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HVAC units, like most appliances, are working at their best when we don’t notice them. When yours is running the way it should, then you’ll hardly, if ever, have to go inspect it or figure out what’s wrong with it. Any time you’ve got to go take a look, it’s usually because something has broken, gotten jarred loose or is otherwise operating incorrectly.

But if you invest in preventative maintenance, the frequency at which you’ll have to stop what you’re doing to go look at an ornery HVAC unit will drop dramatically. How exactly does that work? Well, let the heating and cooling experts at Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric tell you how!

Lower Repair Costs

The first and most obvious reason that preventative HVAC maintenance is a good idea is that it keeps you from having to shell out tons of money on expensive repairs and replacements. Your unit – just like everyone else’s – suffers from general wear and tear as you use it over the years. But without regular preventative maintenance, you don’t have any way of correcting those slight issues until it’s too late.

A comprehensive maintenance plan stops that problem in its tracks. It keeps your unit running effectively and dramatically decreases the chance that an emergency repair situation will spring up on you. So not only do you have to deal with fewer repairs, but the ones you do need won’t be as wide-ranging.

Higher Efficiency

Even if your unit isn’t showing any potentially troubling signs, a technician that performs preventative maintenance can help out in other ways. He’ll make small tweaks to help optimize your unit’s efficiency – things you wouldn’t be able to do as a DIY job.

These minor adjustments extend the life of your unit and help it function more smoothly. Over time, as the unit continues to heat or cool your home, the changes the technician makes will be reflected in your energy bill.

Ideally, you’ll notice a lower cost every month along with better performance. It’s a win-win!

It Extends Your Unit’s Life

As we’ve touched on earlier, investing in preventative HVAC maintenance drastically decreases the chance that you’ll have to pay for an expensive repair or replacement. Smaller problems are identified before they have a chance to grow and spread into more serious issues, so you don’t have to worry about an emergency as much!

But on top of that, the maintenance your technician performs will iron out the kinks in anything that might pose a greater problem down the road. By nipping operational issues in the bud early on, your HVAC unit will enjoy a longer life.

These appliances are already expensive to install – and ensuring that you get a lot of use out of a unit with a long life will relieve a lot of stress.

If you’re on the fence about investing in comprehensive preventative maintenance, just give us a call! Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric is proud to offer our Acree Maintenance Plan to help you ensure you and your family are able to enjoy problem-free heating and cooling for years to come.

Our maintenance plan comes in two tiers to help fit any price range. For an affordable monthly payment, you’ll enjoy plenty of benefits you wouldn’t otherwise receive. To learn more, call us at (813) 703-1273 today!

Given that we’re in the dead of the colder winter months, an air conditioner probably isn’t high up on the list of things you’re concerned about. But when the Florida heat and humidity comes back in full force in just a little while, you’ll be glad you had it all sorted out.

Although window units aren’t as effective as central heating and air is, these appliances can be a major help when we’re desperate for some much-needed comfort. But how do you know what size to get? There are a lot of different ones out there, and installing the wrong one can actually be more problematic.

The pros at Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric have a simple and quick guide to sizing a window unit that will hopefully make the process a little bit easier.

Time for Some Math!

To find out what window unit you’ll need, you’ll have to flex those math muscles. We know, you got done with school a long time ago and thought you were done with math forever – but this is important!

What you’ll need to do is measure the dimensions of the room you’re trying to put a window unit in. Take the length of the room and multiply it by the width to find the square footage, then divide that number by .05 to find the amount of BTUs needed to provide air to that room.

Um, BTUs?

Right. BTU stands for British Thermal Units, and they’re the unit of measurement you use to identify how much power you need out of a window unit. A BTU is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature in a pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit, and a BTU rating tells you the amount that a window unit can remove from the air in a room in an hour.

It’s just a simple way of determining the power every window unit has, really. Once you know what BTU rating your room requires (by finding the square footage), you’re golden.

Why Does It Matter?

