Basic Furnace Safety Tips
Basic Gas Furnace Safety Tips
When you adjust the thermostat on your gas furnace, an ignitor activates the gas burners that create heat in a combustion chamber. This warm air is then distributed through the ductwork by blowers and thus heats your house. Gas furnaces are great if you’d like a more cost-efficient and even heating system, but also come with their own set of unique safety issues. Here’s a list of ways to keep your gas furnace functioning safely, and when it might be best to contact a Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ professional.
- Schedule a furnace cleaning and check-up to be performed annually by a NATE-certified technician. Request that they check for cracks in the combustion chamber, as these cracks could allow carbon monoxide to leak into your home.
- Change the air filter regularly. Dust particles can build-up on the furnace’s air filter and reduce efficient airflow and heating capabilities, as well as becoming a fire-hazard or furnace failure potential in extreme instances of neglect. The air filter is usually located inside the front cover of your furnace, and should be changed before the winter season starts, and at least once every 1-3 months during regular use.
- Don’t close off more 20% of the furnace registers in your house. This can cause unnecessary heat build-up and affect efficiency. Make sure to avoid obstructing registers as well, and keep them free of lint, dust, and pet hair by vacuuming them at least once a month.
- Don’t store anything flammable or combustible near or around your furnace to avoid a furnace fire.
- Keep the area around your furnace clean and unobstructed.
- Install a carbon monoxide detector in your home, and check to make sure it’s working properly at least once a month during the winter season. Gas furnaces have a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if they’re not functioning properly, but having a detector installed can help you stay on top of risks.
- If your pilot light seems to go out often, make sure there aren’t any drafts preventing it from staying lit. If pilot light issues persist and it seems that the issues stem from the ignitor (or the pilot downright refuses to relight), call a Green Apple Plumbing and Mechanical expert.
- If you detect a gas smell or suspect other gas feed or valve issues, call a professional at once.
- Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
7 Golden Rules For Your Furnace
7 furnace maintenance tips for your furnace
- 1. Get a professional tune-up. By far, the best thing you can do to ensure that your furnace performs to the best of its ability is to schedule a professional furnace inspection every year. During a tune-up, our HVAC technicians will inspect your furnace for any operational problems and perform a number of maintenance tasks (like cleaning your system) that will help avoid future breakdowns, improve efficiency levels and make sure that your system is running safely.
- 2. Keep your air filter clean. You’d be surprised at the number of furnace breakdowns we encounter that could have been prevented if the homeowner would have changed his or her air filter. A dirty filter will cause all sorts of performance and efficiency problems, and you can avoid them by simply checking and changing your filter once per month.
- 3. Test your CO detectors. CO detectors will warn you if your furnace develops a carbon monoxide leak, which could potentially be life-threatening to the people in your home. Make sure that your CO detectors are working and that they have a fresh set of batteries during the heating season.
- 4. Allow your air registers to breathe. If any of your air registers are closed or blocked off by furniture, your furnace will have a hard time heating your home evenly and effectively. Make sure that all of your floor registers are open and free of obstructions.
- 5. Check the pilot light in older furnaces. If you have an older furnace with a pilot light, check to ensure that the flame is burning a bright blue. If it’s a different color, it is likely burning inefficiently and you should contact Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical so we can investigate the problem.
- 6. Don’t block outdoor exhaust pipes. High-efficiency gas furnaces have exhaust pipes that lead outside of the home and near the ground. It’s important that nothing is blocking these pipes so that your furnace can operate safely and efficiently.
- 7. Keep the area around your system clear. Keep the area around your furnace clear so that you and your service technician can easily access it when the time comes for any maintenance or repairs.
- Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
A Little Preparedness Goes A Long Way
These are the reasons why it’s so important to have your furnace checked and serviced every year:
- Keep your furnace running smoothly. The technician inspects parts, replaces ones that have worn out, lubricates components where necessary, checks the unit’s electrical wiring (they will let you know whether you need to call in an electrician, and so on. You wouldn’t put off the tune-up for your car. Think of this as a tune-up for your furnace.
- Improve efficiency. How? Here’s an example: in order to heat your home properly, the furnace pulls air through a filter. In time, the filter can become clogged with airborne particles, making the furnace work harder to move air through it. The furnace’s efficiency decreases, shortening its life and increasing your heating bill. However, if the filter is maintained, via regular cleaning or changing, you’ll avoid this problem.
