Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning

Dallas-Fort Worth Plumbing & Air Conditioning Specialist

Serving DFW and Surrounding Areas: (972) 235-6600
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Thank a Yankee for our Cool Buildings on a Hot Day

September 11, 2017 By SPAC WebAuthor Leave a Comment

“The greatest contribution to civilization in this century may well be air-conditioning—and America leads the way.” – S. F. Markhum, British scholar

Ever wonder where air conditioning was invented? Maybe some miserably hot engineer in Houston one summer day a few decades ago decided “enough is enough” and went to work to cool his office?

You’d be a few centuries and a few thousand miles off.

Experiments to cool our air began probably earlier than you think:

It all started with the great inventor Ben Franklin. He knew all liquid evaporation has a cooling effect. Together with a Cambridge University professor, John Hadley, who discovered that evaporation of alcohol–which evaporates faster than water—the two began experimenting on how to cool an object enough to freeze water. The year was 1758.

Seventy years later, in 1820, Inventor Michael Faraday made a similar discovery in England when he compressed and liquified ammonia.

A decade later, a doctor in Florida, John Gorrie, built an ice-making machine that used compression to make buckets of ice and then blew air over them. He patented the idea in 1851, but had no financial backing, so his idea to cool buildings throughout the US didn’t materialize.

A new attempt to cool a room was the result of an assassination attempt in 1881. President James Garfield was shot on July 2, and naval engineers went to work to keep him cool by building a cooling unit that used water-soak cloth and fans, pushing hot air up to keep the air below cool. It worked, but used an enormous amount of ice—a half million pounds in 60 days–and the president died from his injury.

YANKEE Ingenuity

It wasn’t until 1902 in Brooklyn, New York, that a machine that truly worked to cool air was invented.

Willis Carrier invented an “Apparatus for Treating Air” for a local Lithographing and Publishing Company, which blew air over cold coils to control room temperature and humidity, to keep paper from wrinkling and ink aligned.

Other companies quickly became interested in his apparatus and Carrier opened the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America.

Four years later, Stuart Cramer, a textile mill engineers in North Carolina, created a ventilating device that adds water vapor to the air of textile plants, and coins the term “air conditioning” to explain it.

Eight years later, he first home to have air conditioning installed went into the mansion of Millionaire Charles Gates. It was as big as a room: seven feet tall, six feet wide and twenty feet long. And it didn’t get used much: the house was unoccupied, and located in Minneapolis.

The first window unit came in 1931, invented by two men, H.H. Schultz and J. Q. Sherman. By 1932 they were manufactured for sale, but only the very rich could afford them: at $10,000 to $50,000 each, equivalent to $120,000 to $600,000 today, not many sold in those first years.

The first air conditioned are arrived in 1939. The Packard could keep its passengers cool, but if they were too cool, the driver had to stop the car, turn off the engine, and disconnect a compressor belt under the hood.

It wasn’t until the post-World War II economic boom in the 1950’s that air conditioning began to be installed in homes.  Over a million window units were sold in 1953, and by 1970 window units gave way to central air conditioning. R-12, more commonly known as Freon-12, is used as the refrigerant.

How they work today

Central air conditioners have two separate components: the condenser and the evaporator. The condenser unit is usually located outside the house on a concrete slab. The evaporator coil is mounted in the plenum, or main duct junction, above the furnace.

Most central air conditioners are connected to a home’s forced-air distribution system. The same motor, blower, and ductwork used for heating are used to distribute cool air from the air conditioning system. When a central air conditioner is operating, hot air inside the house flows to the furnace through the return-air duct. The hot air is moved by the blower across the cooled evaporator coil in the plenum and is then delivered through ducts to cool the house. When the air conditioner works but the house doesn’t cool, the problem is probably in the distribution system.

Whatever your air conditioning, heating, or plumbing needs, Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning is here to help. We serve families in Dallas, Plano, Fort Worth, and surrounding cities.

Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning is family owned and operated. We understand our neighbors in Texas face some unique challenges, and Dallas air conditioning units are some of the hardest working in the world. It’s good to have a relationship with a dependable, professional heating, air conditioning and plumbing service provider like Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning.  It may sound corny these days, but we run our business the old-fashioned way. We get to know our customers and tend to keep our relationships for a long time. Contact us today for all your air conditioning replacement and service needs.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Air Conditioning, air conditioning dallas tx, Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning

Is Your Central AC System the Right Size?

April 25, 2017 By SPAC WebAuthor Leave a Comment

If you own a home in the Dallas area, where temperatures range from warm to sweltering for much of the year, it’s likely that you will need to install a new central air conditioner in your home eventually.   It is extremely important to get the right size unit for your home.

 

Right Sizing Your AC Unit

If too small, your central AC system will work harder than it needs to in order to cool your house on warm days.  And an undersized AC unit will struggle without success to cool your home on hot days, consuming more than its fair share of energy.