That’s a valid question. On the surface, it might seem like you can just purchase any size of window unit and assume it will work, but that’s not the case. If the unit has too high a BTU rating, then it’ll be too powerful for the room and it’ll think it’s reached your desired temperature before it actually has.

And too low of a BTU rating won’t get the temperature anywhere close to where you need it to be. Both options create an inefficient system in the room, which is why it’s important to get the right size.

Anything Else?

Actually, yes. Depending on certain characteristics in the room you’re trying to size a window unit for, you may need to adjust the BTU rating you’re searching for by a bit.

For example, if the room gets a lot of natural sunlight, then you’ll need to add roughly 10% more BTUs to the rating, and an excessively shady room will need about 10% less.

Also, the suggested BTU rating is designed for a room that will hold two people. If more people are planning to occupy that room, then you’ll need to add 600 or so to the BTU rating for every additional expected person.

Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric Is Here to Help!

That might’ve been confusing and seemed like a lot of information, but we promise it’s not that complicated! Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric has years of experience in sizing window units for rooms of all shapes and sizes, and we’d be glad to help you out as well.

Give us a call at (813) 703-1273 and we’ll help make the process as smooth and easy as possible!

The fire’s roaring, the hot cocoa is delicious and the Christmas tree is sparkling in the corner as you and your family curl up and enjoy a cool holiday evening. It’s pretty much a picture-perfect scene, isn’t it? But then you realize you forgot to grab the old, dusty Christmas record from the guest room, so you hustle over there to retrieve it and really achieve the ideal December night.

You forgot that nobody ever goes in that room, though, and it’s incredibly hot! Why, you think to yourself, are you paying for the thermostat to heat a room that doesn’t get used? It’s a waste of money, but there’s a way to eliminate that through something called a zoned air system. What are they, and how can they help? Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric has the answers!

What Is a Zoned Air System — and How Is It Different?

If you’re like a lot of families across the country, then you probably just have a single central air conditioning system that funnels air at one uniform temperature across all of your home. The thermostat receives instructions to reach a specific level, and it tells the furnace to begin heating up to that number. While that will help you warm up, every room in your home has to deal with that temperature as well.

A zoned air system opens up all kinds of freedom. When you have one of these installed, your ductwork is split into two or more “zones,” where each zone is controlled by its own individual thermostat.

One zone could consist of areas you and your family use more than others, while another zone could just be limited to rooms that don’t get a whole lot of usage.

How Does It Help?

Depending on the layout of your home and how your family uses each area of it, a zoned air system can save you tons of money on your energy bills. For example, let’s say that you’ve got a room on one floor that faces the sun in the middle of the day, but there’s a room that is tucked away from sunlight and doesn’t receive as much direct sunlight. Obviously, the second room is going to need more help from the thermostat.

But with a traditional heating system, if that room was heated up, then the first room would have to deal with that temperature as well, even though it already received lots of heat from the sun. That’s unpleasant!

A zoned air system would allow the sunlight less room to enjoy whatever temperature it needed to stay comfortable without affecting the other room’s thermostat.

Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric: Your Zoned Air System Experts

That’s just one example, but the same concept applies to plenty of other situations. Do you have a two-story home? A zoned air system can help you out just the same. What about a home that has a bunch of rooms that aren’t occupied? The same thing applies.

Whatever your situation, Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric can help you maximize your home’s air efficiency this winter. We’ll take stock of your home’s precise setup and help determine what the best way forward should be.

Give us a call at (813) 703-1273 to talk with one of our team members today!

One of the things that changes the most dramatically as we shift into winter is the air. It goes from being sticky, humid and heavy to a much lighter, drier consistency, and that’s a tough switch to make. If you employ the same indoor air quality strategies now that you did a few months ago, your winter IAQ will suffer. Instead, try a few of these tips for a winter IAQ guide from the friendly folks at Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric. We can help you figure out the best ways to make sure your home’s air remains breathable and clean.

Use an Air Purifier

The shift in air consistency brings a lot of unwanted particles and contaminants with it. Your home probably isn’t used to handling that type of air all of a sudden, so give it an extra boost with an air purifier. Air purifiers come in a handful of different versions, so you can pick the one that will help you and your home the best.

• * HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Arrestance)
• * UV Lights
• * PCO (Photocatalytic oxidation) Systems

Add Some Plants

The fact that plants can help you manage your IAQ isn’t exactly a secret. However, knowing which plants help more than others isn’t quite as well-known. Anyone can walk into a hardware store and know that *some* plant will help.

Two that tend to show up on most of these lists are Tillandsia and Peace Lilies. Tillandsia actually feeds off of moisture in the air since it doesn’t have a root system, so you can plant it anywhere and it’ll work just fine as long as it’s got some light. And on the other hand, places like NASA recommend Peace Lilies for their IAQ-helping plant of choice.

Clean – Frequently

This might be the tip that helps more than any other DIY job. It’s amazing how simply cleaning your home often can clear out the bad airborne particles that plummet your IAQ. Just take some time to vacuum – especially the vent registers – and dust around your home, and you’ll notice a drastic change in no time.

Don’t forget to keep doing this, though. While you might be satisfied with how clean everything is after the first cleaning job, don’t let that prevent you from keeping a tight cleaning schedule. It’s important to do this often!

Open Windows – If Even for a Bit

What?! Open the windows, in the winter?

If you can manage to do so, then yes! Although the air will be cold outside, cracking your windows for even a few minutes can make a huge difference. That fresh air floods your home, and it overtakes the contaminated air that has lowered your IAQ.

Schedule Professional Service

Sometimes the factors in your home that lead to less-than-ideal IAQ are a result of systems that need a serious cleaning. And when those areas are in hard-to-reach places or areas you can’t make sense of, it’s best to call an expert like the ones at Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric.

We’ll send out one of our highly trained technicians who will assess your home’s IAQ situation. They’ll work with you to develop a comprehensive IAQ plan tailored specifically to your home, and you can be sure it’ll solve your problems.

Call us at (813) 703-1273 to speak to one of our team members today!

Finally, the holidays have arrived! After we sat through a month of Halloween and a few weeks of Thanksgiving preparation, it’s finally Santa Claus’ time to shine! Besides the time spent with family, the memories from sharing gifts and the food we prepare, one of the best parts of this season is decorating.

However, decorating is often a time-honored tradition. We tend do things the same way we’ve always done them, even if they’re not particularly efficient or practical. Here are a few holiday decorating tips from the folks at Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric to help you. Hopefully they’ll help take your decoration strategy to the next level!

Rearrange Furniture

Sometimes, we’re so wedded to the way that our rooms are arranged that we don’t realize how much a simple reorganization can freshen things up. The arrangement you currently have might be what you’re used to, but it might not be a great space for some imaginative decoration.

Just take a second to think about how much moving your table and couches around could help. It might open up possibilities that you’d never even considered before, and it could provide that spark you need to really turn your home into something special this year.

Use Light Clips

Of course, everyone knows that holiday decoration isn’t complete unless you’ve got your home’s exterior decked out with lights. It’s a grueling task to complete, but it’s oh so worth it when you’re able to flip the switch and see everything shine in the night.

Instead of hammering who-knows-how-many nails into your home to string up your lights, switch to using plastic clips. It requires much less elbow grease to complete, and your home will thank you for it later on.

Accent with Natural Additions

What’s the main decoration we use during the holiday season? A big ol’ tree, of course. We’ve already got that piece of the great outdoors sitting inside, so why not add some more? A few scented pinecones, stray tree branches and a smattering of pine needles are great ways to complete the look.

If you really want to get creative, spray-paint these natural decorations with glittery, shiny paint to really make them pop and bring the spirit of the season in your home.

Test Lights Beforehand

If you’re like the rest of us, then you probably haven’t touched your holiday lights since you took them down last year. After sitting in a box in the attic for a year, your lights have had plenty of time to twiddle their thumbs, so to speak.

Use a light bulb tester before you roll up your sleeves and start climbing up on a ladder. You’ll save time, energy and a whole lot of anger.