- Protect your health and that of your family. Neglected, dirty filters can release mold spores and other toxic airborne particles into your home, causing respiratory problems and disease. A well-maintained system improves indoor air quality and helps prevent such problems from occurring.
- Keep the furnace working reliably. Annual furnace inspection and maintenance allow the technician to spot problems that may be small now but that could become serious if left untreated. HVAC technicians where the temperature can sink as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit (without taking wind chill into account), will tell you that the customer who calls every year for routine maintenance usually sounds a lot calmer than the customer they haven’t heard from in a while, whose furnace has suddenly stopped working in the middle of a cold snap.
- Help you regulate the temperature in your home. The Green Apple technician will verify and calibrate your thermostat to make sure that the furnace is heating your home properly and reliably, at the temperature you want, when you want it.
- Save lives. Fuel-burning furnaces (natural gas, oil, etc.) tend to release carbon monoxide in their exhaust. When the furnace is working properly, this gas is channeled out of the home through an exhaust pipe. But leaks happen, and a carbon monoxide leak is dangerous because that particular gas is odorless and deadly. A licensed Green Apple professional will test the furnace for leaks as part of routine maintenance.
- Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
Call A Plumber ASAP If You Have Any Of These
Clogged drains, damaged pipes, and gas leaks are the most common residential emergency plumbing situations that people summon their plumber for. The irony is that such plumbing emergencies can be prevented by us from the start. Indeed emergency plumbers report that plumbing negligence is the number one cause for stubborn obstructions in drains and defective pipes. Surprisingly this indicates that we value our cars more than our home. Why? Simply because we service our cars once a year while we dismiss doing the same to our plumbing systems until we face a plumbing emergency by which time it is too late to undo the damage done to our home.
In general preventive maintenance to your home’s plumbing, every once in a while, will not only keep plumbing fixtures, drains and pipes in good condition for a long time, but will further allow you to spot early problems and have them fixed before they escalate to costly plumbing emergencies. When you encounter an emergency plumbing situation you can take steps to reduce damage to the minimum thereby cutting down your plumbing cost too.
Follow the top 5 common emergency plumbing troubles and their repair:
Burst Pipes: Your top objective until the Green Apple plumber arrives on the scene is stop water flowing out of the hole. Locate the main shutoff valve to your house and close it. Turning off the shutoff valve will close the water supply to the fixtures and therefore stop the flood. Next turn on cold water taps to quickly drain pipes from trapped water and steam. After damage controlling the emergency call in your Green Apple plumber to repair or replace the burst section of the pipe.
Frozen Pipes: When the water in pipes freeze they expand and may even burst the pipe. Close the main shutoff valve. If the pipe has not split yet, thaw it with hot water bottles from the end of the pipe nearest to the tap. Thawing must be gentle, never with a naked flame, to avoid thermal water expansion that too can split the pipe. As a preventive maintenance make sure your pipes are appropriately insulated against the cold months.
Leaky Plumbing Fixtures: Close the shutoff valve singular to the leaky fixture. Check the fixture’s trap for debris, hair, soap scum, and food particles that might obstruct its opening and cause overflowing of the fixture. Contact your Green Apple plumber for effective plumbing repair.
Blocked Drains & Toilets: Try to lift the obstruction by means of a plunger or a plumber’s snake. If such plumbing tools fail to dislodge the clog, call in your Green Apple plumber.
Gas leaks: When smelling gas simply evacuate the building. Gas leaks do not lend themselves to D.I.Y repair due to their deadly nature in the wrong hands. Once outside the home call in your Green Apple plumber or Gas Company. You can and under professional guidance attempt to turn off the gas meter at the control valve.
Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-611-7191
Preventative Maintenance Tips You Need!
Most homeowners are reactive. They notice something wrong and they call a technician or contractor out to fix the problem. And though there are times when you have no option but to react, there are other situations in which a precautionary approach is superior.
Preventative maintenance is, as the name suggests, a method by which you invest in maintenance before an issue occurs in the hopes of cost-effectively avoiding major problems. When it comes to HVAC, preventative maintenance also lessens the risk of getting stuck without cold air in the middle of the summer (or heat during the dead of winter).
