Your comfort comes first.

Home / Blog

Design Comfort Blog: Archive for the ‘Heating’ Category

What is Kettling and why is it Dangerous?

Monday, 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.

Tags: Boiler Maintenance, Holladay, kettling
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on What is Kettling and why is it Dangerous?

Do I Need to Size My Boiler?

Tuesday, 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.

Tags: boiler installation, North Salt Lake City
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Do I Need to Size My Boiler?

What Does That Clicking Sound from My Furnace Mean?

Monday, 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.

Tags: Furnaces, Sandy
Posted in Furnace, Heating | Comments Off on What Does That Clicking Sound from My Furnace Mean?

What Furnace Noises Mean

Monday, January 26th, 2015

Furnace noises are one of the most common ways that homeowners can identify problems with their heating system. Simply noticing a strange noise coming from your furnace isn’t enough, however. You need to know what to listen for if you are to react quickly enough to mitigate the damage to your furnace.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most common furnace noises, and what they mean.

Grinding

If you hear a grinding noise coming from your furnace, it is very likely coming from the air handler. The air handler is a collection of parts that work together to circulate air throughout your house. The air handler motor is arguably the most important part of the air handler, as well as being the part put under the most strain during operation. In order to decrease the level of stress on the motor, it is equipped with lubricated bearings that lessen the amount of friction during operation. This prevents the motor from overheating. As the bearings age, however, they begin to wear down and lose their lubrication. This increases the friction on the motor, causing it to work harder than it should. Those worn-down bearings are the source of the grinding sound. If not fixed immediately, the motor could burn out and require replacement.

Booming

A booming sound coming from your furnace is often caused by a burner firing later than the others. The burner assembly is a series of flame jets connected to the gas line of your furnace. These burners are the source of the heat that the furnace provides. Though the primary byproduct of burning fuel is heat, there are many other byproducts that are created. Carbon particles are one of these byproducts. Over time, the carbon particles can build up around and in the burner assembly. Eventually, the buildup can become so advanced that it makes the burner difficult to light. When the burner finally does light, it creates that deep booming sound as it ignites the gas flow. If not cleaned off, the carbon buildup can eventually prevent the burner from lighting altogether.

If you are hearing strange noises coming from your furnace, call Design Comfort. We provide furnace repair throughout the Millcreek area.

Tags: Furnaces, Millcreek
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on What Furnace Noises Mean

Why Is Thermostat Upgrade Part of Heating Service?

Monday, January 19th, 2015

Thermostats have a lot of unacknowledged power. Why? Many people tend to overlook the fact their thermostat is the control center for their heating system, and as such, wields a great deal of power over the system itself. If you are installing a new heating system, why not take advantage of the opportunity to also upgrade your thermostat? Thermostat installation is an important part of our Design Comfort heating services in Sandy, and we’ll explain more about why this is below.

Why Upgrade Your Thermostat?

Here are some of the reasons why you may want to consider upgrading your thermostat along with other heating services you may be engaged with:

Precision – if you’ve been using a slide or dial thermostat, you know that you can’t set an exact temperature; instead, you have to aim for a range. While this may not seem like a problem, having your heating run at 2-3 degrees higher than you want it can be costing you money in energy usage. With a digital thermostat, you can set an exact temperature that is easily seen and read.

Programmability – do you drive yourself crazy trying to remember to turn down your thermostat as you leave for work every day and turn it back up when you get home? Wouldn’t it be nice to set a program that allows you to do that? With a programmable thermostat, you can do this.

Better energy efficiency – programmability and precision allow you to better manage your heating, which can result in better energy efficiency.

Types of Thermostats

There are three main types of thermostats:

Digital – precise face, intuitive, easy-to-use buttons.
Programmable – a digital thermostat that you can program, allowing you the convenience and benefit of programming your heating for a full seven days.
Smart – using smart technology, a smart thermostat allows you to remotely access your thermostat so that you can change settings, program, and monitor and track your energy usage.

Don’t let your thermostat be under-utilized; call Design Comfort today and see how upgrading your thermostat can help both you and your heating system.

Tags: Heating, Thermostats
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Why Is Thermostat Upgrade Part of Heating Service?

Residential Heating Options to Consider

Friday, January 16th, 2015

As heating technology continues to improve, the options for home heating get more and more varied. There are so many options for homeowners these days that it can sometimes get quite overwhelming. No need to worry, though. Have a look at this short list we’ve compiled for residential heating options in Salt Lake City. Hopefully, this will be able to help you narrow down your choices for a new heating system.

