In San Antonio, homeowners are often all too familiar with household mold. Because of our climate, homeowners must be vigilant in keeping relative humidity within a healthy range to prevent household mold from taking over.

Prevention strategies are often more effective if you first understand how mold grows.

Mold is actually useful — as part of nature. In its natural environment, mold helps to “mulch” organic matter such as leaves. But inside your home, it holds no value. Mold spores, when present in the air, are attracted to moist surfaces. Once they meet up with moisture, they begin to feast — namely, by reproducing at an alarmingly fast rate.

If you’ve ever had a mold problem in your home, you likely have first-hand experience with how stubborn mold spots are — and how hard it is to get rid of them. That’s why prevention is the best strategy.

Most obviously, the best way to prevent mold is to avoid dampness in your home. But this can be hard to do in San Antonio, with nearly year-round high relative humidity levels. Short of moving, here’s what you can do:

• Clean up water spills and leaks immediately.
• Keep your gutters in good condition for ideal drainage.
• Be sure the ground around your home doesn’t slope toward the structure, which can cause moisture to seep into the home.
• Make sure that your bathroom and kitchen exhaust systems, as well as your furnace and dryer venting, send humid air outside.
• Use a whole-house dehumidification system to consistently maintain healthy indoor humidity levels. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, you can ensure safe indoor humidity levels by keeping relative humidity between 30 and 50 percent. Dehumidification systems are generally manufactured with sensors that allow you to program a particular humidity setting; the system will adjust its output accordingly.
• Consider installing an A/C enhancer, a component that will assist your air-conditioning system by  specifically addressing moisture removal.

Easily limit household mold problems and use these tips to prevent it from getting the upper hand. For expert help and advice, contact Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning today. Serving San Antonio and surrounding communities, we’re always happy to help.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Household air quality image via Shutterstock

Your home needs ventilation, especially if it’s a tightly sealed structure. Ventilation systems help to mechanically control the balance of air in your home, and offer homeowners who use them several benefits.

Imagine if your home, or any building for that matter, was completely sealed up, preventing any air from entering or exiting the structure. That would result in less-than-ideal air quality, among other things. This image gives you a picture of how an efficient home, although desirable, also creates deficiencies.

In the past, most homeowners relied on natural ventilation, either through cracks and leaks in the home or by opening a window. However, in San Antonio neither is practical, nor desirable, for energy savings or comfort.

That’s why most homes nowadays need a mechanical ventilation system. And its benefits are real, including:

Improved indoor air quality

Indoor air pollution is more of a danger than ever, with the Environmental Protection Agency listing it among its top five worst offenders. So, it’s essential to have a means to get rid of stale, polluted indoor air, and usher out pollen, dander, moisture and other allergens.

Better control over even ventilation

Relying on natural air leaks is a less-than-efficient means to ensure proper ventilation, never mind that you can’t use it to evenly control the distribution of the supply of fresh air with a balanced supply of exhausted air. Using windows leads to the same problems. A mechanical ventilation system will produce even amounts of supply and exhaust air, ensuring that your home is appropriately and safely ventilated.

Upgraded home comfort

Depending on the type of ventilation system you choose, you can boost overall home comfort with features that use conditioned air to treat the incoming air supply (which also saves energy), provide dehumidification or filter the air.

This year, take your home ventilation to new heights. Ventilation systems will help to improve indoor air quality, give you more control over ventilation, and upgrade your home comfort. Get help with your home’s ventilation by contacting Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning today. Our experts serve San Antonio homeowners with pride.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Ventilation image via Shutterstock

Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) are an ideal system for San Antonio homeowners, who deal with nearly year-round high humidity levels. They not only help to manage humidity, but they can operate nearly cost-free, due to their ability to reuse conditioned air. So, with one system, you can effectively manage indoor air quality, comfort, and energy savings.

Most homes require ventilation, especially during extreme weather, because they tend to stay closed up to keep homeowners comfortable. But this action also restricts air circulation, keeping air inside and preventing fresh air from infiltrating the home.

That’s how ERVs help, providing an equal supply of fresh incoming air and polluted outgoing air. And while that air is exhausted, it takes with it the pollution — and moisture — from within your home.

Here’s how it works:

• Two supply channels allow one duct to take in fresh, outside air, while another disposes of stale, moist indoor air.
• The two streams of air pass each other, but don’t ever intermingle, so there’s no chance of pollution to taint incoming air.

