What To Look For When Buying A Furnace

You may be asking yourself what to look for when buying a furnace. What do I need to consider about furnace installation? Those can be very hard questions to answer because ultimately it will depend on the needs of your home.

Everyone’s home is different and one thing you have to remember is that oversizing the furnace can be quite a waste. Many furnaces are 95% efficiency and higher so if the unit exceeds what is necessary it can cause short cycling leading to cracked or damaged heat exchangers.

Sizing Is The Key To Choosing An Efficient Furnace

The key to choosing an efficient furnace is to size it correctly to the house. Get several estimates (the cheapest one doesn’t always mean it’s the best), of popular brands so that if anything ever happens to your furnace, parts will be available for it. Also, make sure you use a reputable furnace dealer that has been in the industry for years because you need someone knowledgeable to assist you in the decision-making process, but even more importantly, if you need parts they will be able to get them for you.

Factors To Consider When Sizing Furnace

There are a handful of factors when sizing a furnace to the house. Consider the heat loss. Measure the house, windows (and make note if they’re replacement windows), thickness of insulation, etc.

Depending on the size of the home, the appropriate furnace may work in multiple stages. Larger homes should use a two-stage furnace system. The first stage operates at about thirty percent capacity depending on how the thermostat is set. The second stage utilizes all of the power the furnace is capable of to heat your home when more resources are needed to match the thermostat settings.

The Install Is Obviously Important

Find a quality furnace installation technician. Also, make sure that they are insured and have the appropriate licensing. A good idea would be to ask for references too. If you have any concerns about the distributor or furnace installation technician, make sure that you are only paying a deposit if financial compensation is requested upfront.

Wilbur Henry can help you determine what the best furnace is for your needs. Contact us today!

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Check Us Out In The York Sunday News

The most difficult part of Dave Henry’s job isn’t tracking down hard-to-find furnace parts or cleaning poorly maintained equipment.

Rather, the president of Wilbur Henry Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning said narrowing down an exact time of when a service call will take place can be tough on him and his customers.

“We tell people that we’ll be there at times like late morning or early afternoon,” Henry said. “We’re that busy. We’re now two weeks booked out.”

Wilbur Henry’s phones start ringing just after the first cold snap of the season as customers switch on the heat for the first time.

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Why does my furnace blow cold air?

I’ve had people say to me, My furnace blows cold air only! Is my furnace not working? In many cases, the solution is much simpler than you may realize.

Is The Thermostat Set To Auto or On?

For most, checking the thermostat to ensure the fan setting is correct will keep the cold air from blowing when it is not wanted. The switch can be set to a few different options and should generally be in the auto or automatic position. Otherwise, the always on? option will keep the fan running at all times, including when the burner in the furnace is not active.

The reason cold air will continue to blow while the furnace is on and the thermostat is set correctly is because the fan assumes that heat is being generated by the furnace even if the burner is not running. If the burner is not running, newer furnaces will attempt to light a few times before they lock out. Turning it off and then back on will cause it to try igniting again.

Turn The Furnace Off For One Minute To Reset

If you’ve confirmed that the thermostat settings are correct, turn the electricity off to the furnace for a full minute and then turn it back on. The power switch should be located on or around the furnace. If not, it will be near the electrical box which is uncommon for newer furnaces.

Newer furnaces attempt to re-light 4-5 times then if unsuccessful they will lock-out The way to remove the lock-out is by turning the power on and like, like described above.

After it has had a chance to recycle, it should be functioning properly. If it continues to blow cold air after that attempt, call a professional service technician.

Wilbur Henry can help when yourfurnace is not working the way you expect it to. Don’t feel comfortable servicing or maintaining your furnace, contact us!

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My Boiler Pipes Make A Banging Noise

Have you ever heard your pipes banging when the steam boiler comes on It is as if someone is taking a hammer and banging it against the pipes! If it’s a steam boiler, water has made it up into the pipes because the boiler is too full. The resulting sound comes from its attempt to make steam from the water in the pipes.

The excess water may have come from the automatic fill leaking through or the automatic fill is attempting to compensate for what it thinks is a lack of water during a surge. The water will surge when it is dirty and gets pushed into the pipes while heating. When the water comes back down from the pipes, new water has been added and now there is too much.

What To Look For…

Looking through the steam cage glass, the boiler should be about seventy-five percent full. The top quarter needs to be empty (or filled with air) because air is necessary for creating steam. If you see the water level rising and falling as it heats, you may also see the water disappear altogether. This is because it has been pushed into the pipes and is now surging.

Options For Solving On Your Own

To remedy this, you need to drain some of the water out of the steam boiler. Do this by allowing water to exit the valve at the bottom of the boiler. There may also be a blow-off valve for steam in which case you can place a bucket below to collect the drainage.

