If your new year’s resolution this year is to save money, live healthier, or embrace new technology, great news — upgrading to a new heating and air system in your Alabama home can help you achieve all those goals and more.

Best of all, the friendly expert HVAC technicians at Douglas Cooling & Heating are here to assist your home’s HVAC system. We’re excited to help Birmingham heating and cooling perform at its best for another year.

Need more proof a new heating and air upgrade is a great idea in 2019? Read on for more benefits to an HVAC system upgrade this year.

New Heating and Air Saves Money on Energy Bills

The average HVAC system has a lifespan of about 15 years. If you can’t remember the last time you upgraded your home’s HVAC equipment or know it was at least longer than a decade, you’re a good candidate for investing in a new, more efficient heating and air system.

In addition, consider this: the Department of Energy reports homes heating and cooling their homes with high-efficiency models save up to 30 percent on their energy bills.

With those savings, it won’t be long until your investment in your family’s comfort starts paying for itself.

Breathe Easier with New Heating and Air Systems

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans spend an average of 90 percent of their time indoors. If you have an inefficient heating and cooling system, it adds up to a lot of exposure to allergens and other harmful particles in your home.

With a new high-efficiency heating and air system this year, rest assured your home feel more comfortable. The air you breathe will be cleaner, too.

High-efficiency systems come equipped with filtration systems and variable speed motors to provide constant purified airflow throughout your home. This is a major plus for allergy and asthma sufferers.

Add better ventilation throughout your home and everyone breathes easier.

Live in a Quieter, More Comfortable Home

If it’s been more than a decade since you updated your home’s clanging and banging HVAC equipment you’ll be amazed. The sound of a new heating and air system made with high-tech sound-absorbing materials will be music to your ears.

That’s because they’re so quiet and built for their intended purpose — for you to feel heating and cooling comfort, not hear it.

Integrate Smart Devices into Your Home

If your HVAC equipment is fairly new, you can still improve the comfort in your home.  

With smart thermostats, for example, you can program and control an efficient heating and cooling schedule from anywhere.

Change the settings with the tap of a button on an app on your smartphone. You can even set it to make automatic adjustments based on the weather forecast and your family’s preferences and schedule.

Improve Your Home’s Heating and Air System This Year

Make 2019 the best year yet for your home’s HVAC system. Call the pros at Douglas Cooling & Heating to guide you on the best options for enhancing your home with new heating and air equipment today. We’re also indoor air quality experts! We’re available for free estimates and finance options to improve your Birmingham home or business.

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Heating and air systems have many components which function together to deliver comfort to your home. For heating, the air handler is an important component of a heat pump system which delivers warm air throughout your home.

Learn how air handlers function with heating and air systems and see why this equipment is so vital to the heating process. If you have questions or need service for your Birmingham, Alabama-area home’s air handler, call Douglas Cooling & Heating today.

What Is an Air Handler in an HVAC System?

An air handler looks very similar to a gas furnace, except these two pieces of equipment function quite differently. Like a furnace, it uses a blower and fan to circulate air into the home.

While air handlers are available with supplemental heating, their primary use is not to generate heat, like a furnace.

Air handlers pair with split system air conditioners or heat pumps. Their main function is to circulate the conditioned air into your home. It connects to the home’s duct system to circulate air. The air handler is the indoor component of the split system and is paired with the outdoor component.

Air handlers look like a big metal box similar to a furnace. They contain a blower, filter compartment, heating or cooling elements, sound attenuators and dampers.

Do I Need an Air Handler for my Heating and Air System?

If your Birmingham, AL area home is equipped with a heat pump, an air handler is a must. The air handler’s job is to move air heated by the heat pump into your home for warmth – without it, your heat pump really wouldn’t do you much good.

New air handler technology offers features such as variable speed blower motors to adjust air speeds and save energy based on your home’s heating needs. This helps you cut heating energy consumption.

Air handlers improve air circulation in the home, benefitting indoor air quality. With an air handler paired with your heat pump, you’ll experience fewer pollutants and allergens inside your living areas.

