Atlantic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Inc. Blog: Archive for July, 2014

Reasons to Look into Geothermal Cooling

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

During the summer, the largest share of electrical power in your home goes straight to the air conditioning system to keep the rooms cool. Over only a single season, the costs to remain comfortable in your home using the AC can run quite high.

There are many ways to cut down on your air conditioning bills. One of the best long-term solutions is to install a geothermal cooling system as a replacement for your current AC. This will lower your bills, but also offer numerous other advantages that make this an appealing change—even with the large amount of work required for the installation.

However, you don’t need to worry about the intensive labor involved, because Atlantic Refrigeration can handle that when it comes to geothermal cooling in Dover, DE. Here are some of the reasons we think you should contact us to learn more about geothermal power for your home:

Geothermal cooling is also geothermal heating

The first important thing to understand about a geothermal system is that it is actually a heat pump, and that means it can provide heating as well as cooling. Like all heat pumps, a geothermal (or “ground-source”) heat pump moves heat from one location and deposits it in another. A geothermal heat pump can remove heat from indoors and place it in the ground, cooling your home, or it can move the heat from the ground and bring it indoors for warmth.

Efficient, reliable operation

The secret to the lower costs of geothermal cooling is that the heat pump uses the stable temperature of the earth 6–10 feet under the frost line for its heat exchange. No matter how hot it grows outside, the heat pump always has a cool place to deposit heat from inside you home. A geothermal system works even more efficiently during cold weather, when standard heat pumps (“air-source” heat pumps) will suffer drops in efficiency. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that geothermal heat pumps work 3–6 times more efficiently than air-source models.

Longevity

There are few home comfort systems that will last as long once installed as a geothermal heat pump. The ground loops can endure more than 50 years, with only minimal repairs and easy regular maintenance. This means you will have many years to enjoy the savings from the geothermal heat pump past the initial payback period.

There is one caution with geothermal systems, which is that they will not work in every location and climate. For the loops to effectively draw and deposit heat, they must have sufficient space and depth, and small properties may not offer enough.

It is easy to find out if your house and property are suited to geothermal installation. Rely on us for the installation work for whatever cooling system you decide on.

Call the Dover, DE geothermal cooling experts at Atlantic Refrigeration, and we will send a professional to your house to survey the possibilities. 

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Ways to Bring Down Your Business’ Air Conditioning Costs

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014

When you are a business owner, air conditioning is not a luxury: it is a necessity. It is also a business cost, and one that can be a sizable part of your overall monthly budget. It may seem difficult to bring down the cost of your commercial air conditioning in Georgetown, but, just as you can take steps in your home to reduce energy usage, you can also do the same for your business. Here are some suggestions from Atlantic Refrigeration on ways you can bring down your business’ air conditioning costs:

  • Schedule regular maintenance – if you have your own air conditioning unit for your business space, keep your AC in optimal shape by scheduling bi-annual maintenance during the spring and fall each year. Maintenance keeps your air conditioner efficient, which saves you money.
  • Don’t ignore problems – hearing something strange, smelling something off, or feeling a decrease in air flow? Whether your business has its own air conditioner or   is part of a larger building system, don’t ignore signs of potential problems.
  • Use programmable thermostats – thermostats are the instruments that cue your system to cycle. Using a programmable thermostat can save you upwards of 15% per year on energy costs because you can tailor temperature settings to specific times of day. This can be especially helpful during non-business hours.
  • Check on the state of ductwork – most business space is rented or leased. If yours is, check with the building management about the ductwork. Examples of questions to ask are the age of the ductwork, when does it get cleaned, it is insulated, and how often is it inspected for problems. Faulty ductwork can account for up to 30% of air loss in a system, a loss you’ll pay for in monthly energy bills.

Questions About Commercial Services? Call Us!

Atlantic Refrigeration has helped many businesses with commercial air conditioning needs.

Whether you need repair, replacement, installation or advice on a new system, call Atlantic Refrigeration for all your commercial air conditioning needs.

