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

Problems That May Occur with the Boiler Circulator Pump

Thursday, January 29th, 2015

Hot water boiler systems need a little help pushing the hot water through the piping to heat your home. This help comes from small pumps called circulator pumps that are soldered into the pipes, and thus are part of the piping. Without the help of these pumps, the hot water would never reach your heating outlet.

How Does the Circulator Work?

Circulators use a small amount of electricity and gravity to push the water through your system. Inside the pump is a small motor; this motor turns a small wheel called an impeller. The impeller looks and functions like a miniature water wheel, and it is the component responsible for grabbing the water in the pipe and pushing it through to the other side at a high rate of speed. Rubber seals inside the pump keep water from leaking out of the pump at the points where it has been soldered into the pipe.

Common Circulator Problems

Circulator pumps are hardy little components, but they can break. Common repairs may be:

  • Broken or worn seals – the rubber seals inside the pump can age, crack or split, which can result in leaking from the pump. Water on the outside metal can lead to the development of rust, so if you see that a circulator pump on your boiler system is leaking, have it repaired as soon as possible.
  • Problems with the circulator relay switch – the motor is attached to a relay switch that sends power to it so it can operate; if the switch becomes faulty, the motor may not receive any power or receive power intermittently.
  • Circulator won’t turn on – reasons a circulator won’t turn on include issues with your thermostat, unequal settings between the circulator’s aquastat and the boiler’s thermostat and a dead or frozen pump motor.
  • Circulator runs but heat is low – this can be due to a broken or damaged impeller inside the pump.

Sometimes circulator pumps can be repaired, but other times they may need to be replaced.

The best way to handle any kind of heating repair to your boiler is to call the experts at Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., and schedule an appointment for heating services in Alexandria, VA.

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What Does the AFUE Rating Mean for a Boiler?

Thursday, January 15th, 2015

The energy efficiency of any heating system should be an important consideration for your home. Why? Energy efficiency relates directly to fuel usage, and fuel usage can impact your home’s budget. Just as whole-home air conditioning systems have their energy efficiency rated by SEER numbers, so, too, do combustion heating systems: AFUE. Understanding what AFUE means can go a long way toward ensuring that your boiler installation in Northern Virginia is an energy efficient one.

AFUE

The acronym AFUE stands for annual fuel utilization efficiency. AFUE measures the efficiency of a combustion heating system’s ability to convert fuel into energy. AFUE is presented as a percentage, and this percentage will tell you exactly what percentage of your fuel is being used as energy and what part is lost to byproduct exhaust. For example, a boiler with an AFUE of 85% means that 85% of the fuel used becomes energy that heats your home and the other 15% is exhausted through your flue as combustion byproduct. Having this kind of specific information can help you choose a boiler that meets both your heating needs and your energy efficiency needs.

AFUE Standards for Boilers

Each type of combustion heating system has minimum AFUE standards as set by the Federal Trade Commission. When it comes to boilers, the type of fuel used to power the boiler helps to determine what the minimum AFUE number will be:

  • Natural gas hot water boiler – minimum AFUE of 82%
  • Natural gas steam boiler – minimum AFUE of 80%
  • Oil hot water boiler – minimum AFUE of 84%
  • Oil steam boiler – minimum AFUE of 82%

Condensing boilers, which are boilers that use the latent heat from combustion vapors, have AFUE’s well over 90%.

While AFUE should not be the only factor you consider for your boiler installation in Northern Virginia, it should be one of the top factors of the installation process.

Ready for a new boiler? Call the experts at Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., and schedule an appointment today!

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Why Cleaning and Adjusting Boiler Components Each Year is Necessary

Thursday, January 8th, 2015

As the cold and snow set in for the season, your boiler is working hard to keep you, your family and your home warm. There is a way you can give back to your boiler, though: schedule it for maintenance. A maintenance appointment isn’t a quick review of your system; instead, it is a thorough inspection and full tune-up, during which the components are reviewed, cleaned and adjusted as needed. Boiler maintenance in Northern Virginia allows your boiler to work optimally. And while it’s always good to get ahead of winter with fall maintenance, the truth is if your boiler hasn’t been maintained in over 12 months, any time is a good time for maintenance.