As a result, your family breathes easier and copes with fewer respiratory illnesses.

Matching Air Handlers for Heating and Air

For best performance and efficiency, indoor and outdoor split system units should be properly matched. These heating and air components are designed to work together, and when one unit isn’t the right fit for the other, performance and efficiency will suffer.

It’s always smart to replace your air handler and your outdoor unit at the same time to ensure a matched heating and air system.

If you purchase a new high-efficiency air handler and do not replace the outdoor heat pump or air conditioner, your new air handler will not offer the efficiency levels you expect.

Non-matching units create more operating stress on the system, driving up energy costs, increasing wear and tear, and causing earlier breakdowns.

Heating and Air Professionals in Birmingham

Get the right air handler your heating and air system needs when you work with Douglas Cooling & Heating. Our NATE-certified technicians are happy to answer any air handler questions you may have.

We want to help you find a perfectly matched heating and air system to deliver the comfort your household needs. So, are you ready to get comfortable? Call Douglas!

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Just like all heating systems, heat pumps experience issues throughout the year which require HVAC troubleshooting to fix. Solve simpler heat pump issues with HVAC troubleshooting. If necessary, engage our NATE-certified heat pump technicians for the diagnosis and repair of more complex issues .

Douglas Cooling & Heating has compiled this HVAC troubleshooting for heat pump guides to help you quickly solve your simple heat pump issues and restore comfort sooner without the service fees.

Professional HVAC Troubleshooting for Heat Pumps

If you are not comfortable performing any of the HVAC troubleshooting steps below or your heat pump problem is more extensive, always call Douglas Cooling & Heating for professional help.

Our NATE-certified heat pump technicians are trained to diagnose and repair all heat pump issues. We also provide preventative maintenance to help you care for your Birmingham home’s heat pump and avoid performance issues such as the ones discussed below.

HVAC Troubleshooting for Heat Pumps

Heat pump won’t turn on

• Check the thermostat to make sure settings are correct (heat when heat is required, cool when air conditioning is required). Set the temperature either a few degrees higher than room temperature for heating or a few degrees lower for cooling, which should initiate a heat pump cycle.
• Check power sources to the thermostat. Change batteries if battery-powered. If hardwired, check the circuit breaker box. Is the breaker powering the thermostat tripped?
• Check power sources to the heat pump. Check the on/off switches located near your indoor and outdoor units. Have they accidentally flipped? Finally, check the home’s circuit breaker panel. Is the breaker powering the heat pump flipped?

Heat pump isn’t producing enough heating/cooling

• Make sure all registers throughout the home are open and all vents unblocked.
• Check your air filter. Change it if it’s clogged and restricts airflow.

Heat pump freezes up

• If the heat pump’s defrost cycle is not melting ice accumulated on the unit, turn off the system for HVAC troubleshooting.
• Check the air filter for clogs and replace it if needed.
• Inspect air vents throughout the home and make sure they are not closed or blocked.
• Try to gently remove any ice built up on the coil. Do not use tools which could damage the unit.
• Pour warm water slowly over the ice to melt it.
• If gutters above the unit are allowing water to empty onto your heat pump, reroute the flow of water away from your heat pump.

Heat pump makes loud noises during operation

• Loose cover panels often cause rattling noises during operation. Check all panels to the unit. Securely tighten all screws.
• Inspect ductwork if possible for loose sections which may cause noise during operation. You may be able to seal or tighten these sections yourself, or call Douglas Cooling & Heating for professional HVAC troubleshooting.

Douglas Cooling & Heating – HVAC Troubleshooting Experts in Birmingham

For professional HVAC troubleshooting of your heat pump issues, contact Douglas Cooling & Heating today to schedule heat pump service. Our NATE-certified heat pump technicians are available 24/7 to diagnose and repair your home’s heat pump to improve performance and keep your home at comfortable temperatures year-round.

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Winter getaways to visit family or simply going on vacation is a staple for many Birmingham, AL area homeowners. Before leaving, you’ll run through many steps to keep your home safe while you’re away – is your heating and air system on the list?

