Touchstone Heating & Air Inc. Blog: Archive for the ‘Air Conditioning’ Category

Maintenance for the Air Conditioning—It’s Time Again!

Monday, February 8th, 2021

time-service-clockIt’s not yet officially spring. That doesn’t happen until the third week of March. But Florida weather is Florida weather, and we have to be ready for hot spells at almost any time, and the season for air conditioning seems to start earlier each year. We’re sure you’ve used your AC a few times during the last couple of months, which is when people in many other parts of the country have their furnaces going full-blast through the day to fend off below-freezing temperatures. 

What we’re getting at is that now is a time to plan for your regular air conditioning maintenance to get ready for the coming hot weather. 

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You Want a New AC for Next Year: Now What?

Monday, October 19th, 2020

air-conditionerThis sounds a bit like a Christmas request (we don’t think Santa can cram a new central air conditioning system down your chimney, and we also doubt he has the proper certifications to accurately size it), but it may be a big question you’ve got for the upcoming season. You know that the current AC you have is near the end of its service life, and trying to push it through another summer in Florida may end in disaster. 

If you’re concerned about the performance of your central air conditioning system, we suggest you take steps soon for AC installation in Gainesville, FL. Our winters may have cooler weather than our summers, but the hot days never go away for too long. You may need the air conditioner up and running soon—so it’s better to have the air conditioner be a new one.

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Let’s Do Some Forward Thinking About Your Home Cooling

Monday, October 5th, 2020

air-conditioning-with-flowersFall is one of the best times of the year to start thinking about your Lake City, FL, HVAC system. And not just the heating system, which you don’t rely on nearly as much as your air conditioning system in the Florida climate. This is a good time to consider the future of your home’s central cooling system because it’s much easier to make changes during the upcoming cooler weather, and you’ll be under less stress regarding the heat.

So let’s work together and think ahead, not just to next summer but the summers after it, and see what we can do for the best central cooling for your household.

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What AC Service Do You Need More: A Repaired AC or a New AC?

Monday, September 21st, 2020

question-markFlorida doesn’t go by the same seasonal playbook as many parts of the country. Air conditioning service in Gainesville, FL is something people consider throughout most of the year. Fall and winter offer better opportunities to have air conditioning jobs done, but the gap between periods when we won’t need our ACs running and when we do is narrow.

Since it’s now officially fall, it’s the right time to bring up a crucial question about air conditioning services: which job do you need done the most in the coming months, repairing your air conditioner or getting a new one?

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Warning Signs of Motor Problems in an AC

Monday, September 7th, 2020

compressor-in-ac-unitYour air conditioning system runs from a variety of motors. Trouble with any of these motors will affect your AC’s performance, lower your home comfort, raise your electrical bills, and may lead to a complete system breakdown. When you have trouble with an AC motor, the best solution is to call our technicians for air conditioning repair in Lake City, FL. We’ll repair or replace the troublesome motor.

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How Our HVAC Pros Can Help Your Cooling in Late Summer

Monday, August 10th, 2020

wrenchesThe later summer can be the worst when it comes to heat and humidity, especially in Florida. It can also be the worst when it comes to air conditioning system performance—a lot of pressure and stress have built up on the AC components in the last few months, and when it gets even hotter, the system may start to lose capacity or even break down.

It doesn’t have to be this way, not when you have a great Gainesville, FL, HVAC contractor who can help you out. We have more than two decades of helping North Central Florida homeowners enjoy the best cooling. Here are ways we can help you with cooling during the risky late days of summer.

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Why the Upper Floor of Your House Gets Too Hot

Monday, July 27th, 2020

thermometer-going-redOne of the common problems with air conditioning in Lake Butler, FL that we often help to fix is uneven cooling. Providing even cooling throughout even a medium-sized home is difficult, and it takes technicians with experience to ensure whatever AC system is installed for the house can deliver appropriate cooling to all the rooms. Some basic malfunctions in an air conditioner can lead to an imbalance in the house, with some locations receiving comfortable temperatures, and others growing too hot.

And the uneven cooling problem we encounter the most often is when the upstairs of a two-story house is hotter than it should be. The second story already faces challenges for cooling (heat rising, radiant heat coming through the roof), so if the AC starts to have problems, the upper floor will suffer first.

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Why You Should Upgrade Your Thermostat

Monday, July 13th, 2020

modern-thermostatYour thermostat is the part of your air conditioning system that is going to control everything that your system does. This means if something is wrong with your thermostat, it is going to impact your air conditioner’s operation. Likewise, having an updated and effective thermostat will have a positive effect on your comfort.

Take a moment to think about how old your thermostat is? Or how well it is really working. Your answer to that question may tell you what you didn’t want to know–it is time for an upgrade. If you are looking to invest in a  best thermostat, we’d like to offer our help getting it installed. It’s a job for the pros after all. The main question is, is an upgrade really worth it?

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AC Short-Cycling—What Might Cause It

Monday, June 15th, 2020

service-tools-air-conditionersYou may not have heard of ­short-cycling, but you may have noticed it in your house. It’s when your air conditioning system turns on and off more often than normal. Your air conditioner’s cooling cycle is the process of it turning on at a request from the thermostat, running until it registers the house has reached the thermostat setting, then shutting down until the thermostat makes a request again. Most AC cycles last for 15 minutes or more, and if you keep the thermostat at the same setting during the day, the cycles should have a steady pattern.

When that pattern becomes the AC turning on and off multiple times over an hour—less than 15 minutes on at a time—then it’s short-cycling.

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What Can Cause AC Fans to Stop Working?

Monday, June 1st, 2020

desk-fanYour air conditioning system has two fans that are essential for it to work. The fan you’re most used to hearing and feeling is the indoor blower fan. This fan is located at the bottom of the HVAC cabinet, where it pulls air from the return air ducts and then pushes it past the evaporator coil, where it’s cooled, and then into the ventilation system.

The second fan is in the condenser cabinet outside. This fan draws air through the grill of the cabinet to run it across the condenser coil and release heat. The fan then pushes this heat through the top of the cabinet.

If either fan stops working, you won’t have a cool home. A broken indoor fan means air won’t move through the ducts. A broken outdoor fan means the AC can’t effectively release the heat it drew from indoors and won’t cool down the home’s air.

What causes these fans to break, and what can you do about it?

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