Dalton Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, Electric and Fireplaces, Inc. Blog: Archive for the ‘Heating’ Category

4 Tips: Getting Your Furnace Ready for Heating Season

Monday, October 9th, 2023

It’s officially fall and for many people, it’s their favorite season. From planning Halloween costumes to enjoying pumpkin-spiced treats, there’s a lot to look forward to.

However, there’s one crucial element you need in order to get the most enjoyment out of autumn, and that’s a well-functioning furnace in Grimes, IA. With our frigid winters and extended heating season, it’s essential to make sure your furnace is ready to tackle the cold weather headed its way. 

So here are some of our top tips for making sure your furnace will sail through the heating season. From something as simple as changing the air filter to making sure you schedule furnace maintenance with our team, here are 4 essential tips.

Continue Reading

How to Tell Your Furnace’s Condition

Monday, September 25th, 2023

Furnaces can be in all different kinds of shape, from great to bad. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to diagnose your unique furnace online, since it takes a full inspection or a maintenance appointment to understand all of the ins and outs of your particular system. What we can do, is provide you with a list of factors that might point you toward one direction over the other.

For instance, if your furnace is shaking, booming, and smelling foul every time it operates, then we’re pretty sure you need furnace repair in Des Moines, IA since your system is in very rough shape. However, if your unit is brand-new and works silently and effectively throughout the night to the point where you forget it’s there, then your system is probably fine.

This is the art of diagnosing a problem, and we’re going to go through some signs you can use to figure out whether your furnace needs help or if it’s good to go for another winter.

Continue Reading

Time to Listen to Your Heater

Monday, March 13th, 2023

What would happen if your appliances suddenly woke up and could speak? It would make for some pretty good entertainment, and if you’re a screenwriter who happened upon this blog, then take the idea and run with it! But for everyone else, it’s fun to imagine for a second that our heating systems might strike up a conversation with us. What would they talk about? How would they sound?

Well, we’re not just bringing this topic up for giggles. There’s a real truth behind the fact that we pay less attention to the parts of our lives that don’t directly talk to us. Our heating systems can take a beating, and because they don’t have eyes or mouths to voice their frustrations, nothing gets done until they break down. Today we’d like to talk about how your heating system might beg you for heating service in Waverly, IN, and why that could be a big problem.

Continue Reading

A Booming Furnace Is a Bad Sign

Monday, February 13th, 2023

Furnaces can make a lot of different noises. Some of it, like the gentle whooshing of air coming from your air vents, are good noises. These noises help signal to you that the system is working properly and it’s not going to leave you in the cold. However, there are plenty of sounds that signal that the system is in dire need of support, from maintenance to vital repairs.

This blog has two purposes. One is to help answer some of the questions you might have about your booming furnace and to alleviate the stressful situation you’re in. The second purpose is to inform any of our readers on the potential hazards that come with a booming furnace, and why this sound should never be ignored. Once you’ve been clearly informed on this kind of problem, we urge you to contact our team for furnace repair in Waterloo, IA so that your home’s heating can go back to normal.

Continue Reading

Is a Bigger Furnace Really Better?

Monday, January 30th, 2023

Furnaces come in all shapes and sizes, but that’s for a very good reason. A furnace that is too large or too small will obviously cause problems, but many homeowners are in the dark as to what those problems might be. For instance, there’s a classic misconception that having a larger furnace is always better since you can’t go wrong with more heat in your home, right?

Well, you can, but not for the reason you would expect. No, your home won’t get swelteringly hot, and it’s not particularly unsafe, but it will lead to tremendously higher heating bills and a system that breaks down early on in its lifespan. This is what we call “short cycling” and it’s something that your furnace can be the victim of if you’re not careful.

So, let’s talk about why a furnace installation in Cedar Rapids, IA should be a specific size that fits your home.

Continue Reading

New Year, New Heating System

Monday, January 2nd, 2023

With the new year, it’s important to take a step back and look at how we got to where we are. There are many good reasons to choose a new heating system, whether you’re just unsatisfied with your current one or in desperate need of a new system to keep your home warm. Regardless, we understand why you might want a heating replacement in Cedar Rapids, IA, but getting rid of your old heating system can be a tough ordeal.

A lot of people decide to keep running their heating systems way past their expiration date because that sounds like the easiest way to save money. But that can lead to quite an amount of problems, from high heating bills to constant repairs that get in the way of your peace of mind.

Let’s talk about a few ways you can be a more proactive heating system owner by figuring out when the best time to invest in a replacement might be.

Continue Reading

A Big Change From Such a Small System

Monday, December 26th, 2022

Thermostats are a lot like our smartphones or laptops. They’re easily one of the smallest appliances in our home, but sometimes they’re so important to our day-to-day functions that you might not be able to imagine your life without them. This is just how life goes in the 21st century and it’s pretty common.

However, the amount of people who use old analog thermostats or even digital thermostats from the turn of the millennia is a little alarming. These devices, just like computers and phones made during the same age, just don’t have the capabilities of temperature control and efficiency measuring that newer thermostats have.

So, we think it’s time to talk about smart thermostats in Cedar Rapids, IA, and why your home could benefit from such a significant upgrade. Just make sure you call a team of qualified professionals to have this upgrade performed in your home.

Continue Reading

Dalton’s Guide to Mobile Home Heating

Monday, December 19th, 2022

It’s no secret that owning a mobile home is different in many ways from owning a multi-story house. In this crazy economy, they’re becoming more convenient as an option for homeowners who would like to own property, but can’t afford some of the very high prices for houses. They also tend to economize space very well, since you can have multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, and a lot of space for a lower cost and without sifting through older houses that might not have those kinds of rooms.

Overall, if you’re happy with your manufactured home, then that’s what really matters. However, heating that home is what we’re going to talk about today. Mobile home heating in Cedar Rapids, IA is a specific topic that requires a bit of attention since it can be different from traditional home heating.

From choosing specific systems to some best practices that can help you stay energy efficient and happy this holiday season.

Continue Reading

New Heater Vs New Insulation

Monday, December 12th, 2022

Every time the cold temperatures roll around, the first thought in many homeowners’ heads is that they might need a new heating system. It’s true, if your heating system is in rough shape, is a decade old, or if it’s just not working the way that you want it to, then you are going to need a heating system replacement. However, the conversation shouldn’t start and stop there, it’s actually a lot more complicated.

Sometimes, your home needs a bit of extra help in other areas, not just with your heating system. A heating installation in Cedar Rapids, IA is certainly going to give you a boon in energy efficiency and comfort, but without proper insulation, it’s not going to do very much. Insulation is used to keep the heat inside of your home, and without it, your heat would quickly escape into the atmosphere around your home.

When do you purchase a new heater and when do you get new insulation? Keep reading to find out!

Continue Reading

Don’t Let a Broken Furnace Give You Wintertime Blues

Monday, December 5th, 2022
cute dog under the warm grey blanket

Of all the appliance repair needs you may have in your home throughout the course of a year, few are more concerning than that of a broken down or malfunctioning furnace in the middle of winter. When you live where we do, a fully effective and efficient heater is essential. To accomplish this, it’s first important that you schedule routine maintenance, once a year, for your furnace. If you haven’t done so already, now’s the time to schedule this service!

Next, you’ll want to ensure that any Janesville, IA furnace repair needs that come up during maintenance are addressed right away. Otherwise, you could find yourself facing one of the two common furnace complaints calls we get—that the system either won’t start or that the furnace won’t stop running.

Continue Reading