Here are a few tips to help you adopt a more responsible approach:
Swap Out Filters
The most common reason a heating and air conditioning system breaks down is because of a dirty filter. “As dirt accumulates, air can’t pass, or worse, the system overheats. The motor then has to work harder. In a best-case scenario, your unit will need to be repaired. In the worst case, if your unit is older, not replacing filters could put it over the edge and require you to buy a new one.”
Regular replacement of air filters not only extends the life of your HVAC system, but it also keeps energy costs down, improves air quality inside the home, and offers peace of mind.
Every HVAC professional in the industry uses different rules of thumb regarding when/how often to replace air filters. But generally speaking, an average suburban home without pets should have the air filter replaced every three or four months. For homes with pets, replacing a normal filter every 60 days is encouraged.
Monitor Energy Bills
All homeowners should monitor and track how much they pay each month to cool their homes. “Obviously some fluctuation in your energy cooling costs is to be expected as you adjust your usage to the temperature outside, but if you notice a definitive spike in your A/C costs without an increase in usage, this sudden drop in efficiency may indicate a need for professional A/C repair services.”
Comparing your bill to that of your neighbor or friend down the street is no good. Every home is different. Factors like the age of the home, quality of insulation, lot orientation, square footage, number of windows, type of HVAC system, ceiling heights, etc. can all influence what you pay. It’s imperative that you track your own energy bills from month to month and year to year. Only then you can identify trends and notice when something is out of whack.
If you notice that your energy bills are spiking without any clear rhyme or reason, have your Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical HVAC technician to take a look. Catching a simple problem early on could prevent a much costlier issue at a later date.
Keep Systems Free of Debris
AC units are built to withstand a beating. But even though they’re made to endure the outside elements, this doesn’t mean you should just let them do their thing. For best results, inspect your unit every couple of weeks and remove any sticks, leaves, rocks, or other yard debris that are in direct contact with your unit. Any standing vegetation such as grass, shrubs, or weeds should not be permitted to grow within 18 to 24 inches of the unit.
Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
Are You Sabotaging Your Furnace?
Not turning your thermostat down when you leave. The best way to cut down on energy costs from your heating system in winter is to make it run less while you’re asleep or out of the house. Programmable thermostats make it easy to set a schedule for the temperature to be turned down while you’re out during the workday or on vacation say, to the mid-60s and rise to your preferred temperature just before you come home.
And it’s not just the temperature of the air that you’ll find change the air inside will likely maintain it’s humidity better as well. “What causes the air to be dry inside the house is the infiltration of 20-degree outside air coming in.
Cranking the thermostat when you’re cold. When you get home from a cold walk outside, it probably feels natural to turn up the thermostat a few extra degrees to pump out the hot air a little quicker. But the pros say doing so won’t help at all: “Most people tend to think that if they put the thermostat up high, it’s going to get warmer faster.” “If the ideal temperature you want is 70, setting it to 75 is not going to get it to 70 any faster.”
Blocking vents with furniture. Sometimes a vent just happens to be in the same location you have to put a couch. But you’ll sacrifice the quality of heating and cooling in the room if you place it there.
You’re more likely to achieve an even distribution of warm air by keeping vents free of obstruction. But if you like your furniture where it is, you may benefit from exploring different heating options. Hydronic heating, which heats rooms with hot water pipes under the floorboards, maybe a better fit to keep your design aesthetic from being dictated by vents. Some vents can be closed individually, but depending on your duct system, closing vents may make your furnace less efficient. Consult a Green Apple Mechanical HVAC professional to determine what’s best for your home.
Not changing your filter. Most boilers and furnaces in the U.S. are kept in the basement, attic or a similarly out-of-the-way area, so it’s all too easy to forget about regular maintenance on the system. The air filters on an HVAC system need to be replaced periodically, or you’ll likely see it reflected in your energy bills because the furnace is forced to work harder.
How often you need to change your air filter varies based on the type of air filter you purchase, and most will specify the recommended frequency on the package. High-quality HVAC air filters can last up to a year and typically cost around $30. Other filters will need to be changed more often and can go for less than $5.
