Design Comfort Blog

When to Call for Air Conditioning Repairs

April 20th, 2015

It is not uncommon for homeowners to fire up their air conditioning systems during the early days of the cooling season, only to find that their air conditioner is not performing at the level they recall. It is best to have any problems with your air conditioning system evaluated, diagnosed, and resolved before the real heat of summer is well under way. Putting off repair needs can lead to further complications down the line, and you’ll find that the further you get into the summer months, the busier technicians are. Familiarize yourself with the following information, and schedule air conditioning repairs in Salt Lake City, UT at the first sign of trouble from your AC. Contact Design Comfort today if you need to have your cooling system repaired. 

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3 Great Reasons to Schedule Air Conditioning Maintenance

April 13th, 2015

Folks around here are certainly looking forward to the hot, sunny summer weather. It is a lot easier to greet the summer season with open arms when you know that your air conditioning system will be there for you when you need it most. If you fail to schedule routine air conditioning maintenance with a qualified professional, though, there is simply no way in which you can have well-deserved confidence in your system being able to cool your home properly. We’ve put together a few big reasons as to why you should schedule routine air conditioning maintenance before the onset of the summer season below. Let us know if you have any questions. Schedule your air conditioning maintenance in Salt Lake City, UT with Design Comfort to cool your home reliably this summer.

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How Sizing Impacts the Success of Your Air Conditioning Installation

April 6th, 2015

One of the primary factors to consider prior to investing in a new air conditioning system for installation in your home is the size of the system to be used. When we talk about size, however, we don’t mean that you don’t want to invest in an AC that won’t physically fit on your property – though that would be a serious problem. Instead, we mean that you must have an air conditioner which is appropriately sized for handling the cooling load that it will take to keep your home comfortable throughout the hottest time of the year. When you hire Design Comfort to complete your air conditioning installation in Salt Lake City, UT, you can count on the job being done right and that you’ll have an AC perfectly suited to your needs.

If your air conditioner is too small to handle your cooling load, a number of issues will make themselves evident before long. Your air conditioner is going to struggle to bring temperatures down to the desired temperature, and it will run on longer cycles than would be ideal in order to do so. What this means is that you may actually wind up spending more money than you should have to in order to cool your home, often with only a subpar cooling performance to show for it. By scheduling a professional installation of an appropriately sized air conditioner, you can cool your home both effectively and efficiently.

You may think, with this in mind, that going bigger is always better. However, you should know that using an air conditioner which is too large for your home is actually as problematic as using an undersized system. Sure, an oversized AC will be able to cool your living space effectively. However, it will do so too quickly, reducing its dehumidification efforts and causing the system to short cycle. This too can eat up more energy than you should have to use, and can put unnecessary wear and tear on your cooling system.

Trust Design Comfort to ensure that your air conditioner is of the right size for your needs, and that it is installed properly every step of the way. We know that cooling one’s home is a top priority among homeowners, especially during the peak heat of the summer season. That is why we take every precaution to guarantee the complete success of your air conditioning installation.

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What is Kettling and why is it Dangerous?

March 30th, 2015

The sound of a kettle boiling is considered comforting and cozy by most people. It’s a bit less cozy when it comes from your boiler, however. If your boiler is making a deep, rumbling sound during operation, that’s called “kettling.” It’s one of the most damaging things that can happen to boilers, and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

While you’re waiting for a professional to arrive, though, you should know what causes kettling. The more you know about the problem, the better equipped you’ll be to address it.

Let’s take a look at what kettling is, and where it comes from.

Causes of Kettling

Kettling is the result of overexposure to hard water, which is water with a higher than normal mineral content. As the hard water flows through the heat exchanger in your boiler, it deposits small amounts of minerals on the walls of the pipe. Over time, these mineral deposits can develop into lime scale, which will restrict or even block the flow of water through the heat exchanger. This causes the water trapped in the heat exchanger to boil and evaporate, which puts pressure on the heat exchanger. The rumbling sound is caused by the steam in the pipe straining to escape.

Effects of Kettling

Believe it or not, most boilers are not meant to actually boil water. When the water in the heat exchanger boils and evaporates into steam, it puts the pipe under far more pressure than it is designed to handle. If the pressure is not relieved in short order, the heat exchanger may burst and damage the boiler. Most boilers have safety measures in place to prevent things from getting that far, but it is still not a good condition to allow to continue. The deposits that cause kettling also prevent enough hot water from being distributed through the house, which will lead to a drop in heating.

If you notice that your boiler is kettling, you need to have it looked at as soon as possible. Call Design Comfort. We provide boilers throughout the Holladay area.

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How to Properly Care for Your Garbage Disposal

March 23rd, 2015

A garbage disposal is a great addition to any kitchen. It aids in the elimination of food waste, cuts down on dishwashing time, and generally makes your life a bit easier. Though it may seem like one of the sturdier appliances in your home, the garbage disposal can actually break down quite easily if not treated properly. If you’re not sure how to keep your garbage disposal in top condition, read on.

