A/C Designs of St. Augustine, LLC Blog: Archive for the ‘Home Improvement’ Category

How Your HVAC Unit Can Affect Your Health

Monday, February 22nd, 2021

With heightened stress levels, lower immune systems, and an international pandemic, it’s more important than ever to stay healthy. Your HVAC system plays a major role in determining your indoor air quality (IAQ) and therefore, your HVAC and health have an interesting relationship. Since this is the air you’re inhaling all day, you should take steps to ensure a healthy home environment. 

Unclean air raises your risk of getting sick. If you start to notice any of the following symptoms, it’s time to check your air quality. An HVAC contractor in Jacksonville, Florida can help you boost IAQ and maintain a healthy home at all times. 

At A/C Designs, we offer electronic air cleaners and air purifiers to reduce germs, allergens, and other harmful particles in your home. We also have other air quality solutions available, including UV germicidal lights and air duct cleaning. Our technicians can help you determine the right solutions for better air quality.

Asthma or Allergies

If you’ve been experiencing bad asthma or allergy flare-ups, your air quality could be the reason. Dirty HVAC filters or ducts can cause dust and other asthma and allergy triggers to float throughout your home. Breathing these particles in can cause you to have asthma or allergy symptoms, such as trouble breathing, sneezing, or itchy, watery eyes. 

Changing air filters is an important part of preventing this from happening. Make sure you check and replace your air filters every couple of months or more often if needed.

Decreased Cognitive Performance

HVAC and health issues can affect your ability to concentrate, make decisions, and use other cognitive skills. For example, being in a room that’s too hot can cause distractions while working or make it difficult for your kids to get their schoolwork done. Turn down your thermostat setting to ensure a more comfortable environment at home that’s not too warm during winter. 

When it’s hot out, make sure your air conditioning is running properly. If your HVAC system doesn’t seem to be working right, schedule an AC repair service as soon as possible.

Headaches

Getting a headache from time to time isn’t unusual. However, if you’ve been experiencing frequent headaches, this could be due to your HVAC system. Dusty or dirty air ducts can lower the air quality in your home, resulting in chronic headaches. Headache may also be caused by dirty air filters or rooms that are overly warm. 

You should have HVAC technicians check your HVAC system, including your ductwork, to see if any cleaning or other maintenance is needed. This will help minimize your frequent headache episodes and improve your home’s overall comfort.

Our experienced technicians can quickly diagnose your HVAC issues and get you started on the path to repair. Contact A/C Designs today for all of your HVAC repair needs in order to prioritize your health. Keep in mind that we also offer air conditioning installation in Jacksonville, FL if you need to replace or upgrade your HVAC system.

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HVAC Tips for Working From Home

Friday, February 12th, 2021

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many people are working from home indefinitely. When you’re home all the time, it’s even more important to make sure your HVAC system is running efficiently for a comfortable living and working environment. Maintaining your home’s comfortability can boost your productivity. Keep these HVAC tips for working from home in mind to create the ideal work environment in your house.

Use a Fan

If your home workspace has a ceiling fan, turning it on can help cut down on cooling costs when it’s hot out. Using a ceiling fan can also provide circulation to improve your comfort overall. If you don’t have a ceiling fan, consider using a small desk fan or a standing fan that oscillates. Turn your portable or ceiling fan off when you leave the room to prevent wasting energy.

Purchase a Zoning System

You don’t necessarily need to keep your entire home at the same temperature while you’re working. A zoning system allows you to control temperature settings in different areas of your house throughout the day. You can keep your home office or workspace heated more in winter while lowering the temperature in the rest of your house, which helps you save money on your energy bills. Consider looking into air conditioning installation in Jacksonville, FL in order to add a zoning system to your home.

Install an Air Purifier

When you’re working from home, it’s important to make sure the air you’re breathing in every second is free from toxins of chemicals. An air purifier can reduce dust and other particles in the air, providing you with a healthier workspace at home. Having a whole-house air purifier installed ensures that you have good indoor air quality (IAQ) throughout your house. Keep in mind that air purifiers also help eliminate germs and get rid of odors in your home.

Change the Filters

HVAC systems have air filters that trap contaminants, dust, and other particles in your home. You can end up with clogged air filters if you don’t change them on a regular basis, which will lower your air quality. 

You should check these filters once a month, and replace them with clean, new filters as needed. You might have to replace your air filters more often, such as every month or two, if you have pets in your home. Air filters can become clogged with pet dander over time.

Use a Dust Cloth

Surfaces in your workspace or home office can quickly get dusty, resulting in poor IAQ. You should use a dust cloth regularly in these areas to prevent dust from building up. Keep microfiber dust cloths handy in your home office, so you can easily wipe down surfaces as often as possible for a healthy work environment.