But here’s the rub — while the ERV transfers these two streams of air, there’s one element that does remain: Energy. In the summer, when the ERV exhausts cool air, the energy is transferred to the supply stream. The system can reuse up to 80 percent of conditioned air to pre-cool the incoming supply — reversing the cycle in the winter, reusing heated air.

You may be wondering, Why do I need an ERV when I have a central A/C system that? Air conditioners are not designed to remove humidity. The air in your home only feels less moist because it feels cooler, and colder air naturally holds less moisture. It’s highly beneficial to have a ventilation system to manage moisture, increasing the efficiency of your A/C when it doesn’t have to overcome humidity.

Take your home’s comfort, indoor air quality and energy savings to the next level with a energy recovery ventilators. Contact us at Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning for help. We have served San Antonio homeowners since the mid-1970s.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Fresh air image via Shutterstock

There are a few things San Antonio homeowners cannot control when it comes to energy savings. Energy prices and the cost of home HVAC equipment are generally non-negotiable.

We are also unable to control the weather in our region, which requires inordinate amounts of air conditioning – and electricity – to stay comfortable throughout the long, hot summer.

One thing that you can control, however, is how much energy your home equipment is called on to produce, at least to some degree. Here are Jon Wayne’s top tips for finding and controlling big energy consumers – and changing them into energy savers:

• Insulation. By upgrading the insulation throughout your home, you’ll keep more conditioned air inside the home’s spaces – and hot air outside where it belongs.
• Sealing air leaks. When your home’s exterior shell allows energy to escape via air leaks, you’re likely losing large amounts of air conditioning. Sealing leaks will reduce energy consumption and increase energy savings.
• Sizing equipment. If you’re upgrading to a new system, have your home evaluated to ensure that you get the appropriately sized system to match your home’s heating and cooling load.
• Evaluating ducts. Your home’s ductwork is susceptible to deterioration, as the pipes can become disconnected and their seal loosened. It’s important to have an expert evaluate the ductwork to ensure efficiency.
• Ensuring a healthy attic. Large amounts of heated air tends to gather in the attic because hot air rises. That requires significant amounts of cooled air in order to compensate and raises energy bills. Therefore, it’s critical that your attic space has a proper ventilation system to ensure that hot air is vented outside.

Do you need help boosting your energy savings? The experts at Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning will be happy to help. We have been keeping San Antonio homeowners comfortable, while reducing their energy bills, for decades. We have the expertise and experience to get the job done right. Contact us today.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about energy savings and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Every home needs proper ventilation for healthy indoor air quality. A certain amount of air exchanges per hour is necessary to flush impurities out and keep fresh air coming in. According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, for every person that lives in your home, there should be 0.35 changes in air each hour. That means 15 cubic feet of air should be changing in the home every minute.

Of course, you could fling open windows and doors and get a lot of ventilation. But that’s not a practical approach for San Antonio’s extreme hot weather, and your energy bill would skyrocket. To keep your home’s air clean with effective circulation, here are some ventilation systems to choose from:

Supply Ventilation

This type of system works on the premise that supplying fresh air from the outside will pressurize the home, and then old air will escape out of the building through a few, small leaks, exhaust fan ducts and purposefully placed vents. And while these systems don’t provide homeowners with an exact air exchange, it does ensure a supply of fresh air and is a low-cost option.

Whole-House Ventilation

These systems typically provide a balanced supply of air into and out of the home. With the use of a fan to force air in and a fan to draw air out, this type of system involves using two duct systems, one for each fan. And they are ideal for ensuring both exhausted and supplied air.

Whole House Dehumidifier/Ventilator

These are top-of-the-line ventilation systems that offer a balanced supply, but they go a step further. Dehumidifiers can regulate the moisture content in the indoor air while the AC system is off. Most homeowners discover that by reducing the relative humidity within the home to around 50%, they are able to be comfortable at a higher temperature setting. Dust mites do not survive at that level of moisture, so enhanced Indoor Air Quality is a bonus with these systems. Let’s face it, we do everything we can to keep the AC from running, but the only way the AC system alone can dehumidify is while it is running.

For help establishing your ventilation needs, contact the experts at Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Jon Wayne Heating and Air Conditioning services  San Antonio and the surrounding communities of Seguin, New Braunfels, Bulverde, Boerne, and Comal County. Visit our website to see our special offers to get started today!

