Blue is best
We are half way through the heating season, and it’s been a busy one. We are hoping to catch our breath soon and get ready for the spring servicing season.
Sometimes we get questions at this time about how the flame should look in your equipment. If you are adventurous enough to take a peek inside your furnace, hot water tank or (an easier one) your gas fire place….look for blue! A blue flame is what you want to see, it will burn the cleanest and produce the most heat. If you see a lot of orange in the flame (more than 10-15%) the equipment should be checked (by a qualified tech) to ensure everything is clean and functioning well.
Stay warm out there!
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
Is your furnace getting old, if so maybe time to think about replacing it.
Here is a presentation we recently did about this, enjoy.
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
Did you know that most times a new high efficiency furnace can pay for its self in three to five years in gas savings over the old equipment.
Here is a presentation we recently did about this, enjoy.
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
It’s that time of year again when nothing beats watching TV with the fire on and a big mug of hot chocolate. It’s all about staying warm and cosy, but energy costs can sneak up on you and you would be amazed at the savings that can be made by simply putting on a sweater (or cuddling up to your special someone under a blanket) and turning the heating down just a few degrees. Cool at night is naturally better for the human body. We sleep better when the room is cooler….your sleep will be deeper and the kids will get up less.
The best way to do all of this is a programmable thermostat, which will automatically warm your house just before you wake, and then turn the temperature down when everyone is out during the day. It can then be programmed to ensure you always come home to a warm house, and cool again for sleep time! Programmable thermostats are reasonably inexpensive and will pay for themselves very quickly in the middle of winter.
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
With the colder weather now upon us, we thought we would do some quick heating tips to get you through the chill. This is a presentation we recently shared, we hope you enjoy it.
http://youtu.be/j4qBXqcVLiw
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
Some of the most popular questions at this time of year is ‘how long should my furnace last?’ and ‘when should I change it?’
First off – if your heat exchanger is cracked it’s usually cheaper and better just to replace the furnace. If your HVAC provider tells you it’s cracked (get them to show you if you have doubt in your mind), it’s time to start shopping for a new one.
A furnace should last you 15 to 20 years, at that point start budgeting for a new unit. Any furnace over 30 years old is on borrowed time! Although in the past they WERE made to last longer, it’s because the heat exchangers are thicker, making them very inefficient (costing more in fuel bills). The biggest worry with a very old furnace is that some insurance companies will not cover you if you still have equipment of this age. Can you afford NOT to change your furnace?
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
It’s that time of year again when thoughts turn to heating and keeping warm! Here are some tips to help you get everything up and running to keep you cosy through the winter…
First and most important. If you turn your equipment on for the first time, after it has been off all summer, it sometimes doesn’t go as smoothly as you’d like! If you smell gas, get out of your building as quickly as possible. The gas smell could be caused by many things…but you need to call an expert as it is always dangerous. DON’T take chances with gas.
If you have electric there may be a smell of burning when you first switch on your equipment. This will just be dust on the coil, which should disappear fairly quickly. Don’t worry about this, unless the smell persists.
For those who are lucky enough to have a heat pump, you have enjoyed a/c all summer and now the unit will switch to heating. There should be no problems with this switch over, just check that the outside coil is clean and free of leaves.
For all your equipment, check your filters and have them cleaned or replaced as needed, and enjoy the wonderful Fall colours from your warm and toasty office or home!
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
You’ve probably heard this phrase banded about – but do you know what it means? Well, ‘high’ efficiency basically means that it is over 90% efficient (to compare; a ‘mid’ efficiency runs at under 80%). To achieve this the equipment must take more heat out of the gas, which is done by adding a heat exchanger designed to pull the very last bit of heat, before it is exhausted out of the building. In doing this, the gas is cooled so much that some of the water in the gas is condensed, which is why newer heating systems need to have a drainage system. The cooler temperatures in the gas also mean that venting can be plastic PVC and, instead of needing a chimney, can now be expelled out the side of the building.
Due to the water that’s produced by these systems special care needs to be taken during installation (for example, all vent piping must be sloped back to the furnace so the water can drain away). As you can see from the attached video (taken on a cold day) the exhaust from a high efficiency furnace is very similar to a dryer vent.
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
Back to basics again this month, the blower wheel is the bit of your equipment that pushes air through the ducts to heat or cool your space. There are lots of different ways of pushing air, but most manufacturers have settled on the ‘squirrel cage’ fan. This is basically just like the wheel you used to have your pet hamster run around in! In this case though a motor turns the wheel, while fins on the outside of the wheel grab the air and push it down the duct work.
No matter what kind of blower you have, it will get dirt on it and decrease the efficiency of your system. If it is not cleaned over a period of time it will eventually damage your equipment. This brings us back to last month’s blog and the importance of filters. Filters help to reduce the amount of dirt reaching the blower wheel, helping to keep your equipment in top condition.
Simple things make all the difference. Getting the basics right will save you a lot of time and money down the line.
Blower wheel
Squirrel cage wheel
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
This month we’re going back to basics, as some of you have pointed out that you know very little about our business and the Tip of the Month has occasionally been too technical.
So, the most basic equipment of all is the filters. All forced air heating and cooling systems must have filters installed (forced air simply means that the system uses a fan to ‘force’ the air through the space). Filters can range in price from $3 to $60, depending on the size and type of filter. Some systems need to use up to 3 filters in a row, for example in a kitchen where the exhaust air must be clean or a hospital where the filters will catch micro- organisms. Let’s focus on basic filters in common usage though. You definitely get what you pay for where filters are concerned. If you want cleaner air and need to keep out dust (in a computer server room, for example) paying a little extra for a quality filter makes a lot of sense. Where there is lots of fresh air and natural air movement (a public building with open air sections), a cheaper filter works just as well.
In most cases a middle of the road filter is a good bet. It should be checked 4 times a year, and maintenance programs can be set up to include filter changes and equipment checks at these times.
Cheep Filter
Good Filter
Here is a video of what a filter should not look like.
Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area. We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!
