Red Rock Mechanical, LLC Blog

More About Furnace Efficiency: Why Are New Furnaces More Efficient?

January 30th, 2017

furnace-burners-against-blackLast week we went into details about gas furnace efficiencies, specifically the AFUE rating and whether it means you’ll save energy with a high-efficiency furnace or not. It’s a question that is best left to a professional to answer.

However, we want you know that we definitely encourage consumers to look into high-efficiency furnace options when they start looking around for a new installation or a replacement for an older heater. The AFUE ratings of furnaces are higher than they’ve ever been: older furnaces used to average between 56% and 70% AFUE ratings, which meant wasting between 44% and 30% of the natural gas the furnace burned. Today, furnaces range from 85% to 98.5% AFUE, and the ENERGY STAR requirement for a furnace is 90%.

But why exactly are furnaces able to perform at such energy-saving levels today? There are several reasons.

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Does a High AFUE Rating Guarantee I’ll Save Money with a New Furnace?

January 23rd, 2017

question-mark-badgePlanning for a new furnace installation in Plattsburgh, NY means balancing out multiple factors to find the right furnace model to meet your home’s heating needs. You probably already know about at least one important furnace stat: AFUE, which is the standardized measure for furnace energy efficiency. Does it make sense to purchase only a furnace with the highest AFUE rating you can find? Is that a guarantee you’ll save money on heating your home in the future?

There’s a Simple Answer—But It Needs a Longer Explanation

The simple answer is: “no.” AFUE is not a guarantee you’ll save money. AFUE is information about how the furnace performs, but it doesn’t automatically mean the furnace will reduce household energy bills during the winter. We’ll explain further how AFUE is measured and how it can affect your decision for furnace installation.

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Why Isn’t My Gas Furnace Providing Heat?

January 16th, 2017

This is definitely not a question you want to find yourself asking during a winter in Northwest Vermont! But if you do run into the situation of a furnace that simply isn’t doing what it’s supposed to, you’ll need to get to the bottom of it fast. In some cases, you can remedy the trouble on your own. Others will require you call on heating professionals.

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Is Your Furnace Tripping the Circuit Breaker?

January 9th, 2017

Furnaces, if they receive annual maintenance in the fall, will run with few problems during each winter. However, repair problems can still crop up, and one of the more common ones is when the furnace causes a circuit breaker to trip. This will cause the furnace to stop working until the breaker is reset. Sometimes this will only happen once.

But if the furnace continues to trip the circuit breaker, there might be something wrong with the furnace or the electrical panel that will require professionals.

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How to Tell You Need a New Garbage Disposal

January 2nd, 2017

If you’re used to working in a home kitchen with a garbage disposal in the sink, you wouldn’t want to have to go without it. Even a single day with no disposal will make you understand what an essential part of your daily life it is.

Unfortunately, people often ignore signs that their garbage disposal is coming to the end of its service life (usually 10 to 15 years). Below are a few of the indications that will tell you it’s time to call our expert plumbers and arrange to have a new disposal put in. It’s a good way to get your kitchen off to a fine start to the New Year!

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Post-Holidays: A Good Time for Drain Cleaning!

December 27th, 2016

The holiday season is almost behind us. January is the month when we return to work and look ahead at the year and think of important chores that need to be done. January is a “clean-up and maintenance month.” One bit of house-cleaning that we recommend is drain cleaning.

You may not have thought about arranging for professional drain cleaning services before (no, pouring chemicals down the drains is not “drain cleaning”), but you’ll be impressed at what a difference it will make during the rest of the year.

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Two Winter Heat Pump Problems—That Aren’t Really Problems

December 21st, 2016

Heat pumps have improved so much over the past decade that they are now practical in colder areas. Our winters are mighty chilly, but if you have the right heat pump installation from our experts, you can expect the system to make it through the season without trouble.

If this is your first winter using a heat pump, you might run into some behavior from it that will seem alarming. Actually, these odd-seeming occurrences are normal. If you know what to look for, you won’t need to panic and call for repairs.

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Let’s Keep Your Heating an Energy-Saver through the Winter

December 12th, 2016

No question about it… winter has already arrived here in Vermont. It doesn’t matter that the actual start date of winter is December 21. Vermont’s winter snow doesn’t follow any timetable!

If you’ve already had heating maintenance done for your furnace or heat pump (make sure to do this every fall), then you are already off to a good start with a heating system that will work at the highest energy efficiency throughout the season. But there are more steps you can take now that the winter is here to see that the heater gives you the best value for your comfort until spring arrives:

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How to Deal with Frozen Pipes in Winter

December 5th, 2016

This is a topic that we need to turn to ever year right as winter starts to close in because it’s one of the major threats that household plumbing faces when temperatures plunge below zero. Frozen pipes are bad news for a whole range of reasons, but the two most important are:

  1. Frozen pipes stop the flow of water
  2. Frozen pipes can lead to pipe bursting and potential flooding

What can you do about frozen pipes? Let’s look at the steps you can take:

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Preparing Your Outdoor Air Conditioner for Winter

November 29th, 2016

Taking care of your home’s heating system to prepare it for winter is an essential step to take during the fall. However, your air conditioner requires some attention at this time as well. If you have a standard split-system AC (i.e. it has both indoor and outdoor components), it’s important to follow a few steps to “winterize” the air conditioner over the long months of cold when it won’t be running. This will help ensure its best operation when it starts up next year. These steps will protect the unit from snow as well as from rust.

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