Touchstone Heating & Air Inc Blog | Air Conditioning and Heating Tips

What Does “Tonnage” Mean for Commercial HVAC?

July 12th, 2021

AC-units-on-roof We offer service for light commercial HVAC in High Springs, FL. “Light” commercial means we work with AC and heating units that are 25 tons and under. No, that doesn’t have anything to do with how much the equipment weighs. The “tonnage” of a system is a bit more complex, and it has to do with the amount of heating and cooling an HVAC unit can provide.

This applies to residential ACs and heaters as well, so even if you don’t own or operate a commercial facility, you may wish to stick around and learn about how professionals determine the amount of power necessary to provide climate control for a building.

Detecting Problems With Your Commercial Air Conditioning

June 28th, 2021

commercia-hvac-fans-in-rotation Along with our great services for homeowners throughout North Central Florida, we also provide service for light commercial HVAC in Alachua, FL, and the rest of our service area. (Light commercial means systems 25 tons and under.) As local business owners ourselves, we understand the difficulties a company can face when their cooling systems give out in the middle of summer. You may depend on the AC to keep customers, clients, and employees happy, or the AC may do a critical job cooling down equipment. No matter how you use your commercial air conditioning, when it fails you’ll need our experts on the job to repair it.

You want to catch potential AC problems early, before they turn into a full system breakdown leaving your facility without cooling. This presents difficulties, because AC equipment usually sits on the roof of the building. But you still can watch for these warning signs that will tell you to call our team for repair service.

Why You Hear Water Dripping in Your AC

June 1st, 2021

water One of the caution signs we tell homeowners about that will help them determine when they need repairs for their air conditioning in High Springs, FL is strange sounds. When you hear your AC making noises like hissing, bubbling, grinding, screeching, or clanging, it usually means something is wrong that requires the assistance of our HVAC professionals.

One sound you’ll hear from an AC that might be a bit odd but which is normal is dripping water. You’ve probably heard this many times before while your air conditioner was cooling down the house, and maybe you wondered at some point why it makes that sound. After all, an air conditioner doesn’t use water to cool the air. So why is there water dripping in your AC?

We’re going to answer that question here, not just because it’s an interesting bit of information, but because knowing the facts can help you recognize potential future problems.

Do You Have an Old R-22 Air Conditioner? Let’s Find Out!

May 17th, 2021

refrigerant-from-AC If you read the title of this post and thought, “A what air conditioner?”, don’t feel like you’re missing vital information that you’re supposed to know. Most homeowners aren’t aware of the specifics of the manufacture of their air conditioning systems, such as what type of refrigerant they use.

However, if you don’t know about R-22 air conditioning systems, we’re glad to provide you with this info. It’s likely that you don’t have an R-22 unit, but if you do, you’ll want to have it replaced as soon as possible.

So, on to the details of what we’re actually talking about…

Does My AC Have a Cooling Limit?

May 3rd, 2021

Your house is getting warm on a hot day, so you set the thermostat to switch on the air conditioning system. Soon, your house begins to feel comfortably cool, and the AC runs for as long as necessary.

At least, this is home cooling is supposed to work. If your air conditioning in Lake City, FL was professionally installed so it has the right cooling output to provide comfort to your house, then you can expect to have few problems staying cool during the summer.

But you might wonder if there’s an upper limit to your air conditioning system, a level of heat that it can’t beat. You look at the thermostat and see the lowest setting is 60°F, which is pretty cold and not a temperature you’d normally want to be at during the summer. But it does make it seem like the AC can always get the house down to that low a temperature if necessary.

It’s not true, however. Yes, your AC has a cooling limit because of its temperature differential. Understanding this can help you better manage settings for the air conditioner during the summer.

Want to Pay Less to Cool Your House This Summer?

April 19th, 2021

Money Summer weather means higher electricity bills for your house. There’s no way to avoid a rise in costs because the compressor that allows an AC to provide cooling draws on a great deal of power when it runs. The average central air conditioning system uses around 3,000 to 3,5000 watts an hour, adjusted up and down depending on the AC’s size. How much this costs you is predicated on the price of electricity in your area.

As a comparison, if you run the AC in “fan only” mode where the compressor does not turn on, it uses 750 watts an hour on average. This will give you an idea of the increase in electrical use that is part and parcel of running an air conditioner.

However, you might be paying more to cool your house than you should. In fact, you likely are, because there are many ways you can pay less for central cooling that don’t mean having to sacrifice your comfort and sweat it out all summer. Below are a few ways to cut down on the high cost of summer cooling.

Battling VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) in Your House

April 5th, 2021

clouds-in-sky When you think of harmful or irritating particles in your home’s air, what comes to mind first? Probably dust, dander, bacteria, viruses, and mold spores. These are all problems for indoor air quality and we recommend using air filters or a special air purifier in Alachua, FL to combat them.

But one common pollutant may not be on your list: volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It’s a big term, and one worth knowing because VOCs are major problems for indoor air quality. We’ll explain more below.

Why an AC Might Cool—But Not Cool ENOUGH

March 22nd, 2021

heat-and-family-before-fans What do you expect from a central air conditioner in a house? The answer is simple: you want it to make the house cool and comfortable when the weather is hot. If the AC can’t do that, what good is it?

Unfortunately, it’s possible to have a central air conditioning system that, while it sends out cool air, doesn’t make a house cool enough for comfort. That’s not something you should tolerate! Instead of spending the summer with the family gathered around the room vents to get closer to the cool air supply like you’re huddling around a dying fire in winter, call us for the air conditioning service in Alachua, FL that will solve the problem. We can find out what’s wrong and see that you have a comfortable home all summer.

The End of Maintenance? You May Need a New AC

March 8th, 2021

ac-units-scrapyard In our past two posts, we wrote about the importance of having regular AC maintenance each spring. We could post plenty more about this topic, since it’s that important—you can have most of your potential AC problem vanish thanks to keeping up with maintenance. There is one AC problem you can’t avoid this way, however, which is that the time will come when your air conditioner must be replaced. Maintenance will postpone that day, but no cooling system can last forever, no matter how much care it receives.

This year might be the year. You schedule maintenance with our technicians, we examine the AC, and explain that it’s not likely to last much longer unless it has expensive repairs—repairs that won’t be worth it compared to replacing it with a new AC.

What Can Go Wrong With an AC That Isn’t Maintained

February 22nd, 2021

old-ac Our last post was our annual reminder about scheduling air conditioning maintenance every spring—or a bit before spring for Florida because of the way our seasons work. But we aren’t finished with all we have to say about AC maintenance yet. It’s important enough for a second reminder as well as some more in-depth information about what makes maintenance so critical.

So we’re going to go into “scary mode” in this post. We’re not alarmists, but when it comes to air conditioning in Alachua, FL, we’re experts who have seen what can go wrong when an AC isn’t given regular professional care. We want you to avoid these problems, so putting a bit of a scare into you is healthy. It’s much better than being trapped with no AC on a 90°F + day!