Your heating and air equipment, when set properly, will help keep your home safe even when its unoccupied. Douglas Cooling & Heating tells you how to use your systems to protect your home so you can enjoy your winter vacation care-free.

Heating and Air Care for Winter Vacation

Before you leave for winter vacation, follow our heating and air system to-do list to ensure the safety of your home and HVAC equipment while you’re gone.

Schedule preventative maintenance for your heating and air equipment

Even after you’ve started using your heating system for the year, it’s not too late for preventative maintenance!

A preventative maintenance tune-up will work to ensure the system is operating properly, while you’re home and while you’re away. This protects against unexpected breakdowns when no one is home to discover them.

Schedule heating and air repair

If your heating system struggles to keep up with demand, makes unusual noises, or experiences other performance issues, call Douglas Cooling & Heating. Have our NATE-certified heating and air technicians take care of these problems before you leave town.

This helps prevent the issue from snowballing while you’re gone, leading to a costlier repair and extensive damage.

Check and change your furnace filter before you go

Before you leave town, inspect your air filter to see if it’s ready for a change. Change the filter if caked in gray dirt and debris.

Why change your air filter before vacation? If your furnace or heat pump operates with a dirty air filter, it could overheat.

When this problem goes undetected while you’re gone, the issue persists and could cause serious damage to your heating and air system.

Set your thermostat to about 50 degrees while you’re away

Do not completely shut off your heating and air system while you’re gone in the winter! If you have a programmable or smart thermostat, use the hold or vacation feature. This temporarily interrupts programmed or learned schedules over the course of your vacation.

This temperature set point prevents frozen pipes while you are gone. It also keeps any animals staying home comfortable and safe.

Setting your thermostat back to about 50 degrees decreases your energy bills for the period and prevents heating your home while it’s unoccupied.

According to the Department of Energy, turning back your thermostat seven to 10 degrees for periods of 8 hours a day from their normal settings can generate an energy savings of up to 10 percent each year.

When you return, be sure to increase the temperature gradually. Flipping the thermostat from 50 to 72 is not good for your equipment.

At Home or Away, Douglas Cooling & Heating is Your HVAC Contractor

Using your heating and air system properly while you’re away will keep your home safe from damaging low temperatures. If your heating or cooling system requires repair or replacement this winter, contact Douglas Cooling & Heating right away!

Our NATE-certified technicians perform reliable installation and repairs to keep your home comfortable throughout the winter months.

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A furnace is not a one-size-fits-all appliance and when a gas furnace is too small or too big it causes a range of comfort problems. There are many sizes available meant to suit the needs of homes in a range of square footages. 

A gas furnace sized right for your home improves indoor comfort and keeps energy costs manageable. Douglas Cooling & Heating’ NATE-certified heating technicians perform the necessary calculations to accurately size a new gas furnace for your home.

Problems When a Gas Furnace is Too Small

When your gas furnace is sized too small for your home, it cannot generate enough heat to meet the heating demand of your living areas. To compensate, it runs longer than it should to create enough heat for your home.

These extra long heating cycles place the equipment under a great deal of stress. They also burn excess energy in the process and cause wear and tear at a faster rate than normal.

The result is higher heating bills, discomfort indoors, and a furnace more likely to break down.

Why might someone install a gas furnace too small for a space? Smaller capacity furnaces typically cost less than larger equipment. A person who installs a smaller furnace does so as a cost savings measure. This so-called cost savings measure actually results in a costly mistake.

Problems When a Gas Furnace is Too Big

When sized correctly, a heating system cycles to deliver a select amount of heating over a period of time. This keeps your living areas properly heated.

Furnaces too big for a home generate the required amount of heat faster than the cycle time. This causes what is known as short cycling – the system’s heating cycles start and stop quickly.

Short cycling places the furnace under great stress and causes similar issues as a “too small” furnace. Increased wear, improper heating, and shorter service life result when you use a furnace too big for your home.

Someone might install a gas furnace too large for a home thinking it’ll heat the home faster and use less energy.

In fact, the increased wear on the furnace due to short cycling increases the expense of operation and causes serious damage to the equipment.

