Frequently Asked Questions

Your Family's Carbon Footprint

Households are responsible for about one-fifth of the total energy consumed in the United States including all sources, residential, commercial, and industrial. The majority (42%) of this energy is consumed by the heating and air conditioning system in your home.

A two-degree adjustment to your thermostat (lower in the winter, higher in the summer) can result in a 4% decrease in the energy consumed by your HVAC system. Properly utilized programmable controls or Infinity™ controls can make a big difference here without having to sacrifice comfort.

The replacement of an old air conditioner with a new base model air conditioner can increase your air conditioner's efficiency by 30% or more.

Gas furnace replacement is not as dramatic, and the replacement of an 80% furnace with a 90% furnace will decrease your gas energy use by about 11%. Nothing to scoff at but not as dramatic as the effect a more efficient air conditioner can have on your household energy consumption.

Don’t forget: Maintenance of your system, even if it is the most efficient on the market, is critical to maintaining peak operating efficiency.

Also, regardless of the efficiency of your HVAC system, if your home is not properly insulated and draft protected, you are consuming more energy as you send your conditioned air literally right out the door in many cases. Any comprehensive home energy conservation includes the efficient operation of your home appliances, as well as the conservation of consumed energy wherever possible.

In case you were curious, home lighting and electronics are the next items in line with regard to household energy consumption (they weigh in at 36% of household energy consumption). More efficient lights, not leaving the TV on, and turning off lights when a room is not in use can make a giant contribution to reducing your carbon footprint without any reduction in quality of life.

Are you still curious about the #1 item affecting your family’s carbon footprint? You will most likely not be surprised to hear that the #1 energy consumer for most families is the family car. We can’t help you with #1, but through Carrier, we can offer a Hybrid Heat alternative for your home. Carrier is acutely aware of the environmental issues facing our planet. Carrier’s Hybrid Heat system combines the best of electricity and gas, and lower consumption of natural resources goes a long way toward cleaning up the environment.

Refrigerant

Freon is really just a generic phrase for refrigerant in your Home Comfort System. R-22 (refrigerant-22) is the typical refrigerant utilized in air conditioning systems in homes and most light commercial applications for the past 50 years. The problem with R-22 and similar refrigerants are that they are chlorine-based, and when released into the atmosphere, they destroy important elements of our atmosphere and contribute to global warming. This has been known for more than 20 years, and about 18 years ago, the federal government mandated that companies and individuals who service air conditioning systems capture all refrigerants removed from systems being serviced, while at the same time setting a mandate for the refrigeration industry to find alternatives to chlorine-based refrigerants.

As many times is the case, Carrier was the first in the industry to react and began to look into alternatives to R-22. In 1996, Carrier was the first manufacturer to develop indoor cooling products with an alternative refrigerant. The product Carrier developed is R-410a, a refrigerant proven to be safe to the environment, and through Carrier’s development, they were able to provide improved efficiency over R-22. Carrier’s brand name for this chlorine-free compound is Puron.

It is no small thing that Carrier is a leader in the development of Puron. No change this significant is without complications, and through development, Carrier has evolved its Puron based systems into the most efficient and most reliable systems on the market. What about R-22? In 2010, the federal government mandated that all manufacturers of indoor cooling products cease the production of systems containing R-22 with the complete elimination of R-22 production at that same time. In the case of R-22, prices will climb substantially for the product when repairs are required, and it will still have the same negative effect on the environment.

Before you read any further: If your home currently utilizes a metal flue in lieu of a masonry flue or a PVC flue to exhaust spent gas fumes from your furnace, you are not affected by this code issue, and the requirement of a flue liner does not affect you! If, however, your home utilizes a masonry chimney to exhaust furnace fumes and you want to know more about flue liner requirements, please read on…

Unless curiosity alone brought you to ask this question, it often comes to light when a home is sold and an inspection is performed for the buyer or when Laclede gas turns on gas service. Home inspectors are trained to make sure no potential exists for condensation to form inside of an existing masonry chimney, and a flue liner is a typical method employed to ensure this does not happen. In almost all cases, a flue liner is mandated by code for the installation of a new 80% furnace where the installation intends to utilize the existing masonry flue. This is something we address on every new furnace installation, but we cannot speak for our competitors in the market - Sometimes, in an effort to undersell a project, this important step is skipped, resulting in flue deterioration or worse problems.