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Problems Caused by Low Indoor Air Quality

Monday, July 14th, 2014

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), low indoor air quality is currently one of the major health threats in the country. Because modern buildings have heavy heat sealing on them to conserve energy, very little fresh air can circulate indoors and clear out the stale air. The air that continues to circulate through a building’s HVAC system begins to collect dust, dirt, pollen, dander, dust mites, and other contaminants that have no way to escape except to return to the air that people inside the building breathe.

Your home can suffer from this problem, but you have options available to increase your indoor air quality. To find out some of the methods that will protect the your family’s health, contact our Dover, DE indoor air quality professionals at Atlantic Refrigeration.

The problems of a reduction in indoor air quality

  • Health issues: This is the primary concern of contamination in a home’s air. The EPA links low indoor air quality to a number of health problems, such as bronchitis and increases in asthma and allergy-related symptoms. Insomnia, skin- and eye-irritation, coughing, wheezing, congestion, lethargy, and headaches are also connected to drops in indoor air quality. People who already suffer from asthma and allergies are particularly susceptible to poor air in a home.
  • HVAC system inefficiency and malfunctions: The dust and dirt that collects inside the ventilation system of a home (the main reservoir of pollution) will create resistance against airflow from the heater and air conditioner. This will lead to an increase in utility bills as the system struggles to reach its expected level of heating or cooling. The contamination in the ductwork can also cause damage to the interior components and clog the air filter, leading to poor performance and unnecessary repairs.
  • Dusty and dirty home: The average amount of dust that a six room house circulates through its HVAC system each year is 40 lbs.! It won’t stay in the ventilation system either: that dust and dirt will settle all over a home, making it difficult to keep furnishings and floors clean. A house that seems to never stay dust-free for long, no matter how often you dust, is warning you that the air quality is poor and something needs to be done.

What you can do to raise your air quality

There are many ways to combat poor indoor air quality, and professionals like those at Atlantic Refrigeration can help you. Air filtration systems and electronic air purifiers can prevent particles from entering the air and the ventilation system. Energy recover ventilators and heat recovery ventilators allow fresh outdoor air into your home without losing energy and jeopardizing comfort. Duct testing and sealing can prevent excess contamination from entering the ductwork and subsequently into your home.

If you want to breather easier call our Dover, DE indoor air quality specialists today and get started with cleaning the air in your home.

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The Famous Painting of the Declaration of Independence Isn’t What You Think It Is

Friday, July 4th, 2014

If you grew up in the United States, you probably first saw John Trumbull’s painting of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence in an elementary schoolbook. This oil-on-canvas 12’ x 18’ painting hangs in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It is one of the most famous symbols of freedom in the country and almost every citizen can conjure it from memory.

Except… the painting isn’t of the singing of the Declaration of Independence. The actual title of the work is Declaration of Independence, and although it does portray an important moment in the history of the document that announced the Thirteen Colonies’ decision to break away from British rule, the event in the painting occurred on June 28, 1776, not July 4, 1776.

John Trumbull, a Connecticut native who fought in the Revolutionary War and whose father was the state governor, was commissioned to create the painting in 1817. He did painstaking research on the figures in the picture and also visited Independence Hall to see the actual chamber where the Second Continental Congress met. Trumbull only included 42 of the original 56 signers, because he could not find adequate likenesses for 14 or them, and added a few figures who were not present (most of whom declined to sign the actual document). In fact, the men depicted in the painting had never been present in the same room at one time.

So if the painting does not portray the singing of the Declaration of Independence, what is happening in the image? The Trumbull’s scene depicts the presentation of the draft of the declaration to the Continental Congress for editing and approval. The five-man drafting committee (John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin) is handing over their finished work, which congress would then edit carefully over the next few days before voting on it and signing it on the day that we now celebrate as the start of the United States of America.

One last, odd, fact: two of the five-man drafting committee, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both died on the July 4—although many years later.

Our family at Atlantic Refrigeration hopes that your Fourth of July (or Twenty-Eighth of June if you decided to start celebrating early) is a memorable and happy one.

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