Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Morton Grove’

How Can You Boost Your Heating Efficiency?

Monday, April 6th, 2020
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In a recent blog post, we talked about how neglecting repair needs would be a disservice to your heating system’s efficiency, as would skipping maintenance. It’s fine to know what not to do, but as chillier temperatures carry on and we still use our heaters quite frequently, you’d probably like to know what to do to boost efficiency, and therefore save money this time of the year.

The good news is, we have 4 ways you can in fact boost your heater’s efficiency, resulting in a more reliable and more effective heating system. Our heating seasons can last beyond the “official” fall and winter, so making sure you know everything you can do to boost efficiency and lower energy bills is essential to your wallet!

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It’s That Time of Year: Have you Scheduled Your Furnace Tune-Up?

Monday, October 7th, 2019
technician-working-on-furnace

It’s October! That means it’s time for pumpkin spice latte’s, planning your kids’ Halloween costumes (or your own), and enjoying fall activities like prepping your furnace for the heating season!

Wait, what’s that? Did you forget about that last one? Don’t you worry, it’s not too late to schedule this service. In fact, now is the perfect time to schedule a furnace tune-up, also known as furnace maintenance. After all, the best time for this service is before the consistent cold weather hits.

During maintenance, our technicians thoroughly inspect your furnace, checking for cleanliness, any parts that need adjusting, and any repair needs that exist. This benefits you in a number of ways, including:

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How to Save on Your HVAC Costs

Monday, April 23rd, 2018

white question mark on blue backgroundOne of the most common questions Morton Grove, IL HVAC professionals get is in regards to why it costs them so much to run their heating and cooling systems. The short answer to that is “it depends,” but it can have a lot to do with how well you care for that system. It may be malfunctioning due to neglect, standard wear and tear, or an undiagnosed repair need.

Another possibility, of course, is that you aren’t using your air conditioner as efficiently as you can. Keep in mind that while your heater gets quite the workout in winter, your air conditioner goes through the same during our long, hot summers. Keeping these systems operating at peak performance can help make your HVAC systems more affordable to run. But what can you do that you might not be already?

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Don’t Neglect These Late Season AC Repair Needs

Monday, August 28th, 2017

technician with tools checking on the outside unit of an air conditionerSummer is going to come to a close in the next few weeks, and with that comes lowered temperatures. With your air conditioning system getting a lot of use over the past few months, it’s likely that it’s accrued wear and tear. Even if you had pre-season maintenance done on your cooling system, it’s still likely that this late in the season you may need air conditioning repair in Morton Grove, IL.

We completely understand how tempting it is to ignore late season AC repair needs. After all, it’s going to be fall soon enough and you won’t even need your cooling system, right? But, to ensure that your air conditioner lasts through the rest of the warm weather and is up to do its job next year, it’s essential that you take care of any problems that exist—right away.

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Can I Repair an Electric Furnace on My Own?

Wednesday, December 10th, 2014

Homeowners are usually aware that it is dangerous to tamper with any natural gas-powered appliance in their home. In fact, in most jurisdictions the law forbids anyone except a licensed professional from working on any device connected to a gas main. The risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and explosions is too high to risk amateur repair attempts.

This means that repairs for a gas furnace are strictly off-limits to non-professionals. But what if your home doesn’t use natural gas and your heat comes from an electric furnace? There are plenty of do-it-yourself guides online for electric furnace repairs, and at first glance the job may seem like something you could troubleshoot on your own.

However, you should not attempt to repair your home’s electric furnace without professional assistance. The risk of injury is not as great as with a gas furnace (although it still exists) but the complexity of modern heating systems makes it unlikely you can fix the problem without training and the right tools. In many cases, you might make the problem worse. Take the easier path toward heating repair in Morton Grove, IL: call Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning and let us handle the malfunctioning furnace. We have more than a century of experience repairing heaters throughout Chicagoland.

One of the major issues you can encounter if you try to DIY your electric furnace is damage to its efficiency. Electric furnaces cost more to run than gas furnaces because electricity is a more expensive fuel source. It is therefore crucial that you maintain your electric furnace’s efficient performance so it will not lose heat from poor ducts, straining blower fans, or bad insulation. Tampering with the system without familiarity with what you are doing could cause your heating bills to skyrocket. Leave the repair work to people with the training to maximize efficiency: what you pay for the repairs you will soon earn back with energy savings.

A badly repaired electric furnace can turn into a problem for your home’s entire electrical system. A furnace draws a large amount of voltage to run, and if it suffers from haphazard attempts to fix its wiring, it can result in a system that causes circuit breakers to trip each time the heater comes on.

