DB Heating & Cooling, Inc. Blog : Archive for February, 2014

What to Look for in a Boiler

Monday, February 24th, 2014

For cozy and dependable heating during cold weather, a boiler is an excellent option for installation in your home. Boilers use the comforting warmth from baseboard heaters or radiators to send clean heat into rooms, and they run with few repair needs. If you want an alternative to forced-air systems like furnaces, a boiler is one of the best choices.

When you are shopping for a new boiler, there are a few factors to focus on. Make sure that you seek professional assistance when choosing a boiler, however: have the installers involved early to help you make the best choice. Contact DB Heating & Cooling for quality heating service in Westwood, NJ.

Here’s what you should look for in a new boiler

  • High AFUE rating: AFUE stands for “annual fuel utilization efficiency.” This rating measures the general energy efficiency of a boiler, expressed as a percentage. The higher the percentage, the more efficiently the boiler converts its fuel source into heat. The U.S. Department of Energy requires home gas-powered boilers installed in the U.S. to have a minimum AFUE of 80%, so aim for that rating or higher. Look for the U.S. ENERGY STAR label as an indicator of an efficient boiler.
  • The appropriate energy source: Boilers can use a variety of energy sources, and the most common today are natural gas, electricity, and oil. Make sure you look for a boiler that matches your available energy supply. Gas-powered boilers have the highest fuel efficiency, so if you have a gas pipeline into your home, you should consider a natural gas model. If you don’t have a natural gas hook-up, look instead for electricity or oil.
  • Proper size: A boiler needs to be the right size to fit your home’s heating needs. Either going too large or too small will cause problems leading to insufficient heating and/or energy waste. To have your boiler sized to fit your home, have an HVAC technician conduct a heat load calculation at your house, which will give you the specific amount of heat you need to have your boiler keep you comfortable.

Schedule professional installation

Professionals shouldn’t only help you choose the right boiler; they should install it as well. Modern boilers are complex and need trained technicians to set them up correctly and install the baseboard heaters.

Call DB Heating & Cooling for your boiler installation. We are EPA certified and fully insured, and our technicians have the extensive training necessary to make your Westwood, NJ heating installation go off without a hitch.

Continue Reading

Why You Cannot Delay Furnace Repair

Monday, February 17th, 2014

Modern furnaces are durable machines, and they can often continue to run and provide you with heat when they are experiencing malfunctions. Although this is an indication of how well manufacturers build furnaces today, you shouldn’t let a furnace continue to run with repair needs and hope you’ll make it to the spring thaw.

Any time you detect a problem with your furnace—whether from strange operating noises, odd smells from the vents, or uneven heating—you need to call for repairs as soon as possible. With a company like DB Heating & Cooling offering 24-hour emergency furnace repair, you have no reason to hesitate.

Why You Need Prompt Repairs

  • Avoid an abrupt breakdown—at the worst time: We have experienced a particularly rough winter this year, and we can still expect some deep chills ahead before we emerge into spring. If your heater is running with a malfunction, it is skirting close to a complete breakdown that will leave you without warmth on one of the coldest days. Because you will push your furnace harder during cold days, it is more likely to stop working then… and emergency repairs may have trouble reaching you because many other homeowners will have similar problems.
  • Stop paying more for heating: Any malfunction in a furnace, regardless of whether it allows the furnace to keep working, will reduce the system’s efficient operation. As the furnace works harder, it will drain more energy. Your heating bills will start to rise; they might even skyrocket. Taking care of a repair means shaving away a large portion of your monthly bills.
  • Keep your furnace safe: The most common type of furnace is a natural gas-powered model. Gas furnaces are safe provided they remain in good repair with regular maintenance. Letting one go without needed repairs is potentially dangerous because it can lead to gas leaks and other hazards. Never delay getting repairs for a gas furnace, and never attempt repairs on your own.

If you trust the work on your furnace to trained experts like those at DB Heating & Cooling, the repairs should go fast and return the system to top condition. In a season as cold as we’re having this year, you don’t want to risk losing your vital home heating: call for prompt furnace repair in Bergen County, NJ.

Continue Reading

Who Wrote the First Valentine’s Day Poem?

