B&B Air Conditioning & Heating Service Blog: Archive for the ‘Heating’ Category

Important Thermostat Tips for Energy Savings and Better Heating

Monday, December 13th, 2021
advanced-thermostat-on-hot-day

Because the thermostat is a small and unobtrusive device, its importance in an HVAC system is often overlooked. This is why people frequently change the settings on their thermostats based on comfort whims. If it’s winter and they’re feeling too cold, they crank the thermostat up high. Then when the house gets too hot, they slam the setting down. 

This way of setting the thermostat is bad news: for the heating system, for indoor comfort, and for energy bills. We’re going to share some thermostat “best practices” in this post so you’ll know how to use your home’s thermostat to save money while enjoying quality heating.

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What to Do If Your Furnace Won’t Heat

Monday, November 15th, 2021
man-keping-warm

You may not have turned your furnace on for the first time this winter, but you’re coming closer and closer to that moment. If you’ve already scheduled heating maintenance in Rockville, MD, your furnace will probably come on as it’s supposed to and provide warmth for your family.

But what if it doesn’t? We don’t just mean at the start of the winter, but at any point during the season. The furnace may not come on at all, or you may get room temperature air from the vents rather than the warmth you expect. 

If your first thought is to call us to see if your furnace needs repairs, you’re off to a good start. You never want to attempt to repair a furnace yourself, as it can be dangerous. But before you give us a call or send us a message (and we’re here for you 24/7!), you can go through several basic troubleshooting steps to see if there is a simple reason you aren’t getting warm.

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What’s That Odd Sound From My Furnace Mean?

Monday, November 1st, 2021
woman-listening

As furnaces start to go to work in the fall weather, it’s a good time to remind our customers and customers-to-be about the warning signs that can indicate it’s time to call us for Annapolis, MD furnace repairs. There are several different categories of warnings that a furnace that not all is well, and in this post, we’ll look at one of the most common: odd noises.

If you’ve lived with your current furnace for at least a year, you already know the standard noises it makes as it runs. You can expect to hear a whoosh as the burners ignite, clicking noises from the ignition system, and the whir of the blower as it sends air through the furnace and into the ductwork. You might also hear an occasional rattling from the ducts, which is the sound of the temperature change causing the metal to expand. 

When other noises start to interrupt the usual ones, you may have a problem that requires professional repairs. We’ve listed a few common trouble noises below. When in doubt, always call the B&B team to handle diagnosing the issue and seeing what work we can do. Amateur repair attempts can be dangerous!

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Why Heating Maintenance Is One of the Best Services We Offer

Monday, October 4th, 2021
gas-furnace

Fall is the favorite time of year for many people. It’s one of our favorite times as well, and not just because of candy, pumpkin carving, turkey, and football. It’s the time of the year when we provide one of the best services to our customers: regular heating maintenance.

What, that didn’t sound exciting to you? Okay, it’s not as much of a blast as a really terrific horror movie marathon or mounds of turkey and stuffing, but we promise you this is a great service that will pay off in the season that follows. You know, that one called winter where it gets super cold and frozen water covers everything. Heating maintenance in fall means a much better, safer, more comfortable, and less expensive winter.

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Late Winter and the Heating Repairs It Can Bring

Monday, February 22nd, 2021
furnace-testing

The last months of winter sometimes bring the coldest weather, and even after spring begins a snap blizzard can smash into us. It’s asking a lot of your heating system during this time, because it has already gone through months of steady work warming the house, accumulating wear and tear. Now it has to face some of the starkest weather of the year—and it might be exhausted!

In other words, this is the time of year when you’re most likely to need to call for heating repairs in Rockville, MD from our team.

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A Short-Cycling Heater: What Causes It, Why You Don’t Want It

Monday, January 25th, 2021
question-mark

You may never have heard the term short-cycling before, but you might have experienced it with your home’s heating system. If your heater only runs for a short time when it comes on—less than 10 minutes or so—then shuts down, only to turn back on again a brief time later and repeat the process, it’s short-cycling. For some reason, the heater has gotten caught up in its start-up cycle and is not running long enough to complete a full heating cycle. This is a malfunction and if it isn’t addressed it can create major problems for the heating system as well as your comfort and your bills.

Let’s go a bit further into short-cycling and what might cause it to happen, as well as what the consequence of this problem can be.

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Why Can’t My Furnace Keep Up?

Monday, January 11th, 2021
cold-man-with-thermostat

Your home’s furnace usually doesn’t have any trouble providing your household with the comfort it needs each winter. But now something isn’t working right, and the house feels colder, even though you’re setting the thermostat at the standard temperature you always do. 

Your first instinct may be to push the thermostat up higher until you feel comfortable. This isn’t a good idea if you know the furnace isn’t doing its job as well. It may even make the problem worse, and you’re only making the furnace run longer. It still may not be able to meet your heating demands depending on what’s wrong with it.

Let’s look into that and see why your furnace is falling behind this winter:

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Early Warnings Your Furnace May Need Repairs

Monday, December 28th, 2020
gas-furnace

When you turn on the furnace in your house for the winter, you expect that it will run for the rest of the season without any malfunctions. And, most winters, this will be the case. (Although it’s a huge help if the furnace got its regular maintenance inspection in the fall! It is still not too late to have this done if you haven’t.) 

But no furnace can be guaranteed to have a problem-free winter every year. We hope this isn’t the year when you need to call for repairs, but if it is, we want to help you catch the problem as soon as possible. The earlier you notice something wrong, the sooner you can have it fixed, and the less likely you’ll be trapped with a non-working furnace later.

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Some Tips to Pay Less for Heating This Winter

Monday, December 14th, 2020
money

During the fall, you can expect your utility bills to lower since you’re in the period between when you depend regularly on the air conditioning system and the stretch when your heater puts in most of its work. So as the cold weather begins to settle in, your bills will start to go up…

But do they need to go up that high?

If you’re already dreading looking at your utility bills for the season, you may be paying more than you should. As local Rockville, MD heating experts, we know many ways to lower the cost of your heating without you needing to layer up in parkas. Below are a few tips for reducing your heating costs this winter.

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Is It Time to Retire Your Old Furnace?

Monday, November 30th, 2020
Furnace-standard

Before the weather gets any colder, ask yourself if you can rely on your aging furnace for another winter. No furnace lasts forever, and eventually, you’ll need to schedule a furnace replacement in Rockville, MD with professionals. It’s best to have this job done before the cold weather hits because you don’t want to get caught with a failed heating system on the coldest night of the year and need to arrange for an emergency replacement. 

How can you tell it’s time to replace a furnace? The best way is to call on our heating experts: we have 63 years of experience and can help you decide if the furnace is ready to go or if continuing with repairs will keep it going for a couple more useful years. 

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