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I was wondering what is the best temperature setting for our heat pump? I want to get the most out of it! And save money as well!
Hi, the best temperature is the one that you’re comfortable with. Anywhere in the range of high sixties to low seventies is fine. As far as efficiency is concerned, with high efficiency systems such as heat pumps and gas furnaces of 90% or higher efficiency, it is most efficient to maintain temperature. For example, instead of turning your furnace off at night, and when you’re at work during the day, leave it on. The energy needed to warm your house once its cooled is much more then needed to just keep it at a temperature the whole day. Another recommendation to improve efficiency and in turn save money is to keep your system in one mode. What I mean by this is, in the summer, turn your furnace off, or put your heat pump into cooling only mode, and in the cooler seasons put your heat pump into heat only mode. By doing this you prevent your system from “bouncing” back and forth. “Bouncing” is when your house is heated up by your heat pump, which uses energy, and then once warm gets cooled back down by the A/C, using more energy to remove the heat that was just created. We recommend opening a window instead, since there is already an abundance of free cold air outside in the winter if your too warm. and warm air in the summer when it gets too cool inside.
okay! thank you so much Cory! This was very helpful and so professional! Thank you so much for your time! I will definitely make sure that we do this. Have a great week!
No problem, if you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask. were always happy to help. Have a great day.
interested in the living social deal for furnace maintenance. been screwed by distance restrictions once already from another company. the deal says king and snohomish counties. i live in ballard, would you service my furnace?
Ballard is no problem at all.
We recently purchased a home with a 2-year-old furnace in place, a Garrison Nordyne Model KG7SA 054C-23A. There is no filter, and indeed there does not seem to be any place to “put” a filter, and a brief perusal of the instruction booklet mentions that it needs to be added by the installer. It seems this step was overlooked by the previous owner/installer, and we are wondering how much time/labor/cost it would take to get a filter installed?
Adding a filter is relatively simple. it should only take about an hour to add a simple door and rack for a standard pleated filter. Although its hard to say for certain without seeing your furnace, it will probably be around 200.00$ plus tax to install. Obviously there are also fancier and more expensive options as well, such as an electronic air cleaner, or filter media box, but those really aren’t necessary. It is definitely something you want to get taken care of asap, running a furnace without a filter can drastically reduce its life span.
Do you service Gig Harbor, WA 98335?
No, unfortunately Gig Harbor is a little too far for us. Sorry.
Hello! Do you have anyone there who has knowledge of very old boilers? This is a large boiler, likely from a ship, and has been converted to gas. It is not something many know about and can service today.
Thank you.
Sorry for the late response, things are getting busy with the heating season around the corner. Boilers are something we can service but unfortunately we don’t really have a resident boiler expert on board at this time. If you would like to give us a call we could get a better idea of what type of unit you have and if its something one of our techs is familiar with.
Do you service Sultan, Wa 98294?
yes we do.
Whenever I turn on the furnace it sometimes have the “wet dog” smell to it. I read somewhere that to take care of that problem I will need to have my evaporator coils cleaned. The furnace is approximately 5 years old.
The special you have on Amazon local calls for $44 in cleaning. Does that include the coils? If not, how much is the charge to just have the evaporator coils cleaned?
That does not include cleaning of the indoor coil, which probably is the problem, because it can be dificult to get access to the inner coil. As far as cost to have the coil cleaned, your just looking at about an hours labor so about 100$ + tax.
Dirt can build up in the fins of the coil, that dirt gets wet when your run your ac, causing a smell. A properly sealed and filtered system shouldn’t have that dirty of a coil after only years, might be something you want to look into.
I bought the house new. I have been in it 11½ years. It has water heater and a furnace. I have researching heat pumps, water heaters , furnaces and air conditioners..
What I need to know: What all is required for a heat pump installation. (People for installation, the heat pump , control devices, refrigerant, air movers and……… what else is required?)
please reply to: Hidden
Thank you
buck
We can take care of everything required to get a heatpump system running in your home. Though its impossible to know exactly what is needed in your specific home without seeing it. If you could fill out this Contact Form we could send someone out for a free estimate. or give us a call at 425 585-0659
I have an old electric furnace in my laundry room. The ducts are in my crawl space. My last three electric bills (2-months each) were $470, $780, $480 (for a 1700 sq. ft. house. Could my furnace be faulty?
