Cedar Falls, IA Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning Blog | Dalton Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Inc.

What Is Considered a Plumbing Emergency?

February 13th, 2023

No matter what age you are, whether you’re celebrating the golden anniversary this year or you just graduated high school, you probably watched cartoons at some point. They’ve always been fun and entertaining for kids, even in the Steamboat Willy era. But cartoons also have a habit of showing us less-than-realistic depictions of some real-life things, especially plumbing events.

A gushing water leak or a cartoonishly large wrench are usually the things people think about when they imagine an emergency plumbing situation. These aren’t realistic depictions of what your plumbing emergency might actually look like. Frozen pipes or a sewer clog could be a plumbing emergency, but you’ve likely never seen that on TV or in the movies!

Let’s talk about how you can better tell if you need emergency plumbing in Cedar Rapids, IA, or if you can wait a few days to schedule a normal appointment.

A Booming Furnace Is a Bad Sign

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.

3 Common Electrical Panel Problems

February 6th, 2023

For a time, electrical panels were the new and improved version of a fuse box. Those old systems aren’t really used anymore and you should first make sure that your home has an electrical panel before looking into repairs. But for most of us, that’s already a reality.

Your electrical panel is the box that has all of the labeled circuits of your home in one location. It serves as a centralized hub, a place where you can always check to see if a certain electrical circuit is on or off, or you can even see how many circuits there are in terms of your power load. If all of the power of your house is going to one outlet, then you can identify which labeled part that is in your electrical panel for an upgrade.

But sometimes you’ll notice bad things, like corrosion or a broken switch, and those are signs that your electrical panel in Cedar Rapids, IA needs repairs.

Is a Bigger Furnace Really Better?

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.

Does Your Water Need Treatment?

January 30th, 2023

Have you ever stayed in a part of the country, in an apartment or some kind of private living space, and you just couldn’t go near the tapwater? Some tapwater can be inundated with all kinds of bacteria that’s native to the area if it comes from a private pump, while others can have minerals in it if it’s not correctly softened. Basically, depending on where you live, your water could be undrinkable or even unusable without treatment.

But the more you look at what could be contaminating your water, the more anxious you might get. There are a lot of horror stories out there about contaminated water and homeowners being left on their own to deal with some serious issues with bacteria, viruses, and minerals. Well, this blog post is to help alleviate some of that anxiety and point you in the right direction when you need water treatment systems in Cedar Falls, IA.

What Should I Do If My Water Heater Is Leaking?

January 23rd, 2023

Uh oh… you’ve got another water heater leak. You went down to the basement to check on something, or perhaps to grab some old storage containers that you’ve kept down there and you notice the constant dripping next to the water heater tank. Well, at least you’ve detected the problem, now we need to figure out what to do!

Water heater leaks aren’t all that uncommon. For a system that cycles through hundreds of gallons of water, they’re likely to encounter leaks at some point. Basically, we want to reassure you that there’s no panic needed at this moment. With a trained professional on hand, you can get your water heater fixed, or even a water heater installation in Cedar Rapids, IA. Just make sure you learn from this experience and make the right call depending on what your home requires.

Here’s what you should do if you encounter a bad water heater leak.

Superior Heating and Cooling With Geothermal Technology

January 16th, 2023

Geothermal systems are some of the best and most efficient heating and cooling systems on the market today. There’s really no comparison when you try to look at other heating or cooling systems in those categories. The only thing that prevents them from being the prime choice for most homeowners is the fact that they’re much more expensive than other heating and cooling units. A gas furnace is just always going to cost less to install than geothermal heating in Cedar Rapids, IA, but for customers that might have the disposable income now, we’d recommend a geothermal system.

This blog is going to focus on some of the unique aspects of this technology. We first want to talk a bit about how geothermal HVAC systems work. Then, we’ll move on to discuss why they’re so efficient and long-lasting when compared to other HVAC technology.

Don’t just take our word for it. Let the science speak for itself!

Old Wiring Needs to Be Replaced

January 16th, 2023

Have you ever heard of the term “knob and tube wiring?” It’s a dreaded term that home inspectors avoid like the plague and it’s something that can be the difference between a solid home purchase and a money pit.

As technology advances so does our understanding of how electrical systems work. Electricity hasn’t always been around, but when human beings started figuring out how to wire their homes for electrical power, they did so in ways that we would not deem safe today. Knob and tube wiring is an old and outdated method for wiring a home and it’s one that we’d argue needs to be replaced no matter how old or aesthetically pleasing your home might be.

And for some of the reasons we’re about to mention, this kind of electrical work should only be done by a licensed electrician in Cedar Falls, IA.

Poor Air Quality Can Be a Health Emergency

January 9th, 2023

We talk a lot on this website about the importance of proper temperature control and professional HVAC work like maintenance and repairs. One huge aspect of HVAC that we don’t talk about as much as we should is indoor air quality. The quality of your air matters just as much as the temperature, and it can have some huge implications for your home and health.

This blog post is going to highlight a few reasons why your air quality is important, and why certain members of your family, friends, and guests might have trouble being in your home for long periods of time if the air quality isn’t dealt with.

Our team has the resources to help you. With an air filtration system in Cedar Rapids, IA, you can siphon out all of the contaminating particles that might cause someone with asthma, COPD, or other illnesses to undergo severe respiratory distress.

Why Work With Dalton?

January 6th, 2023

Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what one of our employees, Dan Huntley, has to say about his first year working at Dalton Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, Electric and Fireplaces, Inc.