Spring – Air Handlers Inc.

Spring is (Almost) in the Air!

As February nears its end and March is coming in quick, you may be wondering what is on the horizon for your HVAC system! There are a few things to consider when it comes to the transition of Winter and Spring, and depending on your heating/cooling system, there may be some updates or maintenance to be performed.

Remove Your Outdoor Cover

While not everyone uses a cover, and not all units need one, you should double check that your unit doesn’t have a cover on it before trying to fire it up in the Spring. Check the outside portion of your HVAC system and remove its cover if you put one on before Winter.

Replace Your Air Filters

If you haven’t done so recently, you should probably replace the air filters in your heating/cooling system. This should be done regularly, so including it as part of your de-winterizing is an easy way to make sure it gets checked off the list.

Clean Your Air Vents

It’s also a good idea to periodically clean the air vents inside your home, ensuring they don’t have a buildup of dust, debris, and other contaminants. Firing your HVAC system up for the first time in a while can kick up settled dust and allergens, and cleaning your air vents can help minimize this burst of sneeze-inducing particulates.

Clean the Area Around Your Outside Unit

Sometimes things can accumulate around the exterior portion of your HVAC system during the winter, such as branches, leaves, etc. It’s a good idea to clean the area around your system to ensure there is nothing leaning against it, blocking airflow, or otherwise touching/affecting it.

Schedule an HVAC Tune-Up and Inspection

Last but not least, you should contact your HVAC technicians to schedule a routine inspection and maintenance appointment. These experts will check your system for complications or potential upgrades and ensure you’re good to go for the hot Summer months that come soon after Spring. Air Handlers has many talented HVAC experts who would be happy to help prepare you for the new year, so give us a call and schedule your appointment today!

Landscaping and HVAC

Other than your mower, the most visible piece of machinery on your property is likely your air conditioner. As you are landscaping, it’s a great time to also perform some HVAC equipment maintenance. To ensure optimal performance, make sure to trim shrubs, bushes, or branches back allowing clearance around your outdoor unit. Also, clearing away any grass clippings, leaves, foliage, and other debris will prevent possible airflow obstructions. Finally, double-check to make sure your HVAC unit is resting level on its concrete pad.

Additionally, if your unit is not already obstructed from view, there are many different plants that can help your HVAC blend into your landscaping more seamlessly. If maintaining the pruning of plants around an outdoor air conditioner seems like a daunting task, you can always build a decorative, gated enclosure to hide it from view.

Ready for Summer?

Spring is a time to throw open the windows and shutters, and breathe deeply as we air out our homes after a cooped-up winter. But summer heats up quickly, and it won’t be long before you need to close those windows again and crank up the AC. Before you do, call Air Handlers to ensure that your system is ready for the summer heat!

Ready for Warmer Weather?

Spring is here (technically, despite what the weather has decided to do of late). Still, warmer weather will be here sooner than later so now is a good time to make sure you’re ready for it! Many homeowners jump into action with some spring cleaning. In 2020, more than three-quarters (78 percent) of households did a little tidying up, according to the American Cleaning Institute. Homeowners prioritized the bedrooms, closets, and kitchens, eliminating dirt, odors, or asthma and allergy triggers like mold and dust.

From deep cleaning to a quick spruce-up, you can take some steps now to welcome the return of warm weather and prepare your home for rising temperatures. Here are a few ways to get your home back in shape well in advance of the season’s first heatwave.

1. Inspect Your Weather Stripping

Winter can take a toll on your house. Look for any post-winter gaps in the weather stripping around your doors and tighten any hinges that may have loosened in the shifting temperatures.

2. Gear Up For Time Outdoors

As the weather warms up, homeowners often head outside to enjoy the pleasant temperatures. If a backyard cookout is calling your name, make sure your grill is in good working order and positioned at least 10 to 15 feet away from your home. Check your deck, patio, and porch for anything that may have been damaged over the winter. Before your kids join the fun, check to make sure treehouses, trampolines, and playsets are stable.

