D'Spain Sales and Service Blog

How a Thermostat Upgrade Will Help Your Heating

January 30th, 2015

It may not seem all that powerful compared to the size of your heater, but without it, your heater doesn’t start. What are we talking about? Your home’s thermostat. And if you are using an outdated one, you and your heating system may be missing out some important benefits. Today’s thermostats have come a long way since the dial or slide types, and can offer much more to you and your home than ever before. Professional installation ensures that your new thermostat will benefit your heating, so if you’ve held on to your current thermostat a little too long, call the experts at D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc. in Boerne, TX today.

Thermostat Options

There are four types of thermostat upgrades for your home:

  • Digital – a digital thermostat is the most basic of newer thermostats, but don’t think because they are basic that they aren’t effective. Unlike slide or dial thermostats, you can set a precise temperature with a digital thermostat, and they also have easy-to-use, intuitive buttons.
  • Programmable – a programmable thermostat is a digital thermostat that you can program for up to 7 days. You can set up to 4 program settings per day, which allows you to program for times of low- or no occupancy. If you have a set routine, you can loop your 7-day program indefinitely.
  • Wireless – a wireless thermostat is more of a system as it comes with a main receiver that takes the place of your wired thermostat, and this receiver communicates and works with the 3-4 wireless thermostats you can place anywhere in your home.
  • Smart – smart thermostat are the most advanced, offering you programmability, monitoring and tracking of your energy usage, all of which can be accessed remotely via a smart device.

Why Upgrade?

  • Better energy efficiency – with a thermostat that can offer precision and/or programming, you will have better control over your temperature settings and as a result, energy usage.
  • More convenient – with a programmable thermostat, there’s no more running back and forth to set and re-set the temperature; simply program it according to your needs and that’s it.
  • Less stress on your system – with your thermostat working more effectively, so does your heating system.

A thermostat upgrade is a fairly simple, straightforward way to improve the efficiency and operation of your heating. If you are ready to upgrade your home’s thermostat, call D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc. and schedule an appointment for our heating service in Boerne, TX today!

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Why You Should Have Carbon Monoxide Detectors Installed

January 21st, 2015

Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas that kills thousands of people a year worldwide. It is invisible, tasteless, and odorless, making it virtually undetectable to human senses. This is part of what makes it so dangerous. Unfortunately, it also happens to be far more common than you would think. The largest producers of carbon monoxide are natural gas burning furnaces, which also happen to be among the most common types of heating systems. Let’s take a look at how furnaces actually produce carbon monoxide, and why installing carbon monoxide detectors is the best way to keep you and your family safe.

Incomplete Combustion

Carbon monoxide is one of several kinds of toxic gases that are all produced as byproducts of what is called “incomplete combustion.” Incomplete combustion simply means that not all of the fuel burned is converted into heat. Regardless of the kind of fuel you’re burning, if you’re using a combustion system there will always be byproducts left over. Obviously, furnaces would not be viable heating systems if they vented deadly gas into the home every time they were turned on. Therefore, it became necessary to construct a part that could heat the air while venting combustion byproducts out of the house. This part is called the “heat exchanger.”

The Heat Exchanger

The heat exchanger is a tube that connects the furnace burner assembly to the exhaust flue. As the burner assembly creates heat, it also creates combustion byproducts like carbon monoxide, which rise up the heat exchanger. The heat radiates through the heat exchanger and into the air being circulated throughout the home. The combustion byproducts continue to the exhaust flue to be safely disposed of.

The problem is that, over time, the heat exchanger can develop cracks from the stress of being exposed to high temperatures. In some cases, the combustion gases can then travel through these cracks and enter the air in your home. There is no reliable way to test whether or not you have been exposed unless you begin to feel the symptoms, which include headaches, nausea, blurred vision, seizures, and unconsciousness. You don’t want to wait until you experience these symptoms before acting, which is why carbon monoxide detectors are your best bet.

If you’d like to know more or schedule a service, call D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc. today. Our professional electricians in Helotes, TX are standing by to help you answer all of your questions.

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Some Benefits of Heat Pump Installation

January 14th, 2015

Compared to other parts of the country, our weather stays fairly moderate during the winter months, making a heat pump heating installation a great option for homeowners in Fair Oaks Ranch. Why? Heat pumps have a number of benefits, and they work very well in temperate climates. Not sure what a heat pump can offer you? Let’s take a look.

2-in-1 Device

With the installation of a heat pump, you get both heating and cooling for your home in one device, eliminating the need for two separate whole-home systems. Heat pumps can do this because they have a component called a reversing valve that allows them to change the directional flow of the refrigerant.

Great Energy Efficiency

Heat pumps don’t generate hot or cool air; therefore, they don’t need any fossil fuels and the amount of electricity they need to operate is about a quarter of that used by a whole-home heating or cooling system.

