DB Heating & Cooling, Inc. Blog : Archive for March, 2015

What Are My Choices for Air Cleaner Installation?

Friday, March 27th, 2015

There are a number of air cleaning and purifying products available for whole-home use, so it can be confusing to determine which product you should use. Understanding what the products are, how they work and what their capabilities are go a long way toward deciding which one is the best fit for your needs. The indoor air quality experts at DB Heating & Cooling can assist you with all your air cleaner needs, including installation, so call us today and schedule an appointment for your Waldwick, NJ home.

Types of Air Cleaners

The description “air cleaner” can be a little confusing as many people use it to describe both air purifiers and air filters. What is the difference between air purifiers and air filters? The words “air filter” typical refers to a mechanical filter, which is the type of filter held in a frame with material held in place by the sides of the frame. Mechanical air filters are not electronic and aside from the filter frame, aren’t mechanical in any other way. An air purifier typically refers to three products: an electronic precipitator, an ion generator or UV germicidal lighting. All three of these products use electricity to operate, with the first two using electricity to capture and remove allergens and some biological contaminants and the third, UV lighting, to kill only biological contaminants. A last type of air cleaner to consider is the use of a HEPA filter, but it is strongly recommended that you consult with a specialist before using a HEPA filter in your HVAC system. HEPA filters are a type of mechanical filter, but to qualify as being HEPA, very strict guidelines must be met; one of these guidelines is a 99.97% efficiency rating for capturing contaminants. HEPA filters are so strong that they can restrict the air flow in your system, and this is why it’s important to work with a specialist before using one with your heating and cooling system.

Which Should I Choose?

Answering this question will depend a lot on your needs: are you looking to remove biological contaminants, or do you have allergy sufferers in your home who need relief?

Working with a trained expert, like the ones at DB Heating & Cooling, can help ensure that you choose and install an air cleaner for your Waldwick, NJ, home that meets all of your indoor air quality needs. Call us today!

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How Does Maintenance Help My Cooling System?

Friday, March 20th, 2015

We’re still feeling Old Man Winter here in NJ, but we have started to see glimmers of spring. While summer may still be a distant memory, spring offers you the ideal time to get your whole-home air conditioner ready for its heavy summer workload. In fact, we here at DB Heating & Cooling believe maintenance to be so important that we have a preventative heating and cooling maintenance program for all of our customers, including those in Hackensack. But before we explain some of the benefits of our maintenance program, let’s first review why maintenance is so important.

Benefits of Cooling System Maintenance

Maintenance is a full tune-up for your system, so a number of things happen during a maintenance appointment for your cooling system, including:

  • A thorough inspection of the system
  • Small repair
  • Multiple checks, including refrigerant levels
  • Cleaning, adjusting and lubrication of components
  • Change of air filter
  • Performance testing

Having such a thorough appointment helps provide the following benefits:

  • Better energy efficiency
  • Better comfort
  • Extends life of the equipment
  • Helps prevent repair

But when you join the DB Heating & Cooling maintenance program, you get additional benefits that last all year long, including:

  • Priority scheduling – when you are a DB Heating & Cooling maintenance program member, you will be at the top of the list for our services, no matter how many people were there before
  • 24-hour emergency service – while all customers can access us 24/7, only program members are eligible for after-hours service during peak periods
  • Discounts on repairs – program members receive exclusive discounts on repairs
  • No overtime charges – as a member, you won’t have to pay any overtime charges for any appointment
  • Maintenance agreement is fully transferrable – should you want to pass the agreement to another person or take it with you to a new home, all you have to do is tell us.

The DB Heating & Cooling preventative maintenance program makes it easy for you to maintain your heating and cooling systems in Hackensack. Call us today and see how maintenance can help you.

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What Is the Difference Between an Air Cleaner and an Air Purifier?

Friday, March 13th, 2015

There’s a lot of terminology that gets thrown when it comes to whole-home products and systems. Indoor air quality is one such area that has its fair share of terminology, and it can be confusing for homeowners to know exactly which products do what. For instance, take air cleaners and air purifiers – what’s the difference between these two products? It’s important to know the difference so that you can get your indoor air quality needs met, and the experts at DB Heating & Cooling are here to help you.

Air Cleaners

“Air cleaners” is a broad term that refers to any kind of indoor air quality product that cleans the air – however, an air cleaner is not an air purifier. This means that an air cleaner, like a mechanical air filter, will not be able to remove all biological contaminants, including bacteria, viruses and spores (mold, mildew, fungi). Why? Biological contaminant particles are very small and can pass through filter media. Electronic air cleaners can capture more biological contaminants because electronic air cleaners charge the particles and then capture them, but like mechanical filters, not all the biological contaminants can be trapped. Here are the products that are considered air cleaners:

  • Mechanical air filters (not HEPA)
  • Electrostatic precipitators (electronic air cleaner)
  • Ion generator (electronic air cleaner)

Air Purifiers

An air purifier is a device that will remove biological contaminants from your indoor air. The main indoor air quality product that does this is UV germicidal lighting. UV lighting utilizes UV-C rays to destroy and eradicate biological contaminants by destroying the cell’s DNA and life-sustaining proteins. As such, the cells cannot survive or reproduce. However, for UV lighting to kill biological contaminants, the organism has to pass directly under the lighting, so it’s best to pair UV germicidal lighting with an air cleaner.

HEPA mechanical filters can also purify the air, but they are so strong that they can restrict air flow in your HVAC system. If you are interested in using a HEPA-grade mechanical filter in your HVAC system, work with a specialist to determine if this is feasible for your HVAC system.

If you have questions about what type of product(s) you should be using for your Waldwick home, call the experts at DB Heating & Cooling today.

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Benefits of Custom Ductwork

Friday, March 6th, 2015

If your home has a forced air system for heating and/or cooling, then it needs a ductwork system to deliver the air to your living spaces. How ductwork is made and installed plays a big role in its performance and how comfortable and energy efficient your home will be. One way to help ensure that your ductwork functions optimally is to have custom ductwork made for your home. Fabricating custom ductwork takes skill, training, expertise and experience, which is why you should only hire a trained professional for the job. The ductwork experts at DB Heating & Cooling have served customers throughout Bergen County, so if you need custom ductwork for your Woodcliff Lake home, call us today!

Why Consider Custom Ductwork?

You may be asking yourself this question as there can be some extra costs when choosing to install a custom ductwork system for your home. Here are some reasons why custom ductwork may be a better fit for you:

  • It is perfectly sized – ductwork isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of product. Not only does the ductwork have to fit your home, it also has to fit your HVAC system. When ductwork is too small, you won’t get the air volume you need to adequately heat and cool your home, and when the ductwork is too big, the volume of air will be lost in the ductwork.
  • Better energy efficiency – with custom ductwork, you air loss is minimal, meaning that the air is being delivered correctly to your home’s living spaces. This takes pressure off your HVAC system, and helps reduce the system’s energy usage.
  • Better air balance – one of the biggest problems with ductwork systems is poor installation; this can lead to faulty ductwork and/or ductwork with lots of twists and turns. All of these problems can seriously interfere with the system’s air balance. With a ductwork system made specifically for your home and HVAC system, you can rest assured that your system is perfectly balanced.

Ductwork systems can last more than 30 years, so it’s important to make sure you install a ductwork system that will give you the long-term performance you need for your home.

The experts at DB Heating & Cooling are ready to assist, so if you are interested in custom ductwork for your Woodcliff Lake home, call us today!

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