3. Address Your Attic

Take some time before the weather heats up to inspect your attic. Look for signs of animals that may have found their way in and seal any holes. Check your insulation for any wet spots, which may indicate a leak, and consider adding additional insulation for the warmer season ahead.

4. Get Your Cooling System Ready

When temperatures begin to rise, an efficient AC system is crucial to maintaining a comfortable home environment with good indoor air quality. Pair your system with a smart thermostat like the iComfort^® S30 to monitor the air quality and pollen levels in your area. Be sure to check your system’s vents inside and outside for any blockages and test it to make sure it’s working properly. Now’s also a good time for preventative maintenance to prepare your HVAC system for the cooling season ahead. Call Air Handlers to schedule an inspection for your system before the temperatures start climbing.

5. Let The Sunshine In

Wash away the remnants of winter’s snow and ice by thoroughly cleaning your home’s windows. Use a multipurpose cleaner on your frame, windowsill, and hardware, and wipe clean. For a streak-free finish, use a microfiber cloth or even a newspaper. Just make sure to wash your windows on a cloudy day. Otherwise, the sun may dry your solution too soon, leaving your window with streaks.

The Spring Corner is Approaching!

Time seems to fly faster all the time. It’s almost Spring! That means that you should be making plans to perform Spring maintenance on your system.

Now, it isn’t quite to the point that we can turn off our furnaces. The evenings and nights are still fairly chilly. However, there are a few small things you can check ahead of the next weather change.

Check your filters – Yes, we know we hammer this one home, but it really is important. If you check/replace your filters regularly, that’s good! If not, you should at least plan to do so between seasons. This can help your system run more efficiently in any season.
Check for drafts – You’ve probably done this already. However, if you’re noticing that your rooms don’t always hold heat the way they once did, a good thing to do is check your windows for any drafts. The easiest way to do this is to (carefully) use a lit candle and move it around the edges of your windows. This will work best when there is some wind outside, but the flame moving means you may have a draft.
Clear the area – The last tip on this short list is to make sure that there is no debri surrounding your unit. With the wind and rain we get here in the Pacific Northwest, limbs and other debris can easily gather around your unit and cause problems.

Tips for Saving Energy

You shouldn’t have to worry over your energy bill. We’ve shared tips here for controlling your expenses, and we’re definitely not stopping. Among what can be done, there are big things, like investing in high-efficiency heating and air conditioning equipment, and smaller adjustments that don’t require as large an expense on your part.

Here are some of the smaller things you can do to help lower/control your monthly expenses:

Turn off the lights when you aren’t in a room.
Lower or raise the temperature your thermostat is set at (depending on the season).
Keep all your vents and registers open.
Keep the windows and doors of your home closed.
Change your furnace filter.
Switch to high-efficiency light bulbs.
Operate your ceiling fans correctly for the best distribution of air – clockwise during the winter and counter-clockwise during the summer.
Seal your windows and doors.
Set your thermostat to “AUTO” instead of “ON.”
Wash your clothes in cold water.
Take shorter showers.
Open or close curtains depending on the season.
Unplug items like televisions, kitchen appliances and more when they aren’t in use.
Layer up instead of turning up the thermostat during the winter.
Have a timer for your lights.
Take cooler showers.

These are just some examples to help your system run more efficiently and help control your monthly expenses. Call Air Handlers today to make sure that your system is ready for Spring and Summer!

Controlling Your Indoor Air Quality

Spring is quickly approaching. With it comes an uptick in pollen and other allergens outside. What about inside, though? Pollen, pet dander, dust, and other allergens can easily get into your home. How can you avoid them?

1. Air Filters

The biggest thing to remember is to keep your air filter clean. Your air filters should be changed regularly. You can also have Air Handlers check your system to make sure it is working properly for your home.