.
Hello, my apologies for the late response. Yes your furnace absolutely could be the culprit. it could be a problem with the furnace itself, or with the ductwork in the crawl. I recommend having someone come out to take a look.
Your Groupon deal – $1,850 ($3,700 value) for a new Rheem furnace including installation – is it a full heating system or just the furnace?
That would be for a new furnace install. It includes removal of old equipment, installation of new equipment, including ductwork modifications, electrical, venting, and thermostat. So, a full retrofit, meaning we replace/upgrade your existing heating unit, but that does not include any ductwork beyond adapting the new furnace to fit.
Hi,
I have two parts that I need to know if they are compatible to see if I can get them hooked up. I currently have a furnace with an evaporator unit already installed with the lines and electrical hookups installed outside for the outdoor unit but the previous owners took the outdoor unit when they left. The existing evaporator is as follows:
CAC/BDP
Model: CK5AXW030017ABAA
Serial: 1805X69099
Listed for both R-22 and R-401A ‘with Listed Units’
There is currently a 30A electrical line installed outside for the outdoor unit.
I have an outdoor unit available to me as follows:
Lennox Elite
Model: HSXA16-060-230-01
Serial: 5806C34484
Is it possible to run this unit with the existing setup? If not, what would you suggest for this setup? Thank you for your time.
Andrew
Hi Andrew, sorry for the delayed reply we’ve been quite busy lately. I’ll have to look into this a little more, but at a glance I’d say no, they will not work together. Your outdoor unit is a 5 ton and will require at least a 5 ton coil and furnace to pair with it. I believe that coil is a 2.5 or 3 ton but I’ll have to look up the nomenclature to be sure.
Ac will not get cool
Well, that’s a drag in this hot weather. Give us a call at (425) 585-0659 so we can have a technician come out and inspect your system.
We have a heat pump so I have a few questions. I noticed your living social special which was for servicing and inspection for either a furnace or air conditioner. Which would apply for the heat pump?
Second we have not serviced the heat pump in 10 years and it currently switches off right or doesn’t turn on at all. The air will run off of emergency back up. We obviously need servicing and diagnostic for our system. We are hoping to get the living social deal though.
Heat pumps would be covered under the “air conditioner” equipment as they are very mechanicaly similar. i’d encourage you to give our office a call at (425) 585-0659 and get on the schedule. just mention our add and we will honor the price.
We saw a $49 coupon.
Can we use it for our yearly furnace check up or tune up?
link
Yes absolutely. That’s exactly what the coupon is for. Sorry, if the wording was unclear. The coupon is for an annual maintenance, also known as a check up or tune up. For a full description of is entailed you can visit our service page HERE
what is your high-efficiency furnace name and model to be installed.
Well, we carry several brands and many models. Coleman is our most popular brand. High efficiency is used to describe furnaces over 90 percent efficient. There are several models that range from 95% up to the industry’s highest which is 98% efficient. We also install Rheem, and Goodman. More info on individual models can be found here for Coleman, and here for Rheem.
I have a coleman two stage gas furnace, one year old. It’s working fine, but there is a flashing yellow light behind a little window on the lower panel that wasn’t there before. It only flashes while it’s running. It shows a single green light when it’s not running.
I had to tun off the gas at the meter briefly last week. The water heater had to be relit, but the furnace came back on by it self. Do I need to be concerned about this?
On Coleman furnaces there are 3 LEDs.green for power, flashing yellow is normal operation with a call for heat, and flashing red for an error or fault. Sounds like your furnace is operating normally.
Modern furnaces don’t use pilot lights, so there is nothing to rilight, and having the gas off won’t hurt the furnace. If the furnace tried to turn on while gas was off, it would go into a lockout mode. If this happens all you have to do is turn the power off and back on to reset it once gas is back on.