Fortunately, St. Louis City and County are aware of the issue and mandate the installation of a flue liner in these instances. In addition, Laclede Gas mandates all flue systems conform to a 7 times rule and is now strictly enforced as a safety precaution to prevent flue deterioration and eventual carbon monoxide backups into the home. Upon inspection or when switching on gas service, Laclede will inspect and tag all systems that do not conform to these important rules.

Hate Wasting Money on Utility Charges?

You are wise to compare your utility bills with your neighbor. In many instances, your neighbor’s home will be similar to yours, and a substantial difference can illustrate an opportunity to save substantial money on your utility bills. In some instances, this might be a great illustration of how lowering your thermostat in the winter a couple of degrees or raising your thermostat setting in the summer a couple of degrees can net big savings on your utility bills. It could also be an illustration of a difference in insulation in the home. In some cases, if your neighbor has upgraded their Home Comfort System, it could be a real-life illustration of the savings you are missing with your old system.

When we built our first home, gas was not available in the new subdivision where we built, so all homes had to utilize electric for heat. Most of my neighbors' homes utilized simple electric heaters in their fan coil units to heat their homes. This style of system has a very cheap up front install cost but is more expensive to operate. Being in the industry, my father recommended that we install a 12 SEER Carrier heat pump. In 1990, this was a step up from the base option and all we could afford at the time. When I compared utility bills with my neighbors, the difference was breathtaking. These homes were about 1200 sqft, and in a cold January on average, my neighbors' electric bills ran in the $400 range. My electric bill was about $200 during the same month.

That’s not the end of the story, however, because my wife liked to keep our home very warm, so we kept our thermostat at a balmy 75 degrees. My neighbors, on the other hand, concerned about their utility bills kept their home in the upper 60s and wore sweaters all winter. They spent double the money but had less comfort than us. I sure was glad Dad forced me to spend the extra money on the heat pump unit. Given the difference in utility bills, the additional money we spent on upgrading to the heat pump system was paid back to us through utility savings in approximately 3 years. A real-life example of the possible savings we try to inform our customers about is possible every day we come to work at Vogel, backed up by a simple comparison of utility bills.

Don’t forget the basics: moderate thermostat settings, good insulation in your attic and walls, and air-tight windows and doors. Once you have addressed these important elements to conserving energy, regardless of the age of your existing Home Comfort System you could be missing out on substantial utility cost savings. For an interactive illustration of the potential savings available, click on this free third-party utility cost comparator.

Excessive dust in the home can be caused by something as simple as pets from a dusty hobby like woodworking to having a very active home to wall-to-wall carpeting, which on its own creates a lot of dust. The solution can be different for each family depending on your existing system installation, your budget, and the individual health needs of your family. If you have forced-air heating and cooling in your home, it is safe to say that in every case, the situation can be improved with improved filtration of the air spread throughout your home by your central air system.

Static Super Charged Home

If it is common for your home to produce a lot of static electricity, this is a sign that the air in your home is dry. If you have a forced-air heating system, you can simply add a humidifier to your home. The price will range between $400 to $800 installed. You can learn more about our humidifiers here, or feel free to call or contact us to discuss your specific needs.

Don't forget the importance of the basics to the spread of cold and flu germs.

Hand washing is critical, and along with good hygiene practices, keeping your home and linens clean and sanitized is the first and most important step to a healthy home.

Along with these steps, there are other factors affecting the health of your home. Sometimes a family that experiences more colds than normal can be a result of them being a part of a higher risk group, such as having a family member who works at a doctor’s office. Sometimes, it could just be a run of bad luck that has exposed them to these risk factors. Every time, a properly designed Indoor Air Quality system can have a positive influence on the recovery and resistance to these factors.

In most families’ lives, a majority of the winter months in St. Louis are spent indoors. Most home's Home Comfort systems do not include any means of introducing fresh air into the home, which means the indoor air is typically the same air throughout the home for the entire winter! This is a frightening consideration especially in newer homes because new homes are typically built to much more air-tight standards than older homes. This means a cold or flu bug in the house has a nice warm place to hold up for the winter and continue to spread.

The single factor having the most influence on the common cold, however, is the humidity level in your home. In the winter, the air in St. Louis is quite dry. Unless you add humidity to your home, the relative small humidity in your home will no doubt drop into the 15% range or less. This very dry air dries up your nasal passages, especially while you sleep, and makes you and your family more susceptible to the common cold. Ever notice how much better your sinuses feel after a warm shower? Humidity at work my friend!