One of the most common problems that causes electric furnaces to lose heating power or completely fail are broken heating elements, which are responsible for warming up the air with electrical resistance heating. Only people familiar with furnace repairs can successful replace heating elements.

The next time your electric furnace starts to malfunction, don’t waste time and money tinkering with it. When you call to schedule an appointment with Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning for heating repair in Morton Grove, IL, we will take care of the problems fast and see that your furnace works in top condition and keeps your bills from rising.

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Why You Should Never Delay Scheduling Heating Repair

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

A sudden heating system breakdown is never ideal in Illinois.  But if you notice a small problem with your furnace, boiler, or heat pump, it may seem as though it’s not so big of a deal. Sure, the amount of heat you feel from your system is reduced. But if you bundle up in some blankets and leave the heater on all night, you still feel enough warmth to get through the cold evening.

Sometimes, homeowners feel as though they can wait a while to schedule heating repair as it may not have much of an effect on their way of living, for now. But here at Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning, we’ve seen that the worst-case scenario—a sudden heating breakdown—can really take its toll on a homeowner.

You’ve noticed a small problem with your heating system: unusual noises, reduced heating, strange behavior at start-up. So what’s the big deal? Many homeowners are satisfied with their heating system as long as it is still providing some amount of heat in the home. However, these small problems can develop (slowly or quickly) into something much, much worse. Let’s look at a few examples.

That loud noise you hear in your boiler could be due to what’s known as kettling. Sediment builds up in the boiler tank, reducing the pressure in the tank until water begins to leak out. In some cases, the sediment buildup is so serious, you’ll need replacement. Or, let’s say that your furnace only runs for brief periods of time. This is known as short-cycling and it can cause many of the components to wear down beyond repair.

Besides, when you wait to see a technician, your bills begin to skyrocket. When one part of your heater won’t work as it should, all of the other components must work a lot harder to keep up. This means they’ll use a lot of energy to run, raising your utilities and reducing the lifespan of your system.

At Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning, we don’t think you should have to wait for heating repair in Morton Grove, IL. That’s why we offer 24-hour emergency repair so you can lower your risk of a failed unit and get your system back to normal in no time. Give us a call today to schedule a service appointment.

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Why Consider a Ductless Mini Split Installation

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014

Ductwork seems like it’s an essential component for a central forced-air heating and cooling system. Unless you only plan to cool down a single room using a window air conditioning unit, you need ductwork to carry the conditioned air through a home and into the various rooms.

However, this isn’t true: there are central heating and cooling systems that operate through forced air but do not need any ductwork at all. They are called ductless mini split heat pumps, and for some households they are an ideal year-round comfort solution. A ductless system combines the power and reach of a central system with the point heating and cooling of a window unit.

To find out more details about installing ductless mini split systems in Morton Grove, IL, call Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning. We have helped keep Chicagoland comfortable for more than a century.

Reasons to Consider Ductless Mini Split Heat Pumps

The first reason that ductless mini split systems are a good idea to consider is that they are heat pumps, which offer both heating and cooling. You have all your comfort packaged into one system.

The second reason is that eliminating the ductwork in a home means you will have a more energy-efficient HVAC system. Ducts permit an amount of energy loss along their length that reduces the efficiency of the heater and air conditioner hooked up to them. Ductless mini splits send their conditioned air directly into rooms through individual blower units set up in the rooms throughout the house, each of which hooks up to the outdoor unit. With the air coming straight from the blower and into your living room, there’s very little room for energy loss.

Removing the ducts also removes a source of air contamination. Ductwork will develop dust, dirt, dander, pollen, and various other pollutants over time, and unless you have regular professional duct cleaning these pollutants will enter the air you breathe. Going ductless will help improve your indoor air quality. It will make a major difference if you have people in your household with allergies or asthma.

Finally, you should consider going ductless if you are planning new home construction or major renovation. Without needing to plan for air ducts, you will have much greater freedom when it comes to design, and you will also have more space available.

As with any home comfort system, a ductless mini split is not ideal for every home: if you already have existing ducts in your house, you should probably choose a standard forced-air heat pump that can hook up to these ducts. But for older home without room for ducts, or for new construction project, looking into ductless mini split systems in Morton Grove, IL is a fantastic alternative to standard ducted systems. Call Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning today and let us help you locate the best option for your home.

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Principles of Geothermal Heating

Friday, April 18th, 2014

Here in Morton Grove, IL, geothermal systems make a fascinating alternative to more traditional boilers and forced air furnaces. They’re not for everyone – they require certain specifics in your property and the up-front cost is often higher than other systems – but they offer a number of benefits in the right circumstances. The principles of geothermal heating make those advantages clear and can help you decide if such a system is right for you.

