Rentmeister Total Home Service Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Heating Repair’

Reasons to Replace Your Heating System Rather Than Repair

Monday, January 27th, 2014

It’s a tricky question, especially when you’re dealing with a breakdown in your heater: do you go ahead with repairs or scrap the system and replace it with a new one? Here in Salt Lake City, heating repair services can do both, which means it falls to the homeowner to make that decision. Everyone’s circumstances are different of course, sand there’s no one single litmus test to determine what to do. In general terms, however, you can look for certain reasons to replace your heating system rather than repair it. They could help you in deciding if your heater has gotten there yet or not.

For starters, you need to examine the costs very closely. If this is the first repair you’ve had to undergo in a while, it likely means that your heater is good for a little longer yet. (The exception would be if this particular repair were very expensive, in which case, you may wish to install a new one).  On the other hand, if this is one of a long line of repairs, then you may be throwing good money after bad.

Similarly, if your heater’s efficiency has gone down over the years, and if you’re spending more on monthly energy bills than you’d like, there’s only so much repairs can do for it. Older furnaces evince a lot of wear and tear, and eventually,  their overall efficiency will drop to the point where you could save more on monthly energy bills than the extra cost of installation can offset.

Indeed, the age of the furnace itself may come into play as well. While a well-maintained heater can last well beyond its expiration date, a system that is more than ten years old and showing some of the problems discussed above is probably due for a quiet retirement.

A good heating service can examine your heater and  help you decide the best course of action. Professional heating repair service in Salt Lake City can be provided by the experts at Rentmeister Total Home Service. We can sort through the reasons to replace your heating system rather than repair it, and move on whatever you decide is best. Call us today to set up an appointment!

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Why Do My Heating Bills Go Up in Salt Lake City?

Friday, January 10th, 2014

“Why do my heating bills go up in Salt Lake City?” That question rarely stems from obvious culprits like increased use of your heater during a cold front. High heating bills can be a subtle problem, since they won’t stop your heating or even slow it down, but might force you to pay a heavy price for it in the bargain. In Salt Lake City, heating repair companies have a lot of experience hunting down the sources of higher heating bills. The specific reasons for the rise in costs can vary, but they all boil down to the same general sources.

Your furnace uses energy to generate heat: usually in the form of gas to heat the air, but also with electricity and other forms of energy. Ideally, you want your heater to use as little energy as possible to heat your home. Less energy means lower bills. But when individual components start to break down, they can leech efficiency from your heater, forcing it to work harder to do its job. Energy use thus goes up and your ills reflect the change. Or instance, a breech in your air hose could reduce the flow of heated air over the heat exchangers, or one of your burners could malfunction and shut down (leaving the remaining burners to carry the load). Neither of them will stop the heart from functioning, but it will have to work harder to warm the air the way it once did. As a result, the cost of heating goes up.

In many cases, a routine maintenance session can address many of these issues. The SLC heating technician can clean dirty components, tighten loose parts and identify more serious problems for a formal repair session later on. Such sessions help keep your furnace running as efficiently as it can, while solving small problems before they become big ones. To answer the question “why do my heating bills go up?” call upon the Salt Lake City heating system specialists at Rentmeister Total Home Service. We handle Salt Lake City Heating Repair and can ensure that your system doesn’t cost you unnecessarily. Pick up the phone and call us today to make an appointment.

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Electrical Problems with Your Heater that Need Immediate Attention

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

Most heaters use some form of electricity, if not to warm your home directly then to provide power for those components that do. Fans on gas furnaces need to be turned, radiant heating systems require power to circulate the fluid in their tubes and so on.  When electrical problems spring up, they can cause a great deal of trouble, and usually need to be addressed right away. Why? Not only will they prevent you heater from functioning, but if left unaddressed they could cause a great deal of additional damage as well. In Salt Lake City, heating repair in the winter is too important to let that happen. Call the professional Salt Lake City heating repair service technicians at Rentmeister Total Home Service if you need assistance.

Here’s a short list of electrical problems with your heater than need immediate attention.

  • Shorts. This can include fan motors that short out, wiring that isn’t tightly connected and general overloads that trip the circuit breaker. Regardless of the cause, the effects are the same: the heater will likely shut down and can’t be turned on again until the faulty wiring or component is replaced. That can be seriously problematic in the midst of our patented Utah winters, which means you need to treat the problem quickly.
  • Constant running. If the heater won’t shut off, no matter how warm it gets, that problem probably lies with faulty relays. You can see why it’s a problem: overheating your home and wasting untold amounts of energy in the process. You can probably stop it by turning off your thermostat (or setting it to auto) or by cutting power to the unit in the worst case. But again, it needs to be dealt with quickly if you want to keep using your heater.
  • No heat. If the heater is running, but no heat is being generated, you might be looking at a problem with the coils. Or the ignition isn’t getting electricity, which means the gas isn’t igniting. Either way, you don’t want to blow cool air when the temperature outside is below freezing.