Friday, February 14th, 2014

The celebration of Valentine’s Day is often seen as a modern institution, even if the roots of the holiday go back to Late Antiquity and the figures of St. Valentine of Rome and St. Valentine of Terni. It’s difficult to separate our view of February 14th from the more recent phenomenon of greeting cards, comical cupids, and specialty treats from candy companies.

However, not only are some of these traditions older than we might think (mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards were an enormous success in early 19th-century England), but the earliest Valentine’s Day love poem comes from none other than the first great English author, Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote in the second half of the 14th-century.

Chaucer’s most famous work is The Canterbury Tales, an enormous collection of linked stories in poetry and prose. But his 700-line poem “Parlement of Foules” has the special distinction of being the first surviving record of a connection between Valentine’s Day and romantic love. Chaucer probably composed the poem in 1381–82. At the time, he was a member of the court of King Richard II, holding an important bureaucratic position in London. The date suggests that Chaucer wrote “Parelment of Foules” to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of the English king to Princess Anne of Bohemia.

The poem follows the dream of the narrator, where he walks through Venus’s temple and discovers a meeting of birds where they all choose their mates. This is where the mention of St. Valentine’s Day appears (English modernized):

For this was on St. Valentine’s Day,

When every bird cometh there to choose his mate.                                                                  

The poem also contains a familiar Valentine’s image, Cupid with his arrows:

Under a tree, beside a well, I saw

Cupid our lord his arrows forge and file;                                                             

And at his feet his bow already lay.

When Chaucer mentions St. Valentine’s Day, is he referring specifically to February 14th? Late winter isn’t a time when birds in England would mate. However, the date for the start of spring—when some birds would have started nesting in England—was on February 23rd in the calendars of the time, certainly close enough for Chaucer to take poetic license and nudge it a bit to match with Valentine’s Day.

Love birds remain a popular symbol of Valentine’s Day even now, and for this we can thank Chaucer. In fact, he may very well have invented the link between love and Valentine’s Day, although we will probably never know for certain.

Whoever started these traditions, all of us here at DB Heating & Cooling hope you have a wonderful February 14th!

Continue Reading

4 Things to Consider Before Installing a New Heating System

Monday, February 3rd, 2014

Modern home heating has reached the point of technological advancement where there are now numerous options for warming any house during the winter. And sometimes it’s more choice than people can handle. How can you know which heater you should install in your Emerson, NJ home?

DB Heating & Cooling understands how difficult this choice can be: that’s one of the reasons we’re here. We can offer the professional assistance you need to not only install a new system, but to choose one as well.

The U.S. Department of Energy suggests that you consider these four things before you select a heating system:

  1. Fuel – Your fuel availability will affect your choice. Electrical-powered heaters are always an option, but a gas line opens up other possibilities for installation. Homes without natural gas can also rely on heating oil or propane. The cost of each fuel will also factor into your decision, as well as its environmental effects.
  2. Climate – The colder the average winter temperature, the more powerful and heating system you’ll need. While a place like Southern California may only need space heaters during the winter, in New Jersey you need a central heating system.
  3. Efficiency – How much fuel energy does a heater convert to heating energy? A more efficient heater will mean savings on your energy bills—but high-efficiency systems usually cost more to install. You’ll need to consider your long-term budget plans to find the heater with ideal efficiency.
  4. Size – An improperly sized heater will be wasteful of energy, no matter its efficiency rating. A heater that’s too small will stay on continually trying to reach its target temperature, and a heater that’s too large will “short-cycle” and drain power from constantly re-starting. You will need a heat load calculation done in your home to find the right size.

The best way to the best heating

If you looked at the above considerations and felt overwhelmed, don’t worry: it requires a professional to make some of these choices. You definitely need a heating contractor to help you with determining the best size heater to install, and the contractor can assist you with balancing the other considerations as well to target the optimal heater. Since you will need professional eventually to install the heater, why not bring them on earlier to make sure you have the right heater?

DB Heating & Cooling has a staff of technicians experienced with heating installation in Emerson, NJ. Come to us when it’s time to pick the perfect heater for your home.

Continue Reading