This Blog was posted by Smithson Valley Services Air Conditioning. We serve the Texas Hill Country, including Blanco | Bulverde | Canyon Lake | Fisher | Kendalia | New Braunfels | North San Antonio | Sattler | Sisterdale | Smithson Valley | Spring Branch | Startzville

Why Does my HVAC System Break down on the Hottest Sunday of the Year?

Why Do my HVAC Systems Breakdown on the hottest Sunday of the Year? Ever noticed that problems with the mechanical equipment in your building always seem to break down at the worst possible time from both a convenience and cost perspective? There is a reason for this phenomenon beyond the simple explanation of Murphy’s Law. HVAC systems are complicated machinery that includes pumps, compressors, electric motors, fans, heat exchangers, sophisticated electronic controls, and many esoteric refrigeration parts. Modern HVAC systems work well for many years when they are well maintained and sized correctly for their application. However, when HVAC systems are not maintained properly, they have to run harder than designed. For example, if the cooling coils that transfer heat from the inside of your building to the unit’s refrigerant are like your car’s radiator. They cannot transfer heat efficiently if they get covered in the dirt. Therefore, less heat is transferred, so the unit must run longer to give the same amount of cooling.

Similarly, if the coils that transfer heat from the refrigerant to the outside are dirty, less heat is transferred from the refrigerant to the outside, which means the refrigerant stays hotter. Hotter refrigerant cannot absorb as much heat from the inside of the building, so the system must work longer. Soon your equipment is working much harder and longer than it was designed to do. Now throw in a hot summer’s day, which your equipment was probably specified to barely be able to handle when running at peak efficiency, and the equipment breaks down. Murphy’s law is true that it happens on a Sunday when everyone’s at home, and an emergency repair call is billed at double time.

The key to reducing this kind of annoying calls is to have a proper Preventative Maintenance Program for your equipment. These programs will save you significant dollars not only on your repair budgets but by making your equipment last longer and your capital replacement budgets. What is Preventative Maintenance? Preventative Maintenance (PM) on HVAC and ventilation equipment usually falls into two categories, major and minor inspections. Basic programs consist of two major and two minor inspections, so equipment is serviced quarterly. Minor Inspections include simple mechanical tasks like changing air filters and fan belts, as well as visual and aural inspections of equipment for abnormal operation. Clues like noisy bearings and oil leaks can be followed up to find potential trouble spots. It is often tempting to use in-house staff to do minor inspections to save money. While in-house inspections can work well, building owners should be aware of two potential pitfalls. First, maintenance on equipment not in plain sight is an easy task to postpone, so key tasks like changing air filters are often not done according to the proper schedule. Second, while it is not hard to change air filters, it does take an educated person to do the visual and aural checks properly, so in-house staff must be trained on maintaining the equipment, or vital clues to problems will be missed, and small problems will turn into large ones. Major Inspections are more complex and should only be done by certified personnel.

Typical PM programs will include two Major inspections, a Heating Inspection in the fall and a Cooling Inspection in the Spring. Major inspections include checking heat exchangers, gas burners, cooling coils, compressors, and refrigerant pressures. More Comprehensive Preventative Maintenance programs include cleaning equipment that uses coils to transfer heat, either cooling or heating. The efficiency of any heat exchange requires that airflow over such coils and any type of dirt can seriously affect the operation of HVAC equipment, causing it to run inefficiently and run at higher rates and pressures, which will damage the equipment.

Why do Preventative Maintenance? The major reason to do Preventative Maintenance is that it will save money in the long run in several ways.

Equipment will run more efficiently.
• Equipment that runs efficiently uses less energy so that you will save money on both your gas and electricity bills
• Equipment that runs efficiently will put less strain on the mechanical components, so they will not break down as much and will last long repairs will be caught when they are small
• All mechanical equipment will eventually need repairs; regular PM will catch mechanical problems when before they become large Repairs will be caught when they can be dealt with in a cost-effective manner
• Repairs that are caught by your PM program can usually be fixed on the same visit or, at the very least, be scheduled for repair during normal working hours
• Equipment that fails often fails outside regular hours and usually when environmental conditions stress it. For example, cooling equipment invariably fails on the hottest day of the year. Although this phenomenon feels like Murphy’s law at work, it is because the equipment has to work its hardest under these conditions. As a result, your equipment will break down at the same time that similar equipment is breaking down all over the city. As a result, equipment breakdowns are often repaired on time as technicians struggle to keep up with demand, resulting in even higher repair costs.

