We spend a lot of time under houses and in attics and run into our fair share of mold. It seems to be an ever growing nuisance. People are always asking what they can do to prevent mold growth in their home. While we are not mold experts we can offer some basic advice.

Outdoors, mold is a part of the natural environment and plays an essential role in the breakdown of organic matter. But mold inside a house can be disastrous. Not only will it gradually destroy whatever it is growing on, it can also pose serious health risks, cause allergic reactions and create a noxious odor.

Mold is typically not a problem unless it has found a source of moisture. Here are some tips to help control moisture in your home.

• Clean and repair your gutters regularly
• Make sure water does not enter or collect around the foundation of your home
• Keep indoor humidity low, below 60% relative humidity if possible
• If you see any condensation on windows, pipes, etc. – dry it immediately and lower the humidity level in your home
• Properly vent appliances that produce moisture such as dryers, stoves and dishwashers
• Never allow any surface in your home to be wet for more than 24-48 hours

One of the easiest things to do to prolong the life of your heating and air conditioning system is to make sure that the filters are changed or cleaned on a regular basis. This simple step can help keep your system in its best operating condition.

When a filter gets dirty it literally chokes your system. A filter that is clogged restricts the air flow to your system, starving it of what it needs to operate. Lack of proper air flow will cause your air conditioner to freeze up and your furnace to overheat. When this happens the entire system is put under strain and any number of mechanical failures can occur. A system operating with a dirty filter is like a person breathing with a pillow over their face.

Filters are designed first and foremost to keep your system fro breathing dirty air, and secondly to keep you from breathing dirty air. Their primary function is to keep dust and debris from getting inside your equipment. Allowing dust and debris inside your system is like getting trash in the gas tank of your car. Eventually it will get clogged and cause a breakdown.

Most filters need to be changed every month, more often if there is a lot of dust or pets around the house. There are filters designed to be changed less often but you need to be careful to make sure that they are properly matched with your system.

There are many options in regards to filters but none of them work if you don't change or clean them on regularly. It seems obvious but it is one of the easiest things to overlook. Changing your filters on a regular basis will help your heating and cooling system have a long life and run its best.

The tires on your car wear from constant grinding and flexing over pavement. It's easy to know when they're dangerous and need replacement because they wear from the outside in and the wear is easily visible.

Your furnace heat exchanger also wears and can become dangerous. It wears from expansion and contraction caused by the burners as they continually go on and off, heating the metal then allowing it to cool. The resulting damage can be compared to bending a paper clip back and forth until it breaks. But unlike your car tires, you have no way of knowing how dangerous your furnace is becoming because it wears from the inside out.

Here's a closer look. The heat exchanger in your furnace consists of a series of closed metal chambers that are heated with gas burners. The burning process within the chambers generates deadly carbon monoxide gas, which is safely vented out through the flue on your furnace, just like the tailpipe vents carbon monoxide from your car.

To heat your home, air is blown over the heated chambers. A crack or hole in the chambers allows the deadly carbon monoxide out of the chamber and into the air being blown into your home.

Furnaces should be inspected every year for signs of wear or damage and carbon monoxide leaks. It is recommended that you replace your heat exchanger or furnace immediately if damage is spotted. Operating an older, untested furnace is as dangerous as taking your family out for a drive on a set of bald tires.

People are looking for ways to improve the quality of the air in their home and we've been getting lots of questions regarding pleated air filters. All filters impact your system's "static pressure", which is a measure of resistance to air flow. If the resistance is too high, your system is essentially choking. Amongst other things, this can make your heat exchanger fail and cause your coil to freeze.

As any filter fills up, it increases the resistance to air flow throughout your system. Pleated filters have the potential to hold more dust and allergens and are structurally stronger than regular filters, which poses a greater threat to air flow.

The important thing is to check your filters every 30 days, regardless of how long they are supposed to be good for. If they are dirty, either clean or replace them.

Labels: coil, heat exchanger, pleated filter, static pressure

Work is always rewarding, but some days are just naturally better than others. Here are some photos from the company breakfast we had last Friday. It takes a special group of people to have fun at 7 am!

I'll admit it, I was a little nervous about this one. Morris-Jenkins has won awards for being a great place to work before, but never before had our employees been surveyed so completely.

Every year the Charlotte Business Journal recognizes the Best Places to Work around the city. An independent human resources research company selects the nominees and conducts employee surveys. The awards are based solely on the responses given by the company's employees.

As of Wednesday, November 5th, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt...

Morris-Jenkins is a great place to work, not because I say so, but because everyone who works here says so.

Labels: Morris-Jenkins Heating and Air Conditioning

It seems like overnight everyone has started offering ductwork testing, saying that leaks in your ductwork can make your energy bills dramatically higher. Companies are springing up all over the place wanting to test your ductwork. Does it seem fishy to you?

Well there's a reason nobody ever talked about this before. Until recently the tools and equipment needed to diagnose problems in your ductwork simply didn't exist or were so outrageously expensive that they were rendered impractical.

Leaky ductwork is a serious problem. Not only can it sky rocket your energy bill but it can also effect your health, safety, comfort and the life of your system. Advanced Energy has done studies in North Carolina showing that on average 15%-25% of the money spent to heat and cool your home is wasted by leaking ductwork. That means that if your gas bill is $100, you probably spent $15-$25 of that heating or cooling your crawl space or attic. I'm sure the silverfish and camel crickets appreciate everything you do for them, but that's no reason to waste money like this.

But no matter how distressing it is to throw away money there are even more serious issues caused by leaky ductwork. If your ductwork is located in your crawl space with the camel crickets, that means every time it comes on it is sucking air from that crawl space into your house. Anything that might be in your crawl space - moisture, mildew, bug spray, etc. - is now being circulated throughout your house. The same thing goes for the attic where leaky ductwork sucks in insulation particles, dust, and anything else that might be lurking up there.

Another risk leaky ductwork exposes you to is "negative pressure". Negative pressure cannot be seen or felt, what it can do though is create pressure pockets in your house which will cause appliances like gas logs, water heaters and furnaces to back draft and dump carbon monoxide into your home. Just like the situation with leaky ducts, it was known for years that carbon monoxide was a danger before there was a good way to test for it. This is not a problem people are only now becoming aware of. It is a problem that technology has just now finally caught up with.

If you are building a new home, insist that you get a sealed duct system. A system sealed with mastic, not tape, and that it is pressure tested. If your home is like most others and the duct system has already been around a while, have a professional evaluate it for you. Given the paybacks, the investment is well worth it.