, use some of the many energy management ideas to cut down on run-time with, and reduce the load the best you can (i.e. keep windows and doors closed etc).

Is a tripped breaker an electrical problem?

I recently got a call from a customer who had a problem with a breaker tripping on their new heat pump unit. The breaker was changed for a new larger one but the problem persisted.

It was time to discover what was happening – so I paid them a visit to see what was going on. I put the unit onto the cooling setting and the unit went into heating mode! The current climbed till the breaker tripped. Why was the heating coming on when it was 80°F in the room?

Well, I talked to the staff and found out that they had tried to adjust the schedule and somehow the settings got lost in the stat or it had been put back to factory setting (which would not work for a heat pump). I reprogrammed the stat and unit worked fine, but the customer had no cooling for a day (in the height of summer!) and it also cost them hundreds of dollars – all because their staff were not trained in using the stat!

Are today’s thermostats too complicated? Look at our energy management page for a simpler solution.