Homes in the 85281 zip code are historic Tempe homes, built in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Tempe homes in the nearby 85282 zip code were built in the 1960’s to 1980’s.  These Tempe homes are mostly ranch style homes with long roof lines and a heat pump package unit on the roof with a metal elbow. Some Tempe homes have or used to have dedicated closets for furnace heaters or air handlers with the return grille under the door. The main ductwork is a metal trunk that runs down the middle of the hallway with 7 foot ceilings and registers located above the bedroom doors.  In these Tempe homes, the heating systems go bad not because the units are old, but because the components around the heating system are bad.  The components that deliver the air, the ductwork, is very important to how the heating system works. Think of driving a Prius with a hole in the gas tank… that’s what is happening to homes all over Tempe when heating and cooling systems are installed on a home with leaky ductwork, low insulation and ductwork sized for a smaller unit. ​

Homes in the 85283 and 85284 zip code were built anywhere from 1980 to the early 2000’s.  The variety of homes in south Tempe varies from the standard spec home where homeowners had 4-5 models to choose from and the builder’s mission was not to build quality homes but to make a profit and use the cheapest materials and fastest methods to slap homes together. 

From the insulation, to the number of returns in the home, these things all cause Tempe homeowners to have high energy bills and uncomfortable rooms.  About half of the homes south of the US60 Highway were insulated with fiberglass batts. (Learn why we think fiberglass batts in Arizona should be outlawed here.) In these Tempe homes your heating and air conditioner is likely working twice as hard as it should be just because the insulation was installed incorrectly.  

​A more common HVAC contractor mistake that more than 90% of the homes in south Tempe suffer from is what we call the "flex duct flaw". Do you have one room that just doesn’t stay the same temperature as the rest of the house, or gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter? Does that room happen to be the room that’s furthest away from the air handler in the attic? When HVAC companies started switching from all sheet metal ductwork to using flex duct in the 1980’s and 1990’s, it meant that heating and air conditioning installers needed much less still to install, so labor became cheaper and jobs were completed much faster than before, which was good for the HVAC contractors.

​The flip side of installing flex ductwork in homes is that it is so easy to install, almost anyone can do it, so the best practices for airflow and air balancing became non-existent.  If you go up in your attic you are likely to find at least 4-5 wye branches where the flex duct reduces in size and splits.  Every wye branch adds an equivalent length of 15 extra feet of ductwork your heating and air conditioner needs to deal with.  If your unit is already stressed from low insulation and leaky ductwork, having another 60 feet of ductwork in the attic can spell a recipe for a shortened heating and air conditioner life and high energy bills.  

If heating and cooling contractors would only take a whole home approach to installing heating and air conditioning systems, their units would operate 10 times better.  How do we know? We have measured and seen the effects of addressing the whole home on a heating and air conditioning system… the electrical usages (amps) decreases, the airflow (CFM50) increases, and the utility bills go down.  Addressing home performance issues should be done by every heating and air conditioning company during heating repairs, service and installation.  No heating company in Tempe should be talking about HVAC without addressing a complete home performance picture.
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Do you know it’s rare for a heating contractor in Tempe to go into the attic at all during a maintenance inspection, heater tune up, or a heating service call?  Heating contractors need to focus more on the whole-home and less on the bells and whistles of heating systems like UV lights and washable filters (the scams of the HVAC industry).  If the ductwork was sealed like it should be, homes wouldn’t be half as dusty and the need for a UV light would completely go away!  ​

Have you experienced these common symptoms this winter?

1. Your heater is blowing cold air
2. Your heater or fan never shuts off and runs constantly
3. The heater never turns on
4. The heater runs for 5 seconds then shuts off
5. The thermostat doesn’t turn on

​All these heating problems are likely caused not from the age of the system or its components, but something outside of the unit itself.