If you need AC repair in Jacksonville, FL or if you need help keeping your home comfortable 24/7, our team at A/C Designs can help. Contact us to learn more about how to save on your HVAC needs.

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Is a Wifi Thermostat Right for You?

Monday, October 22nd, 2018

Many Jacksonville homeowners are incorporating the use of WiFi thermostats into their homes thanks to the many benefits they offer. These connected thermostats allow you to adjust the settings of your HVAC system from a distance, giving you greater control over your unit.

With WiFi thermostats, your home can quickly turn into a smart space. Here are just a few examples of why you should consider upgrading your thermostat to a wifi thermostat.

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4 Practical and Effective Ways to Cut Down Your Home Cooling Costs This Summer

Friday, July 7th, 2017

Tired of summer’s high energy bills, where it seems like you run your A/C at full blast 24/7 just to stay comfortable? Let’s do something about it! We’ve got some creative and practical ways to cut down on your cooling costs this summer that will keep you cool without draining your bank account.

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What to Look for in a New A/C Unit

Thursday, June 15th, 2017

In the market for a new air conditioning unit? If so, then you may be feeling a little overwhelmed by your options. Fortunately, by keeping a few of the most important considerations in mind as you shop around, you can ultimately make the right choice for your home, budget, and lifestyle.

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Can You Maintain Your Air Conditioner on Your Own?

Monday, March 7th, 2016

Air conditioning maintenance is a valuable service that can improve the state of your air conditioner, reducing the chances of repairs, giving your system better efficiency, and potentially increasing its lifespan, especially if you schedule this service once a year. And air conditioning maintenance comes at a relatively low price, especially if you consider all of the benefits year after year.

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How Clean Is the Air in Your Home? Try These Solutions!

Monday, November 9th, 2015

Your air conditioning system has a filter that you should change every month in order to keep the system working properly and help to clean the air. While a clean air filter does a good job at removing many particles from the air, many others may get left behind. A standard home air filter can only remove particles up to a certain size, so it may miss bacteria, mold spores, and other harmful contaminants. But we may have a solution to help you get cleaner air. Check out the systems and services we recommend!

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Take Out that Window Unit and Schedule Ductless AC Installation

Monday, July 13th, 2015

Summer would certainly seem a lot longer without air conditioning in the house. Some homes aren’t set up to install a conventional central AC system, but homeowners do have other options. One of the most common solutions is a window air conditioning unit, mostly because they are relatively inexpensive to purchase. However, due to the inefficiency and inconsistent cooling of these units, we strongly recommend a ductless system instead for most homes and even single rooms without ducts.

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Some of the Unusual Movies Released for Valentine’s Day

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

Hollywood has always tried to match movies up to the seasons to draw droves of viewers to the theaters: October is packed with fright-offerings, while the winter holidays skew toward warm and pleasing family films (as well as Oscar hopefuls). Valentine’s Day falls in an odd spot when it comes to the movie release calendar, however, since February tends to be a slower time for the film industry. The studios are as likely to slot strange movies that don’t fit anywhere else in their annual schedules into the Valentine’s Day weekend as they are films with powerful romantic appeal.

So, while the second weekend of February has featured hugely successful romantic comedies like Hitch, The Wedding Singer, and (of course) Valentine’s Day, some truly weird choices have debuted in this weekend as well. And a few have even gone on to tremendous success despite the bizarre match with the holiday. Here are a couple of the odder Valentine’s Day movie releases:

  • Dracula (1931): Yes, this Halloween perennial and the start of Universal Studio’s Classic Monsters actually came out on Valentine’s Day! But perhaps this makes some sense, as the Dracula legend has often received a “doomed lover” approach in the many years since Bela Lugosi made the aristocratic vampire a screen icon.
  • The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Does any film seem less appropriate for Valentine’s Day than this unnerving and sometimes very violent psychological thriller? What’s even more astonishing than the film’s release date is that The Silence of the Lambs eventually nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture, an almost unheard of occurrence for a movie released so early in the year.
  • Daredevil (2003): This Marvel comic adaptation featuring Ben Affleck as a blind superhero does contain a romantic subplot, but the stronger connection to Valentine’s Day may just be that Daredevil wears a bright red costume.
  • A Good Day to Die Hard (2013): The least successful of the Die Hard film franchise, this is an excellent example of a studio dropping a film into a weekend where it doesn’t fit in the hopes that it works as counter-programming. (It didn’t.)
  • Wayne’s World (1992): Now here is an example of counter-programming that clicked with audiences. This comedy based on a Saturday Night Live sketch turned into one of that year’s biggest hits and spawned a sequel.

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day with a trip to the movie theater, or you have your own special plans, everyone here at A/C Designs Inc. hopes you and your loved ones have a wonderful weekend.

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