Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning Blog: Archive for November, 2018

Is Your Heater Hurting Your Indoor Air Quality?

Monday, November 19th, 2018

Rear view of a young woman opening the curtains in the morningThis is what many homeowners think—that running their heater actually dries out their air and makes the indoor air quality bad as a result. This isn’t quite the case though, and we wouldn’t want you to start using your heater less as winter gets closer and closer. Dry air is certainly a nuisance, but resisting use of your heater will not help the situation!

Modern construction has made our homes tightly sealed up against the elements, which can impact indoor air quality issues like dust infiltration. But dry air is a whole different beast. Why is it such a problem though? And how can you prevent problems with dry air from happening in your living space? Well, with the installation of a whole-house humidifier! If you’ve ever been through even just one of our summers, you might be wondering why you would want to add moisture to your home, but bear with us.

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The Dangers of a Cracked Heat Exchanger

Monday, November 5th, 2018

Inside a gas furnace. Focus = the top of the middle flange. 12MP camera.If your home is like the majority of homes in our area, it’s very likely that you use a natural gas furnace to keep it warm. This is, after all, the most common type of residential heating system in the country, particularly in locations like ours with very cold winters. They are not only able to produce a large amount of heat, but they do so at less of an expense than electric furnaces, since natural gas costs less than electricity per unit.

But it’s important to note that any natural gas appliance has the ability to develop safety issues. We don’t mean to alarm you, since a well-maintained heating system will very rarely encounter these dangers. Current furnace systems are built with your safety in mind, and have special features to disallow for the escape of dangerous carbon monoxide into your home. There is one need for heating repair in Glenview, IL that is especially important to tackle right away when it comes to carbon monoxide exposure, and that’s fixing a cracked heat exchanger.

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