Reasons to Schedule Maintenance

During regular usage, the components of your boiler become worn and dirty; some parts attract dust, making it difficult to operate correctly. Here are some of the benefits of scheduling maintenance:

  • Better energy efficiency – your boiler was made to operate at a specific level of energy efficiency, but it can’t do so when the parts and system are dirty and worn down from the previous season or seasons. The cleaning the system receives during an annual inspection appointment allows the system to work optimally.
  • Prevents repairs – the thorough inspection conducted by the technician allows him/her to detect any developing or existing problems and either make small repairs during the appointment, such as with frayed wiring, or inform you about necessary repairs. Maintenance allows you to get ahead of repairs before they can become a serious problem.
  • Extends life of equipment – maintenance keeps your boiler in good working order; when your system is in good working order, there is no extra stress on it, which helps reduce premature aging.
  • Better comfort – a boiler that is healthy will have no problems achieving the temperature you’ve set on your thermostat, keeping you in better comfort all winter.

Maintenance involves a number of tasks and steps that are all designed to maximize the operation and efficiency of your boiler.

If you haven’t scheduled your boiler in Northern Virginia for maintenance yet, call Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., today.

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How Can You Tell It’s Time for Commercial Heating Replacement?

Thursday, December 11th, 2014

The proper working of your commercial heating system is critical for your business space. After all, it’s hard to conduct business in a space that isn’t well-heated, or has uneven heating throughout. Just because a heating system continues to work doesn’t mean that it isn’t time for that system to be replaced, particularly when you take certain factors into consideration. If you are having trouble deciding whether or not it’s time for commercial heating replacement for your McLean business, make an appointment with your Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc., expert today.

Factors to Consider for Replacement

Here are some of the more important factors to review when considering the replacement of your commercial heating system:

Age

Commercial heating systems have an average lifespan of 15-20 years, although some systems may last longer. Aging systems can have a problem achieving your set temperature, or providing even heating, mostly because the components begin to break down. Pushing an aging system only exacerbates the possibility of repairs, so if your system is experiencing problems, and is within the lifespan age or older, it may be time to consider an upgrade to a new system.

Energy Efficiency

Every business has a budget to maintain, no matter the season. If you have noticed that your business’s heating bills have risen sharply, yet you haven’t changed how you heat your business space, you may have a system that is not as energy efficient as you need it. Today’s commercial heating systems are highly energy efficient, thus enabling you to save money in energy costs.

Costly Repairs

Are you facing costly repairs, or have you been nursing along a malfunctioning system for a period of time? Repair costs can add up quickly, many times to the cost of a new system. If you are paying for multiple, costly repairs, it may be time to review if your money is better spent on continuing repairs or on a new, reliable heating system.

Your business space needs to be comfortable for all who enter it; don’t let an aging and/or malfunctioning commercial heating system in McLean adversely affect your business.

Call Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc., today and schedule an appointment with one of our commercial heating experts.

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The Steps Involved in Routine Boiler Maintenance

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

We are almost officially in the winter season here in Arlington, but there is still time to schedule maintenance for your boiler. You may wonder why maintenance is so important for your heating in Arlington. There are several reasons as we’ll explain below, but in a nutshell, maintenance is a full tune-up for your boiler; a routine maintenance appointment is an in-depth inspection, cleaning and adjustment of your system, not just a simple once-over of your system. It’s recommended that you schedule your heating system for maintenance every 12 months, so if you are due for a maintenance appointment, contact Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc., today.

What Happens During Maintenance?

Here is a general overview of what happens during a routine maintenance appointment for your boiler:

  • Inspect equipment for unsafe conditions
  • Visually check equipment for deteriorated wiring and wiring connections
  • Visually inspect electrical controls (contactors, relays, motor starters, phase monitors and timers) for deterioration and proper operation
  • Measure and record equipment operating voltage and current
  • Inspect and/or adjust burners for proper operation and efficiency
  • Check fan belts and adjust belt tension
  • Lubricate all moving parts
  • Verify operation of safety controls
  • Perform safety and performance testing

Benefits of Scheduling Maintenance

The benefits of a professional maintenance appointment can help achieve the following:

  • Better energy efficiency – when a boiler carries the wear and tear from previous seasons into the next season, it can’t operate at the efficiency level it was made to operate at. The tune-up your boiler receives during a routine maintenance appointment allows your boiler to operate at its highest efficiency.
  • Improved comfort – a boiler that isn’t well-maintained may have trouble achieving the temperature you’ve set on your thermostat. With routine maintenance, the system can operate optimally, keeping you warm and comfortable.
  • Prevents repairs – the thorough inspection of the system allows the technician to detect existing and developing problems so you can get ahead of issues before they can blossom.
  • Extends life of equipment – regular maintenance keeps your boiler in good working order, which helps reduce levels of wear and tear and premature aging.

The benefits of maintenance can last the entire winter season, so if you haven’t scheduled maintenance for your heating system yet, call us today!

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How Can I Choose the Most Efficient Boiler?