Skipping annual maintenance. Naturally, we find ourselves returning to the “out of sight, out of mind” issue. All too many homeowners neglect their heating systems until it backfires – and you’ll only notice a nonfunctioning heating system when you need it most. It’s imperative that you have annual maintenance done on your heating and cooling system to ensure maximum efficiency and get ahead of any issues before they become a major problem. Having your heating system serviced prior to the coldest months of the year will likely make it easier to schedule an appointment and lower the probability that you’ll have a problem once the heat is already on.
Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
Don’t Let Aged Pipes Waste Away
Letting Aged Pipes Waste Away
One of the worst things homeowners can do to their plumbing systems particularly those in older homes built from 1945 to 1972, is let their aging pipes decay. Particularly, pipe deterioration occurs quickest in homes equipped with orangeburg sewer pipe, as the tar paper materials these pipes are made of absorb moisture, and as a result, easily deform with pressure.
These sewer pipe systems have a life expectancy of around 50 years; as most were installed prior to 1972, which means their time is almost up. To combat this pipe degrading, the most proactive homeowners will have these pipes replaced before costly, damaging problems develop.
Skipping Routine Checks
Avoiding the above plumbing mistakes, however, cannot make up for general negligence; a vast majority of major plumbing problems can be entirely preventable with routine and annual pipe inspections. For starters, you can diagnose your own pipe and drain problems from home, and check your plumbing performance before the need to call a Green Apple professional ever arises, by evaluating your water meter and water flow on a monthly basis.
However, that does not mean you should forget about professional inspections altogether. In fact, we suggest getting a specialist to look at your home plumbing systems at least once per year, as their trained eyes can catch troubling signs earlier and far more accurately than the average homeowner’s.
Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
Is 15 Years Old Too Old For A Furnace?
That’s a question that every homeowner eventually asks, usually after another repair bill.
So how old is too old for a furnace?
On average a furnace that burns natural gas will last anywhere from 15-30 years depending on how well it’s maintained. If you have neglected annual maintenance to save a few dollars, you will probably end up spending that money and more by replacing the furnace before you normally would have had to. An electric furnace will last about 20 years, with the same maintenance rule of thumb applying.
So let’s say that your furnace is in need of major repair. Factors to consider are the price of repair, the cost of a new furnace and the life expectancy of the furnace you have. Many people will decide to buy a major appliance if the cost of repair is 50 percent or more of a new unit. If your furnace is 15 years old and well maintained, it could work for another ten years. If you haven’t been faithful with regular maintenance the remaining lifespan may not be as long.
Since a new standard furnace starts around $2000 and varies depending on the size of your house it would make sense to buy a new one if the repair bill was approaching $1000.
In general, a furnace should be repaired if it is less than ten years old with a repair bill of less than $500
Another thing to think about is whether to replace your older furnace with a high-efficiency model. The average cost is around $4500. That seems like a lot, but if your furnace lasts 15 years, the increased cost comes out to about $11 dollars a month. If you have proper insulation and a furnace large enough to heat your space without overworking, the savings on electricity and natural gas with a high-efficiency unit should easily exceed $11 dollars a month. That means that your larger initial investment will more than pay for itself over time. If your furnace lasts 20 years, the extra cost per month drops to only $8.
Even if your furnace is working fine, there are some signs to look for so that a huge repair or replacement bill doesn’t sneak up on you.
1. A rise in utility costs: This means that the furnace is operating less efficiently and is using more fuel to get the same amount of generated heat. This will only get worse over time.
2, Repairs in the last two years: Repairs become common in the last two years in the life of a furnace. If you are making regular repairs, it may be time to bite the bullet and replace it.
3. Strange noises: Rattles, bangs or the blower turning on and off too frequently are signs of impending furnace death.
Finally, older furnaces are more at risk to generate carbon monoxide as they age. A cracked heat exchanger, for example, can allow carbon monoxide to leak into your home. It’s always a good idea to keep a carbon monoxide detector in your home, preferably near the furnace. Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
Help! My Furnace Isn’t Working!
Why Isn’t My Furnace Heating?
When your furnace stops working, what do you do? Will you need to call for service, or is it something you might be able to fix on your own? How do you know? At Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical, we are New Jersey’s favorite furnace repair experts. We know how stressful it can be when your heating and cooling system is on the fritz. Below are a few common reasons customers call us for heating repair and some steps you can follow to help diagnose the problem before having to call for service.