The next factor affecting the Indoor Air Quality of your home is filtration. Most media-style filters have no means of capturing germs and even fewer still can capture and kill those germs. Carrier has addressed both of these concerns with their new Infinity Air Purifier.

Similarly, during the summer months, your indoor evaporator coil is a cool, moist place that is the perfect breeding ground for mold and fungus. This mold can affect the health of your family but is easily eliminated with the use of UV lights. Not only do the UV lights kill the mold and fungus, but through the same process, they keep your coil cleaner and more efficient.

Introducing freshly ventilated air into your home through your Home Comfort System is completely feasible, but the main concern when doing this becomes conditioning the warm or cold outside air brought into your system. Carrier's Energy Recovery Ventilator brings clean air into your home through a heat exchanger while exhausting unwanted air through the same system. During the process, the unit exchanges the heat from the air, warming or cooling (whichever your home needs) the incoming air to a point very near your indoor air, thus ventilating while not overtaxing your Home Comfort System.

Excessive Noise?

If your existing registers produce excessive air noise, the issue can be related to the design of your duct system. The duct could be undersized, not have an adequate number of runs, or your system may be too large for your home. Don’t forget, that every system is different, and it is not unusual to hear some air noise when a system is running. Many clients who come from homes with radiant heat find any noise created by their Home Comfort System objectionable. Carrier is on the same page and has a complete line of variable speed furnaces which keeps airflow down to the minimum required, coming very close to the quiet offered by a radiant heat system.

Since the question of noise is so subjective, the question sometimes becomes, "what is normal?" Please call for a FREE home comfort consultation if you would like a professional opinion. Unfortunately, there is not a typical cause for this problem because there are too many variables to consider. Fortunately, if you do indeed have a loud system, our Home Comfort Specialist will have solutions to offer to quiet down your home.

If your existing system cannot keep up with the needs of your home, the first question to ask is: Has it ever been kept up in the past during the same conditions? If the answer is yes, the solution could range from something as simple as cleaning your furnace or air conditioner or adjusting the refrigerant charge. Of course, there could be a more serious issue, but if you are not interested in considering replacing the system, now is the time to schedule a service call and have a skilled technician take a look at your system because it is in need of some sort of repair

An Addition on Your Home Giving You Comfort Trouble?

An addition built onto an existing home that will not maintain the temperature is not unusual. Often times the existing HVAC system of the home is not upgraded for the additional load of the addition even though the existing system is still taxed with this new load. Sometimes the existing HVAC system has enough capacity to absorb this additional load, sometimes not. In any case, a correct solution requires verifying the load of the existing home and the new addition to ensure the existing HVAC system has enough capacity. In cases where it has adequate capacity, running an additional heat run, correcting a return air issue, and increasing an existing trunk duct, run out, or duct booster fan can be solutions worth considering. In cases where there is not enough capacity in the existing system, increasing the capacity of the existing system can be a worthwhile consideration if the existing equipment is old enough or outdated enough to merit replacement. Other short-load solutions can include a separate system or something as simple as a supplemental through the wall unit to close the loading gap. We would love an opportunity to help resolve this issue for you.

Your Two Story Home and Comfort

Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratings (SEER) is an industry-standard form of comparing an air conditioner's ability to convert electrical energy into cooling for your home. The higher the SEER, the more efficient the equipment is. Furthermore, SEER is an industry standard, and it can be compared with competitors. Due to new government regulations, the minimum SEER-rated condenser allowed to be produced for consumption in residential applications in the USA is 13 SEER. This was revised up from 10 SEER and has had great reaching effects in the industry. Carrier Corporation has taken the lead in air conditioner design to meet the new government requirements and wiped the slate clean by redesigning their entire air conditioner line in 2006. Once again, this allowed Carrier to lead the industry in several ways.

To achieve greater efficiency, all manufacturers, including Carrier, have had to increase the size of their air conditioning units. Concerned about taking up too much space in your yard, Carrier Corporation has utilized and patented all-new 7mm rifled micro tubing in their Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps. This smaller tubing results in equipment with greater or equal efficiency and simultaneously smaller equipment than the competition, leaving more of your yard to you. Carrier has the most complete line of residential air conditioner and heat pump units with air-cooled units ranging from the Comfort 13 SEER through the Performance 17 SEER unit through to the Infinity 21 SEER unit currently the highest rating in the market.