Monday, November 10th, 2014

For most homeowners looking to buy a new boiler, all-around comfort and saving money are the two most important factors in selecting the right system. Of course, you want a boiler that radiates heat throughout your home and keeps your family comfortable on the harshest of winter nights. And for many homeowners, saving money upon installation is important as well. But you should also choose the heating system that is the most efficient so that you can save a lot more money over time.

Check the AFUE

AFUE stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency, and the AFUE of a furnace or boiler must be displayed on the label of any unit sold in the U.S. The AFUE is represented as a percentage, with the most efficient boilers boasting an AFUE of well over 90%. Boilers built two or three decades ago tend to have an AFUE between 50-65%, while any boiler sold in the U.S. today must have an AFUE of over 80%. This means that replacing your older boiler will already save a bundle every month over your older one. But spending a little extra on a boiler with a higher AFUE should offset the initial cost over time.

Make Sure It’s the Right Size

Another thing to check on is the size of a boiler. You can buy the most efficient boiler available on the market today, but if it’s the wrong size for your home, it won’t do you any good at all. Boilers must be properly sized according to several different calculations in order to provide sufficient heating and save you money over time. If the boiler is too small, you may leave it on for longer to feel comfortable and consume more energy in the process. If it’s too large, it will require a lot of energy to run in the first place.

Ask a Professional Heating Technician

Only a professional technician knows every precaution to take to make sure you have the correct size and model of boiler in your home and that it runs as efficiently as possible. Inform your heating technician about your budgetary and efficiency needs so you can end up with the right sized unit for your home and the most energy-efficient model possible for your budget.

Call Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc. for more information about replacing or installing boilers in Washington D.C. today.

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How Thermostat Trouble Can Lead to Heating Repair

Monday, October 27th, 2014

The thermostat is an essential part of your heating system: this small, usually unobtrusive device that sits on the wall near the center of a home is responsible for sending instructions to a heater (and air conditioner as well) to turn it on and off and control how long to will continue to run. Without a working thermostat, you don’t have a working heating system.

The thermostat can also malfunction in ways that will causes trouble inside the heater that may lead to it requiring repairs. This is one of the reasons you must not allow a broken thermostat—even one showing only minor miscalibrations—to remain that way for long. Call the excellent technicians at Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc. whenever you need heating repair in Northern Virginia to restore your thermostat and heater. We have more than a decade of experience with keeping home warm throughout the winter.

The thermostat and heating repair

One of the major troubles you want to avoid from a thermostat is a miscalibration that causes the unit to misread the temperatures in a home. This can cause the heating system to start running too long, and will in turn lead to wear and tear and probably repair needs that wouldn’t have been necessary otherwise.

A thermostat miscalibration can also cause a situation known as “short-cycling.” This is when the thermostat prematurely shuts down a heater’s heating cycle before it can complete because it falsely reads that the heater has reached the target temperature. The thermostat will soon switch the heater back on again… only to have it shut off quickly once more… and on and on. This is a huge waste of power, but it also puts an incredible strain on the heater’s mechanical components. This will lead to issues such as burned-out blower motors in furnaces and heat pump and broken circulator pumps in boilers.

Another common problem with thermostats is when they lose their connection that shuts off the heater’s fan. Thermostats have separate wires to turn on and turn off the blower fan for a furnace or heat pump; if the thermostat loses its link with the wire that turns off the blower fan, the fan will run continuously, leading to it suffering from damage that will require repair needs.

Any time you notice a decline in heating power or detect the heating system turning on and off at strange times, you may have an issue in the thermostat.

Call for repairs fat the first sign of trouble. Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc. is here to service all your needs for heating repair in Northern Virginia.

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Choosing an Energy Efficient Unit for Furnace Installation in McLean, VA

Monday, October 20th, 2014

Furnaces are one of the most popular heating systems for homeowners. There are two main types of furnaces, but before choosing any kind of furnace for your home, it’s important to understand how energy efficiency is rated for furnace systems. Knowing ahead of time how a new system is supposed to perform is an important part of your furnace installation in McLean, VA. Equally important is hiring experts to perform the installation. For over 10 years, Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., has installed, repaired and replace multiple heating systems, and we bring this experience to every job we do.

What Is AFUE?

AFUE stands for annual fuel utilization efficiency. AFUE is the measure of a furnace’s efficiency in converting fuel to energy. As such, the higher an AFUE rating, the more efficient a particular system will be. One thing to understand about efficiency ratings is that they do not indicate that a system will heat better than another; what the efficiency rating tells you is that a particular system will heat the same as another, but will use less energy to do so. Currently, the minimum AFUE ratings for non-condensing, fossil-fueled furnaces is 78%, but this will change as of January 1, 2015 to 80%, so it’s important to note this upcoming change.