When addressing electrical problems with your heater that need immediate attention, it pays to speak to the very best heating service you can find. Here in Salt Lake City, heating repair services are provided by Rentmeister Total Home Service. Call us today to get your heater up and running as quickly as possible.

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3 Signs That Your Heater Might Be Broken

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013

A broken heater during the winter can be anything from an inconvenience to a nightmare. If it’s an inconvenience and left that way, it will eventually turn into a nightmare. Don’t let that happen: if you think your heater is malfunctioning, get it serviced right away. The Salt Lake City, UT heating repair experts at Rentmeister Total Home Service can get your heater working for you again.

Look for these three signs that you may need to bring in professionals to service your heater:

1. You aren’t getting any heat

Although this seems obvious, it’s on this list for a very good reason: lack of heat doesn’t necessarily mean your heater is broken. Check the circuit breaker; you may have experienced a power surge. Ascertain that the heater is connected to a power source. Look at your thermostat to see that you set it correctly (this error happens more often than you think). If the source of the heat loss doesn’t come from any of these, get an HVAC professional to find out what’s wrong.

2. Loud, unusual noises

Modern heaters should operate with a minimum of noise. Some are quieter than others, but you shouldn’t have trouble noticing a sound that doesn’t belong. Clanging in a furnace might mean a broken fan belt. Rumbling in a boiler could point to overheating. Clicking inside any system that uses natural gas might indicate a crack in the heat exchanger, which is a serious issue that requires immediate professional attention because of a gas leak danger. Whatever the noise, if it’s loud and you haven’t heard it before, you probably have a broken heater.

3. Unexpected swelling in your power bills

You should keep careful track of your budget not only to find ways to save money, but because a sudden increase in a particular area can warn of trouble. If your energy bills spike, and you can’t explain it because of a change in the season, it may be a red flag that your heater isn’t working right. The heater might be draining power to overcome a break or fault. Get repairs done sooner rather than later—before the whole system shuts down, and your budget takes a hit from a more expensive repair.

Because modern heaters are complex devices, amateur diagnosis on a malfunctioning one is a risky proposition. Worse is trying to act on this guesswork. Give the job to the people who are trained to do it. Contact Rentmeister Total Home Service for professional heating repair service for Salt Lake City customers.

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Why You Should Take Care of Heating Repairs Now

Tuesday, October 1st, 2013

Salt Lake City heating repair services must tackle a wide variety of issues, from a simple cleaning to full-bore replacement. Most of the time, they’re very necessary. Proper heating is vital to dealing with our chilly winters, providing a cozy, comfortable home when the snow starts to fall. Even more importantly, you need to deal with heating repairs sooner rather than later, lest inaction or inertia create larger problems later on. Here’s a few reasons why you should take care of heating repairs now, rather than waiting for some unspecified future point.

In the first case, problems very rarely go away on their own, and in fact tend to get worse the longer they’re allowed to linger. When a single component stats to malfunction, it increase the stress and strain on other units, forcing them to work harder in order to do their job. That increases the risk of a larger failure involving more components, and thus necessitating more expensive (and extensive) repairs. Acting quickly to address a problem can prevent such an escalation and keep your repair bills manageable instead of colossal.

Perhaps just as importantly, a fast repair job improves the efficiency of your heating unit, saving you money on monthly energy bills. The longer you wait, the more those bills will remain unnecessarily high and the less you’ll be getting out of your heater as an investment. Furthermore, by reducing overall wear and tear on the unit, a speedy repair service can extend the life of your heater, ensuring that you get maximum value out of it and delaying the day when you’ll have to install a new heater.

Finally, a speedy repair service ensures that you don’t have to face a cold front or winter storm without a good heating unit ready to go. You never know what the weather is going to do and delayed repair can leave you stranded when temperatures drop unexpectedly. The sooner your issue is resolved, the better equipped you’ll be to face the unexpected.

If you know why you should take care of heating repairs now, the next step is to call a service you can rely on. Rentmeister Total Home service can handle heating repair in Salt Lake City, and we’re on call 24 hours a day to address any emergencies. Contact us today to set up an appointment.

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