Boilers

Boilers are hydronic heating systems, using water to distribute heat throughout the home. The most common form of boiler heating system is called “radiant heating.” It consists of a network of water pipes installed in the subfloor of each room. The boiler then pumps hot water through these pipes, which radiate heat through the floor and into the room itself. Radiant heating is prized for its energy efficiency, as well as its ability to evenly heat a room.

Furnaces

Furnaces are among the most popular home heating systems in the country, and for good reason. A furnace of one kind of another can operate in virtually any kind of climate. Gas furnaces are the most common, as natural gas gives off a great deal of heat per unit burned. In areas where natural gas lines are not available, however, electric furnaces can heat the home just as well. No matter what kind of heating needs you have, there is a furnace available that meets those needs.

Zone Control Systems

Zone control systems are not heating systems in and of themselves, but they are still an option of which you should be aware. They involve the installation of large dampers in the ductwork of your home, one for each room. A separate thermostat controls each damper, and each can have individual settings. When the thermostat calls for heat, the damper opens to allow warm air into the room. This allows each room to set its own climate, allowing a much finer degree of control than a normal central heating system provides.

If you’d like to know more, call Design Comfort. We provide heating installation throughout Salt Lake City.

Tags: Heating Installation, Salt Lake City
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Residential Heating Options to Consider

3 Reasons Your Furnace Is So Expensive to Run

Friday, January 9th, 2015

Your heating bill is bound to fluctuate from month to month, because your need for heating is going to be different from month to month. If your heating bill starts showing a consistent rise, however, then something is probably affecting the efficiency of your furnace. There are any number of reasons why your furnace could start becoming more expensive to run. In the interest of brevity, however, let’s focus on the top 3.

Your Ducts are Leaking

The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that forced air heating systems lose almost 30% of their heat on average to leaks in the ductwork. That’s a massive amount of wasted heat, almost a third of your furnace’s total heat output. Leaks in the ductwork of a home are often small, but if there are enough of them the impact can be quite large. If you haven’t had your ducts cleaned or sealed in a while, there’s a very good chance that you are paying for heat that is never actually making it to its destination.

It’s the Wrong Size

Properly sizing your furnace is extremely important when you first start shopping for one. If you install a furnace that is either too big or two small, you open yourself to issues that you wouldn’t have had to deal with otherwise.

An oversized furnace has a tendency to provoke short-cycling. That is, it trips the safety switch for an emergency shutoff because its higher heat output makes the system think it’s overheating. This locks the furnace into a very rapid on/off cycle, where it never has the time to actually provide a steady stream of warm air before shutting down and starting up again. An undersized furnace, on the other hand, will simply stay on for a much longer period of time because it doesn’t have the heat output to heat the home properly.

It’s at the End of its Life

The last possibility is that, quite simply, your furnace is reaching the end of its lifespan. The longer a furnace operates, the less efficient it becomes at heating. This decline continues until the furnace finally gives out, and is often indicated by higher heat bills. If your furnace is over 15 years old, it might be time to replace it.

If you’d like to know more, call Design Comfort. We provide heating services throughout Salt Lake City.

Tags: Furnace, Salt Lake City
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on 3 Reasons Your Furnace Is So Expensive to Run

When Is Drain Cleaning Necessary?

Friday, December 19th, 2014

No one ever really wants to call a professional plumber to their home. It’s not that plumbers aren’t nice people, but that their presence indicates that there is a big and likely gross issue with your home’s water system. This fear of plumbing problems that may require a professional fix can lead a lot of people to ignore the signs of an increasingly serious issue. One of these issues is drain cleaning. Drain cleaning is one of those necessary evils that may seem like a pain, until you compare it to the alternative. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that you can identify when drain cleaning is necessary.

Drains aren’t Draining

We know, it’s obvious. Still, if your drains aren’t draining at all you should pick up the phone and call a professional to schedule a drain cleaning. Most people don’t have any problem with immediately calling a plumber when a drain isn’t draining, but they’re perfectly willing to ignore the warning signs that precede that issue.

If your drain is draining slowly, that’s a sign that there is some sort of blockage that is obstructing the water from flowing freely down the drain. This is where a lot of homeowners should be calling a plumber, but many of them don’t because the drain is still technically working. Don’t wait! Call a plumber as soon as you notice that the drain isn’t working as well as it should be.

