FAQs

Overly dry air can cause itchy, cracked skin, dry nasal passages, annoying static shocks, and cracked woodwork. Adding a Bryant humidifier can help alleviate these conditions. In addition, proper levels of humidity can mean less opportunity for dust and other irritants to circulate in the air that you breathe.

Bryant humidifiers can even help you save money on your energy bills, since humidified air actually feels warmer than dry air – so your control can be set to a lower temperature.

Mold and bacteria can grow on the surface of your cooling coil. Left unchecked, buildup of these contaminants can reduce system efficiency and release potentially harmful pollutants such as mold spores and unpleasant odors into the air you breathe. Bryant UV lamps are designed to bathe your cooling coil with intense UV-C light. These lamps sterilize coil surfaces to maximize system efficiency and protect the air you breathe. For your convenience, no cleaning is required - just replace the lamps once a year.

A Bryant Evolution System delivers superior air cleaning capabilities. A nearly continuous flow of air through your comfort system virtually ensures that your air is constantly being cleaned. True Sense™ dirty filter detection enhances indoor air quality and system efficiency by letting you know exactly when it's time to clean or replace your filter. And, with our Perfect Humidity® function, you'll enjoy precision humidity control during the cooling and heating seasons.

Today's homes are built to conserve energy with tighter construction and better insulation. Unfortunately, that means your home can also trap and re-circulate airborne particles, gases, unpleasant odors and moisture in your living areas. As a part of your home comfort system, a Bryant fresh air ventilator can refresh and revitalize indoor air, removing unseen pollutants while maintaining system efficiency. It's as if you opened your windows and let the fresh air in without losing your heating or cooling comfort.

Did you know that indoor air can be as much as five times more polluted than outdoor air? In fact, viruses, bacteria, mold spores, pollen and animal dander can circulate throughout the air in your home.

Let Bryant Perfect Home Solutions come to your rescue with a collection of indoor air purification and filtration products that effectively remove and kill these potentially harmful airborne pollutants.

Truly a whole-home solution, the Perfect Air™ purifier treats 100% of the air flowing through your home comfort system using a unique three-step process. Here's how it works:

• Step 1: The Perfect Air purifier uses precision point ionization to charge particles as they enter the purifier.
• Step 2: A specially designed, continuously charged media captures airborne particles.
• Step 3: Patented, state-of-the-art technology kills captured viruses, bacteria, mold spores and other allergens.

Bryant's Perfect Air Purifier provides extremely high air filtration efficiency and patented germicidal technology so effective it even captures and kills airborne bacteria, viruses and mold spores. And, it couldn't be easier to use because there's no cleaning required - just periodically replace a removable media cartridge and you can enjoy cleaner, fresher air.

Air diagnostics and balancing is the process of testing and adjusting your air conditioning system to deliver the right amount of air to each room in your home. The actual Air Balancing process includes a number of related tests that determine the performance of your air conditioning and heating system.

Air balancing hoods are used to measure the amount of air at each grille. Manometers measure system pressures. Hygrometers measure system temperature and humidity. The results of all these tests are compiled into a report to determine how well your system is functioning.

The duct system is a series of conduits that carry the warm and cool air from your air conditioning and heating equipment into your home and then take it back to the equipment.

The ducts also control how much air is delivered to each room. The right amount of air will keep the room temperatures where they need to be. If ducts are damaged, improperly installed or the wrong size, they can cut your system's ability to heat or cool by more than half on hot or cold days, when you need it the most.

Normally when someone buys a house with a forced air heating and cooling system, they pretty much expect the duct system that delivers the air to be in perfect working condition. With today's demands for the highest efficiency you may likely find that your duct system isn't performing in the best way possible.

Here's an example: A 30% return duct leak on a hot or cold day can decrease your heating or cooling capacity more than 50% that may sound extreme, but it's not an uncommon condition.

Maybe you are reading this because your heating and air conditioning contractor has told you there are problems, or maybe you are reading this because you've concluded on your own there are problems. Either way, let's take a look at what you should consider.

Ducts move air, and air is invisible. So to determine if your ducts work or not, air properties must be measured. An NCI certified contractor can measure how much air goes to each room and compare it to how much is needed. He will also take other measurements including temperatures and pressures to determine how well your ducts work. Then your contractor will review the results of the test with you.

Unfortunately few have the knowledge or own the tools and instruments to measure the performance of your duct system. If they can't measure it, they have no idea how to fix it, or even where to begin. They assume that the ducts are just fine.

The typical duct renovation includes removing damaged ducts, straightening them, adding proper suspension and sealing all the joints. Sometimes larger ducts need to be installed to certain rooms or the registers and grilles need to be replaced. Your contractor should review the test results with you and make recommendations for duct repairs or additions. Other improvements might include adjusting fan speeds or improving your air filtration system.

Some contractors will offer to seal your ducts to improve efficiency. While duct sealing is definitely done as part of a renovation, sealing by itself cannot address many of the flaws in a duct system. In many cases, just sealing the duct can make the problem worse, as it could choke down airflow causing equipment failure, major comfort problems. In extreme cases, it has caused back-drafting of flues leading to dangerous carbon monoxide problems.

An NCI-certified contractor will first ask you questions about the system, what you like and don't like about it, problem areas, air quality concerns, health issues, etc. He should then perform some preliminary testing to determine the condition of your system, the biggest problem areas, and so forth. This is generally performed using several instruments including a manometer which measures your systems pressure, much like a doctor checks blood pressure.

He will typically measure the amount of air coming out of each vent with a special instrument called a “Flow Hood.” Other measurements might include temperature, humidity and carbon monoxide testing.