 

Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric: Here for All Your Holiday Needs

When the holidays roll around, the last thing you want to worry about is keeping everyone comfortable. Don’t let something like a faulty furnace or loose duct ruin your time spent with family and friends.

At Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric, our techs will do whatever we can to help you and yours stay comfortable this holiday season. Don’t hesitate to give us a call at (813) 703-1273!

December marks the beginning of the holiday season (unless you count Thanksgiving), and this time of year is when most family gatherings occur. If you plan on having people over to celebrate this joyous season together, then it only make sense to prepare your home accordingly.

But how exactly should you do that? There might be more to getting the house ready for the holidays than you think, but that’s why we’re here to help. Here at Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric, we always hope our neighbors have the best and most relaxing holidays possible. To help you get there, we’ve put together a list of ways to prepare your home for the upcoming holidays!

Set the Temperature Lower

If you plan on having a decent number of people over to celebrate the holidays with you and your family, then it’s a good idea to adjust the thermostat. Set it a bit lower than you might expect to. Although it’s winter time, when it’s usually a bit colder than other parts of the year, your home will warm up naturally when people come over.

All that body heat will raise the temperature without the help of the thermostat. If you’ve already set the temperature higher, then it’ll only get even hotter once the crowd arrives and gets going. This is a good way to keep the balance.

Check Your Alarms

If there’s one thing you can count on this holiday season, it’s that there will be plenty of memories, and plenty of food. All that cooking creates a lot of smoke in the kitchen, which is why it’s so important to make sure your smoke alarms are installed properly and have full battery life.

The only thing that can throw a wrench into the fun times is when something goes awry, like a turkey left in the oven too long or another grease-related kitchen accident. Catch it before the problem becomes too dangerous — double-check your alarms before the festivities get underway.

Schedule an Inspection

Ultimately, the best way to make sure your home is ready for the holidays is by letting a professional perform a thorough inspection. They’ll take a long, hard look at your home’s air quality, furnace performance and air circulation to make sure it can handle an influx of guests.

There’s only so much you can do at home through DIY jobs before you reach a point where only a trained expert can help out. It’s better to let them roll up the sleeves and identify certain problems so you can fix them before the crowds arrive.

Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric’s experienced technicians can do just that. All of our team members are fully equipped to work with you and your home to find what needs fixing for the holidays, and they’ll do it in a professional and courteous manner.

Whether you need a total inspection or just need a few pointers to help optimize the furnace to handle your cranky cousins, we’ve got the expertise to help!

Give us a call at (813) 703-1273 to speak with someone from our team today!

What do you think would happen if, one month, you just decided not to change the air filter? Every time the 30-day cycle comes back around, you may roll your eyes and get up in a huff. What’s the point? Does leaving an air filter in for more than a month even matter, or is it just a scheme concocted by Big Air to make you shell out money for more filters every month?

Here’s the short answer: it does matter. It matters a lot. That flimsy little filter can be the last and sometimes only line of defense between nasty contaminants and the sanctity of your home. To help drive home the importance of changing your air filter, we at Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric have compiled a list of the very worst things that will happen if you neglect it for too long!

Dust Builds Up – And Leads to Bad Things

The first thing that probably comes to mind when you think about negative air problems is a buildup of dust and dirt. Obviously, this happens when a filter clogs, and it’s generally why we recommend a 30-day life on your air filter. But what happens when you leave it too long?

• It restricts airflow, which leads to a whole mess of other problems. We’ll get into that here in a second.
• It erodes the delicate parts of your HVAC unit, which causes more issues. Eventually the parts will deteriorate past the point of no return, and you’ll have to pony up the money for a replacement unit!

It Disrupts the Heat Exchanger

Your heat exchanger is the component in your furnace that is responsible for introducing hot air into your home, and it needs clean air to work properly. Without clean, functional air that a good air filter provides, the heat exchanger can’t heat your air.

It Lowers Air Quality

As we mentioned, a clogged air filter restricts airflow. This means that your air not only has a harder time circulating, but whatever air does manage to wiggle through will likely be contaminated. Your air quality takes a dip, meaning you and your family are breathing yucky, allergen-and-irritant-filled air.

