Frequently Asked Questions

Most systems should run about 2-3 cycles per hour. 

Typically 10-15 minutes in mild weather. The closer you get to the max design temperature in heating (0 Degrees) or cooling (90 Degrees) the longer the run cycle will be.

The cooler you set it in heating and the warmer in cooling the less energy you will use. Each person has their own temperature comfort range and we tell customers to find their optimum comfortable temperature and leave the thermostat set there for the occupied periods of the day.

You can close some vents in unused areas of the home but be aware that your insulation is the exterior walls, if you let the room get too warm or cool you will still need to overcome that in the adjoining rooms. Closing off too many vents may also cause issues with the furnace or air conditioner.

They are alternate fuel providers that may be able to save you money on the Natural Gas you use to heat your home. They sell you the NG at a fixed rate over the year. Duke sells you the NG at different prices thru the year based on their actual cost at the time of delivery.

Programmable thermostats can save you money if you use them properly. Typically with a gas furnace if you program in a setback of 5 degrees when you are at work and while you are sleeping you will use less energy in the month.  With a Heat Pump you would need a special thermostat that would not bring on the electric backup heat when coming out of setback or you would use what you just saved to get the house back to temperature. In summer, avoid increasing the temperature for work and sleep times during extreme weather because the AC will take a long time to get back to your ideal comfort conditions.

We recommend having your heating & cooling system serviced twice in the year to keep it working at maximum efficiency, to find and fix small problems before they become major issues, and to avoid needing service during extreme weather conditions when everyone needs help and the wait for service can be longer than normal.

A lot of people are in the same boat as you because natural gas prices, especially in the Midwest, have soared in the last few years. One way we've helped customers cope is with Trane's Hybrid Heat system. It's a high-efficiency natural gas furnace combined with a high-efficiency electric heat pump. It's often referred to as a "dual fuel" system.

Check your air filter on a monthly basis and change it whenever it’s dirty. Flush your condensate drain line when you check your filter, especially in the summer months when algae growth is more prevalent.

Check for a dirty filter, is the power switch on, is the circuit breaker tripped, is the thermostat set to heat or cool and the proper temperature?

Yes, as your filter gets too dirty its ability to capture and hold particles decreases and more dust and dirt can come through the filter. It’s important to use a good quality filter, typically in the 8-12 MERV range. Below MERV 8 it does not capture enough particles and above MERV 12 it is too restrictive to air flow.

If you use a 5 degree setback you can save between 5-10% on your annual cost to run the furnace.  The cost to install a programmable varies greatly depending on what you purchase. It may take between 5-10 years or more to get a full payback. 

Programmable thermostats can save you money if you use them properly. Typically with a gas furnace if you program in a setback of 5 degrees when you are at work and while you are sleeping you will use less energy in the month.  With a Heat Pump you would need a special thermostat that would not bring on the electric backup heat when coming out of setback or you would use what you just saved to get the house back to temperature. In summer, avoid increasing the temperature for work and sleep times during extreme weather because the AC will take a long time to get back to your ideal comfort conditions.

Gas or Oil Furnaces are rated in AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency), Heat Pumps in HPSF (Heating Season Performance Factor) and Air Conditioners in SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating). With gas furnaces you should buy a model with a 92% rating if you run the blower continuously for better air filtration as it has a more efficient blower. However, if you allow the air to turn off when not heating, a 95% model will save you energy in the long run. On the A/C side it has more to do with comfort as you get to the higher SEER ratings in our climate. The base A/C is a 13 SEER for each point you go higher it uses about 10% less energy to run.

The life expectancy of most systems is 12-15 years.

Almost Never. The correct size of your HVAC system is based on running a computer generated load using measurements of your home’s interior space. If you put in an oversized furnace it will not run long enough to get to its steady sate efficiency. If you put in an oversized A/C unit it will not run long enough to remove humidity.

The correct size of your system is based on running a computer generated load using measurements of your Cincinnati home’s interior space. If you put in an oversized furnace it will not run long enough to get to its steady sate efficiency. If you put in an oversized A/C unit it will not run long enough to remove humidity.

The correct size based on running a computer generated load for your home. Typically in our market we size the A/C based on a 90 degree day. We expect the A/C to run most of the day on a 90 degree day to maintain 70 degrees inside.

A heat pump pulls heat out of your home in the summer, just like an air conditioning system.  In the winter, the heat pump captures heat from the outside air and transfers it to your home.  (Yes, even cold air has heat energy in it.)  A blower fan then pushes this heat through your ductwork and your vents.

This is a possibility.  Thanks to innovations in tecnology, such as the hyper-heating inverter, heat pumps can now keep a home toasty warm even if outdoor temperatures drop to 0^ºF!  That's a big improvement over the heat pumps of the past, which became ineffective when outdoor temperatures reached the freezing point (32ºF).

The HP is designed to heat the air about 20 degrees each time the air goes through the system. A gas or oil furnace is designed for a 40-70 degree temperature rise as the air passes thru the furnace. So if you maintain 70 degrees in the home, a heat pump will put out about 90 degree air depending on the outside temperature. Since the normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees this 90 degree air feels cool to us.  In comparison a gas or oil furnace normally warms the air to between 110 - 140 degrees or higher and therefore it feels warm to us.  

Yes, The Heat Pump is the outdoor condensing unit and it needs an air mover inside (electric, gas or oil furnace) to make it a complete system.

In mild weather the HP can provide all the necessary heat down to about 30-35 degrees, below that it would need some kind of backup heat source to provide the additional heat necessary to meet the load of the home down to 0 degrees.

A humidifier is only used in the heating mode to add humidity to the home as the house dries out. Your body evaporates moisture off your skin when it is dry inside, so you feel warmer at a cooler temperature when the humidity is kept at a higher level. If the house gets too dry you will start to have more damage to your wood trim and furniture. Also when the humidity gets too low you can experience more adverse health issues. In the summer when the humidity level is high your air conditioner works to remove the excess humidity in your home.

The Heat Pump takes the heat from the home and releases it outside in the summer to cool the home. In the winter it removes the heat in the outdoor air and releases it inside to warm the home. A furnace only produces heat by burning a fuel or using electric and also moves the air inside.