Ensure Your Heating System Fits Just Right

When your gas furnace is sized correctly for your home, you’ll benefit in many ways. It will provide reliable temperature control indoors, operate quietly, and consume less energy over a longer service life.

Working with the NATE-certified heating technicians of Douglas Cooling & Heating is the best way to ensure your gas furnace is the right size for your home.

We perform heating load calculations based on multiple factors to determine what capacity furnace is right for the house.

If we determine your existing furnace is too large or small for your home, we will gladly show you new equipment options. We offer our expertise and guidance so you choose the right system for your needs. We also provide quality installation services for your new gas furnace.

Don’t sacrifice comfort this winter with an incorrectly-sized heating system! Douglas Cooling & Heating will help you size and select a new furnace to keep you warm without the high energy bills generated by furnaces of the wrong size. Call us today to learn more.

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Waking up to a cold home and a faulty gas furnace is a wintertime nightmare no homeowner wants. If you find your gas furnace is running and blowing cold air, what’s the solution? Douglas Cooling & Heating reviews common causes behind a gas furnace blowing cold air and how repair or replacement can solve your comfort issues.

Why Is My Gas Furnace Blowing Cold Air?

The cause behind a gas furnace blowing cold air can be simple or more complex. Some simple HVAC system issues easy to troubleshoot include:

Gas furnace fan settings

If your gas furnace only blows cold air periodically, your HVAC system fan settings may be the problem. If the thermostat’s fan setting is “ON”, the blower motor will continue to run.

This is true even after a heating cycle has ended, and circulate cold air through your vents. Switch the fan settings to AUTO to solve the issue.

Pilot light

Older furnaces still in use may operate with a pilot light rather than newer ignition systems. If the pilot light goes out then there is no combustion process. No combustion, therefore, no heat.

Relight the pilot light following the manufacturer’s instructions. If this was the issue, heat restores.

No gas

Make sure the gas valve to your furnace is on. If not, turn it on and see if heat returns. If you use liquid propane as heating fuel, your tank may be empty.

Check your tank’s volume and have it refilled if needed.

Dirty air filter

Clogged air filters strain your gas furnace. The clog obstructs airflow and keeps heat from your living areas. If your air filter is dirty, change it right away.

More Complex Gas Furnace Issues Require Professional Assistance

Some causes are more complex and require the assistance of Douglas Cooling & Heating’ NATE-certified heating technicians:

• Ignition system: Newer electronic ignition systems, as well as pilot lights, may malfunction. This prevents the lighting of fuel. Therefore it generates no heat.
• Severe duct leaks: If major duct leaks exist in your system, much of the heat your gas furnace produces is lost. Cold air from the areas surrounding the ducts move into the duct system and circulate into your home. This makes it feel as if your furnace is pushing cold air through your vents.
• Dirty flame sensors: If the furnace’s flame sensors are covered in soot because you skipped preventative service, the gas burners will not stay lit. Flame sensors must be cleaned by a certified HVAC technician.

Additional culprits could be faulty circuit boards or other malfunctioning components. Call Douglas Cooling & Heating for assistance solving the problem.

Gas Furnace Service, Repair and Replacement

When you call Douglas Cooling & Heating because your gas furnace is blowing cold air, our NATE-certified technicians inspect your system to diagnose the issue causing the cold air you feel.

Sometimes, service easily resolves these issues. If so, we will perform the gas furnace repair you need to get warm air flowing back into your home.

Other issues may make replacement a better solution. This is especially true when the cost of repairs is extensive and your existing furnace is nearing the end of its service life.

Douglas Cooling & Heating is a Factory Authorized Dealer of Bryant heating systems. Our staff will review your equipment options and help you select a new gas furnace to keep your home supplied with reliable comfort for years to come.

So if your gas furnace blows cold air, contact Douglas Cooling & Heating for help. Our NATE-certified heating technicians perform around the clock gas furnace service to restore heat quickly in your Birmingham, Alabama home or business.

We’ll find the source of the problem and make reliable repairs you can trust for warmth and comfort this heating season.

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