Knowing Your Home's HVAC System

Whether your home is equipped with the latest heating and air conditioning system with electronic controls seemingly everywhere or rely on old window units for a breath of fresh air, it's important to understand how warmth is distributed throughout the building. Every eating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system will have three primary components: the source of the heat or cold, control systems that determine how the temperature is adjusted, and a distribution method to move it around the home.

The Source

For a central air conditioning system, the cold air supply is created by a larger fan that sits outside and guides the air through the condenser coils and compressor. The old window AC unit juts it rear into the air to  suck down some air and run it through the cooling cycle.

Heating systems draw their strength from an ignition and heat source such as a gas forced air furnace. Air is circulated around the heat to warm it properly before it adventures out to your home.

The exact method your HVAC system uses to generate its air supply does impact how effective it is, but it's more important to be aware of its peak performance and how the various types of energy are created,

Regardless of the type of source your HVAC system pulls from, you'll need to perform a visual inspection at least once every quarter of the year. Even if all you find is a few spider webs or a layer of dust on the fan blades, cleaning out the gunk will improve performance.

Control Systems

Without a method of controlling how much cold or heat is produced by the HVAC system, your home can end up as a sweltering sauna or a frozen ice chest. Newer centralized HVAC systems use a control panel that can sense the temperature for nearby devices. which is then processed through circuits that determine how much hot or cold air needs to be produced. Older models are likely to make use of the simple temperature-based thermostat.

Distribution

Finally, we come to distribution. If your HVAC system only generated its hot and cold air without sharing it, then it would be more similar to a fire-hurling dragon who is curled up on its pile of gold. Instead, the air is collected in a small storage area before the system's main fan kicks it out and into the home.

Ask a Professional

You can take the steps necessary to protect your HVAC system for coolers, but it's a job best left for professionals who have a familiarity with every type of heating and cooling system. For those in the Twin Cities area, you can call on us to get the job done.