Rust and dirt from corrosion will cause the water to get dirty after an amount of time. Preemptively, you can change your water to make sure that it isn’t dirty avoiding surges. Consider completely draining the water and replacing it about once a year if you don’t have a manual flush valve.

The flush valve can usually be found below or around the steam gauge and will allow you to flush the water out until the dirty water has exited the boiler and is now completely clear. It is recommended you do this once a month.

Warning: Be Careful…

If you find that the boiler does not shut off while draining the water, call a professional HVAC technician. Never add water to a boiler that is almost fully drained and is now becoming red hot, otherwise the boiler will crack or possibly explode.

We all know how disruptive the sound is when the boiler comes on and the pipes bang. ?If you don’t feel comfortable maintaining or fixing your boiler, make sure to call an HVAC technician like Wilbur Henry Plumbing, Heating and AC at 717-755-5461.

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Is Your Toilet Clogged? 5 Steps You Can Try Before Calling A Plumber

Having a toilet that is clogged is frustrating, but what is almost equally frustrating is to call for plumbing service to repair, the plumber shows up, and 5 minutes later they say “Well we are all good”.

You exclaim “That is it !?”

He says “Yep, I flushed it and everything is working fine.” Or something similarly simple.

Some Of The Most Common Causes Of Toilet Clogs – How To Avoid The Clog Problem In The 1st Place

Toilet clogs occur for a variety of reasons some of which are:

  • Way too much toilet paper – remember it may be better to make that extra flush than risk a clog.
  • Flushable Wipes – I know they say flushable on them. But these older homes which are quite common in York PA can not take them. The wipes do not break up. Also, the old sewer lines are made of cast iron pipe. Over time they get buildup inside which can cause the wipes to get snagged on the rough edges, and thus a backup begins.

Actionable Steps You Can Do – To Save Yourself A Trip By The Plumber

  • Let it sit for a couple of hours – That could be three or four hours. Now if this is the only toilet in your house this may not be the best solution. But if you have another toilet and have the patience to wait it out and think it is most likely just toilet paper, this is a good strategy.
  • Metal Coat Hanger – You can try a metal coat hanger. If I am at home and don’t have my tools with me, I would cut a coat hanger and bend it as long as I can. On the one end, I would make a little hook to grab any debris. Then I would stick it up as far as I can to help break up the blockage.
  • Just Flush It – The other thing you can do is try flushing the toilet when it’s clogged.
    • The more water that is in the bowl the more head pressure that is on the clog and that might help it push it out through.
    • ***WARNING*** Before you try this have the toilet lid off. If the water comes up too high – Just push the flapper (in the bottom center of the tank, the hole where the water is going) down as fast as you can.
  • Plunger – Try a regular old plunger.toilet-plunger-unclog-your-toilet-york-pa
  • Toilet Auger – These are available at many home improvement stores.
  • Check Water Flow – Make sure the jets are open the whole way around the rim of the toilet. Also check the main jet at the bottom of the bowl (the main jet is not in all toilets). Over time buildup occurs in these jets and the flow of water decreases. This is especially true on well systems with calcium deposits.
    • These jets are going the whole way around your toilet. They are up under the rim. I use a little Allen wrench or hex key tool. Go up inside your holes, just wiggle it around and open them up.
    • Then I make sure to hit the main jet at the bottom.

Last Resort – What To Do

We offer some additional steps for removing a clog on another clearing a clogged toilet post here.

If you tried all of the above or you decided none of the above steps are in your job description we would love to take care of your toilet troubles with a quick no hassle service call.

Call 717-755-5461 and Crystal will get one of the friendly techs out right away.

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Toilet Cleaners Can Ruin Your Toilet Flapper – The Right Way and The Wrong Way

In the video below Dave Henry discusses the right way and the wrong way to use the tablet cleaners you put in your toilet.

If you are using those chlorine tablets to keep your toilet clean, fresh and pretty, please make sure you are putting them in the bowl and not the tank. ?When I am out on service calls I often have customers ask me if this causes any damage to my toilet. ?The topic will often come up for a toilet service and repair call.

The problem is when you put these chlorine tablets in the tank they often warp the flappers and the plastic and rubber that helps your toilet work properly. ?Now it does not happen immediately of course but it does over time.

The problem is that all of the working mechanisms of the toilet are inside the tank.

This even includes the blue sludges you put in the tank.Which- is- tank- and- which- is -the- bowl- on- a- toilet

Now if you put the cleaners in the bowl you are just fine.

Not sure which is the tank and which is the bowl? ?Note the attached picture.

If you have additional questions or need plumbing service please use our plumbing contact form or give us a call at 717-755-5461.

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Preventative Maintenance That YOU Can Do – Keeping Your Drain Line Open

In this video Dave Henry gives you suggestions that YOU can do to keep your drain lines open and minimize the chance that drain clogs will occur.