Equipment will last longer.
• Our experience is that well-maintained equipment will last 5-10 years longer than poorly maintained equipment. Repairs will be done Faster due to Technician Familiarity
• Most Service companies try to keep the same technicians working on your building, so if you do need any repairs, the technician will know your equipment and its history and will be able to troubleshoot the problem much faster, saving time that would have been billed to you Non-monetary Benefits Environmental Benefits
• Properly maintained equipment will use much less energy and thus reduce the greenhouse gases indirectly generated by your building.

Better Service
• Service companies give priority, and usually discounted rates, to customers with PM contracts. If your equipment does fail on the hottest day of the year, you will get priority over other customers.

More Predictable Expenses
• Your budgeting will be much easier as the cost of the PM contract is known. Repairs will still be present, particularly with old equipment or neglected equipment, but it should be possible to do them systematically. No worries about having to dip into contingency funds or do special assessments.

Types of Preventative Maintenance Programs – There are several different types of Programs, but we can group them into three categories, Basic, Comprehensive and Full Maintenance.
* Basic Program Basic programs are the minimum that should be done on any equipment, typically consisting of regular filter changes and inspections and at least two Major inspections. Some companies include an annual belt change with their programs, and others inspect the belts and replace them, if necessary, at an extra charge. A good basic maintenance package will give you most of the benefits of a PM program at the lowest price. The extra features of a Comprehensive plan, such as cleaning, can always be added with an extra charge. * *
* Comprehensive Programs include everything in the basic plan, plus cleaning all the units.
* Full Maintenance Programs go beyond Preventative Maintenance to encompass not only all maintenance but also all repairs to the equipment. Essentially for a monthly fee, you are buying the piece of mind that your HVAC equipment will be operating. There are several advantages to a Full Maintenance Program, including the following:
• Cost certainty – you get no surprises on your annual HVAC costs, and any risk of major breakdowns is the service providers
• fewer breakdowns – it is in the service provider’s best interest to make sure there are no breakdowns.
* Full Maintenance Sites get excellent Preventative Maintenance and the best quality parts and quicker repairs – You do not need to authorize repairs so when a technician finds a problem during an inspection, it can be fixed immediately. Full Maintenance programs work best with newer equipment. If your equipment is old, the service provider will have to budget for several repairs to cover themselves; remember, the risk lies with the service provider in such a program. Usually, at the beginning of a Full Maintenance program, the service provider will schedule an initial detailed inspection of all your equipment and come up with a list of work that needs to be done to get the equipment in top working order. With new equipment, that list will be concise; with older equipment, particularly equipment that has not been maintained, it could be extensive. You will then have to decide whether to pay for the initial repairs or exclude the specified equipment from the agreement. Sometimes it is less expensive to exclude the equipment and only pay for repairs if it breaks. You should look for Full Maintenance programs that last longer than one year. If the service company has a long-term agreement, they will be more apt to spend money on upgrades and major repairs to your equipment because they will save money over the long term of the contract. Short contracts encourage the service provider to use cheaper “band-aid” solutions as they are not sure they will be able to renew the contract.

HVAC Preventative Maintenance Programs Save Both Aggravation and money now we can see how Preventative Maintenance programs save you and your customers both the aggravation of non-functional equipment and the genuine costs of operating and replacing HVAC equipment. Put together an effective program and have your Summer Sundays undisturbed. Our company has over 38 years of experience servicing HVAC Systems.

This Blog was posted for you By Your Pest Control San Antonio – Jenkins Pest and Lawn

Residential Pest control Experts

Have you woken up in the morning, go to your kitchen only to find that pests like cockroaches, rats, and ants have invaded your food? If yes, then you should hurry and seek the services of our Pest Control company. You might even go to your food supply store and notice the same inside the store. The effects of these pests can be overwhelming, and the best way of controlling them is by employing the services of our exterminators.

Three major types of ants normally wreak havoc in your house and need an exterminator’s services. They are pavement ants, carpenter ants, and food ants. The pavement ant ravages the cement used in building the house. This can be noticed when the walls and cement floor of the house get cracked to the extent that sand is noticed inside the room and outside pavement. Our exterminators know about dealing with this type of pest.

There are carpenter ants that normally destroy wooden furniture. You should not hesitate to seek the services of an exterminator if you are experiencing this. They operate by piercing the wood with their mouth and then entering inside to live. The effect on the wood is normally the production of a dust-like substance, which entails eating up the furniture with their dreaded activity. Another one is the food pests which eat the food in your house. If you are experiencing any of these, our exterminators will help to curb them.

As a non-professional, there are certain things that you do not know about pest activities and their control. Our Pest Control company will not only give you professional pest control service. Still, it will educate you on the reason for their activities and how to avoid future attacks from the ants. After the pest control, some people still experience the ravaging activities of the pest. This is not the case with our Pest Control company. There are two major reasons for that; it is either that the proper chemical was not used in the pest control or the pest control was done by the house or office owner, or the best control agency that handled the job did not tell you what to do to avoid future occurrence. We will give you a complete service.