If your central air conditioning system is too large for your home, there will be problems as well.  If the unit is too large, the air inside the house will cool very rapidly and cause the system to shut off before the rest of the house (the building and its contents) can get cool.  Held inside a warm container, the air in the home then heats up again quickly.  This causes the system to cycle on and off rapidly, operating inefficiently and driving up your energy bill.

 

Central AC System Measurement

Central AC units are sized by the ton.  Residential AC systems are typically between 1.5 and 5 tons, and they are sized in half-ton increments.  When residential AC tonnage on the larger end of this range is needed, it’s wise to consider two smaller size units rather one larger one.  Having two units offers the homeowner an opportunity to save energy if there is one part of the house that is used less often.  Another benefit: should one system malfunction, the other will likely still be working.

 

AC Size Calculation Methods

There are several methods that can be used to determine the proper size central AC system for a home.  One method involves a calculation that uses the interior volume (not square footage) of the home.  Another method uses a sizing chart that looks at climate zones and square footage.  There are also automated programs that can calculate the proper size of AC system based on numerous factors including:

  • Home size
  • Insulation level and condition
  • Condition of Ductwork
  • Type and orientation of windows
  • Amount of trees and shade provided for home
  • Level of sun exposure on exterior walls

 

The determination of the correct size of AC system needed for your home is a complicated calculation that is best left to HVAC professionals.  If you need help determining the right size AC unit for your home, contact Sirius Plumbing & Air Conditioning at (972) 235-6600 for an appointment.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: AC size, Air Conditioning, air conditioning dallas tx, air conditioning tonage, new air conditioning unit dallas tx, selecting the right size HVAC, Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning, Trane HVAC systems

Spring Has Sprung

April 4, 2017 By SPAC WebAuthor Leave a Comment

Spring Is HERE: Change the Air Filter and Get the AC Ready

Allergy season is here and you might notice that the people in your household are sneezing and coughing a little more, particularly with the recent pollen drop. Changing the air filter may help to alleviate allergy symptoms, which is part of why we recommend doing so each month or so. But did you know that this serves a different purpose when it comes to the state of your air conditioning system?

Changing the filter also helps air flow through your air conditioner with ease and prevent sudden system failure.

Changing the Filter Helps Your Air Conditioner

Neglecting to change the air filter can do quite a bit of harm to the system. Your air filter collects a lot of dust and debris from the air throughout your home over the course of a just a month or two. When the air filter is clogged up it may continue blocking some debris, but it also stops air from flowing through the system. The lack of airflow affects your air conditioner in a few big ways:

  • You feel less comfortable or the air quality in your home diminishes.
  • Not as energy efficient
  • The air conditioner struggles to run, increasing wear and tear and leading to potential system breakdowns!

Changing your air filter every month can help prevent the above issues. Just set a reminder on your phone if that makes it easier.

Have your AC cleaned and checked by us

One other major step of maintaining a home’s air conditioner is cleaning the coils that reside in the outside unit of your system. These coils are responsible for the release of heat as it dissipates from refrigerant condensing in the coils.

Refrigeration is a process of heat exchange, and that’s how your split-system AC cools your home. When the coils outside are dirty, heat cannot be released into the air, which causes some of the same problems as a clogged filter (and may also lead to water leaks in the home!). Ask us about our annual Sirius Comfort Care program to learn more about preventative maintenance.

Sign up for our Sirius Comfort Care Program

You may be able to clean the outside coils on your own, but we don’t always recommend this. The best way to get your air conditioner ready for the warm season is to schedule professional maintenance services, or an AC tune-up. During this service, technicians will…

  • Clean or replace the filters
  • Clean and inspect coils
  • Complete a visual inspection
  • Test system
  • Tighten electrical connections

…and much more! All of this can help to prepare your air conditioner for warm season and help reduce the possibility of system failure, restore energy efficiency and lower bills, and stay more comfortable all spring and summer long.

For an AC tune-up in the Dallas, Texas and Ft. Worth, Texas metroplex, contact Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning today.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: AC, AC Maintenance, Air Conditioning, air conditioning dallas tx, Air Filter, Air Filtration, Indoor Air Quality, programmable thermostat, Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning

Meet our Interns: Josh Vela

August 12, 2016 By SPAC WebAuthor Leave a Comment

Josh
Joshua Tyler Vela likes designing and creating landscape features, and originally wanted to grow up to become a landscape designer. He changed his decision while taking a high school accounting class, realizing accounting was more his style. The 100+ degree heat this summer may have solidified his career decision to stick with accounting—indoors—and become a CPA.

As the summer heats up outside, Josh is a Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning summer intern working inside. 

Josh grew up in Wylie, Texas, and attended Canyon Creek Academy where he competed in Track and soccer and was in the band. After graduation, he headed off to Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he is an accounting major.