I have a Gas furnace and PSE techinican left this note:
Draft safety switch on furnace tripping. Venting Needs to be checked for proper installation and termination
Roof was fixed few weeks back…roofer says he has checked the roof and they have checked the roof and they have not disturbed anything
I am not sure what is the problem with the furnace ?
Sounds like your exhaust probably got clogged during the roofing. Even if they didn’t directly disturb anything, just moving that stuff around can cause soot to pile up and plug the exhaust. Could also be a problem with the furnace. If you have a technician out they could find out exactly what was causing the safety to trip fairly easily.
Bought a $49 Groupon 21 point gas furnace inspection. Repairman said it wouldn’t stay lit and could be either gas valve (+-$500) or igniter module (+-$500) to repair. Wasn’t sure. Suggested a new furnace install may be a better option. Surprised a journeyman could not diagnose and confirm the problem.
Quickly learned on line how to bipass the igniter module to confirm if it was the gas valve or igniter module. Bought new igniter module and furnace works fine. Not happy with the diagnosis or service. Almost bought a new furnace.
Sorry to hear that you were unhappy with your service. Honestly though, if your furnace is old enough to still use an ignitor module I’d recommend looking into replacing it before putting more money into it. Our technicians are very well trained and expienced, they see dozens of heating systems everyday. That experience cannot be replaced by a couple hours on google. It sounds like something you could handle and it worked out in your favor this time, but gas furnaces especially, can can be very dangerous, and care must be taken to ensure their safe operation.
Also worth noting, the 49$ Groupon deal is for an annual inspection. Annual inspections are a preventetive measure to insure your furnace is running as good as it can be and to comply with some warranties. This cannot be performed on a furnace that isn’t working. If your furnace is not working, please call the office and have a proper diagnostic service call scheduled, this way our technicians can be prepared with the proper tools and enough time to diagnose and repair your heating or cooling system.
You called with no heat and someone came out.. same day.. within a couple hours and got your furnace running again for $49 and then did a maintenance on it to make sure nothing else was going on with it.
The technician found that the ignitor module was burnt and melted from flame roll out and recommended replacing the furnace to stop that from happening again. If you wanted to have it repaired it would have been closer to the $350 range.. not $500. Replacing the ignitor module is not going to fix the original problem that caused it to melt.
Still recommend that you look into replacing your furnace… even if not through us. It is a safety hazard when you have a flame rolling out and burning up parts in your furnace.
We have an oil furnace and would like to convert to electric… Not sure how to go about finding a company to make this swap. Could you enlightened me on which package I would need to invest in to have your company make this swap to make our home more efficient?
Absolutely. We’d love to have the opportunity to come out and give you a proposal on your project. Oil is a very expensive means of heat and you will be much happier with another heat source. The conversion from oil to electric is fairly simple as far as putting the furnace in. The only catch, and added cost, will be getting an appropriate electrical circuit to the new furnace. This means pulling a new circuit from your panel to the furnace. Your panel will also need to be able to handle the extra amperage electric heat will require. If you give us a call at 425 585 0659, or fill out our contact form, we can get someone out to take a look and give you a quote. We should also be able to look at the electrical and see what’s possible.
Also, is there a reason you are choosing electric heat? There are other more efficient heat sources. Such as a heat pump, mini-split, or even gas.
Your website needs a bit of help. On the following page, http://pilchuckheating.com/annual-maintenance-checklist.html
the color of the “checklist” text is white, and the page background color is almost white, leaving the appearance that there are no checklists, when in fact they are there, but basically invisible.
You might want to fix this… ’cause otherwise you have a pretty nice website.
Thanks for your input. The problem has been fixed.
Currently you have a special on a furnace tune up.
One is for a 19 point tune up and another is for a 21 point tune up.
what is the difference and what is included?
Thanks,
Ted
They are the same. We have just updated our check list to add a couple things that our technicians were doing anyways.
Interesting, I like with your way of thinking
We recently had Pilchick install a new furnace. Currently, I am sitting in a very cold house. I have the thermostat cranked up to 80 degrees; however, the ambient temperature is reading at 66 degrees. Why can’t I get the new furnace to kick on, no matter how high I crank the temperature? Help! Thank you.