Energy Star

Another way to ensure that you install an energy efficient heating system is to look for the Energy Star sticker on the product. Whole-home appliances earn the ENERGY STAR rating by being at least 15% more energy efficient than the standard. If you have questions about using an Energy Star-labeled product, consult with your technician.

Types of Furnaces

There are two types of furnaces that Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., carries:

  • Gas
  • Electric

Both can efficiently heat your home, but the heating is slightly different as gas furnaces are combustion systems and electric furnaces are not. As far as efficiency is concerned, they are almost equal: a gas furnace can have an efficiency rating as high as 98% while an electric furnace can have one as high as 100%.

Which Furnace Should I Choose?

Choosing a furnace is based largely on your needs, and working with a trained professional can help you address what’s most important, including the system that will fit best in your home.

If you are ready for a new furnace installation in McLean, VA, contact Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., today and schedule an appointment with one of our installation experts.

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Choosing the Right Type of Heating System for Your Home

Monday, October 13th, 2014

Replacing your heating system is a great opportunity for you and your household. Why? The installation of a new system offers you the chance to significantly increase your energy efficiency, comfort levels and, best of all, to choose a new system that may be a better fit for your home than your current system. There are a number of choices homeowners have when it comes to a new heating installation in Washington, DC, and the trained and certified technicians at Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., are here to help you every step of the way.

Choices of Heating Types

Here is an overview of the heating system types available from Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc.:

Furnaces

Furnaces are one of the most widely-used heating systems in the US. Furnaces use ductwork to deliver hot air to your living spaces, so it is necessary to have ductwork in place in order to use a furnace. There are 3 main types of fuel used for furnaces:

  • Electricity
  • Oil
  • Natural Gas

Natural gas is the most popular of fuels, but not all homes have access to a natural gas fuel line; as such, it may be necessary to consider furnaces that use oil or electricity. Today’s furnaces are very energy efficient no matter what fuel is used, so choosing a specific type of furnace will depend on your needs.

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps can be a great option for homeowners looking to have one system provide both heating and cooling. Thanks to a component called a reversing valve, a heat pump can change the flow of refrigerant in your system so that it can heat or cool, depending on the mode it’s in. Heat pumps do not use fossil fuel; they only use a small amount of electricity to operate.

Packaged Units

Packaged units also offer both heating and cooling, but with different mechanics. With a packaged unit, your air conditioner is fueled by electricity, and the heating component uses natural gas. These types of units offer two different efficiency types, standard and high efficiency. Packaged systems have different capacities, so it’s important to work with a trained professional to ensure that you install a unit that offers the correct amount of heating and cooling for your home.

A new heating installation in Washington, DC, can be a great thing for you, your family and your home, and the best way to ensure that it is a great thing is to work with a trained, certified professional.

If you are ready for a new heating installation, call Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., today and schedule an appointment with one of our specialists.

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Why Don’t I feel Enough Heat from My Boiler?

Monday, October 6th, 2014

Boilers tend to be very efficient heating systems. No system is perfect, however, and boilers are just as susceptible to heating issues as any other system. A rare, though quite frustrating, problem is that of the boiler not producing enough heat. Let’s look at the possible causes behind this issue.

Thermostat Issues

It is quite possible that your problem doesn’t rest with the boiler at all, but with the thermostat. The thermostat is the central control for your entire heating system. If it malfunctions it can easily prevent your boiler from providing enough heat, even if the boiler is in perfect condition. Check the display to make sure that everything is set properly. If the display is correct, but the heat is still not turning on, the sensors may be off. An HVAC technician will need to check in order to make a definite diagnosis.

Low Water Level

Though rare, leaks can happen in hydronic radiant heating systems. When this occurs, the lower water supply cannot carry enough heat to effectively warm the house. As usual, a professional will need to examine your system to know for certain whether this is the case. One way to tell, though, is if you notice water pooling on your floor or dripping from your ceiling when your heating is on. It is also possible that the pipes are clogged, which will produce a similar effect.

Burner Issues

The burner is comprised of several flames that serve to keep the boiler lit during use. Over time, however, one or more of these burners may malfunction or become dirty. If this happens, those burners may stop working all together. Your boiler will still provide heat, but it will be less heat than usual because it only has a few burners to heat the water.

If your boiler seems to be underperforming, call Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc. Our expert technicians conduct boiler repair throughout the Arlington area.

Don’t wait for your boiler to stop working altogether. Call Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating today, and we’ll have your boiler back to normal in no time.

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