Extremely High Water Bills? You May Have a Hidden Leak

October 5th, 2020
leaking-pipe

“What’s going on with these water bills?” If you find yourself saying that each time the monthly utility bills arrive, you may have a serious problem with your home’s plumbing in Green, OH. You may be able to trace the increased water usage to issues with poor habits—overlong showers—but chances are strong that you’ve already taken things like this into account. You don’t know why the water use has increased so steeply and taken your monthly bills along for the unpleasant ride.

We can make a good guess as to what’s going on, because as professional plumbers we see it all the time. Your home has a hidden leak. Possibly several. This is common in homes all across the country and is one of the leading reasons for household water waste.

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Yes, An Electric Furnace Needs Annual Maintenance

September 21st, 2020
heating-element

In our last post, we discussed the importance of annual heating maintenance and having it done each fall. Short version: this maintenance is necessary each year to ensure a heating system remains safe, energy efficient, and in good repair during the winter, and that it will reach its maximum system life expectancy.

“But what about an electric furnace?” a few people may ask. “I get why a gas furnace needs to be checked on but is it that important for an electric furnace?”

The answer is: yes! Heating maintenance is a requirement for all types of heating systems, and your electric furnace in Akron, OH is not an exception.

Electric Furnaces Undergo Strain Like Any Other Heating System

It’s true that electric furnaces have a longer system life average than gas furnaces. The chemical reaction between natural gas exhaust and the parts of a gas furnace will take a toll, and electric furnaces don’t have this issue. But without maintenance, an electric furnace will still fail years too early. You can get 20 years out of an electric furnace with the proper care. Without it, the electrical stress on the system will end its life long before this, possibly giving you only 10 years before needing a replacement. You don’t want to toss away a decade of heating the furnace would have given you.

Electric Furnaces Can Pose Hazards Without Care

It’s easy to convince people they need to be cautious with natural gas-powered systems. But electrical furnaces can pose safety dangers as well. An electric furnace places a large demand on the electrical system of a house, using more power than most appliances, and this may cause shorts to occur and even fires. (If the furnace starts to regularly trip the circuit breaker, please call us about repairs!) Maintenance examines carefully all the wires and electrical connections to make sure a furnace operates at the highest levels of safety during its service life.

Electric Furnaces Can Waste Immense Amounts of Power

An electric furnace has a 100% AFUE (efficiency rating) because all the electrical power converts to heating. There’s no exhaust! But a furnace can start to drain more and more power if it isn’t maintained. Dirt along the heating elements is one way a furnace can become pricier to run. Keeping up with maintenance will keep those energy bills in check.

Electric Furnaces Can Break Down—And Take the Electrical System With Them

Maintenance helps you avoid losing your heating system when you need it the most, and an electrical system is as susceptible to a breakdown as any other type of heater. Tune-ups and inspections will see that you won’t have the furnace fail during one of the coldest days of the year. It also will stop a breakdown from causing damage to the rest of the electrical system and leave you without power.

All it takes to schedule heating maintenance is to sign up for our Crown Comfort Club, which cares for both your heater and AC each year. You’ll receive other benefits as well, such as repair discounts.

Crown Group Ohio is your local comfort experts since 1963. Talk to us today to sign up for our maintenance program and schedule your fall heating maintenance.

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Get Ahead of the End of the Year With Heating Maintenance

September 7th, 2020
hands-opening-heating-cabinet

The start of September doesn’t mean cool weather. But it is the start of people thinking about cool weather as they look at the trees and wonder when the leaves will change color. When you begin to think about the shift in seasons, that means it’s an ideal time to schedule your annual heater maintenance in Green, OH. The coming winter is going to be as tough and cold as we usually get in Ohio, and your heater needs the same quality pre-winter treatment it should get every year.

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The Tankless Water Heater: Is It Worth Switching?

August 24th, 2020
tankless-water-heater

If you are currently considering a replacement for your old storage tank water heater, then making the change to a new tankless water heater is probably on your list of potential new systems. We think this is a good idea, since tankless water heaters have multiple benefits that make them worthwhile additions to many homes.

However, before you decide you want to install a tankless water heater in Akron, OH in your house, please call our water heater specialists for a consultation. You will need to have professionals install your water heater, so have them come in early to help with the selection process. We’ll see if a tankless water heater is worth the investment for your house.

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Benefits of Daikin Mini Split Systems for Your Home

August 10th, 2020
Ductless_Splits_Air_Conditioner_Living_Room_House_Home_Interior_Domestic_Room-sm

We are proud to offer the best products for HVAC available on the market. One product we often recommend is the Daikin mini system. These are types of ductless mini split heat pumps, and they have the potential to change the way you view home comfort. If you are interested in ductless mini splits in Akron, OH for your house or new home construction, please call us to learn more about Daikin mini splits.

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Is a High SEER Rating for a New AC Always Good?

