You are seeing this message because we have detected you are using Internet Explorer 10 (or older) to browse our site. Unfortunately, this means that your browser is too old to display our site properly and that certain areas of the site may display incorrectly or not at all. Please upgrade to the latest version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, or Apple Safari in order to view this site.
Need service now?
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
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).
‘Tis the season to install a new air conditioning system! (Well, if you need one at least. If you aren’t sure, please call our technicians to ask them if an air conditioning installation in Fairfax, VA is something you should have done this spring.) With the summer weather not far away, now is a good time to take advantage of the relatively mild weather and go over your options to replace your old AC. And then take this simple quiz:
The easiest way to install a new AC is to…
Do it yourself. There are plenty of online tutorials that make it a snap!
Get Phil to do it. You know, Phil. That guy who says he can install anything as good as a pro.
Call licensed and professionals HVAC technicians to handle the service.
When spring arrives, it’s time to schedule the annual maintenance for your air conditioning system. This is the best way to prepare your AC for the hard work it will perform over the summer keeping your family cool and comfortable. Every HVAC contractor recommends maintenance for air conditioners in spring, and we have our own HVAC maintenance program to help make this job easier for our customers.
“Is this really that important?” some people ask when told about maintenance. The answer is yes. There are many reasons why HVAC maintenance is done twice annually (the AC in spring, the heater in fall) is vital.
Below we’ve listed the five biggest benefits of having maintenance. After reading it, we think you’ll agree this is a service you’ll want to keep up with each year.
You don’t want a water heater failure to sneak up on you. There are few problems more irritating and uncomfortable than to wake up in the morning, head off to get a warm shower, and then discover the water won’t heat up because something has gone wrong with the water heater.
Fortunately, water heater malfunctions rarely strike without some warnings. If you know what to watch and listen for, you’ll be able to call us for Washington, DC water heater repairs before you’re stuck with a freezing cold shower in the morning—and all the other problems you’ll have to deal with when your house loses its source of hot water. Below we’ve listed five signs of impending water heater repairs.
The recent streak of intense cold in parts of the country, combined with extended power outages, has brought up an important topic for homeowners: whole-house generators. Many people who never thought a generator would be important for their livelihood have started to consider installing a generator. After all, if Texas can experience massive power failures during a major cold snap, then parts of the country that have even colder winters—like us—are in danger of the same problem. A whole-house generator offers protection and peace of mind for emergency situations like this.
We offer generator services, including generator installation and generator repair in Annapolis, MD, and we’d like to share important information about this topic that’s now on everyone’s minds.
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.
If you’re considering making a change to your HVAC system this year, one option you’ll probably consider is a heat pump. A heat pump has the huge advantage of working as both an air conditioning and heating system, able to change from one mode to the other with only an adjustment on the thermostat. Heat pumps also have a reputation for helping to reduce energy bills for homes.
But when you’re looking for a new air conditioning and heating system in Rockville, MD, you’ll want more definitive information about a heat pump. Will it really save you money?
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.
