Carney Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Blog

What Is a Downflow vs. an Upflow Furnace?

October 17th, 2011

When you go looking to buy a furnace in Yardley, you may well be surprised by how many different elements go into making a good purchasing decision. There are simply so many different kinds of furnaces available now and they each are more appropriate for certain situations. That means that finding the one that’s right for you is less about finding the one best unit than it is about finding the one that is the best match for your particular circumstances.

This applies to the type of fuel the furnace uses, its energy efficiency, and whether it’s an upflow furnace or a downflow furnace. Energy efficiency and fuel types are probably things that you’re more or less familiar with. But what are we talking about when we classify a furnace as an upflow or downflow model?

Well, it’s pretty much what it sounds like. These terms refer to the direction the air flows as it is taken in and heated by the furnace. So in an upflow furnace, the cool air is taken in at the bottom, warmed, and then expelled at the top. A downflow furnace, on the other hand, takes in cool air at the top and expels heated air at the bottom.

While this is all very exciting, it may still not be obvious what impact this will have on your decision about what type of furnace to buy. The main thing you’ll have to think about when you’re deciding between an upflow and a downflow furnace is where the furnace will be placed in your house.

An upflow furnace is generally installed in the basement so that the heated air is directed towards the parts of the house you want cooled and so that the furnace can be appropriately vented outside of the house. On the other hand, a downflow furnace would be installed in your attic for the same reasons.

So where you want to have the furnace installed is probably the biggest thing to take into account as you’re comparing these two types of equipment. Of course, whether you pick an upflow or a downflow furnace, you’ll still have to select the appropriate AFUE, size and fuel source to best meet your needs. But making the choice between upflow and downflow can at least make it easier to narrow down your options. If you need help choosing the best furnace for your home, contact your local contractor.

Safety and Your Furnace

October 14th, 2011

There are many advantages to a safely operating furnace in your Telford home. The most important are the safety and comfort of a home’s occupants and the cost of running the furnace. There are several things you can do to ensure the safe operation of your furnace. There are some things you can do to ensure that your furnace runs safely.

Here is a checklist of ideas:

Clean or change furnace filters on a regular basis. Replace disposable filters and clean permanent filters using water or cleaning solutions. Your owner’s manual or a qualified heating contractor can suggest a regular maintenance schedule.
Check the exhaust vent from the furnace. Clear obstructions such as leaves, clothing, or animal nests from the vent pipe or chimney. Keep roof exhaust vents clear of snow. If there is a faulty exhaust system (like a blocked flue), of if there are cracks and leaks in the pipes or improper adjustment of the burner, or if there is lower air pressure indoors than outside, the furnace can create serious indoor air pollution.
A clear air intake is important too, since furnaces need fresh air to “breath” and complete the fuel burning cycle. Again, check for debris, snow, or animal nests in intake pipes.
If you have an older gas furnace, you may want to install a supplementary induced-draft fan that reduces the possibility of backdrafting. Some furnaces have automatic shutoff devices that turn off the furnace if it begins to backdraft.
Check internal components such as the blower motor and vacuum any dirt. Check belts and pulleys for excessive wear. You should consult your owner’s manual for any suggested maintenance tips on internal working components.
You may also want to check the pilot light to see if it is working and if it producing an even, blue flame. If the flame is uneven, it may be a sign of incomplete gas combustion, which can result in the creation of dangerous carbon monoxide gas.
Ensure that your thermostat is operating correctly by raising or lowering the temperature settings to make sure the furnace cycles on and off.
Install and maintain battery or hard-wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Externally vented natural gas furnaces, when properly designed and installed, will operate safely for years. But if you detect a problem, use the most common solution – contact a qualified heating professional to check out your furnace.

Poor Heating Performance with Your Boiler: Possible Causes and Solutions

October 12th, 2011

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or a mechanical engineer to troubleshoot – and possibly diagnose – the problems with your boiler when its heating performance is erratic or non-existent in your Doylestown home.

The good thing about boilers is that they are typically reliable and long-lasting. There aren’t a lot of working parts that can break down and cause problems, compared to other home heating equipment. When problems do arise, they are usually related to the expansion tank or circulating pumps. But a problem can be much simpler – like a tripped circuit breaker.

The most common problems can be noise, no heat, or poor/erratic heating. Before calling a qualified heating and cooling professional, take a moment to see if you can figure out the what’s wrong.

If you have a noisy boiler it might be because of two things – a faulty circulating pump or water trapped in the return lines. If the pump breaks it will make a loud noise when its motor runs. Water can be trapped in the return lines, which may require “re-pitching” the lines to allow for a flow back to the boiler. You may be able to adjust the flow by positioning hangers on the piping but replacing a pump is better left to a professional.

