Summertime—it’s sunshine, warm breezes, barbecues and the gentle hum of air conditioners keeping houses cool throughout the neighborhood. In a split second, that gentle hum can turn into an unnerving hissing, banging or screeching. While all air conditioners make noise, it’s important to be able to recognize which noises are normal, and which noises require a professional inspection.
It’s a homeowner’s worst nightmare. You flip on a light switch and nothing happens. You check an outlet, also no power. Finally, you head to the breaker box to see if anything needs to be reset. If that doesn’t work, then you’re calling an electrician and spending the rest of the day in the dark ages until your power is back up and running.
It should be common knowledge by now that signing up for a service membership plan with a reliable heating, air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical contractor has a lot of benefits.
Surge protectors are essential electrical safety features in just about every home. Living in a world powered by electronics, most households have at least one surge protector for their computers, entertainment centers, mobile devices or kitchen appliances.
As of the 2018 tax year, many of the federal tax credits for upgrading to new, energy-efficient appliances have expired. In the past, you were able to collect federal tax credits for energy-efficient water heaters, air conditioners, boilers, furnaces and other in-home appliances. Now, the IRS provides these types of tax credits only for residential renewable energy products. According to Energy Star, these tax credits should remain available through December 31, 2021.
The number one source of humidifier leaks is the homeowner not changing the water panel inside the unit.
If the panel gets plugged up with hard water deposits, the water can’t travel through the surface space of the panel like it’s supposed to. Instead, it begins to cascade—not down the pad, but on the outside of the unit. You may see water coming out of the cabinet.
Water heater leaks are an inevitable problem for most homeowners, especially with tank water heaters. Like any other appliance, water heaters eventually wear out and need to be replaced.
Tankless water heaters are known for being efficient and small in terms of their overall size and for that reason they are quite popular among most homeowners. Tank-style water heaters, on the other hand, will cost you much less than tankless water heaters and are easier to operate. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, but one might suit your home better than the other.
Your furnace is a hard-working appliance. Like any other appliance, its parts will wear down over time. However, there are a few steps you can take to make sure your furnace lasts as long as possible.
You finally get home after a long, chilly day. As soon as you come inside, you crank up the thermostat hoping to knock some of the chill out of your bones. But instead of being greeted with a warm, gentle breeze from the furnace, you’re startled by the sound of an earsplitting, hair-raising screech.
Your first thought is probably, “That sounds expensive.”
A screeching heater is unnerving. However, most of the time, it’s a simple fix that requires a bit of expert knowledge and skilled hands to repair. It’s not a sound that you want to turn up the TV and ignore, though—the longer your heater screeches, the more you risk costly damage.
Let’s take a look at the most common causes of a screeching or squealing heater.