Backflow

This is a pretty disgusting issue that a lot of homeowners run into when they have blocked drains. If water or sewage is coming back up through any drain in your house, you’ve got a blockage that needs to be dealt with.

Bad Smell

A bad smell coming from your drains indicates that the trap in the drain isn’t closing properly. This is usually caused by something either physically obstructing the trap or it getting stuck in the open position. If the trap is stuck open, the smell from the sewer line can drift up into your home through the drain.

If you’re having problems with your drain, call Design Comfort. We provide plumbing services throughout Salt Lake City.

Tags: Drain Cleaning, Salt Lake City
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on When Is Drain Cleaning Necessary?

Why Do Combustion Heating Systems Need a Flue?

Friday, December 12th, 2014

Everyone knows why a chimney is necessary for a wood-burning fireplace. Burning wood produces a lot of smoke, which is quite harmful if inhaled. The chimney exists to vent the smoke out of the house, while still allowing the heat from the fire to radiate through the room. Why do modern heating systems need exhaust flues, though? They mostly burn natural gas, not wood, so there’s no need to vent smoke. Read on for an explanation of how combustion systems work, and why you should be very glad that they make use of exhaust flues.

Incomplete Combustion

Most home heating systems utilize some form of combustion. That is, they burn a fuel of some kind to generate heat for the house. What many homeowners don’t know is that all of these systems use incomplete combustion. As the name suggests, incomplete combustion is when the fuel is not entirely consumed by the process of burning it. There are leftover bits and pieces, called “combustion byproducts” that remain after the fuel is burned. It is these byproducts that the exhaust flue is meant to address.

Combustion Byproducts

There are a number of different combustion byproducts of burning natural gas. Most of these are harmless, but the three most dangerous byproducts are carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. All three of these gases are dangerous to humans if inhaled, and can cause a number of harmful side effects including death. Carbon monoxide is the most dangerous of the three, due to humans’ inability to detect it. It is odorless, tasteless, and invisible. The only way to detect carbon monoxide is to buy a sensor (which is a good idea) or recognize the signs of exposure. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include sudden dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, seizures, unconsciousness, and death. If you begin to feel any of the preliminary symptoms in your home while the heat is on, get out of the house immediately and call emergency services.

This is why the exhaust flue is so important. These combustion byproducts are an unavoidable result of combustion heating. The exhaust flue is what siphons these pollutants out of your house and keeps you safe. If you have any reason to suspect that your exhaust flue is having issues, call Design Comfort as soon as possible. We provide heating repair throughout Salt Lake City.

Tags: Heating Repair, Salt Lake City
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Why Do Combustion Heating Systems Need a Flue?

Standing Pilot vs. Intermittent Pilot: What’s the Difference?

Friday, December 5th, 2014

The pilot light has been a staple of home heating systems for decades. The continuous flame underneath furnaces and boilers across the country has gained wide recognition as the ignition source for the heater. It has also become notorious for going out for no apparent reason. This, combined with recent advances in technology, have led to the rise of intermittent systems. Let’s take a look at the differences between the two systems.

Standing Pilot

The standing pilot light is the traditional ignition source for most natural gas-fueled combustion heating systems. It is comprised of a small burner, a gas valve to supply the burner, and a thermocouple. When the pilot light is first lit, usually by a button on the outside of the heater, the thermocouple registers the heat and sends an electrical current to the gas valve. This current keeps the gas valve open and supplying fuel to the pilot light. As long as the thermocouple keeps registering the heat from the pilot light, the flame can stay lit indefinitely. When the flame goes out, the current stops and the gas valve closes. This is a safety measure to prevent the home from filling up with gas.

There are a couple of issues with this kind of system, the first of which is wasted energy. The pilot light stays lit 24/7, consuming fuel even when you aren’t using the heater. It’s a small flame, but when you consider the months that you likely aren’t using your heater it can add up quickly. The second issue is the pilot light’s propensity for blowing out. While it can often be relit easily, if the pilot light does go out it prevents the entire system from starting.

Intermittent Pilot

The intermittent pilot light is an electric system, designed to combat some of the biggest flaws of the standing pilot. Rather than keep a flame burning all the time, the intermittent pilot only lights when needed. The system responds to the command for heat by using an electric spark to ignite the flame. A sensor registers the flame and lights the main burner, at which point the pilot light goes out.

This technology solves both of the standing pilot light’s main issues. However, it is a much more complicated system, and often more costly and difficult to fix.