If your boiler is producing no heat, it could be because of something as simple as a circuit breaker being tripped or a fuse being blown. Check your circuit breakers and fuse and reset or replace if necessary. Is your boiler thermostat in the heat mode? It should be but if it isn’t, make the switch. If your boiler has a standing pilot you should check to see if it is lit and if not, re-light it.

Other problems would take a professional to fix. For example, no heat can be traced to low water levels in the boiler. The boiler should always be half-full of water and if it isn’t, it is likely because of leaks or a faulty pressure reducing valve. Don’t try and fix the problem by yourself.

Low water levels may not cause the boiler to lose its heating capabilities, but may cause fluctuations in its heating capacity. Again, it is advisable to call a professional to diagnose and fix the problem. Poor heating can also be traced to mineral deposits in the boiler. Consult your owner’s manual on instructions how to flush out the boiler.

As always, read the owner guide or operating manual for your boiler. You should get some good tips on proper maintenance and troubleshooting. And have the phone number of a qualified professional taped to your boiler – just in case.

Warning Signs of a Broken Furnace

October 10th, 2011

How do you know when your furnace is “on the fritz?” There are warning signs of a broken furnace and some are recognizable – but not all. A broken furnace not only deprives your Blue Bell home of heat and comfort, it also can be deadly, too.

Let’s look at some of the unrecognizable warning signs.

Each year, hundreds of people die and many more are injured from the most common household poison: carbon monoxide. This colorless and odorless poisonous gas comes from several sources and the furnace is the most common source of all; more precisely a broken or malfunctioning furnace. Carbon monoxide is a result of incomplete combustion of a fossil fuel, which is when a fuel does not burn correctly or completely. In a furnace, carbon monoxide gas comes from a poorly operating burner or a cracked heat exchanger. A properly tuned and maintained furnace greatly reduces the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Since carbon monoxide gas is colorless and odorless, it can go undetected. It can make people sleepy and create flu-like symptoms. Sometimes a person may fall asleep and never wake up. But there are warning signs. Drowsiness, vomiting, or flu-like symptoms are a warning sign. Regularly scheduled maintenance of your furnace by a qualified heating and cooling professional and installation of carbon monoxide detectors can reduce the risk of falling ill to carbon monoxide gas.

Another “undetectable” warning sign is a higher energy bill. Sometimes you can’t detect a problem right away because, like carbon monoxide, there may be no obvious signs. Higher utility bills can be a sure sign of a furnace that is working too hard and running more than usual. This may be a result of clogged or dirty air vents, or dirty filters. If your monthly bills are higher than those of the previous year, it may not just be because gas prices are higher.

There are other warning signs of a broken furnace, too. The most obvious is the failure of your furnace to bring your home up to the desired thermostat settings or to maintain an even temperature. Cold or uncomfortable houses are sure signs of a broken furnace. The furnace may cycle on or off, causing an uneven or inconsistent flow of heated air. This can be because of a poor blower or a clogged furnace filter. If you don’t feel any moving heated air or detect any unusual odors or smells coming from your heating vents, that’s a sure sign of a broken or malfunctioning furnace.

A broken or cracked gas line can emit odors and can cause a furnace to malfunction, too.

Don’t take a chance of losing heat and comfort this winter. At the first possible warning sign, call your local heating and professional for a heating system tune-up.

How to Install a Toilet: A Guide From Ambler

October 7th, 2011

A toilet is a relatively basic piece of plumbing equipment, but that does not mean that installing it in your Ambler house is easy. This is certainly a job that many people can do on their own, but you should be prepared to devoting the majority of your day to the project. While the installation itself is not terribly complicated, it is quite important that you get it right, so make sure you have all of the necessary materials, equipment and tools before you begin.

The first thing to remember is that you need to install your toilet in an appropriate place relative to the rest of your bathroom plumbing. Especially if you are installing your toilet along a branch drain, make sure that the sink, shower and any other plumbing fixtures are upstream of the spot where you will be installing the toilet.

You will also need to make sure that you install the toilet an appropriate distance from the wall. You need to be able to get around the toilet, and you also want to leave space so that work can be performed on the unit later. Putting your toilet too close to the wall can cause all kinds of complications in the way the unit functions and there is also a possibility of condensation build-up. For all of these reasons, it is important to make sure you are allowing an adequate amount of space on all sides.

The procedure you will have to follow when installing a toilet will be slightly different depending on whether you are installing it in a new spot or simply replacing an existing unit. When replacing an old toilet, you need to remove everything involved in the previous installation. That means taking the old bolts out of the floor and scraping away any residue to ensure that you have a clean and even surface to begin your installation on.