It Spikes Your Energy Bills

When the air filter clogs, your system doesn’t register the level of clear airflow it’s expecting from that specific setting. It knows how much it’s putting out, but the intake it receives doesn’t match what it should.

As a result, you’ll notice that your unit has to kick into overdrive to reach the temperature you’re setting it at. You may actually feel the same temperature that you’d expect, but it’ll take much more energy to do so. Your energy bill will unfortunately feel the effects of this!

 

Did that do the trick and convince you of how important your filter is? There are many more negative effects from a clogged filter, including having to replace the entire unit if you neglect it for too long.

Don’t let that happen! Whether you need information or advice, or if you need some speedy service from heating experts you trust, give Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric a shout. Reach us at (813) 703-1273 for the most reliable service in Tampa!

Although we’ve still got a bit of time until Thanksgiving is officially here, you don’t want to wait until the night before to start preparing for the big day! Waiting until the last minute, only to realize you’re missing some essential ingredient or cookware, is a nightmare scenario for everyone involved.

Avoid that problem altogether by following these Thanksgiving preparation tips from the friendly folks at Acree Plumbing & Air. We usually stick to HVAC service, but we know a thing or two about making sure a holiday as important as this one goes off without a hitch!

Double-check Your Supplies

The only thing worse than ruining a Thanksgiving turkey is not even beginning to cook one in the first place. Nothing will bring the mood down in the house more than having to delay the food preparation because you forgot to get something like the right-sized pan or pie dish.

Take stock of what you’ve got a few days ahead of time, and figure out what you still need so that when Thursday comes you can hit the ground running. Everyone will be happy, and you won’t have to worry about scrambling to snag a meat thermometer in the nick of time.

Schedule It All Out

Again, the secret to an efficient Thanksgiving is making sure you don’t have to spend too much time thinking about what needs to happen. When the big day comes, there is going to be a lot of mixing, preheating, boiling, and other kitchen activities going on. Some start before others, and some end earlier as well.

Go ahead and plan out what needs cooking, and when. That way you’ll be able to consult your handy-dandy notebook and see exactly what needs to be prepared (along with the cooking times) to ensure your Thanksgiving stays on track.

Set the Table Ahead of Time

What good is a Thanksgiving feast if there aren’t any utensils or places to eat it at?

We recommend setting the table the night before while the stress level is at a minimum and the hectic food-preparation stage isn’t here yet. Otherwise, just do it before you really roll up your sleeves on Thursday — or better yet, delegate this task out to someone else and let them handle it so you can focus on the food!

Make What You Can Early

Looking for a way to cut down on the amount of time you’ll be in the kitchen? Consider getting a leg up on everything and make what you can before time is of the essence. Things like mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and certain casseroles taste just as great if you freeze and thaw them.

We at Acree Plumbing & Air hope you and yours have a safe, relaxing and delicious Thanksgiving. There’s no better feeling than spending time around a table with those you love, and we’re glad to do what we can to make sure your Thanksgiving is one to remember.

 

Always remember to give us a call at (813) 703-1273 should a problem arise!

The changing seasons bring a host of different experiences. The leaves turn different colors, the temperatures steadily begin dropping, and the air gets drier. While most people welcome these changes with open arms, the environment takes a toll on others.

Allergies are still a problem, and the dry air can wreak havoc on immune systems. That’s why it’s so important to make sure your indoor air quality is in the best shape it can be. Your home is supposed to be a reprieve from pollutants and allergens, so it’s important that you take care of the airflow. We’ve got a handful of foolproof solutions to keeping your home allergen-free!

Clean Everything!

The things that tend to cause the most problems in our air circulation are particles like dust and pollen. These pollutants worm their way into our homes and sit there for a while, and they spread and infect our air.

Keep these contaminants in check! Vacuum and dust your home regularly to ensure that they don’t have a chance to find a dark little corner to take root in, and you’ll nip the problem in the bud before it gets serious.