Common heater problems in Tempe are listed below:

1. Ductwork leaks.  A return duct leaking 15% of its air in the middle of the summer will cause a 5 ton heating and cooling system to operate as a 2.5 ton system.  The #1 reason why air conditioning components fail is because the system is overworked during the hot Arizona summers, not because the heating and cooling systems are undersized. For Tempe homes, there was no code for ductwork sealing when the homes were built, and after 20 hot summers, any tape that was used around the ducts has lost its effectiveness. Leaky ductwork wastes our hard earned money because every time the heater or air conditioner turns on, 15% of that is lost into the attic through ductwork leaks.  If you could gain an extra 15% of airflow into your home, it would be very noticeable, and it all starts by sealing up the ductwork.  SRP estimates homeowners can save $200 a year by sealing leaky ductwork. 
2. Undersized ductwork.  Have you ever seen a child try to breathe through one straw?  They get starved for air pretty quickly and that’s exactly what’s happening to your heating and air conditioning system when the ductwork is undersized.  In Tempe homes were built with round rigid ductwork has was too small for the existing HVAC system.  Next time your heater turns on, listen to see if your return sounds very loud, it’s likely from an undersized return.
3. Low insulation.  Insulation on a heating and air conditioning repair post?  Yes, your home’s insulation is very important in keeping the warm air in the winter time and cool conditioned air in during the hot Arizona summers.  If your attic has too little, your heating and cooling system will be constantly running and short cycling on and off, overworking your system. In Arizona, the DOE Energy Star recommends R38 level of insulation in the attic. Most homes have been under insulated unless you were a part of the City of Tempe noise reduction program.  To add insult to injury, most Tempe homes in 85281 and 85282 zip codes are grossly under insulated (insulation code was less than 6” in 1960).
4. Capacitors that go bad, overworked fan motors and bad mechanical components. All of these home performance defects cause the heating and cooling system to constantly overwork itself, putting stress on the mechanical components.  The first components to go out are the capacitors and fan motors and then overtime, the compressor.  Gain a few more years on your heating and air conditioning system by fixing the home performance defects and you’ll have a comfortable, energy efficient and long lasting heating and cooling system for many years.

The answer is not the heating units themselves, it’s the other components of the home that cause the heating system to work much harder than it should.  Fix those, and you’ll have a system that operates much more efficiently, quietly and less troublesome during the heating season.

Your heating system should keep you warm and comfortable throughout the winter season, but he excessive summer of your HVAC system may cause fatigue of the heating components and whether you are proactively tackling heating maintenance or find yourself coming home to a broken heating system, here are some early warning signs and symptoms you can look out for to keep your heater running smoothly and save money on your utility bills.

Furnaces and heat pumps are fairly complex machines of electrical and mechanical parts and heating systems can have one independent component fail or multiple shut downs at once.  Diagnosing a broken heating system starts by listening to its initial symptoms.   Whether you have a gas powered furnace or gas pack or an all-electric heat pump heater, here are the common symptoms you might find if you suddenly experience your heater not working.

1. Your heater is blowing cold air
2. Your heater or fan never shuts off and runs constantly
3. The heater never turns on
4. The heater runs for 5 seconds then shuts off
5. The thermostat doesn’t turn on

Often our technicians will catch emerging problems before they turn into bigger and more expensive issues, some of the symptoms of an overworked heating system are:

1. Your heating bill is increasing with no lifestyle changes on your part
2. You experience unpleasant smells
3. You experience inconsistent temperatures from room to room
4. You hear weird sounds coming from the unit
5. The system is loud when it turns on

Heating and air conditioning repairs in Arizona homes stem from several common problems.

1. Clogged filter. I hate to list this one, but sometimes it really is as easy as turning your system off and changing your filter to get your heater working properly again.  Before you make a heating repair call, check your filters if possible and change them out if needed.  Speaking of clogged filters, read why other restrictions could also cause your heater to stop working and actually blow cold air out of your vents in the winter. 
2. Bad fan motor. A bad fan motor can cause the heater not to work and can be caused by a bad fan relay, where the contacts inside the relay get stuck open and go bad.  Having to replace a fan relay is much less expensive than the fan motor and a good heating and cooling technician will be able to tell the difference and not turn a potentially easy fix into a complicated one. A bad capacitor can also stop the fan motor from running and providing the home with heat. Fan motors in general can also just go bad due to the motor burning up or the bearings seizing.
3. Bad capacitor. Capacitors store energy for the compressor and fan to run and is made up of dielectric plates with an oil in-between the plates. Over time, the capacitors deteriorate and their rated capacity diminishes. Once the capacitor goes bad, your heater will not work because the fan motor will not run.
4. Bad reversing valve. Reversing values are only found in heat pumps and reverse the flow of refrigerant depending if you are heating or cooling the home.  A bad reversing value in the heating season can often be confused with a compressor failure. Again, a costly mistake on the heating and cooling technicians’ part.  A reversing value may be stuck in the heating or cooling position due to a bad solenoid which would cause your heater to not blow hot air in the winter. 
5. Burnt or faulty electrical wiring. Bad thermostats, poor splice connections or loose wires can also be the culprit in your heater’s problems. A line by line electrical check can diagnosis if any wires have gone bad in the heating and cooling system.
6. Bad pressure switches, pressure sensors, limit switches, or flame sensors on gas furnaces. On furnaces good technicians will be able to diagnose these problems by simply reading the blink code through the panel sight glass. This saves time to diagnosis the heater problems and cuts much of the troubleshooting time exponentially.
7. Low Freon charge on heat pumps. A refrigerant leak will cause your thermostat to never satisfy and your home will never reach it’s set-point. If you set the house temperature to 72 degrees in the winter, but it only reaches 68, and the unit keeps running, you may have a refrigerant leak. Refrigerant leaks can occur slowly over time but once the refrigerant gets low enough that you start having comfort problems, the size of the hole has increased also and rate of loss also increases. When refrigerant leaks occur, it’s best to have a technician perform a pressurized leak test to find the source and seal it up to avoid damaging the compressor in the future.