You should also make sure that you are aware of all applicable local codes before you begin your work. Even if you technically install your toilet correctly, you could run into trouble later on if your installation is not actually up to code. It is also important to remember to level all of your fixtures before you complete the installation process and to make sure you use a dielectric or brass fitting when attaching galvanized steel and copper to each other.

What to Look For When You Have Water Damage: A Tip From Willow Grove

October 5th, 2011

Water can be a beautiful thing. But it can be a very nasty thing, too. While water is an essential for life, it brings a high price tag when gone unchecked and allowed to seep, leak, and drain into your Willow Grove home. Damage caused by water can cause structural damage to a building and destruction of its contents. When left unchecked – over time – water damage can lead to mold growth and have a serious affect on building occupants’ health.

The destructive forces of water leave telltale signs throughout a building. Let’s look at some.

Wood damage – water can saturate wood, causing it to rot and decay. Check for discolored wood around plumbing fixtures, a sure sign of an ongoing or older leak that has since been repaired. Just because a leak has been fixed, the after-effects can linger. Soft or uneven surfaces around a plumbing fixture are a sure indication of water damage. Pull back carpeting, pads, tiling, or flooring to get to the root of the problem.
Drywall damage – porous material like drywall can leave many signs of water damage and, like wood, can be seriously degraded by water damage. Check for discoloration around plumbing fixtures and soft spots. Don’t assume that a dry surface that is stained is not a structural problem. You may have to cut out the drywall to reach the true source of the water damage.
Ceiling tile stains – a sure sign that water is coming in from a source above a roof or ceiling. Ceiling tiles are a porous material that are great for showing every little bit of moisture or water that comes in contact with them. The same is true with plaster or drywall ceilings. Stains indicate a more serious problem and should be investigated right away.
Damp, musty smells – water can leave some unpleasant odors, especially untreated water. Leaks or standing water are a source for higher humidity levels in a home. If you are standing in an area where water has soaked into floors or walls, there is often a damp, humid smell. Don’t mistake it for high humidity levels in the home. The smell can come from hidden sources like a leaking pipe joint or broken valve behind an access door.
Mold build-up – wood and drywall surfaces provide great food for mold growth when saturated with water. The mold can be of a harmless nature but often can become dangerous black mold. When black mold spores are airborne they can cause respiratory problems and even worse, medial problems down the road. Look for unusual clusters of mold in damp areas and if you find some, immediately call a professional plumber to suggest clean-up and to repair the source of the water leak.

There are many signs of water leakage in the home, caused by leaking or broken pipes, dripping faucets from worn-out washers, cracks in the walls and foundations allowing ground and rain water to seep in, etc. Find and fix the source immediately or pay even higher costs in repairs later on.

No Heat in the House? Things to Check and Do in Buckingham

October 3rd, 2011

As you get ready for the cold months ahead in Buckingham, it is a good idea to remind yourself of some basic heating maintenance and repair facts. In general, when your heating system stops working, you’ll need to call a professional to come out and take a look. However, before you do that, there are likely a couple of things you can check on your own to ensure that there really is a problem with the system itself.

For instance, if it’s cold in your house and your heat isn’t coming on, check to make sure that the thermostat is set to a high enough temperature that the heating system would be triggered. Particularly if this is the first really cold day of the season, it’s entirely possible that your thermostat was turned down at some point and left there. And if the thermostat isn’t turned up high enough, the heat will never come on.

Also, it’s worth just taking a second to check and make sure that the power switch on the heating system itself is actually in the proper on position. For the most part, there would be no reason for you to turn this off, but it’s always possible it could have happened in any number of ways and it only takes a second to check.

Depending on the type of fuel source your heating system uses, it’s probably a good idea to check to make sure the supply is still available as well. If you use natural gas, check to make sure that the gas line is open, but don’t try to repair it yourself if it seems to be compromised. If you find something like that, be sure to call your gas company right away.

However, if you use oil as a heat source, take a quick peek at the levels in your tank. There’s always the possibility that you used more than you thought you did or that a delivery was missed for some reason and so your heating system simply has no fuel to run on. Similarly, if your heating system runs on electricity, make sure that the fuse wasn’t blown or that it’s not just too loose to provide an adequate power supply.

If you’ve covered all of these basic troubleshooting bases, it may be time to take a closer look at the heating system itself. On just about every type of system there should be some type of reset switch or button. Follow the instructions to press this button and engage the reset process, but be sure to only try this once. If that resetting doesn’t work, it’s time to back off and call in some professional help.

Plumbing Noises: Determining What They Mean

September 30th, 2011

Under ideal conditions, you would hear nothing from your Lansdale home’s plumbing system except the sound of running water when you turn on the tap. Unfortunately, that is not always what actually happens. In fact, your plumbing can make all types of funny and sometimes alarming noises for no reason that you can easily discern.

