Your comfort comes first.

Home / Blog

Design Comfort Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Salt Lake City’

When to Call for Air Conditioning Repairs

Monday, 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.

Tags: Air Conditioning, Air Conditioning Repair, Salt Lake City
Posted in Air Conditioning Repair | Comments Off on When to Call for Air Conditioning Repairs

3 Great Reasons to Schedule Air Conditioning Maintenance

Monday, 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.

Tags: Air Conditioning, air conditioning maintenance, Salt Lake City
Posted in Air Conditioning | Comments Off on 3 Great Reasons to Schedule Air Conditioning Maintenance

How to Properly Care for Your Garbage Disposal

Monday, 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.

Tags: Garbage Disposal Units, Salt Lake City
Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off on How to Properly Care for Your Garbage Disposal

How the Sacrificial Anode Rod Prevents Water Heater Repairs

Tuesday, 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.

Tags: Salt Lake City, Water Heater Repair
Posted in Water Heaters | Comments Off on How the Sacrificial Anode Rod Prevents Water Heater Repairs

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.

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

Tags: Heating, Salt Lake City
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Standing Pilot vs. Intermittent Pilot: What’s the Difference?

3 Signs that it’s Time to Replace Your Heating System

Friday, November 21st, 2014

In less than a month winter will officially make its debut for the season. Knowing that you have a reliable heating system to get you through the cold months is critical to your peace of mind. If you’ve been sitting on the fence about whether or not to install a new heating system, let us give you some factors to consider below.

Signs It’s Time to Replace

Here are some of the common signs that it may be time to replace your existing heating system:

High Energy Bills

Are you using your heating system the same as usual but seeing a big spike in the cost of running it? This is indicative of a heater that is not energy efficient. Today’s heating systems are very energy efficient, with many averaging 95% or higher efficiency levels. If you are paying more this year for the same heating as last year, and your fuel costs haven’t gone up, it may be time to consider a new heating system.

Too Many Repairs

Did you have to repair your system frequently last year, and are you potentially looking at more repairs this coming season? Repairs add up quickly, sometimes to the cost of a new system. Nursing a heating system along can cost you money that may be better spent on a durable, reliable new system.

Age

Age is always a factor to consider, especially if you are experiencing the issues above. The average lifespan for a combustion heating system is 15 to 20 years. Once a heating system reaches this age span, it is likely you’ll see the need for more repairs, less efficiency and overall decreased performance. These problems can affect your comfort, energy efficiency and your wallet.

Replacing a malfunctioning and/or aging heating system can be a great opportunity to increase your comfort level and overall energy efficiency; you’ll also have the peace of mind that you have a reliable heating system in your home. If you are seeing the signs that it’s time to replace your heating system, call Design Comfort today and schedule heating replacement service in Salt Lake City with one of our installation experts.

Tags: Heating Replacement, Salt Lake City
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on 3 Signs that it’s Time to Replace Your Heating System