Design Comfort Blog

Signs of Leaking Refrigerant in Your Air Conditioner

May 24th, 2016

A lot of people think that air conditioners consume refrigerant the same way that a car consumes motor oil. That’s not actually the case. In fact, the air conditioner relies on a very specific amount of refrigerant — dictated by make and model — circulating through a closed loop in order to do its job. Leaks aren’t supposed to spring up, but when they do, they constitute a big problem. Here in Holladay, UT, there are trained services that should always deal with leaking refrigerant, since the chemicals are dangerous and require proper experience to handle. You can, however, watch for since of leaking refrigerant in your air conditioner. When you spot them, shut the system down and call for help immediately.

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Water Heaters: Tank Versus Tankless Systems

May 23rd, 2016

A popular appliance seen in many homes today is the tankless water heater. A fairly new development, tankless water heaters offer many benefits to homeowners looking for a more efficient way to heat their home’s water. However, they aren’t right for all homes. In fact, it may make more sense for you to stick with a traditional water heater, depending on your circumstances.

The biggest difference between a conventional water heater and a tankless system is that a tank heater pre-heats a limited amount of water in the tank. A tankless water heater on the other hand, heats up water as it’s needed—whenever you turn on a faucet in your home. Below, we’ve outlined some other factors that differentiate the two systems.

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Help Yourself This Spring with the Right Type of Air Cleaner

May 9th, 2016

Spring is in full force, which means pollen is here threatening the health and well-being of allergy sufferers and asthmatics alike. While you may think you can escape it by staying indoors, the opposite is usually true. Today’s homes are “tightly” built, meaning that there is no room for air to escape. While this is great for the efficiency of your HVAC systems, it actually hurts your indoor air quality. In fact, your indoor air quality can actually be worse than your outdoor air quality. This is particularly true this time of year. So what’s the solution?

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Signs Your Family Needs a Humidifier

May 2nd, 2016

In our blog post last week, we discussed how you can combat too much humidity in the home. However, as stated last week, humidity is not usually a large problem in our area. In fact, dry air is more of an issue, causing problems for not only your health, but for your home as well.

As we near the end of winter, it’s a good time to take stock of your indoor air quality and consider if there’s more you can do to improve the air your family is breathing before we fall victim to dryness again. We’ve shared some signs below that indicate it may be time for your family to invest in a humidifier.

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Tips for Dealing with Summer Humidity

April 25th, 2016

Homeowners in the Salt Lake City area are not commonly victims of high humidity. In fact, our winters are quite dry, and during this time your home will benefit from more humidity. However, summertime does bring some hot, stuffy days. Albeit rare, humid days can make your home feel excessively uncomfortable, and can make your air conditioning system work even harder to cool your home.

This means it’s not working as efficiently as it otherwise would, and you are wasting money on cooling your home. In fact, increased levels of humidity during the summer can force standard AC systems to run longer than normal, and can make swamp coolers—also called evaporative coolers—completely ineffective. So how do you deal with this excess humidity?

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Why the Beginning of Spring is a Great Time for Furnace Maintenance

April 18th, 2016

One of the biggest misconceptions about HVAC system maintenance is that you have to do it at a particular time of the year. This is not true: as long as you are having your system maintained on a regular basis, the time of year does not matter. However, there are certainly benefits to having furnace maintenance done near the end of the heating system. We’ve explored a few reasons why below.

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AC Parts FAQ: What Are Capacitors?

April 11th, 2016

For a system that plays such an important part in your life, chances are that you don’t really know your air conditioning system all that well. Sure, you adjust your thermostat with some regularity, and you see your outdoor unit sitting out there day and day out. For all of the parts that you do see and interact with, though, there are countless others that you’ll never encounter directly. The capacitors in your air conditioner, for instance, are hidden away in the outdoor unit. While you may not see them, though, the importance of their function is immense.

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It Is Important that Your New AC Is of the Right Size

April 4th, 2016

Investing in a new air conditioning system is a common undertaking at this point in the year. We’ve moved out of the winter season, but we aren’t running our air conditioners with any regularity just yet, and won’t be for at least a few weeks’ time. If you are interested in pursuing a new air conditioning system, though, we must warn you that working with a trained professional is the only way in which you can hope to get the AC best suited for your needs. One key factor to consider is the size of your air conditioner. Schedule your AC installation in Salt Lake City, UT with us to guarantee that your system functions as expected.

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What Are the Benefits of Using a Low-Flow Toilet?

March 28th, 2016

Water conservation has become a hot topic in recent years, and with good reason. Fortunately, innovative plumbing technologies have allowed us to enjoy the same great performance we need from our plumbing systems while dramatically reducing the amount of water it uses. One of these technologies is a low-flow toilet, which uses significantly less water than a standard full-flush toilet. They can use as little as 1.6 gallons of water per flush, versus the typical 3.5 gallons of conventional toilets. Keep reading to learn the benefits of using a low-flow toilet.

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How Does a Water Softener Work?

March 21st, 2016

At one time or another, most homeowners have come across hard water. That is, water that contains more minerals—such as calcium and magnesium—than ordinary water. Calcium and magnesium prevent other positively charged ions from dissolving easily, leading to a buildup of these materials in your plumbing system. Soon you’ll discover deposits of soap, iron and lime in your showers, sinks and faucets. There are various ways to combat hard water, such as using a water softener.

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