Have you checked your filter? Alot of times it’s the culprit when your furnace cant keep up. If that’s not the issue please call our office at 425 585 0659 so we can have someone come take a look. All of our installs are guaranteed for at least a year and most come with a 10 year parts and labor warranty.
Thanks,
Cory
Hi Mika,
Sorry you had to wake up to that.
Cory is absolutely right. That is one of the first things we ask customers that are calling with this concern. I know that your filter was really dirty and removing it did seem to remedy the problem quickly so we are grateful for that. We do have boxes of (12) filters available on our website or you can call us directly to order some and we can ship them to you or drop them off the next time we are in the area. Thanks so much for being a valued customer. Look forward to seeing you at your first annual maintenance on your new system.
Good Afternoon:
I have a Carrier Weathermaker Series 140 (Serial Number starting with 58MVP) Infinity Ultra High Efficiency 2 Stage Furnace. It was installed in Dec. 2000 and is just over 15 years old. At the time of installation, it had a 96.6 AFUE. It is heating my home well – I have no complaints.
I have had sales people trying to sell me a new furnace. The indicate that compared to today’s furnaces, mine is inefficient because it inefficiency goes down every year. ( I am skeptical).
Additionally, they tell me that my fan motor is using a lot of electricity compared to the motors used in today’s furnaces. The furnace brand they promote is a Carrier or Lennox.
How much truth is there in what they are saying concerning aging and the effect on AFUE and the motor comparison.
Thank You
Hello Robert, thanks for the question. To be honest they are right, to a degree. As the metal oxidizes and the heat exchangers get coated with whatever soot and burnt dust that has gotten into the system, furnaces become less efficient. This build up of soot and gunk decreases the heat exchangers ability to transfer heat into the air, causing more of the heat to go out the venting instead of heating your house. With 80% furnaces and older furnaces this is a real issue with furnaces loosing 20 to 30% efficiency over time. With a good working condensing furnace though this effect can sometimes be greatly reduced. I say sometimes because alot of older high efficiency furnaces have rust problems and delamination of plastics used on the heat exchangers, that are detrimental to the operation of the furnace. The furnace that comes to mind is always Carrier, when talking about these issues. Carrier was one of the first to the high efficient game but their design had some serous flaws that have taken way too long to be revised. Now with your furnace specifically, In my opinion you are being lied to. High efficient furnaces have highly acidic water in them at all times this water keeps the guts of the furnace sparking clean as long as you don’t have any rust issues. One good test is to check if your furnace has water coming out its drain, or steam out the exhaust. The presents of steam or water is proof that your furnace is still over 90% efficient. Below 90% the exhaust temperatures are too high for moister to condense. If your have lost any efficiency it’s probably only a couple percent at most and you would never recoup the cost of a new furnace, even if it is the highest efficiency to date, and most expensive, at 98%. If you had any issues with your furnace the technicians would have sighted those reasons to replace your furnace. The fact they used efficiency, tells me your furnace is in working order.
The people you talked with are right about blower motors. AFUE only accounts for gas efficiency, not electrical efficiency. Newer high end furnaces will have a high efficiency modulating blower that’s energy star certified and runs on much less electricity. Most of the running cost of gas furnaces is gas though, so again you would never recoup the cost of the new furnace.
Thanks for your question. Let me know if you need any more info
Cory
Hello – I just purchased a house in Milwaukee and there is an upflow gas furnace sitting in the garage. My questions is, is there any way I can test it to find out if it works without actually plugging it in? I would like to have it installed in the next property I buy, if it works. Any information or advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.
Well, there are several minor components you can test without it hooked up. Ignitor, pressure switch, and high limits to name a few. But you can’t fully test it without it hooked up and working. Most of the main components, that are really used to judge the health of a gas furnace, need to be tested while running. Things like the motors, circuit board, transformer, gas valve, burners, heat echangers and relays will need to be tested on a working furnace.
Take my word for it, it’s not as easy as you think