For instance, one common plumbing noise sounds like a hard knock or hammer blow. This usually occurs when you turn off a tap and can be rather alarming. Sometimes you can even feel the reverberation of the impact that caused the sound. But why is this happening? Usually, this “water hammer” noise is the result of the dramatic shift in pressure in the system when you suddenly stop the flow of water from a faucet.

This sudden stop creates a kind of shock wave, which then travels back through the pipes and causes the loud knocking sound that you hear. This is easily fixed with a device that is known as a water hammer arrester. These devices help to dissipate the force of the pressure shift and can keep the noise from occurring at all.

There are also all kinds of whistling, squealing and squeaking noises that your plumbing can make under certain circumstances. These types of sounds are often caused by a worn out washer somewhere along the line that is having trouble regulating the flow of water. It can be a little difficult to pin down the source of these noises sometimes, especially if they occur no matter which faucet is turned on. But with a little hunting and trial and error you or your plumber can usually track down the source.

Rattling sounds are also common and generally occur when your water pipes are not well secured to a rigid surface. If this is the case, the force of the water running through the pipes can cause the pipe to vibrate, creating the sound you hear as it bangs against whatever solid surface is nearby. For problems like this, simply securing the pipes in place better can put an end to all of your rattling issues.

Unclogging a Floor Drain: A Tip From Buckingham

September 28th, 2011

It is never fun to wander down into the basement of your Buckingham home only to find that your floor drain has backed up. This is not a situation that will take care of itself and you want to get it under control as quickly as possible. While there are certainly plenty of things you can do to try and unclog a floor drain on your own, there are quite a few potentially complicating factors to consider as well.

First of all, you should make sure that no one in the house turns on any running water for anything until the drain has been unclogged. The floor drain in your basement is usually the last stop on the line for all of the water used in your house, and so any running water anywhere above will only cause more water to back up in the basement. Of course, if you cannot use any running water anywhere else in your house, it is even more imperative that you are able to unclog the floor drain quickly.

If you happen to have a snake on hand, this may be the best option to try first. However, it can be a bit difficult to get the snake to make the sharp turn typical of these types of drains not long after the pipe descends below the floor. That is not to say that it cannot be done, but you should be aware that you need to make sure the snake turns the corner before it will be useful to you at all.

If you do not have a snake of your own, you may still be able to take care of the blockage without calling in a professional plumber. But first you have to find it. Depending on the layout of your drainage system, this may be easier said than done. You can also make a pretty big mess if you open up various sections of pipe looking for the blockage, so be aware and make sure you have something in place to catch the runoff and debris that may come out of the pipes when you open them.

You may also run into trouble if the blockage is actually outside of your house in the larger sewer line that runs to the street. Unclogging a drain with this type of problem is generally a job for a professional and there is very little you will be able to do on your own.

The Technology of Video Pipe Inspection: Some Pointers

September 26th, 2011

Let’s face it – technology is the answer for everything, from Souderton to Maple Glen. If it’s mechanical, it has been affected by technology. The world of plumbing is no exception. Technology now makes it possible for people to look inside the piping in their home – to get the “inside story” on why a pipe is blocked up or why water is flowing too slowly. A trained expert can use video pipe inspection technology to quickly diagnose a problem in order to find a solution.

So what types of technology are available today? Before we get to that, remember that technology is fluent. By the time you read this blog there may be something new to make this material outdated. The best way to keep up with the latest technology of video pipe inspection is to talk to your local plumbing professionals and check out updates on the Web.

The technology you will see in your home can be viewed live or via digital recording. The camera and its scope can grab a birds-eye view of the pipe without the need to unscrew fittings and elbows and without having to make a mess of things.

Plumbers making a service call who use video inspection will usually show homeowners some live pictures from inside their pipes or use a digital reproduction in their sales presentation. In either case, the camera doesn’t lie and repairs are quickly supported by video evidence.

Here are some of the components involved in the technology of video pipe inspection. First and foremost is the camera itself, which usually will have high definition image display, recording, and playback capabilities. Images can be stored on flash cards for downloading onto other computers or to the Web. The lens of the camera is mounted into the head of the scope, which could be made of fiber optic or fiberglass material. The scope or “snake” comes in a variety of lengths. Images from the camera can viewed on monitors of various sizes in color or black-and-white.

Other options may include audio capabilities for a plumbing professional to record what the camera sees and explain the problems and solutions to homeowners via voiceover technology.

According to one plumber who utilizes this type of technology, video pipe inspection provides “an assessment of pipe’s structural integrity, detection of blockages, breaks or defects, still image/video footage for client use, and first-time mapping or updates.”

If you want to utilize the latest technology to diagnose pluming problems in your home, call your local plumbing professional and ask for a video pipe inspection.