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Call B&B Air Conditioning & Heating Service at 866-604-1220
Serving Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Serving Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Serving Fairfax and Loudoun Counties and the surrounding area
Owning an air conditioner is a great way to keep your home cool during the warmer months. Nevertheless, this only remains true as long as the unit stays in good working order. While most air conditioning units are fully functional upon arrival, without the proper maintenance they become less functional over time. Therefore, learning the early signs of trouble with your air conditioner can be one of the best ways to protect your unit for the long term. With that in mind, the following is an overview of the early signs of trouble with your air conditioner.
With the warmer seasons right around the corner, taking time to complete your spring-cleaning tasks is vital. Indeed, spring cleaning is beneficial because it can reduce stress, anxiety, depression, as well as the risk of injury and more. Moreover, it is essential to clean around your home and clean and maintain your appliances as well.
With all this spring cleaning in mind, the following is a list of the benefits of getting your air conditioner tuned up this spring.
This is a “PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT” from B&B Air Conditioning & Heating Service Co., Inc. to our highly valued clientele on the availability and the future outlook of HCFC-22 refrigerant or as the industry calls it, R-22 or Freon. If your current residential or commercial air conditioner or heat pump system was manufactured before 2008, then your system may utilize HCFC-22.
Section 605 of the Clean Air Act establishes the U.S. phaseout targets for Class II substances. In 1993, EPA established the phaseout framework and the “worst-first” approach, which focused first on HCFC-22, HCFC-141b, and HCFC-142b because they have the highest ozone depletion potentials of all HCFCs. The phaseout schedule has drastically diminished the availability of HCFC-22 and has exponentially driven up the overall cost of this refrigerant over the past two years.
What does this mean to you? Well, if your equipment utilizes HCFC-22 and you experience a malfunction in the refrigeration circuit, then you will have a very serious decision to consider. The cost associated in repairing older systems is extremely difficult to justify because of the pricing of HCFC-22. Currently, HCFC-22 has a price range of $250.00 to $300.00 per pound and many of our suppliers have quit handling the product due to the high cost associated with maintaining inventory. The average residential air conditioning or heat pump system uses approximately 8-12 lbs to provide the required cooling capacity, and we anticipate the cost to continue to escalate as we approach the spring/summer of 2022.
The other alternative to repairing your antiquated air conditioning or heat pump system is to have new updated equipment installed that doesn’t use HCFC-22 refrigerant. All equipment manufactured after 2008 required the implementation of an alternative refrigerant. Currently, the HVAC industry is using HFC-410A or R-410A which is a “chlorine-free” based refrigerant and is much safer on the atmosphere.
Updating homeowner’s equipment is not as easy as it sounds today. Each and every person in the United States are experiencing some sort of supply chain issue. The manufacturers of HVAC equipment are having the same dilemmas. Copper, steel & aluminum are critical materials that manufacturers use to build their products. These supply chain issues have drastically reduced the production of HVAC equipment and it is our understanding that the availability of air conditioning & heating equipment will only worsen as we enter 2022.
B&B Air Conditioning & Heating Service Co., Inc. has been in business since 1957 and has grown to be one of the largest HVAC service companies in the Washington/Baltimore Metro area. This enormous feat could not have been accomplished without keeping our clients informed with real issues that are relevant to this industry today.
If your HVAC equipment was manufactured prior to 2008, we are strongly urging our customers to consider proactively exploring the age of your HVAC equipment before a problem arises. If you don’t know when your equipment was manufactured, then please contact us and we can research your service information so we can aid in determining the age of your equipment, and if necessary provide you with a free at-home solution.
Air conditioning systems are intricate devices, which means many different components can fail and create malfunctions. The good news is that modern AC design makes these systems durable and, with proper routine care for the system—such as professional maintenance done every spring—an air conditioner can make it through its service life of 10–15 years with minimal problems.
We take care of many AC repairs in Annapolis, MD, so we’ve seen just about everything that might go wrong with a home cooling system. One of the most common is short cycling. In this post, we’ll look at short cycling to help you understand it and deal with it.
It’s not fun during the dog days of summer to discover your air conditioning system has fallen behind on its work. You can hear the AC running and the familiar sound of the compressor kicking on, yet something isn’t right. People in the house are complaining about the heat, some rooms are hotter than before, and you find yourself pushing the thermostat lower than usual.
First, don’t lower the thermostat to counter this problem. It may make the situation worse. If you suspect your AC isn’t cooling enough, you’ll probably need the assistance of an HVAC company in Frederick, MD to find out why. Second … well, second is the rest of this post: the top five reasons you may have an AC that can’t keep up with the late summer heat.
Our summers can get pretty hot. That is why many homeowners look to get the best possible central air conditioning installation in Rockville, MD. A modern, advanced air conditioner that is installed and checked regularly by a professional service like B&B Air Conditioning & Heating Service ensures cool and pleasant summers for many years to come.
In this blog, we look at several important factors that you should consider before buying a new air conditioner.
Humidity. It’s an ugly word during the summer because it makes hot days worse. Humidity doesn’t make the temperature warmer; it makes it harder for the human body to release heat through perspiration, which traps extra heat in the body and makes the temperature feel higher. When relative humidity rises above 60%, the difference in what the temperature feels like can be as much as 8° to 10° higher.
But you have an air conditioning system in your house to cool you off so you won’t have to sweat it out when the temperature rises. Sometimes, the AC may be all you need to enjoy comfort. But there are other times when the humidity level puts the air conditioner to the test—that extra 10° difference means you have to run the AC longer to cool down, and muggy air will still feel unpleasant. Can you do anything about this?
The simple answer to this question is “Hopefully never.”
Confused? Don’t worry—many people aren’t used to how refrigerant works in their homes’ air conditioning systems. We’re glad to shed light on this to help you better understand how your AC runs. Knowing just a bit about AC refrigerants can help you know when you need to call us for professional repairs for your air conditioning in Annapolis, MD.
We’re going to divide the answer to the original question into two parts: Why you shouldn’t need to put more refrigerant in your AC and Why you might need more refrigerant anyway.
As warm weather settles in, you’ll rely more often on your home’s air conditioner to keep your family cool. Like any machine, too much strain on an AC system can cause it to break down or malfunction and provide substandard cooling.
As the summer starts and you make more requests of your air conditioning system, it’s a good idea to know the signs that you need to call us for air conditioning repair in Fairfax, VA. The sooner you get a problem addressed, the better it is for the AC as a whole.
If you’ve never used a heat pump for home comfort before, you’ll likely have many questions about them. Most people in our area grew up in homes that used a combination of a furnace (gas or electric) and an air conditioner, usually housed in the same cabinet and using the same blower fan. A heat pump replaces both the air conditioner and furnace, working as a home’s combined cooling and heating system. It’s a great convenience, and if installed properly a heat pump can be a money-saving addition to a house.
But can a heat pump do as effective a job at heating and cooling as either a furnace or an air conditioner? Does the two-in-one functionality mean sacrificing power? Since summer is coming up, we’ll address the question of cooling first (and we will have a little to say about heating at the end).
