8 Add-Ons to Improve Your HVAC System

Your HVAC system is critical to your home comfort. It helps you battle the chill of Houston, Texas, lows that dip into the 40s in winter and keeps you cool when highs go over 90 during the summer. Your heating and cooling system is something you should never take for granted. Though you don’t see them often, you feel them every day. If you’re not getting the comfort and efficiency that you want from your HVAC installation, we have a full suite of solutions. Explore the options available for trimming your utility bills, easing allergies, controlling home temperatures, and more.

Air Purifiers

Air purifiers go above and beyond the standard capabilities of your regular HVAC filter to capture airborne particles that are smaller and more elusive. The Performance Air Purifier PGAP captures up to 75 percent of organisms .30 microns in size. The Infinity Air Purifier GAPA captures up to 95 percent of organisms .30 microns or larger.

If you struggle with asthma or allergies, an air purifier will offer advanced filtration that can stop irritants such as dust, pollen, and mold. These systems are also proven against common pathogens. The Performance Air Purifier PGAP is effective against the common cold, human influenza, and streptococcus aureus. The more effective Infinity Air Purifier GAPA can kill or inactivate 13 pathogens including avian influenza, coronavirus (SARS), mycobacterium parafortuitum, pseudomonas aeruginosa, and more.

Dehumidifiers

Dehumidifiers have the opposite effect from humidifiers. They pull moisture from the air to help you feel cooler in the stuffy summer months. Lingering moisture can create a prime breeding environment for mold and mildew. Persistent dampness tends to give homes an unpleasant musty odor. If you’re struggling to make an older home smell new, adding a dehumidifier can help.

Dust mites also appreciate high humidity levels, which help them stick to various surfaces in the home. When you keep humidity levels lower, dust mites become airborne and are easily sucked into your HVAC system, where they’ll hit the air filter and become trapped. A whole-home dehumidifier will help you keep summer humidity within reasonable levels so your family can stay cool and comfortable with minimal allergy trouble.

Smart Thermostats

A smart thermostat is a valuable upgrade if you’re currently relying on an older model. Today’s top thermostats are packed with features. Programmable thermostats allow you to input preset temperatures that vary based on the time of day and day of the week. These let you set back your heating or air conditioning when you’re out of the house during the day or inactive at night.

Many of today’s smart thermostats track your activities and offer energy-saving tips and suggestions. Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats are easily managed via smartphone apps, so you can adjust the thermostat accordingly if you’re staying at work late or extending your vacation. Some systems, like the Infinity Touch Control, go beyond temperature to manage humidity levels, ventilation, airflow, and indoor air quality as well. For enhanced control of every aspect of your home comfort systems, a smart thermostat is the best add-on you can have.

Carbon Monoxide Alarms

Carbon monoxide is a dangerous gas that’s nearly impossible to detect on your own. Though it’s colorless, tasteless, and odorless, it can be fatal if allowed to build up in your living space. A carbon monoxide alarm is a critical installation in any home. This add-on will keep your family safe from invisible threats.

Your home should have a carbon monoxide detector on every floor and outside each bedroom. This will ensure that you get a prompt alarm if there are high levels of CO in the air. You can take preventive action against CO leaks by scheduling regular maintenance for your home’s HVAC system. Annual tuneups will help ensure that the chimneys and flues are in good condition and venting CO safely.

UV Lamps

UV lamps work well in conjunction with air cleaners to help kill airborne pathogens and allergens. UV sanitizers work with a powerful light at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. UV lights are effective at killing a variety of microbiological organisms and can eliminate up to 98 percent of germs.

We offer UV lights that fit inside your HVAC system to kill bacteria and mold that might try to grow on the drain pan and indoor coils of your heating and cooling system. Installed directly in the system, these UV lights will stop these potentially hazardous types of growth, improve efficiency, and offer better airflow.

Ventilators

Homeowners today are so focused on sealing their homes tight that they often forget about the importance of allowing proper airflow in and out of the building. Homes that have excellent insulation and well-sealed windows, doors, and roofing will have stale indoor air if ventilation isn’t addressed.

Ventilators help you vent stale air outside and bring fresh, clean air in on a regular basis. This will push out air that’s filled with indoor air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), dust, and pet dander. Ventilators pull in outside air, filtering it carefully as it brings this air into the HVAC system to leave pollen and other outdoor pollutants out while allowing the fresh air in.

A Performance Energy Recovery Ventilator will minimize your energy loss and maximize the health benefits of allowing clean air into the home.

Zoning Systems

Your heating and cooling needs aren’t necessarily the same in every part of the house. You don’t need to heat and cool the bedrooms upstairs during the afternoons when everyone is in common areas like the living room or dining room. While the kitchen may need a little extra cooling in the evening when you’re preparing dinner, the den might freeze with the same levels of air conditioning.

Treat each area of the home as the individual environment that it is with a zoned heating and cooling system. Adding zoning to your HVAC system will give you a new level of control. You can customize the temperature in each part of the house and use a programmable thermostat to manage everything neatly for optimum energy efficiency and comfort that fits with your schedule and habits.

Stop applying blanket temperature settings to the whole home. Only pay for the heating and cooling that you really need by adding zoning solutions to your ductwork that separates the home appropriately.

Ductless Systems

Do you have a sunroom, garage, or basement that’s not connected to the rest of your HVAC system with ductwork? Adding ductwork to a home addition or other part of the house is complicated and costly. Rather than redesigning the ducts in your home, consider an add-on that will give you efficient heating and cooling with no ducts at all.

Ductless systems require just a 3-inch hole in the wall between the indoor and outdoor units. You can connect up to three indoor units to a single outdoor one to efficiently cover a large area such as the basement. A ductless heat pump offers both heating and cooling with a single system for efficient temperature management. If you need to add air conditioning or heating to a small, separate part of the house, talk to our technicians about how a ductless system might work for your home.

If you’re interested in adding new features to your HVAC system, contact Davis Air Conditioning & Heating at 888-710-5530. We’ll help you find the right fit for your needs so you can enjoy better comfort and lower utility bills year-round.

Image provided by Shutterstock