You might not be aware that different seasons of the year need different and unique pest control methods. This is the major reason you should seek the service of our Pest Control company. The pest control method used during summer is quite different from the one that ought to be used during winter. Using the summer method to control winter pests or the winter method to control summer pests might not achieve the best result. Our exterminators will control the pest in your house based on the particular season of the year.

This Blog was posted for you By Your Pest Control San Antonio – Jenkins Pest and Lawn

Mosquito Control-Mosquito Extermination

Mosquitoes carry three of the major diseases that plague horses today. These include the West Nile virus, Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis, and Western Equine Encephalomyelitis. The response to infection can range from very mild symptoms like lethargy and loss of appetite all the way to coma or death. Prevention of mosquito bites, therefore, is crucial to the wellbeing of your horse. Another concern closer to home is flies on dogs, fly control will be another issue I address soon, as well as how to get rid of flies in the house.

Mosquito life cycle

There are currently 150 species of mosquitoes in the United States, and while they vary in size and demeanor, they all share the same life cycle.

Mosquitoes begin their lives in an egg. The female mosquito will deposit her eggs in standing water, singly or as a group in a floating raft. The amount of water necessary for laying eggs is surprisingly small; an egg can hatch in as little as two tablespoons of water. The exception to this rule is the Aedes mosquito, which is responsible for spreading Dengue and Yellow Fever. The female generally lays her eggs above water and waits for floodwaters to hatch them. Aedes mosquito eggs can survive long periods of time before hatching.

About a week after the eggs are laid, they emerge into larvae or “wigglers.” At this stage, no amount of mosquito repellent will harm them more than it impacts the environment. The wigglers live on the surface of the water they were hatched in and breathe through a siphon while feeding on organic matter and microorganisms. Mosquito larvae typically molt 4 times in the larval stage and grow larger each time they shed their skin. Extermination and fumigation is usually most effective when it is targeted toward mosquitoes in their larval state; not only are the wigglers vulnerable to a host of predators, they are also susceptible to pesticides designed to kill or halt their growth.

The third stage of the mosquito’s life cycle is that of a pupa. These mosquitoes are called “tumblers.” The tumbler’s life stage is one of rest; they do not eat during this time. The pupa lives in this state from one to four days, before transforming into an adult mosquito. Pest control products designed to eliminate mosquitoes in the larval state will usually be effective on tumblers as well.

The fourth and final stage of mosquito development in adulthood. When the transition is complete, the adult will break open the pupa case and crawl into a safe area to rest. The mosquito’s wings will dry from the water he has been living in since his egg was laid. His external skeleton will also harden until the time he is strong enough to fly away and live on land.

The adult mosquito’s first orders of business are to feed and to mate. Male mosquitoes do not drink blood, preferring to dine on sugary fluids like flower nectar. Females generally mate rather quickly after emerging from the pupa and then take a blood meal to provide their eggs with protein so that the circle of life can continue.

Mosquito control

There are a variety of ways to protect your horses from mosquitoes. Best results are attained by adapting two or more principles, instead of relying upon a single step for mosquito management.

Reducing mosquito population

This step is accomplished by reducing mosquito breeding as much as possible. Adult males swarm in areas with tall grasses or weeds to signal a mate. Managing these locales is a simple way to decrease population. Another is to promptly dry up and clean any areas that rainfall collects, like tire ruts or in old tree stumps. Care should also be taken to maintain sanitary drinking water for your horses, as this is an area mosquitoes are drawn to.

Sprays and traps

An automatic mosquito spray system or premise spray can be used in horse stalls to address mosquito control. A mosquito trap is a new option to consider as well. Traps lure mosquitoes through a combination of sounds and/or lights into their fans. Once inside, mosquitoes cannot escape and are trapped in a bag or reservoir until their bodies are disposed of.

Physical barriers for horses to wear

Mosquito bites can be reduced by physically preventing the insects from coming into contact with the horse. Items to consider include leg wraps, fly sheets, and face masks. These items can be sprayed with mosquito repellent for further protection. Caution should be used when applying physical barriers to horses as they can become tangled quite easily or overheat an animal during the hot summer months.

Mosquito repellents and insecticides

There are a variety of sprays, concentrates, lotions, and gels that are approved for use on horses, including pyrethrins, citronella, eucalyptus, and DEET. Test a small amount on your horse before applying the product, as some horses are sensitive to these chemicals. A mosquito repellent or insecticide should also be reapplied after exercising your horse, as they tend to sweat off.