Things to Do:

The first thing you should do for your garbage disposal is keep it clean. A small amount of dish soap and cold water is a good way to keep your garbage disposal healthy. You can also pour boiling water down the disposal to clear out any debris that might be clinging to the inside of the chamber. However, you shouldn’t run the garbage disposal while doing so. You should only use cold water while running the garbage disposal. Whether it is a good idea to put egg shells or coffee grounds down the disposal to clean it is a topic of some debate among professional plumbers. We’ll leave it up to you whether or not to take the risk, though it is possible that such things help to scour out the inside of the disposal.

Things Not to Do:

First, never put large bones or any other hard object down the garbage disposal. These can cause the disposal blades to break and require replacement. It’s also not a good idea to use the disposal for anything extremely fibrous, like celery. The fibers from the plant can tangle the blades of the disposal and cause it to overheat. Don’t pour any kind of grease or fat into the garbage disposal. Though these are often liquids when you pour them into the disposal, they will quickly congeal into a semi-solid state. This can clog up the disposal. Finally, absolutely avoid anything that isn’t actually food waste. Nothing that isn’t biodegradable.

If you have any questions about caring for your garbage disposal, call Design Comfort. We provide garbage disposal services throughout Salt Lake City.

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Do I Need to Size My Boiler?

March 17th, 2015

Are you finishing the winter with a boiler that is on its last legs, or building a new home that needs a heating system?

Then you may want to consider a new boiler installation for your North Salt Lake City home. There a few steps every homeowner needs to take prior to boiler installation, and one of the most important is correctly sizing your boiler for your home. There are some common rules-of-thumb that people go by to size a heater for their home, but rules of thumb are usually pretty genera and may leave you with an inadequately sized system. The experts at Design Comfort can help you properly size your new boiler, install it, then maintain and repair it as needed, so if you are ready for a new boiler system, call us today!

Correct Sizing

To correctly size any heating system, including your boiler, a heat load calculation needs to be performed. This calculation takes into account a number of factors, including:

  • The orientation of your home
  • Floorplan
  • Number of rooms and floors
  • Type of insulation, windows and doors
  • Level of insulation
  • Daytime heat gain
  • Number of occupants
  • Square footage of your home

What Happens with a Wrong-Sized Boiler?

When you have a wrong-sized boiler, more problems can develop than just having an uncomfortable home. If your boiler is too big for your home, you run the risk of experiencing overheating your home, which can lead to short cycling as the system turns on and off constantly. Short-cycling can prematurely age your system and components, which can lead to malfunction and breakdown.

Conversely, a boiler that is too small for your home will run constantly as it tries to achieve the set temperature on your thermostat. Constantly operating will also prematurely age your system, and it will cause your boiler to use a great deal of fuel, which can get extremely costly.

If you are ready for a new boiler installation in North Salt Lake City, call the people you can trust: Design Comfort.

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How the Sacrificial Anode Rod Prevents Water Heater Repairs

March 10th, 2015

Most water heaters across the country are storage tank water heaters. These are water heaters with large storage tanks, built to hold anywhere between 20 to 70+ gallons of water. While keeping that many gallons of hot water on hand at all times is certainly nice for the homeowner, it can create some sustainability issues for the water heater itself. Being exposed to water at all times can cause metal to rust out pretty fast.

In a tank under that much pressure, the last thing you want is for the structure to be weakened by rust. If the rust progresses far enough, the tank can actually rupture and cause water damage to the surrounding area. So, how to tank water heaters avoid this fate? By making use of a part called the “sacrificial anode rod.”

What is a Sacrificial Anode Rod?

The sacrificial anode rod is a long metal rod, which is inserted into the storage tank of your water heater. The rod is composed of either magnesium, aluminum, or zinc, and is formed around a steel wire in the center. The rod acts as a sort of draw for rust, protecting the inner lining of the storage tank from rusting. Eventually, however, the rod itself will corrode to the point of uselessness. When this happens, it is vitally important that the anode rod be replaced with a fresh one. If this doesn’t happen, the inner lining of the water heater tank will begin to rust.

The first sign that most homeowners have that their anode rod has failed is when discolored water begins to come out of their faucets. By that point, the lining of the tank has already begun to rust, and it may need to be replaced.

When to Replace the Sacrificial Anode Rod

The anode rod should be checked at least once a year. That way, a rod that is getting close to failing completely can be replaced with a fresh one to maintain protection. If you aren’t sure how to check or replace your sacrificial anode rod, call Design Comfort.

We provide water heater repair services throughout the Salt Lake City area.

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How Hard Water Leads to Boiler Repair

February 27th, 2015

You may be familiar with the term “hard water.” Sometimes, beauty companies advertise their products as being effective at reversing the effects of hard water on the hair, skin, and nails. In some major cities, residents swear that the crust of their pizza tastes better due to the hardness or softness of the water. Hard water is actually a condition that affects the plumbing system of the majority of homes. But the degree to which hard water is present varies from place to place.

What is Hard Water?