Your Contractor should test and adjust the results of his work when the duct renovation has been completed. This step is called air balancing. Up to just 10 years ago, air balancing was performed only on large commercial buildings. Today you can get this same precision adjustment in your home from an NCI trained and certified contractor.

He will provide you with a test report showing the final operating condition of your system compared to how it functioned before the repairs were made. In other words, your contractor will prove that you got what you paid for - in writing!

HVAC contractors use Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) Manual J to calculate the correct size of air conditioner for your home. This manual may be purchased and you can do the calculations manually by following the instructions, or they can be calculated by software that uses the formulas from Manual J.

For the best results, you need to take complete measurements of your home. (A blueprint is enough for new construction.) This includes both width and length of each room, as well as height. You need to know the cubic volume of your home, because this is the amount of space that must be cooled.

It’s recommended that you set your thermostat to between 68 and 71oF when you are at home, and to lower your thermostat to around 62oF when you are away, or at night while you are sleeping.

68oF is a moderately comfortable temperature if you are moving around. It can feel quite cold if you are not. For this reason, plan on wearing thermals and sweaters to stay comfortable.

Also 68oF feels much warmer in a home heated with radiant heating, than central heating. This is because the warmth is rising from the floor so there aren't any cool drafts or cold spots.

Sleep studies have proven that you sleep better in a cooler room, so dropping the temperature to between 62 – 64oF at night will keep you comfortable while saving you energy.

The first thing you should check is to see if the air conditioning unit is dirty. It is very important to keep the outside coils clean so the heat pressure doesn't rise too high. This could cause the pipes holding the coolant to burst, compressor failure or electrical overload. Fortunately, just cleaning the coils is often enough. You'll need to be extra vigilant when contaminants like cottonwood are floating through the air. They can clog up an air conditioner's air intake very quickly.

The inside coils are also very important. When they become dirty, they tend to ice over. This stops air from flowing through the coils, reducing and eventually stopping cooling entirely. The best way to prevent problems with the inside coils is to change the air filters regularly, though eventually it will be necessary to vacuum the coils out. Don't use a high pressure blower as this can flatten the coil fins or break them off.

If addressing these issues doesn't resolve the problem, it’s time to call a professional.

Turning the heat down any time you plan on being away from home for more than four hours will save you money. It’s recommended that you have a programmable thermostat installed. That way your home is already comfortable when you return. It doesn't take that much energy to bring the temperature back up 6 – 8 degrees, but it does take a lot more energy to maintain that extra 6 – 8 degrees.

Heat pumps operate a little differently and take a lot longer to raise the temperature. It’s recommended that you purchase a programmable thermostat that is designed to specifically work with heat pump systems.

If you need assistance with installing a programmable thermostat, call you’ll need an HVAC contractor. They'll also help you find the right thermostat for your system and your personal needs.

Preventive maintenance is one of the smartest things you can do. It’s recommended that you keep both the outside coils and inside coils of your air conditioning system clean at all times.

It’s also recommended that you install your air conditioner in a shaded area. If it's too late for that, you should try to shade the unit in some way that won't restrict the airflow it. Direct sun on an air conditioner's outside condenser coil can cause it to overheat and create too much pressure. If this happens, the unit will shut off.

Another trick that can be used on extremely hot days is to place a mister over the back coil on the outside of the air conditioner. If your air conditioner has already cut out, let it rest for 20 minutes, then spray the coil with water before attempting to turn the air conditioner back on.

When a heating system is designed to run on more than one type of fuel, it is called a dual fuel system. The most common dual fuel system involves combining a gas furnace and electric heat pump. Heat pumps are efficient during mildly cold weather, but begin losing their ability to heat a home as temperatures drop. If the home is equipped with a dual fuel system, the gas furnace can kick in and take over heating.

Willis Carrier, a graduate of Cornell University's Masters of Engineering program, built the first air conditioning unit for a Brooklyn printing plant. The resulting even air temperature made it possible to print in four colors without misalignment of the inks. It wasn't until 1924 that Carrier's idea caught on for making movie theaters and department stores more comfortable in the summer months.

Generally, fireplaces draw more heat out of the home than they create?unless a special fireplace insert is installed that acts more like a wood-burning stove. It is important to use an insert that has a radiant glass door, as it increases the heating efficiency of the insert by up to 90%. When a blower is included, the heating efficiency goes up 74 – 92% as compared to a fire in a standard fireplace.

Both wood-burning and gas burning fireplace inserts are available. Call a heating contractor if you would like to explore this option. An expert can help you choose the right option for your home.

Yes, it shortens the life of the air conditioning system components. Applying a lubricant on a weekly basis during the summer months and covering it when it isn't in use is recommended.

It's okay to close a few heating registers, but be careful not to close more than 1/3 of the total registers in your home. A forced air system is designed for the size of your home, and when too many registers are closed off, it allows pressure to build up in the ducts. The blower fan has to work harder to push air through the registers that are open. This kind of wear and tear will cause the blower fan to wear out long before it should.

Most air conditioners are noisier when the air conditioning condenser unit first starts. This is because the compressor needs to build up pressure to operate. If the noise lasts more than 10 seconds, call a technician. HVAC techs will check for low refrigerant levels, compressor oil levels and other issues that might be occurring.

Leaking ducts can cause more energy loss in a heating system than anything else. A duct inspection that pressurizes the duct system to identify if it has any leaks could be one of the smartest investments you could make. Making sure your ducts are sealed, connected and free from leaks can drop your energy bill anywhere from 5 -17%.

Clean your ductwork every three to five years. Make sure they are cleaned upon completion of any renovations on the duct system.

Ducts collect dust, bacteria and molds that are then transferred into the air as it moves through the rooms of your home. Routine cleaning can reduce allergy symptoms and some other unexplained symptoms, including as headache and fatigue.