Of course saving you headaches and money.

Preventative Maintenance

To minimize your chances of calling for a York PA Plumber try to do a little preventative maintenance – One thing you can do is have this simple tool you can pick up at Home Depot, it is called a zip-it tool. It has a bunch of hooks on the sides. You should periodically (every 6-12 months) go around your house and clean out your drain lines. This tool is for bathrooms and lavatory drains. ?Bathroom sinks and tubs. If you see the water is slow at going down the drain that would be a good time to use this tool

Boiling Water and Vinegar

For kitchen sinks get yourself a big pot and add in 3/4 water and 1/4 vinegar. Put on the stove. Bring to a boil. Then dump down you kitchen sink. You may also want to try this down your bathroom or lavatory sinks and tub drains and also your clothes washing machine drain. The hot water and the vinegar is a mild acid helps break up that gunk. Now it will not open your sink if its clogged, but it will help keep the gunk from building up.

Clothes Washing Machine Drain Cleaning:

For clothes washing machines put your washing machine on hot water on the extra large load setting. You want to get as much water as possible.

Fill it the whole way up and turn it to the spin cycle and dump it out. The hot water will help break up the gunk and the detergents in the drain lines. The detergents actually break down and turn it into a black gunk.

The hot water will help flush the drain line. Again, this will not help if it’s already stopped up or clogged. This is something that has to be done before it is stopped up.

The Coat Hanger Trick

Another little thing you can do is try a coat hanger if you don’t want to run to Lowe’s or Home Depot and get the special tool noted above.

Take a coat hanger, cut and straighten to make as long as possible. Make a hook on the end. Insert into drain line. You will most likely need to remove the stopper to get the coat hanger down the drain line. With the special tool above you most likely can leave the stopper in place.

You can also use the metal coat hanger on toilets.

Landlords And Property Maintenance

I would suggest you every year or so or when you have a tenant move out you make it a habit of cleaning out the drain lines to remove hair and build up. And dump the water and vinegar mix down the drains to remove the build.

This will keep your tenant happy and lower your unexpected expense of calling for a plumber in York PA.

Please consider Wilbur Henry for your next plumbing-related problem by using our plumbing contact form or calling 717-755-5461.

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Why Is My Toilet Running When Not In Use

Have your ever experienced the problem such as:

You are laying in bed in the middle of the night or you sitting downstairs and you hear your toilet fill up for a second or two, or you get your water bill and you notice it a little higher than it usually is or you physically just hear your toilet leaking through when you come in your bathroom. Then you wander if you should call a plumbing contractor or if the issue is just a simple fix.

There is a simple test you can do. It’s called a dye test for your toilet.

As professionals, we have special dye tablets but you can go to any grocery store and get food coloring, and use any color you want. No the color does not matter.

You start by going to the toilet that you are having the issue with or better yet just check all of your toilets.

You flush the back of the tank and hold down the lever until most of the water is out of the tank.

Once it’s completely drained out as much as you can get, you drop the dye or in your case droplets of food coloring and close the handle and just let it set for 10 or 15 minutes. Better yet let it sit for an extended period of time to ensure there are no leaks, even slow leaks.

Now the water in the tank will turn whatever color dye you put in it, we use blue dye in tablets, so mine will turn blue. ?You do not want that color of dye from the tank getting into the bowl.

After you have waited 15 – 30 minutes or whole days, come back, and lift up the bowl, if there’s no blue or whatever color you used in the bowl, then your flapper is not leaking.

If you lift up the toilet seat and the color that you put in the tank is in the bowl then your flapper is leaking. ?Now you will want to replace the flapper. You can go to the local home improvement store and get a replacement flapper.

Or you can of course contact us by phone at 717-755-5461 or use our contact form to do the dirty work.

Thank you.

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How Often Should You Have Your Central Air Unit Serviced?

Dave Henry answers your questions.

How often should you service your air conditioning system?

The industry suggests about once a year.

We feel you can get by with every year or two as we discuss in the above video.

You do want to make sure the A/C is always running at top performance. Otherwise, it will affect your electricity bill. ?And your unit will have to work harder to cool your house down.

We check your freon levels to ensure maximum efficiency.

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How Do You Know If Your Central Air Unit Needs Serviced?

Dave Henry answers that question in this video:

Staying cool in the summer is nice.

You want to keep your air conditioner running at top performance levels to not only improve your comfort levels but save on electricity costs and to stretch the lifetime use of your A/C unit.

Some of the signs you might need your A/C serviced would be if your air conditioner is running longer than it normally does.

Or you look at your thermostat and it’s set 72 degrees in the house but its 74 degrees in the house.

Signs like that are issues that you may need air conditioning may need a little maintenance or a dirty filter.

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