Having hard water means that the water in your house contains minerals like calcium and magnesium. These rarely come along with any health effects, but it can do major damage to different parts of your plumbing. Scale is left behind, and ends up blocking the pipes, damaging dishwashers and washing machines, and costing hundreds or thousands in replacement costs in many cases.

One of the areas where hard water could do the most damage is in your boiler. It’s no secret that boilers are not really easy to replace nor are they cheap. Boiler repair is possible in some instances of scale buildup, but at a certain point, a boiler affected by mineral deposits is simply too far gone.

Early Signs of Hard Water

The first sign of hard water in your boiler is if you hear a clanking or rattling sound. The minerals knock around in the tank, but this noise isn’t the worst of your problems. Pressure in the tank becomes slowly increased as minerals continue to gather and take up volume. Long ago, this could create dangerous conditions. Thankfully, there are safety components in the tank that should shut down the boiler completely if the pressure becomes too high. However, this means you’ll be without any heat at all.

Water Treatment Installation

Most boilers are installed in such a way that hard water is prevented from entering the tank. Boiler feedwater may be treated and demineralized with chemicals, or there may be a purge valve in place to get rid of scale. Ask your technician if your boiler is at risk of scale buildup. You may choose to install a whole-home water softener as well so that hard water does not affect the other components of your plumbing system.

Call Design Comfort as soon as you notice noises in your boiler. We offer boiler repair in North Salt Lake as well as water treatment system installation if you’d like to take preventive action against scale.

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What are Pinhole Leaks?

February 20th, 2015

The average life expectancy of a copper plumbing system is up to a century. That’s long enough that you probably won’t ever have to worry about replacing your home’s plumbing.

However, the longevity of copper pipes does not mean that they are invincible. There are still a few unique and serious problems that can affect copper plumbing systems, and you should be aware of how they work. Let’s take a look at one of the most serious problems that can afflict copper pipes: pinhole leaks.

What Causes Pinhole Leaks?

Pinhole leaks are the result of a special kind of corrosion known as “pitted corrosion.” Pitted corrosion is odd in a few different ways. For one thing, it almost exclusively affects copper pipes in plumbing systems. For another, it is always focused on a very small area of the pipe, and progresses from the outside inward. This allows the corrosion to eat through the pipe faster. Finally, despite years of research studies, no one has yet been able to determine why pitted corrosion occurs so often in copper pipes. When the corrosion finally does open a hole in the pipe, it is often very small. This is why these leaks are called “pinhole” leaks.

The Dangers of Pinhole Leaks

So, why are pinhole leaks so dangerous? The main reason is because they are extremely difficult to detect. Pinhole leaks are so small that they don’t cause any of the usual symptoms that warns homeowners of a plumbing problem. There’s no loss in water pressure, or discoloration from rust in the water. Instead, the pinhole leak just releases one or two drops at a time, too little to be noticed.

The problem with being so difficult to notice is that pinhole leaks have time to deal a lot of water damage to the surrounding area. Most plumbing pipes are located in the walls, surrounded by studs and insulation. If the pinhole leak goes unnoticed for a long enough period of time, it can rot away the insulation and even weaken the studs. By the time you notice the damage to the wall, there’s not much to be done but replace the whole section.

The best way to stop pinhole leaks from causing so much damage is to have a professional plumber inspect your plumbing at least once a year. If you haven’t had your home’s plumbing examined in a while, call Design Comfort. We provide plumbing services throughout West Valley.

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What Does That Clicking Sound from My Furnace Mean?

February 9th, 2015

Furnaces are capable of a pretty astonishing variety of sounds during operation.

Most of these are harmless, like the sound of the air handler turning on or the burners igniting. However, there are a few sounds that indicate a problem that needs repair. Intermittent or constant clicking is one of those sounds. Let’s take a look at some of the different factors that can cause clicking with your furnace.

Inducer Blower

Oil furnaces produce a lot more combustion byproducts than more common gas furnaces, including large amounts of thick smoke. For that reason, these kinds of furnaces have inducer blowers that help blow the combustion byproducts into the exhaust flue and out of the house. The blower is similar to the air handler, which circulates air around the house.

It is composed of a motor and fan, both of which can make clicking noises if they get dirty or worn down. If the fan gets a bit loose, it can cause clicking by colliding with nearby parts during operation. Generally, this is one of the least harmful problems associated with furnace clicking. Even so, you should have it checked out by a professional to make sure that everything is ok.

Air Handler Motor

The air handler motor is very similar to the inducer blower, but is installed in all kinds of furnaces. The strain of circulating so much air throughout the house is considerable, and air handler motors are outfitted with lubricated bearings to help them compensate for this strain. As the bearings wear down, however, they can produce grinding and clicking sounds.

This is a more serious problem than the inducer motor, as an air handler motor whose bearings fails can overheat and burn out. If you hear a clicking or grinding coming from your furnace, no matter what kind it is, you should turn the furnace off immediately and call a professional HVAC technician to make sure that everything is alright.

If your furnace is making a clicking sound, call Design Comfort. We provide furnace heating repair services throughout the Sandy area.

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