Before Summer Arrives, Should You Replace Your Current AC?

March 13th, 2023
sunshine

To replace or not to replace an air conditioner in Slidell, LA; that is the question. Or at least, it’s often a question people have during spring as they anticipate the coming heat.

You may have a relatively young air conditioning system (under 10 years) and don’t have much worry about whether it will get through the coming season. 

But you may be in a situation where you have doubts about your home’s AC. Can you still get it through the summer, maybe with a repair? Or has the time come to retire it and have a new AC installed?

To help you approach the big question of “Replace or Not to Replace?”, we’re going to have you answer several related questions. This will help you focus on what’s going on with your air conditioner and what its future may be like. 

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The Most Common Places Where Homes Waste Energy

February 27th, 2023
Insulation-rolls-in-attic

At Gowland’s, we provide more for homes than heating and air conditioning services. We are also experts in home performance that views a house as an entire energy system.

With an energy audit, we will pinpoint the places in your house where energy is going to waste.

We then offer you solutions to reduce waste, lower your bills, and improve comfort. 

If you’re wondering if you need home performance services in St. Bernard, LA, we’ll go through a list of places where homes are most likely to waste energy.

There’s a strong chance that at least one of these is draining excess energy from your home right this moment.

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How Poor Duct Designs Affects Your HVAC System and Home

February 13th, 2023
in-the-attic

Ducts are an essential part of the majority of homes. They’re responsible for the circulation of air around a house and the delivery of heating and cooling from the heater and the AC. 

Unfortunately, many homes have ducts with poor designs and bad installations.

A house may have beautiful construction and impeccable interior design, but hidden behind the walls and up in the attic lurks ductwork that was hastily cobbled together from pre-fabricated parts and installed with a focus on speed over craftsmanship. 

What’s even worse is that homeowners often are unaware of these poor designs. It’s easy to notice bad craftsmanship on the inside of your home, such as drape brackets that rip off the wall or chipped wainscoting, but what about the ducts hidden within your home?

Poor duct design will have a major impact on your HVAC system as well as your home, so it’s something you’ll want to have corrected. We’ll look at how bad ducts can turn into trouble in your house.

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Do I Need an Air Filter or an Air Purifier for My Home?

January 30th, 2023
pleated-air-filter

Although we can’t tell you exactly what your house needs to improve it’s indoor air quality because we don’t (yet) have information about your house, we can make a broad generalization based on the work we’ve done in the past and the statistics about indoor air quality: You probably need both air filters and air purifiers for your home.

The unfortunate fact about IAQ (indoor air quality) is that it’s poor in many modern homes and a leading cause of multiple health problems.

You might think of poor IAQ as something that would only happen if a house isn’t kept clean or if it’s located next to a smog-belching factory. But you can have a clean, wonderful home far away from a major source of air pollution and still end up with poor IAQ.

The reason is an increase in the number of sources for indoor pollutants combined with heavy insulation that prevents fresh air circulation. I.e. you have a house full of pollutants with no easy way for them to escape.

Enter the air filter and the air purifier—one of several indoor air quality services in Chalmette, LA we offer that can help you enjoy much healthier IAQ in your house.

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Don’t Let Your Heating System Just Fail—Replace it Before it Fails!

January 16th, 2023
furnace-old

People want to get the most out of any investment they make, so they’ll often run devices for as long as possible until they wear down to the point of failure.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the best philosophy all of the time. For example, you don’t want to keep wearing the same pair of shoes until they fall apart because your feet will start to suffer before the shoe is ruined. 

What’s true for the shoe is also true for your home’s heating system: there are consequences to continuing to push an older heater until it fails. You need to know when your heater is declining and replace it at the right time. 

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How a Heat Pump Water Heater Works and Its Benefits

December 19th, 2022
showerhead-dripping-close-up

We offer excellent water heater services in Slidell, LA for our customers. We can help you out with installation and repairs for your tank water heater, no problem.

But we can also offer you the option to upgrade to a different type of water heater: the heat pump water heater. Don’t worry, it’s not as radical a change as you might think (unlike a tankless water heater), but it can also make a significant difference for your home, especially if you have an all-electric one.

We’ll provide you with the important information you need to know about heat pump water heaters and the benefits they bring.

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Do Tankless Water Heaters Have Any Drawbacks?

December 5th, 2022
tankless-water-heater-small-on-wall

Tankless water heaters are becoming more common with each year, and many new homes are built with tankless water heaters already installed. We often recommend our customers look into the possibility of tankless water heaters when they’re shopping around for a water heater replacement. They offer several tremendous benefits that can make significant changes for a home.

But tankless water heaters aren’t the ideal fit for all homes because, yes, they do have some drawbacks to go along with the many benefits. For some homes, the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks, but we advise you to always work with professionals like us when you’re planning for a new water heater installation.

We’ll look at several potential tankless water heater drawbacks and see how important they may be for you.

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Give Yourself the Gift of a Home Energy Audit Before Winter

November 21st, 2022
cardboard-house-against-sky

Your home is more than just the place where you and your family find shelter, eat, sleep, relax, and entertain. Your home is also a complete energy system, and like any such system, it can waste energy. A home energy audit, also known as a home energy assessment, is a way to take stock of just how efficiently your home consumes energy and points toward ways to improve it. 

During winter, your home will consume more energy than at any other time of the year. This is why we recommend having an energy audit scheduled before the cold weather arrives if you’ve never had it done before. Thanks to an audit, you can not only lower your energy costs but also enjoy better home comfort.

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Now Is a Great Time to Schedule Your Heating Maintenance

November 7th, 2022
Gowlands-Truck

November is off to a pleasant start with warm weather. We know this won’t last forever, and so right now when you don’t need to run your home’s heating system is a great time to call us and schedule your annual heating maintenance in Covington, LA. It’s close enough to winter for maintenance to have the maximum effect, and you won’t have to worry about missing out on warmth while our technicians inspect and tune-up your heater.

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Staying Safe With Your Gas Furnace This Coming Winter

October 24th, 2022

One of the important steps to prepare your home for the winter is to ensure that your natural gas furnace is working safely. We don’t want to alarm you into thinking your gas furnace is some sort of ticking bomb that’s a major menace to the health of your family. Gas furnaces are built to strict safety requirements and rarely pose any danger to homeowners. 

However, there is the chance that a gas furnace will create combustion dangers (flames escaping from the cabinet) or leak carbon monoxide. The threat from CO is one we recommend all homeowners to take seriously if they use natural gas in their homes in any way. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and highly toxic gas. According to the CDC, at least 430 people in the US die from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning each year. Even smaller exposure will lead to health problems.

What can you do to boost your winter safety with your gas furnace? Check out our safety tips below.

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