System Won’t Turn On
If your furnace won’t come on, there are a few things you can check. First, make sure the unit isn’t turned off. Check the service switch that is usually located on the side or just above the furnace to see that it is in the “on” position. If the problem isn’t with the switch, next head over to your home’s main electrical panel. Check to verify that the circuit connected to your furnace isn’t tripped. If it is, reset the breaker and see if this fixes the problem. If not, the last place we recommend you check would be the thermostat. Make sure your thermostat is set to heat and at a temperature higher than the existing temperature inside your home. If none of these steps make your furnace come on, we recommend you call Green Apple for service
Fan Runs But Doesn’t Produce Heat
When you hear your furnace running, but can’t feel any heat coming out there could be several causes. First, if your furnace has a pilot light, check to make sure it is lit. If this isn’t the problem, and your furnace does run on gas, check your water heater. If your water heater is working properly, you can eliminate gas supply as the problem. Next, check your air filter and verify it is clean. Your air filter should be changed every month a dirty filter can cause your furnace to blow cool air as well as perform inefficiently.
The Furnace Shuts Off Before the House Is Warm
If your furnace runs and blows warm air, but cycles frequently or shuts off before the house warms up, there could be a number of issues contributing to this. Again, check your air filter and verify it is clean. If your air filter isn’t to blame, it’s best to contact a Green Apple professional. Your furnace could be employing a safety feature that keeps the furnace from overheating, or you could be losing air somewhere in your ductwork that keeps your home from warming up. A Green Apple professional can effectively diagnose the problem for you.
If you’ve tried troubleshooting with the tips above and your furnace is still not working properly, it’s probably time to call in for help. Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564
If You Do Dishes You Need To Read This
It’s important to keep your kitchen appliances functional and looking clean, and one of the most essential kitchen devices that experiences plumbing issues is the dishwasher. There are countless things that dishwasher plumbing problems affect including your sink and flooring. If left unattended, you will not only fill up your sink with dirty dishes but you’ll also have to pay more to fix other appliances. Here are five common plumbing issues that surface when using the dishwasher:
1. Dishwasher Plumbing Problems: Dishwasher Won’t Drain
There are several dishwasher plumbing problems that could be the cause for this, one being a clogged air gap that is shooting water occasionally. Remove the air gap cover and use a wire to clean it out, or pour water down it to wash up the debris. This could also stem from a clogged sink trap, house drain, drain hose, or drain valve, which would require removing the dishwasher and replacing them.
2. Dishwasher Overfills
When your dishwasher runs but doesn’t fill, there’s something wrong with your hot water valve. Check the water intake valve behind the appliance’s bottom front panel and check for debris. If this isn’t the problem, then there is something wrong with your water inlet valve, pressure switch, or timer/selector switch.
3. Dishwasher Doesn’t Clean Dishes
This is because you have a stuck or dirty float switch. This not only requires you to take apart your dishwasher but also to clean the float switch, spray arm, and spray armholes. Also, remove your power panels to get the supply tubes and electrical wires so that you can remove and clean the inlet valve pieces. This can be hard to do correctly without professional assistance.
4. Dishwasher Makes Loud Noise When Running
If you notice a loud banging noise when running your dishwasher, there’s a good chance you need to disassemble everything from the sprayer arm to the motor. There may be food or dish that is stuck at the bottom of the dishwasher. There may also be something wrong with your wash impeller, circulation pump, drain impeller, or drain pump that is causing your dishwasher plumbing problems. Have a professional plumber check it out to determine which piece to fix or replace.
5. Dishwasher Door is Leaking
When opening up your dishwasher, take note of whether the small screw at the bottom is caked with rust or is cracking. Replace or clean your door gasket with detergent according to this observation. You can also adjust the latch plate on top to ensure that your wood floor doesn’t get water damage or become a slippery hazard for family members.
Dishwasher Repair
While dishwashers are definitely beneficial to one’s home, there are clearly many ways that they can be damaged and become a costly fix. If you’ve noticed any leaking or malfunctions with your appliance, don’t wait around for the issue to get worse! Green Apple Plumbing & Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the NJ area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priority. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC or plumbing needs call toll-free @888-315-5564