 
If you are looking for heating and air conditioning repair contractors in the Phoenix area chances are you need fast service to get your system working again.  For fast, reliable service call Green ID 24/7 at 602-​926-1650.  Our technicians are trained to never over-sell repairs, in most cases a quick repair is all that’s required to get the system back in working condition. Mention this blog for a 10% discount off any repairs and call (602) 926-1650 today.

​Yikes! If you suddenly notice the unpleasant surprise of your cold air coming out of your vents, several things may be happening to your heater to cause this strange phenomenon all centered on a “RESTRICTION” theme. First, shut your heater and fan to the off position on your thermostat, because if your vents are blowing hot air, continuing to run your heater will only continue the problem. This post will explain what causes cold air to come out of the vents when you have your heater on, when warm air should be coming out instead.

1. Restrictions can come from several places in a heater; one of the most common restrictions is from a dirty filter.  It may seem over simplified, but check your air filters and see if it’s dirty. If it needs to be changed, put a clean one in before you do anything else. Dirty air filters can actually reduce the airflow into the heater enough to freeze the coils and put the heater into defrost mode so you want to be sure they are changed out regularly.  We recommend the 4” HEPA filters first, and then the cheap 30 day filters second and LASTLY the 1” pleated filter (booo)!
2. If you have an older gas furnace, check that the pilot light hasn’t gone out. Constantly having to re-light your pilot light is not normal and a health and safety hazard, and your heating system and flue assembly should be inspected.
3. Once you have changed your filter, check that all the supply and return grilles are not blocked and completely open. The second type of restriction can come from blocked vents. I know the registers and grilles aren’t the prettiest things to look at, but don’t cover them with dressers or bookshelves if they are on the wall or the floor.  You need at least a foot of clearance for proper airflow around each vent.
4. Another type of restriction can occur in the filter dryer. The filter dryer’s purpose is to catch contaminants from entering the compressor. If too many contaminants become caught in the filter medium, it can become clogged just like your air filters and restrict the flow of refrigerant to the compressor. 
5. Dirty evaporator coils can also cause low airflow restrictions. If the filters have not been regularly changed, that dust that should be caught by the filter may have gotten past the filter and ended up on the coils, further clogging the system.  A regular cleaning of the indoor coil and sealing the ductwork can go a long way in having a problem-free heater and air conditioning system.

Besides restrictions in all its forms, cold air may be blowing out of the vents due to other reasons as well.

1. Wiring or control board related. Loose wires or improper wiring can trick your heater to thinking it’s an air conditioner. A Green ID technician will be able to diagnose exactly where the problem is coming from and make the appropriate repairs. 
2. Low refrigerant. Heat pumps are never supposed to lose refrigerant. If your system is suddenly low on refrigerant, it likely has a leak that should be repaired.  Adding more refrigerant always guarantees you’ll have another call heater or air conditioning problem down the road. 
3. Blower speed is set too low. Not having enough airflow over the coils can also cause a lack of heat transfer and drop the Freon temperature below freezing, which can start ice blocks to form over the refrigerant lines and coils.  

1. Obviously having cold air blowing out of your vents
2. Ice forming on your refrigerant coils 
3. The home is not warming up to the thermostat set point during the winter season

If you experience any of these symptoms remember to first check and change your air filters, then call Green ID at (602) 926-1650 and get your AC repaired today. Mention this blog to get a free trip charge and 5% off any repair.