ThermAll Heating, Cooling & Electric Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Yakima’

Give Your Furnace a Grade for the End of the Season

Monday, April 10th, 2023
checkmark-green

The weather is warming up, although we can expect to have a few more cold days come our way through the spring. It isn’t time to shut off your heater for mid-year.

Not yet. But it is the time to consider your heater’s future based on how well it performed over this last winter.

You never want to let a major furnace breakdown sneak up on you. It’s better to replace an ailing furnace before it has a chance to trap you in an unheated home.

To help you get a better understanding of how well your furnace is currently doing, we want you to try this thought experiment: give your furnace a grade (“A” through “F”) for how well it performed over the previous winter.

Below, we’ll examine what these grades may mean for your furnace’s future and what steps you might need to take, like furnace replacement or furnace repair in Yakima, WA.

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The Importance of Carbon Monoxide Testing for Your Furnace

Monday, March 13th, 2023
Technician checking temperature on a gas furnace with blue flames during furnace maintenance.

If you have a natural gas furnace providing your home with heat, you probably know that there is some potential for dangerous carbon monoxide gas exposure. This is something that’s true of any home appliance that combusts natural gas, not just gas furnaces. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a byproduct of the combustion process, a colorless, odorless, and toxic gas that creates health complications and can even cause death with extended exposure. 

Gas furnaces aren’t inherently unsafe—they would never be permitted in homes if they were—so you don’t need to panic about having a gas furnace in your house. But you must take several precautions to ensure the furnace runs safely and that you and your family have ample warning in case CO leaks into the home. One of these precautions is to have annual carbon monoxide testing.

Why is carbon monoxide testing essential for furnace maintenance?

  • Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can leak from furnaces with damaged heat exchangers or blocked vents
  • Regular testing ensures the furnace is safely exhausting combustion gases and not leaking CO into your home
  • Installing and checking carbon monoxide detectors adds a layer of protection against undetected gas leaks
  • Annual furnace inspections help identify and fix CO risks before they become hazardous

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I See Smoke Coming From My Heat Pump! What’s Wrong?

Monday, February 13th, 2023
house-with-chimney-smoke

First, take a deep breath. Your heat pump is almost certainly not on fire. In fact, it’s probably working just the way it’s supposed to.

If this is the first winter you’ve used a heat pump to provide comfort to your home, then we’re not surprised that you might find this sight alarming. A heat pump works similarly to an air conditioner, and if you see smoke coming off your air conditioning system’s outdoor unit, that’s a big problem, likely some kind of electrical fire. This is extremely rare, but not impossible.

However, that “smoke” you see rising from your heat pump isn’t smoke at all, as we’ll explain.

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No, It’s Not Too Late for Heating Maintenance

Monday, January 16th, 2023
winter-scene

We like to say that there’s no expiration date for heating maintenance. This is a vital job for your home heating system, and it’s best to have it done before the winter weather begins. 

However, if you missed having your heater maintenance in Yakima, WA scheduled during the fall, that doesn’t mean you should just skip it entirely and wait until next fall to pick it up again. A great deal depends on annual maintenance, so even though it’s already mid-January, we strongly recommend calling us to get on the schedule. Trust us, it’s much worse to skip maintenance than to have it done late.

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What to Do If Your Heating System Stops Working

Monday, December 19th, 2022
cold-sweater-man

Brrr! The cold winter weather has definitely arrived! This is when you’ll need to depend heavily on your home heating system to keep your family safe and warm. 

What happens if your heating system suddenly stops working? This can be a scary event—understandably scary—but we’re here to help you. We have great technicians who’ll quickly solve your home heating troubles and see that your house is warm once again.

However, before you call us for heating repair in Yakima, WA, there are some steps you can take that might restore your comfort. We don’t recommend you ever attempt to repair your heater on your own, but you can go through some troubleshooting steps.

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Why Won’t My Gas Furnace Stay On?

Monday, December 5th, 2022
furnace-burners-small

A gas furnace that won’t keep running long enough to warm up your house and keep it warm isn’t of much use to you. If you start running into the problem of a furnace shutting off early, either after several minutes or less than a minute, you’ll want to know why and what you can do to fix it.

In some cases, a gas furnace shutting off early is because of a simple problem you can correct yourself. In other situations, you’ll need professional furnace repair in Yakima, WA. Below we’ll look at some of the common reasons for this furnace malfunction.

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Before It Gets Too Cold, Ask Yourself If You Need a New Heating System

Monday, November 7th, 2022
Furnace-standard

We’re already getting cold weather and November has just started! Your home’s heating system will soon settle into running on most days. Right now, before we reach the deepest part of actual winter, is a good time to ask yourself if it’s time to replace your current heating system with a new one.

We understand that making the decision about heating installation in Yakima, WA can be stressful. We want to assure you that you have the best help you need to make the right choice for your home comfort and budget. Our technicians can inspect your heating system and give you estimates for both repairs and a replacement, as well as weigh the benefits of each. 

Before you call us, go through this list of signs of a heating system that’s coming near the end of its service life.

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A Smart Thermostat Can Improve Your Life!

Monday, October 24th, 2022
thermostat-and-woman-72-degrees

“Smart” technology is all the rage now, but it’s not a fad. Maybe the term “smart” won’t last, but the development of equipment that uses computer analysis and artificial intelligence to automate many tasks is here to stay and will continue to improve.

But how can you put smart technology to work for you right now in a way that will positively affect your life? You might feel overwhelmed with what’s available and what will actually benefit you beyond, “Hey, neat gizmo!” We have an answer for you: start with a smart thermostat installation in Yakima, WA. We offer this service and know how much it benefits our customers.

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The Biggest Benefits of Geothermal Heating and Cooling for Your Home

Monday, September 26th, 2022
geothermal-energy-concept

At ThermAll, we do more than the standard heating and cooling for homes. We also install and service geothermal HVAC systems. These are year-round comfort systems that work similarly to the conventional heat pump: in the hot weather, they remove heat from the house and put it outside; and in cold weather, they pull heat from outside and bring it inside. The difference is that a standard heat pump (an air-source heat pump) uses the air outside to run, while a geothermal heat pump (a ground-source heat pump) uses the earth via a series of loops buried in the ground on a home’s property.

Why is it beneficial to use the earth for heat exchange rather than the earth? We’ll explain in more detail below how installing a geothermal heat pump can benefit both you and the planet.

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Listen for These Warning Sounds From Your AC

Monday, September 12th, 2022
woman-listening

This has been an extremely hot summer, and the heat isn’t done with us yet. Your air conditioning system has probably done some serious overtime during the season, and that makes it more important than ever to watch for any signs that it’s malfunctioning. Catching trouble early with an AC lets you schedule fast air conditioning repair in Yakima, WA that can prevent an even bigger and more expensive problem, including having to replace a completely dead AC. 

One of the most common warnings a struggling air conditioner will send is loud or unusual noises. The standard operating noises of an air conditioner are soft whirring and humming from the motors, the blowing of air through the vents, the dripping of condensate moisture, and some clicking sounds when the AC cycles down. When other sounds start to pop up, it often means trouble.

Here are the major sounds from an AC that will tell you it’s time to call our technicians.

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