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Many San Antonio residents have reduced their homes’ energy loss by plugging air leaks and sealing their homes tightly. While this is an important step toward improving your home’s overall energy efficiency, it can compromise your indoor air quality. If air can’t move into and out of the house freely, indoor pollutants (dust, pet dander, viruses and bacteria, chemicals from cleaning products) build up. 

Some people just open a window to give the air inside a chance to cycle. But that costs these homeowners expensive, conditioned air and introduces more heat and humidity into the home — not to mention a fresh crop of allergens and other pollutants.

Ventilation systems help rid your indoor air of particles and microorganisms while introducing fresh air into your home. And they do it efficiently.

Many different ventilation systems are on the market. Supply systems use a fan to draw air into the house. The resulting high-pressure level indoors forces stale air out of the building through windows or vents. Exhaust systems work on a reverse principle, drawing air out of the home, which results in an indoor “vacuum” that draws fresh air in.

Especially for homes that are tightly sealed, balanced systems may be a better choice than supply or exhaust systems. With a balanced ventilation system, air is cycled into and out of the building equally. Energy recovery ventilators are a popular type of balanced system. ERVs pull in fresh air while exhausting stale air, but they also filter incoming air to remove pollutants and allergens. And ERVs save energy — and money — by removing humidity and heat from the air as it enters your home. That also means less strain on your air conditioning system.

If you have questions about how ventilation systems can improve your comfort and your indoor air quality, contact the HVAC professionals at Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning. We are always happy to help our San Antonio-area neighbors.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about ventilation systems  and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Jon Wayne Heating and Air Conditioning services  San Antonio and the surrounding communities of Seguin, New Braunfels, Bulverde, Boerne, and Comal County. Visit our website to see our special offers to get started today!

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Generally speaking, most San Antonio homeowners think comfort means having a good air-conditioning system. That’s true. However, the comfort an efficient A/C provides also depends on how the air is circulated, and that’s where ventilation enters the picture.

Think of ventilation as icing on the cake: Your A/C produces cooled air, and a whole-house ventilation system provides an equal exchange of exhaust and fresh air supply. The ventilation process is very efficient, because it takes a majority of the conditioned air that the A/C produces and recycles it in the supply process, so your home’s total efficiency gets a boost.

Here’s how the system works:

• A whole-house ventilation system has a sensor that monitors temperature and humidity levels and adjusts the system’s functions to supply a comfortable balance of dehumidified air that’s just the right temperature for your home.
• The supply intake is controlled through motorized dampers, allowing the intake vent to respond to the main controls and supply a fine-tuned response to your home’s needs.
• Some units feature a timer that allows 24-hour control so you can choose when to use the system.
• Most whole-house systems combine with your air handler and are installed on the return side of a forced-air system.

Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) go a step further than whole-house systems to provide optimal humidity control. ERVs recover cooled air within the home before exhausting it, but they have technology that allows them to remove a significant amount of moisture as well.

The benefits of whole-house ventilation systems extend beyond saving money, although this benefit alone might persuade you to install one. Its continual supply of fresh air and its ability to exhaust old, stale air gives your home that fresh-air feeling without opening windows. And ventilation enhances humidity control, a concern for San Antonio residents. The comfort that ventilation systems extend to homeowners is one of their primary features, one you’re certain to enjoy.

Considering enhancing your home’s comfort with a whole-house ventilation system? The experts at Jon Wayne would be happy to help you select a system that works for your home. Contact us anytime.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Jon Wayne Heating and Air Conditioning services  San Antonio and the surrounding communities of Seguin, New Braunfels, Bulverde, Boerne, and Comal County.  Visit our website to see our special offers to get started today!

San Antonio homeowners get to know their homes really well in the summer. With high temperatures and humidity, homeowners seek refuge inside to stay comfortable. As a result, indoor air quality can be compromised when a home is closed up for a long period. Indoor air quality, however, can be managed and improved through source control, ventilation and air-cleaning systems.

Several indoor pollutants trigger problems even in healthy people, but are more damaging for those with respiratory issues, like asthma. There are two categories of pollutants that can lurk in closed-up homes: particulates, such as dust and mold, and gases, such as paint fumes.