At its heart is an unchanging physical constant: the ambient temperature of the earth remains the same, no matter what the weather is like outside. Once you get below a few feet deep, the same temperature prevails in the winter as it does the summer. With that as a basis, the geothermal system can facilitate a heat exchange with the ground: pulling heat from it or bleeding heat into it depending on what you need. A series of hollow tubes is run through the ground, at least six feet deep or so, and a mixture of water and antifreeze is pumped through it. The mixture will pull ambient heat out of the ground when you need to warm your home, then bring it back inside where it can be distributed through your household.

Geothermal heating costs more to install because you need to uncover a fair amount of ground to put the tubing in. That takes time and personnel, which can up the costs. On the other hand, the tubing involves no moving parts which means repairs are very infrequent. Furthermore because no energy is used to create the heat – only to pump the fluids through the tubes – geothermal heating is very inexpensive to operate and saves a lot on monthly costs over more traditional forms of heating.

For more on the principles of geothermal heating, or to see if such a system is right for you, then give the experts at Shavitz Heating & Air Conditioning a call. Geothermal systems are one of the things we do best, but we also offer other heating services in Morton Grove, IL as well. Give us a call today to discuss your options: we’ll help you through the ins and outs of this exciting form of heating technology!

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What Are the Benefits of Getting Regular Heating Maintenance?

Friday, October 18th, 2013

When it comes to heating, Morton Grove, IL residents know better than to fool around. Our cold winters make a reliable heating system an absolute necessity, providing a warm and comfortable environment in the face of even the fiercest snowstorm. Part of maintaining that heating system is a regular series of maintenance calls, performed by a trained technician and designed to keep your heater functioning at maximum efficiency. The technician will clean any dirty parts, replace worn components like screws and fittings, and red-flag any potential trouble areas for a more significant repair session. What are the benefits of getting regular heating maintenance?

A few of the answers can be found below.

  • It improves efficiency. A heating unit that is clean and features tight fittings around various components will perform far more efficiently than one that is dirty and run-down. That means it won’t have to work as hard to warm your home and will spend less energy to do so: reducing your monthly heating bills in the process.
  • It reduces the risk of larger repairs. Small problems have a way of turning into bigger ones if they aren’t addressed. For example, a loose washer can turn into a condensation leak, which can in turn short out a motor, which then damages the heating coils to the point where the whole heater shuts down. Replacing the washer before things get that far would cost considerably less than replacing the motor and the heating coils after a failure has taken place.
  • It extends the life of the heater. With less strain on the system you can expect your heater to last longer than it normally would. That means deferring the day when you finally have to replace it and ensuring that you get the maximum possible value out of your heater.

In matters of heating services in Morton Grove, IL, we have a solution. The experts we employ at Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning can show you the benefits of getting regular heating maintenance, then set up a schedule that meets your needs. Give us a call today and let us show you what a difference we can make!

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How to Tell When You Need Duct Replacement

Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

The ductwork in your home functions as part of your central heat or air conditioning system: piping cool or warm air from the main unit into the various rooms in your home. When they become damaged or old, you may want to consider replacement instead of normal repairs. Consulting with a professional can help determine when (or if) such a step is necessary.  That’s of special importance in Chicagoland communities like Morton Grove, IL. Duct replacement needs to come between the heat of our Lake Michigan summers and the cold of our Midwest winters, and you want to be sure it’s necessary before making plans.

Here’s a few ways you can tell when you need duct replacement:

  • Problems with the air flow. If your air conditioner or heater is working fine, and yet the air flow into your home is slow or nonexistent, the problem may lie with crushed or damaged ducts. Similarly, you may feel that the air isn’t sufficiently cool or warm despite the fact that you’re running your HVAC system as prescribed. Crushed ducts usually mean serious leaks in your system, which also means the conditioned air isn’t getting into the parts of your home that need it.
  • Higher electric bills. Similarly, if you find your energy bills going up despite the fact that you’re not using your appliances any more than normal; it could mean a major leak in your ductwork. Escaping air reduces the efficiency of your air conditioning unit, and until the rupture is addressed, your bills will continue to stay high.
  • Strange noises. Any odd sounds coming from your ducts – rattles, hums even thuds or grinding noises – are usually signs of trouble. A length of duct may be loose in its housings, or a damaged spot may be releasing air quickly enough to create an odd noise.

A trained professional can examine your duct system and determine if you simply need repairs, or if you’d be better off with full-bore duct replacement. For over 100 years, Shavitz has delivered safe and reliable air conditioning services throughout Chicago, including areas like Morton Grove, IL. Duct replacement services are one of our focuses, and we can provide sound consultation before beginning any installation procedures.

Call us today and let us show you how we can help with your duct replacement needs.

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