2. Floors Floors Floors

Do you have carpet or wood flooring? Is one better than the other? When it comes to in-home allergens, not really. Certainly, carpet can hold onto dust and dander, but wood flooring can, as well (especially in any hard to reach areas, such as at the corners of the room or under low objects). One way to handle this would be regularly vacuuming. While this is a good step, you need to be careful how you approach it, since some vacuums could blow allergens back into your home. You should also consider having your floors professionally cleaned annually.

3. Venting About

If your home uses a furnace, stove, fireplace, or a similar item (which should cover most homes), then proper ventilation will help with indoor air quality.

Other “combustibles” (or products that create toxic particles in the air) include things like tobacco smoke. Avoid using these items indoors to help keep some particles out of the air.

Overall, start with your HVAC system. Have it checked by a professional and then make sure you change your filters regularly. Call Air Handlers Inc today for a system check!

Comfort Matters: Preparing Your Home For Spring

Article originally posted on Lennox.com

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the squirrels are chasing each other up and down the trees. With all this activity going on, it’s hard not to get excited about the arrival of spring. So if you’re feeling energized and enthusiastic about this bright and breezy season, why not seize the moment and get some spring cleaning and much needed seasonal home maintenance done!

Get the clutter gone.

Decluttering is a great way to rid your home of stuff you no longer want, need or value. The benefits of owning fewer things are manyfold and include: fewer things to clean, fewer dust traps, less stress, less to organize, and more free time to do the things you really want to do.

Decluttering also frees up space in your home, which makes spring cleaning even easier. And if decluttering the whole house in one go feels too daunting, then simply tackle it one day at a time. If you get rid of one item every day for a whole year, by the time you’ve finished the project, your home will be 365 items lighter.

And for the items you want to keep, why not consider new ways of storing them or keeping them tidy. There are plenty of home organizational tips and tricks available to help you get ideas. Sometimes, just reorganizing your home can help you maximize the space you have and minimize the hassle you experience every time you want to find or use something.

Clear and clean—inside and out.

The outside of your home has probably taken more of a beating from winter than the inside, so start there. Walk around your home and examine caulking around the outside of windows and doors, and open those windows and doors and examine the weather stripping. Replace old or cracking caulk and worn weather stripping, where necessary. Also, inspect the roof for broken or missing shingles or tiles, and clean out gutters and downspouts at the same time.

Remember to check the air conditioner unit.

And while you’re outside checking the house and tidying the yard, remember to also check the air conditioner unit to ensure it’s debris free and in good working order. In fact, springtime is an ideal time to get your air conditioner, and the rest of the HVAC system, cleaned, serviced and ready for summer. So contact your local Lennox® Dealer soon and schedule an HVAC maintenance check. Clean coils, ducts and filters help to ensure that the system works efficiently and effectively all year long.

Think about cleaning the air in your house, too.

Cleaning the windows is a great place to start your inside spring cleaning. With so much more light filling your home, it’s easier to see just how much cleaning needs to be done. From ceiling fans to carpets and curtains, and from bathroom tiles to the top of kitchen cabinets, once you start clearing away the dust of winter, it’s really hard to stop.

But here’s one thing you may not have considered during your spring-cleaning frenzy, how clean is your indoor air? Springtime, especially, means the release of a lot of pollen and mold spores into the air, which in turn can cause a lot of unpleasant allergy-related symptoms. Lennox has Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) solutions that can remove 99.9% of allergy-causing irritants from your home’s air, providing extremely effective allergy-season relief. So when you’re getting your HVAC system serviced, ask your Lennox Dealer about what type of IAQ solution would be right for your home. He can recommend solutions that will combat your exact IAQ problems. So even if you can’t change the season, at least you can change your home into a sneeze-free, cough-free, and itchy-eyes-and-runny-nose-free zone.

A Special Spring Special

Spring is going to be here before you know it. Will your system be ready for this change? If not, we have a special Spring special to share with you! Your home should be a comfortable place and deliver energy efficiency.

Curious yet? You could get rebates up to $1,700 on a new system or financing for as low as $116 per month! Check out our Specials page for more information.