• Removing pollutants at their source is one of the most efficient and least-costly methods to improve indoor air quality. If you’re remodeling your home, doing painting jobs outside or with enough air circulation to release fumes outdoors targets the source. Taking care of any moisture problems quickly and cleaning up mold thoroughly when there is a problem removes the source.
• Ventilation helps to move fresh air in and stale air out. A Whole House Dehumidifier can be set up to draw in fresh outside air into the home, while removing moisture from the air. One benefit here is a Whole House Dehumifier can help keep the indoor humidity at levels at which dust mites can not survive. In addition, when indoor humidity is consistantly kept at the 50% range, users find that they can run their AC thermostat setting up to 5 degrees higher and still be comfortable.
• Air cleaners can help to target specific classes of contaminants. UV Light systems target mold and bacteria. Air Purification Systems do more than filter the air – they purify it, often through the use of several air-cleaning technologies.

For improved indoor air quality this summer, use source control, ventilation and air cleaners. Contact the experts at Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning for a consultation. Our indoor air quality technicians can help you target the right pollutants and get you on your way to cleaner air.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about indoor air quality and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Jon Wayne Heating and Air Conditioning services  San Antonio and the surrounding communities of Seguin, New Braunfels, Bulverde, Boerne, and Comal County.  Visit our website to see our special offers to get started today!

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

You know how hot it gets in San Antonio, and you know that heat rises, so just imagine how hot it gets in your attic.  You may think it doesn’t matter how hot it gets because the attic is not part of your living space, but an improperly ventilated attic can have several negative effects on your home.

Attic ventilation fans are a simple, cost-effective solution that will make your entire home more comfortable year-round. An improperly ventilated attic can create a number of problems in summertime, including:

• Excessive heat in the attic can draw the cooled air from the rest of the house, which will make your air conditioning system run more frequently and increase utility bills in summer.
• Roof shingles can become damaged from excess heat.
• Excess moisture can build up, increasing the growth of mold, mildew and fungus.

Attic ventilation fans draw cooler air from outside through attic vents, so it is important to keep all attic vents unobstructed from objects and insulation.

Proper sealing and insulation are also essential for good attic ventilation.  If your attic is not sealed from the rest of the house, ventilation fans can draw conditioned air into the attic, decreasing your energy efficiency and raising monthly utility bills.

Although the San Antonio winters are not typically extremely cold, attic ventilation fans should also be used in the cooler months.  Keeping your attic cool in the winter will help protect your roof and keep your home warmer.  Again, proper sealing and insulation are critical or heated air will be drawn from the rest of your home.

The professionals at Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning can install attic ventilation fans, attic vents and additional insulation to ensure your attic is ready to withstand the summer heat.

We use blown cellulose fiber insulation, which is much more effective than traditional fiberglass insulation because it can fill spaces of all shapes and sizes.  We can also seal your attic so that outside air does not reach your living spaces, increasing energy efficiency and allowing your equipment to work less. Call us today for a consultation.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about attic ventilation fans and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Jon Wayne Heating and Air Conditioning services  San Antonio and the surrounding communities of Seguin, New Braunfels, Bulverde, Boerne, and Comal County. To get started, check out our website or see our current promotions.

The air in our homes during summer months, especially those hot days in which we all hide inside, can be just as bad as the air in the dead of winter because of a lack of circulation.  When it’s just too hot to throw open the windows for fresh air, a ventilator can bring fresh air in to your home without the worry of losing the cooled air. In fact, 80 percent of the air leaving your home can be recovered with a ventilating system so that you don’t experience high energy costs while letting fresh air in to your home.

San Antonio’s summers are no joke. Energy recovery ventilators are often designed as ducted whole-house systems, and also allow the exchange of moisture so that the air in your home is not only cooler, but less humid.

Common bath fans are not enough in most homes to provide adequate ventilation.  With energy recovery ventilators, it is possible to:

• Remove stale air from inside your home while allowing fresh air in.
• Remove excess humidity.
• Recover energy so that most of it is captured, helping keep energy costs low.

Be aware that if you decide on this solution for your home, there are several options available.  You can find wall or window units, or duct-connected whole-house units, which are the most common type used today.  You will find that duct-connected units are often more effective due to their ability to distribute/pick up air more efficiently.

Jon Wayne Heating and Air Conditioning, serving the San Antonio area for more than three decades, is dedicated to helping you with your heating/cooling needs, as well as answering any questions/concerns you may have.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about energy recovery ventilators and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.