heating efficiency

Protect Your Tankless Water Heater From Freezing This Winter

Protect Your Tankless Water Heater From Freezing This Winter

If your tankless water heater freezes, it may be subjected to severe internal damage and leakage, which can affect heating efficiency. What’s worse, the cost of repairing or replacing it probably won’t be covered by your warranty. Most manufacturer warranties require homeowners to take appropriate winterizing steps to ensure their heaters don't freeze when it’s not in use for an extended period of time.

While most indoor and outdoor units incorporate a freeze protection function for short-term dips in temperature, this option probably won’t protect your tankless water heater from long exposures to more acute temperatures, especially during periods when you may be away from your home for several days.

This is why homeowners who live in areas where winter temperatures drop into the freeze zone should have a qualified plumber winterize their tankless heater during periods of non-use. Here’s what should be done:

  • If your heater has been operating in the last hour, let your unit cool down, so it can be handled.

  • Your heater should be disconnected from the electrical outlet or electricity should be shut off at the breaker.

  • The gas supply should be shut off at the valve on the gas line.

  • Water supply to the heater should be turned off at the inline shut off valve.

  • Faucets located near your heater should be opened to bleed off pressure inside the plumbing.

  • Both the cold water inlet and hot water outlet pipes should be disconnected from the heater before the inlet water filter is removed.

  • Residual water inside your heater and pipes should be drained out into a bucket. Your plumber may utilize an air compressor to blow the pipes clear of all remaining water.

  • For long periods of disuse, both the intake and exhaust vents should be capped to prevent accumulation of leaves and other debris.

To protect against freezing weather during severe cold spells in Broken Arrow, contact a qualified plumbing professional at Air Assurance.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Mile Atanasov/Shutterstock”

Furnaces

All You Need to Know About BTU Ratings for Furnaces

All You Need to Know About BTU Ratings for Furnaces

BTU, or British Thermal Unit, is a measure of energy – about what a four-inch wooden match puts out when it's burned all the way down. BTU ratings for furnaces are the industry standard for measuring a furnace's heating efficiency.Along with the AFUE, which measures how well a furnace turns energy (such as gas) into heat, BTU is one of the key ratings for understanding your furnace's efficiency.

Average BTU ratings

You may see furnaces discussed in terms of BTU input, BTU output, total BTUs and BTUs per square foot. The input BTU is the amount of energy a furnace requires to run, while the output is the amount of energy delivered to your home as heat. Many experts recommend that you buy a furnace which delivers 40 to 45 BTUs per square foot. You should analyze your home to see what size furnace you need to keep warm.

BTUs in Your Home

Furnaces cover a wide range of BTUs, from small 40,000 BTU models to large units rated at over 200,000 BTUs. While it might be tempting to get a large model (on the grounds you'll always have enough heat) or a smaller model (hoping to save money), neither choice is wise. An oversized furnace can overheat your home and shut off more frequently to cool down, resulting in excess wear and tear and temperature swings. An undersized furnace, on the other hand, will struggle to keep your home warm, leading to reduced home comfort and furnace strain.

Always speak to your local HVAC experts to learn what size furnace is right for your home. If you'd like to learn more about BTU ratings for furnaces and AFUE efficiency ratings for your Broken Arrow home, contact Air Assurance today!

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “www.3drenderedlogos com/Shutterstock”