Updated 4/25/22.

Dealing with HVAC systems can be confusing for laymen who don’t know about HVAC technician procedures. If you have an issue with your HVAC system, whether that is heating, air conditioning, or ventilation, your HVAC supplier or your local professional HVAC repair company should be able to help.

You can do your part by familiarizing yourself with HVAC so that you can understand your HVAC system and your home’s energy needs enough to help the HVAC technician do their job.

If you have a new heating and cooling unit, you probably won’t need any repairs right away but you still need to schedule regular maintenance appointments, at least twice a year.

If you have an older central air conditioner with gas heat, for example, you might have some other problems that an HVAC technician can help you with. Breakdowns are common in older units. If you have a single air conditioning unit (partial air conditioning), you can see rising energy costs if the unit is running inefficiently.

If you learn the basics of HVAC and understand your own home and your heating and cooling needs, you can maintain your unit and explain any issues to a technician.

HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) companies specialize in a diverse range of remedial home and business services. Whether it is air conditioner installation or AC repair, generator maintenance and repair, an air duct cleaning, or an issue with the plumbing, HVAC specialists are capable of all sorts of advanced repairs and installations. Therefore, you may find it difficult to communicate the problem with your home or business, and it may be hard to even find a starting place when the problem is not so easily identifiable. Though an HVAC company prides themselves on simplifying their procedures and the problems to the best of their abilities, here are some small ways that you can engage with the HVAC service to best suit your plumbing, air conditioner, or furnace repair needs.

Asking For An Audit: An “energy audit” is a professional assessment of the building done by the HVAC company in order to discover areas of issue in plumbing, heating, or other energy-consuming appliances. The key to communicating your plumbing and vent service needs with an HVAC service person is to ensure that the aspects of the building that need the most care in this assessment are the aspects that are hard-to-reach or difficult to service by oneself. Plumbing is typically an area of concern, especially in the irrigation systems (or sprinkler systems) that are used on the exterior of the building. Water waste from inefficient or leaking irrigation systems can add up to 6,300 gallons every month, endangering the integrity of the house and potentially costing a great fortune to repair and renovate. Plumbing should be a priority in the assessment already, but you should communicate with the plumbing contractor or HVAC service person to assess these latent and typically difficult-to-reach plumbing issues. Air ducts, too, can interfere with air flow and air purity if they have not been cleaned in some time. While air ducts can be maintained by hand with certain tools and techniques, an HVAC service would more effectively clean and protect the integrity of the system as a whole. Finally, the furnace system should be considered in the assessment. Even if it is not in use, the furnace system presents an avenue for energy waste if parts are unresponsive or inefficient. Furnace repair or assessment presents an opportunity to save money in the future.

Knowing Your Building: During an energy audit, the HVAC service people will apply their knowledge to your building to resolve any problems. While every home is different, HVAC service people have experiences with a diverse range of home appliances and services, meaning that your home is in good hands. That being said, the HVAC service may want to know specific features of your building, whether it is your home or place of business. If you are not aware of what features are in your home, or if you have questions about what each appliance does, it is best to research ahead of time. Find out how to identify what and where the most important aspects of the audit will be, and figure out where they are relative to your building. Doing this will save your time and money two-fold: the HVAC service will immediately know what you have in your home, and where to find it.

By performing these two simple tasks before an HVAC service visits your building, you improve the communication between the representative and yourself, saving a good amount of time and money by showing a level of competence that allows the service to work at full capacity.