Install High-Quality, Efficient Air Filters

Since your air only has one way to enter your home’s vent system, it makes sense to block as much of the allergens and airborne particles as you can, well before they have a chance to affect your respiratory system.

Invest in a high-quality air filter and replace your current one with it. Make sure to keep the MERV rating in mind – this is the number that dictates how efficiently the filter screens out particles. Find out what your current filter’s rating is and consider adjusting it a bit.

Electrostatic filters are also a viable option. They don’t need to be replaced – just a routine washing will do – and they’ll last a long while.

Add a UV Air Cleaner

A UV air cleaner augments your HVAC system by zapping the particles that happen to somehow get through your air filter. An air cleaner is silent, so you won’t even notice that it’s there. All it does is perform the job it was designed to do!

Invest in a Whole-Home Humidifier

One of the more irritating problems that the fall season brings is, as we noted, the dry air. This provides a fertile breeding ground for the pollen and allergens that irritate us, which is why the most effective way to combat this is by adding moisture to the air.

A whole-home humidifier will do just that. It ensures your air doesn’t get stale, so you and your family won’t have any trouble breathing!

Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric: Solving Your IAQ Problems One at a Time

The fall should be a fun time for everyone in the family! It’s great to get out and take a stroll with a crisp breeze at your back, and you shouldn’t have to dread it for fear of getting sick.

Acree Plumbing, Air & Electric’s technicians know what works best, and our team members are happy to work out a solution that specifically fits your situation.

To make sure your home has the perfect level of air quality, just give us a call at (813) 703-1273!

Your furnace is designed to do one thing, and one thing only: blow warm air into your home so that you and your family can stay comfortable during colder weather. It’s usually pretty reliable, but every now and then it runs into problems. You can fix some issues by yourself in just a few minutes, but others require the work of a professional.

Which ones are which? Unless you’re an HVAC expert, telling the difference might be tough. Luckily, we’ve got you covered! The experts at Acree Plumbing & Air can help you figure out which is which so you know when it’s time to let someone else handle the job.

Pilot Light Issues

A pilot light ignites the furnace to begin the heating process, and without one you won’t have any warmth at all. Thanks to the advances in technology, though, there are some differences in how pilot lights work.

Older furnaces use traditional pilot lights, and when one of those units breaks or malfunctions, there’s not a whole lot to be done – it just needs to be replaced.

However, modern furnaces use pilot lights that work similarly to the way light bulb filaments do. When one of these malfunctions, there’s still a chance that a professional can fix it – something we can help out with.

Constant Cycling

While knowing that your furnace definitely needs repair is frustrating, at least you know exactly what needs to happen. When it won’t quit cycling through heating cycles, though, any number of things could be the reason.

It could be because your air filter is clogged – change it out, and then see if that makes a difference.

A malfunctioning thermostat might be the root of the issue, too. When it’s not working correctly, your thermostat will have trouble providing accurate temperature readings and will continuously tell your furnace to shut on and off.

And that just scratches the surface!

Poor Airflow

A furnace might be working just as intended only to be hamstrung by something else. Even if all the mechanical parts are in tip-top shape, another area of your air-circulation system could be at fault.

Ducts are one of the usual culprits. If they’re leaky, then all that warm air escapes into the house and goes to waste. Likewise, if your ducts are clogged by some foreign object or unwanted pest, your airflow suffers.

You might be able to fix that yourself if you’re savvy in duct-related maintenance, but it’s best left to an expert.

General Furnace Maintenance Issues

Sometimes the problem is as simple as forgetting to flip the circuit breaker back on or remembering to plug something back in after you’d previously unplugged it.

Always dot your i’s and cross your t’s – by that, we mean that remembering to take care of the simple tasks can often end up saving you an embarrassing call to the technician.

 

No matter when you call us, we’ll do what we can to help. Even if it’s as simple as letting you know how to switch something off, we’ll do it respectfully and without judgement. Not everyone is an HVAC expert, and we don’t expect you to be.

Acree Plumbing & Air is here for whatever you need! Just give us a call at (813) 703-1273 for all your air-related needs.