July 27th, 2020
air-conditioner-cabinets

Shopping for a new air conditioning system for your home, or planning on a replacement AC in the near future? Navigating all the statistics for an air conditioning system can be difficult unless you’re an HVAC professional. Of course, that’s why you have HVAC professionals around to help you with getting a new air conditioner! We’re local experts in air conditioning installation in Akron, OH, and if you’re looking for an AC installation or replacement, get us on the job early so we can help you figure out all those stats … like SEER ratings.

You may know that SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) is a measurement of how energy efficient an air conditioner’s operation is. Therefore, a higher SEER number means a better system that will save you money. Except that’s not always the case. If you are lured by the siren call of the high SEER rating, you may end up with a system that’s completely wrong for your house.

SEER Is Not a Guarantee of Savings or Performance

The basics of SEER is that it’s the ratio of the air conditioner’s cooling output to electrical use as measured over a season. The higher the SEER number, the less electricity the system uses under a range of tests compared to its cooling. However, this only shows what the air conditioning system is capable of when working at its best. It’s not a guarantee it will work at its best all the time. In fact, it won’t.

An easy comparison to make is to think of a car. Just because a car can potentially go 120 mph doesn’t mean it will always go that fast. (It probably never should!) SEER isn’t so extreme, but if you buy a 21 SEER air conditioner, which is a high-efficiency system, it won’t always operate at 21 SEER and will often perform at lower efficiency. Its maximum is 21.

An Oversized System Isn’t a Good Thing

Another factor to consider is the size of the air conditioning system. This is a factor that will outweigh any high SEER number and make the AC wasteful. An air conditioner that is too small for the house will run continuously. Even if it’s running at its peak SEER, it’s running too much and will be a tremendous energy drain. An oversized AC will get stuck in a start-stop mode so the AC will never get close to its SEER rating and waste extra power because it’s starting up too much.

High efficiency is great. We recommend you look for an AC that meets the ENERGY STAR program’s requirements for SEER (currently it’s 15 SEER or above for air conditioners). You may wish to pay more for a higher SEER unit. But make sure you’re informed of all the other factors involved in air conditioning installation by working with professionals. This is the only way to ensure you get the maximum in performance and efficiency from the unit. Otherwise, you may be throwing money away on features that won’t reward you. Leave the work to our professionals when it comes to new air conditioner installation.

Crown Group Ohio serves Stark & Summit Counties. Call for 24/7 comfort assistance.

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Couple Your AC with a Dehumidifier This Summer

July 13th, 2020
overheated-woman

Air conditioners are natural dehumidifiers, we know this. In the process of cooling the air in your home, they also remove moisture from the air through condensation. This is great because that moisture can lead to us feeling incredibly uncomfortable and hotter than we would otherwise.

However, your air conditioner, believe it or not, isn’t well-equipped to do a whole lot of dehumidifying. In fact, it can stress your air conditioner out and cause excess wear and tear that could break it down more quickly over time. That’s why we provide installations for dehumidifiers in Akron, OH. These indoor air quality powerhouses can remove large amounts of moisture from your home and leave your air conditioner to do what it does best—cool.

Let’s talk about what this combo can do. Having both an air conditioner and a dehumidifier is a great way to get comprehensive cooling without stressing out your AC.

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Does Your AC Need a Refrigerant Refill? Probably Not!

June 29th, 2020
air-conditioner-unit-being-repaired

If you ever hear a so-called “HVAC technician” tell you that it’s time to give your air conditioner a refrigerant refill, run the other direction as fast as you can! This technician either has no idea what they’re talking about or they’re trying to pull a fast one on you.

Unfortunately, people are often confused about how refrigerant in an air conditioning system works. They often assume that refrigerant is a type of fuel and the AC will eventually run low on it. Like an automobile, it needs to have more fuel put in to keep it going.

This isn’t how refrigerant works at all. An AC may at some point require more refrigerant, but this is a repair, not a regular task. We’ll explain below to help you understand when you may need more refrigerant, and why most of the time you won’t.

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Ice on the Air Conditioner? No, That Should Not Happen!

June 15th, 2020
frozen-air-conditioner

Since most people don’t know the inner workings of their home air conditioning systems, they may think the appearance of ice along the evaporator coil is something normal. After all, the AC blows out air that feels frigid, as if it were blown across an Arctic landscape. So shouldn’t ice be a normal byproduct of the air conditioner cooling down a house?

The answer is no, not at all.

When an air conditioner is running properly, ice will never appear on it. If ice does show up on the evaporator coil (the spot where it will start) it means that something is wrong with the system. If this happens to your air conditioner, you will probably need to call for air conditioning repair in Akron, OH.

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When Is It Time to Stop AC Repairs and Get a New One?

June 1st, 2020
ac-recycling

As much as you’d love for your current air conditioner to last for as long as you own your house, the stress on an AC will eventually catch up with it. Even with the best regular maintenance, you can expect the system to reach a point where it’s more cost-effective–not to mention more comfortable–for you to have a new system put in rather than pay for yet another repair.

But aside from the air conditioner suffering from a catastrophic breakdown, how will you know when it’s time to leave aside AC repair in Akron, OH, and arrange for a new installation?

We can help!

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