He has spent this summer learning about the real world in a job much like one he’ll soon have, and earning money to help him complete his college degree.

He’s also involved with Beta Gamma Sigma, an elite international honor business society. Membership eligibility requirements include that a student must be in the top 10% of a bachelor’s business program or top 20% for master’s programs. The purpose of Beta Gamma Sigma is to encourage and honor academic achievement in the study of business and to foster personal and professional excellence among its members. A major emphasis of the society is to foster ethical business leadership. Members reside in over 160 countries with 27 alumni chapters located in major metropolitan areas in the U.S., Germany, Hong Kong, Spain, Switzerland & Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Peru, London and Toronto. These chapters provide educational and networking opportunities for members.

Josh got to network with a number of Sirius employees this summer as his role involved working with bookkeeping, Accounts Receivable, making deposits, invoicing and reconciliation of the books.

After graduation next spring, he plans to finish a master’s degree and then take the CPA certification exam to eventually work for a large firm.

His childhood dream of being a landscape engineer will live on, though, since he admits, “As a matter of fact, most the landscaping around my house was designed by me.”

While many summer intern jobs don’t pay, Sirius knows it’s right to pay their interns—as they work and learn the business–to help them to afford and finish their college educations.  Josh is grateful for his summer intern position, and Sirius Air Conditioning and plumbing was happy to have his skills in the office all summer.

For more information about Sirius Plumbing and Air and their Internships giving back to the community, see the company’s website: http://siriuspac.com/ or call 972-235-6600.

The company is located in Carrollton at 1406 Halsey Way, Suite 100, Carrollton, TX 75007.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Accounting internship, Air Conditioning, air conditioning dallas tx, internship, Internship dallas texas, plumbing Dallas Tx, Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning

R22 Phase Out

August 10, 2016 By SPAC WebAuthor Leave a Comment

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The Montreal Protocol was adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1987 to restrict the production and consumption of products that negatively affect the ozone layer. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used for air conditioning units were the main concern of the Montreal Protocol. CFCs contribute to ozone layer depletion and as a result, countries stopped production in 1995. Air conditioning units were then powered by HCFCs which are less harmful than CFCs, but still contribute to depletion of the ozone layer. Now, the Montreal Protocol seeks to phase out HCFCs by 2020 to protect the ozone layer.

HCFCs include the popular refrigerant R22, also known as Freon, used in air conditioning units produced prior to 2010. After 2010, it became illegal to charge air conditioning units with R22 unless the unit was produced prior to 2010. By 2020 all R22 production will end and only small quantities found in left over units will remain. Production of R22 has already begun to slow resulting in a perfect economics 101 example of supply and demand. There is a finite amount of R22 so prices are rising. In 2011 the average retail price per pound of R22 was $40-$50*.

The fixed amount of R22 left is depleting quickly and will leave owners of R22 air conditioning units out of luck when needing service. R22 will be replaced with an environmentally friendly refrigerant called R410A. This refrigerant will NOT work in units that currently use R22. This means that in order to use the EPA approved R410A, you will need a new air conditioning unit.

So, what can you do? The guaranteed remedy would be the replace your unit with an R410A compatible unit. Because this is not the best money saving choice, there is another option. The refrigerant R407C can be used as a temporary stand-in for R22 until your unit is due for permanent replacement. In order to use R407C instead of replacing your unit, an air conditioning technician will have to remove all R22 and recharge the unit with the replacement R407C. This may be a larger cost upfront, but will save you money in the long run.

This legislation may seem daunting, but fear not R22 unit owners. You will not have to replace your units. R407C is a low cost solution to a possibly expensive problem. By substituting R22 with R407C, you will be able to use your existing unit until it requires replacement.

Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning is available to answer questions you may have concerning this refrigerant transition. Contact us at 972-235-6600 or on the web at Siriuspac.com.

*prices include labor and refrigerant

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: AC, Air Conditioning, air conditioning dallas tx, protect home, R22, R22 air conditioners, R22 Phase Out, R22 replacement, R407C, R407C refrigerant, R410A, refrigerant, Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning

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Recent Posts

  • It’s Time for Winter Maintenance
  • Thank a Yankee for our Cool Buildings on a Hot Day
  • Easy Ways You Can Help Save Water
  • Is Your Central AC System the Right Size?
  • Spring Has Sprung

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Dallas, Plano, Carrollton, Richardson, Garland, Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Coppell, University Park, Highland Park, Fort Worth, Richland Hills, North Richland Hills, Arlington, Hurst, Bedford, Euless, Colleyville, Keller, Southlake, Grapevine, Trophy Club, and surrounding DFW communities.

Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning
1406 Halsey Way, Suite 100
Carrollton, TX 75007
972-235-6600 - DFW

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M-18876

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