Your older home in Montgomery, Alabama, has lots to offer with interesting style and history. But it can be difficult to efficiently heat and cool older homes. In our hot and humid climate, you rely on your air conditioner to run well. Read on to learn some of the most common HVAC problems that homeowners in older homes face.
Poor Indoor Air Quality
Our area has lots of plant life. It’s beautiful when trees and flowers bloom, but it also means they release their pollen in great clouds. Modern building practices seek to ensure your home’s windows, doors and attic spaces are properly sealed from the infiltration of outdoor pollutants.
Older homes often have gaps that let these irritants inside, and the HVAC system can’t filter them from the air efficiently. A whole-home air purifier installed in-line with your HVAC system can trap up to 95 percent of irritating particles. As a result, it can improve your indoor air quality.
Aging HVAC Unit
The lifespan of an HVAC unit is usually 15 years at the most. If you’ve recently purchased an older home and don’t know if the previous owners have performed annual maintenance checks, you can probably expect an even shorter life and decreased efficiency.
Units that have to cycle on and off more frequently run longer to cool and heat the space. Improper maintenance will cost you money and may not give you the comfort you want. A replacement will likely save you money and hassle over time.
Leaky Ductwork
Cooled and heated air moves through the ducts of your home. If the sealing of the joints and elbows of your old ducts has lost its effectiveness, you can experience air leaking all along the run of the ductwork. As a result, you’ll waste your money cooling and heating behind walls and in ceilings. A check of the ducts by a professional is vital to ensure that all the conditioned air is only filling the living spaces.
Poor Airflow
In addition to air leakage, your ductwork may be badly designed and made of materials that have fallen out of favor. Modern advances in duct design and technology can make a dramatic difference in how the air flows through your home.
Plus, old duct systems can fill with dust, dirt and pet hair buildup, which in turn circulates throughout your home. Re-configuring and redesigning how the air moves can be a simple way to start fresh with clean and modern materials.
Outdated Thermostats
Modern thermostat technology changes the way your HVAC system responds to:
- External and internal temperature conditions.
- Your heating and cooling preferences.
- The patterns of your daily life such as sleep and waking times.
Some thermostats are controllable via Wi-Fi and accessible from anywhere with your smartphone. Old thermostats have very basic controls, and depending on their placement in your home, they can cause frequent cycling, wear and tear on your unit, and inefficient cooling and heating. If you’re ready to exercise very specific control over your climate, let us introduce you to the features of the modern thermostat.
Lack of Zoning
In addition to outdated thermostats, older homes may have just a single thermostat that controls the temperature for all the levels and wings of your home. Modern HVAC design lets you designate zones with separate control. As a result, you can cool the bedrooms while sleeping without cooling an empty living room or kitchen. A ductless system with multiple indoor air handlers can allow you to take advantage of zoning.
Our certified service technicians can solve your HVAC problems in your older home. Whether you need a replacement of your system or help in determining how to use it more efficiently, we’re ready to help. Call Air Conditioning by Luquire today at 334-230-5870.
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