Very Versatile

Heat pumps can be used with several kinds of systems, including geothermal, hybrid heating, ducted and ductless systems.

Long Lifespan

The average lifespan for a heat pump is 20-25 years, as compared to a combustion heating system, which is 15-20 years, and an air conditioning system, which is 10-12 years.

Quiet and Comfortable

Heat pumps blow air in a low-volume, gentle way, allowing for quiet and comfortable dispersal of air.

How Do They Work?

You may be wondering how a device can offer both heating and cooling without benefit of fossil fuels; it’s really quite simple. Heat pumps work by transferring heat from one location to another; they use refrigerant to facilitate this transfer. In winter, the heat pump absorbs the heat that surrounds it, concentrates it and transfers the warm air into your home; in summer, it does the opposite. The reversing valve, mentioned above, allows the heat pump to change the way the refrigerant flows, which allows the heat pump to change from heating to cooling. As the homeowner, all you have to do to change modes is press a button on your thermostat.

If a heat pump sounds like the right heating system to install in your Fair Oaks Ranch home, call D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc. today and schedule an appointment with one of our installation experts.

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Ways to Tell You Need Electrical Wiring Repair

January 13th, 2015

We count on electricity for just about everything, which is one of the reasons why it’s so important to make sure that the wiring in your home is safe and effective. Because wiring is hidden in your walls, there isn’t any way to see the actual wiring and if there are any existing problems with it. To be able to tell, you need to look for some telltale signs of electrical problems in your Bandera home. The electrical experts at D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc., have put together a list of signs that can indicate you may need electrical wiring repair:

  • Burned-out light bulbs – are you changing light bulbs in certain fixtures too frequently? The average light bulb should last about 6 months, so if you are changing bulbs far more frequently, you should call an electrician.
  • Dimming – do your lights dim when another appliance is turned on? This can indicate that your electrical system becomes imbalanced from a power surge each time that appliance is turned on. These kinds of overloads can cause damage to other appliances so it’s important to have an electrician review the problem right away.
  • Shocks from appliances – shocks from appliances are dangerous and usually indicate that an appliance is not properly grounded. All electrical appliances need to be grounded safely and correctly, so if you are getting a zap each time you use your coffee maker, call for assistance.
  • Burning smell – burning smells are serious and should be treated as such. Burning smells indicate that an electrical outlet or wire has become too hot and has actually started to burn. If you smell burning from any kind of outlet or your electrical panel, call for help immediately.
  • Charring/discoloration – if you see charring or discoloration around any kind of electrical outlet, do not use it and call for help. The charring indicates that a small fire has actually erupted and has left a mark.
  • Constantly tripping breakers or fuses – fuses or breakers that won’t stay on can indicate several things, but they all add up to one thing: an electrical problem. Faulty fuses or breakers can be replaced, but if an appliance or system is drawing too much power, or there is something wrong with your electrical panel, it’s much better to allow an expert to detect and repair the problem.

Electrical problems do not improve with time and typically become worse. If you are in need of quality electrical services in Bandera, call D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc. today to schedule an appointment.

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What to Do if Your Heater Breaks Down

January 7th, 2015

Pop quiz: you try to turn on your heater and nothing happens. What do you do? If you answered “call a professional to come look at it” you are correct. If you don’t have expert knowledge, it’s never a good idea to go poking around in a heating system. That being said, there are a few things you could check before you call for heating repair. This probably won’t fix the problem you’re having right now, but it just might help avoid future issues. Let’s take a look at what you should do if your heater breaks down.

Check the Thermostat

The thermostat is the core of your home heating system, much like your brain is the core of you central nervous system. If the thermostat malfunctions, it can cripple an otherwise healthy heating system. As such, it’s a good idea to check your thermostat any time your heating system seems to be acting up. Have a look at the display on your thermostat to make sure that everything is set properly. If the settings all seem correct and the temperature is accurate, then the problem might lie elsewhere.

Check the Pilot Light

All combustion-based heating systems possess some form of pilot light as an ignition source. In most heating systems, this pilot light is a small gas-powered flame that continuously burns underneath the central heating unit. If you have a combustion-based heater and it refuses to light, check the pilot light at the bottom of the heater. If the pilot light is out, that is likely the source of your troubles. Oftentimes, a pilot light that refuses to stay lit is the result of a faulty thermocouple. The thermocouple is a flame sensor that determines when to open the gas valve to the pilot light. If the thermocouple is malfunctioning, it will cut off the fuel supply and smother the pilot light. Fortunately, a professional can replace it fairly easily.

If you are having issues with your heater, call D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc. We provide professional heating repair service throughout Boerne.

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The History of “Auld Lang Syne”

January 1st, 2015

There are numerous different traditional songs associated with Christmas—but there is only one song that comes to mind immediately when people think of New Year’s Eve: “Auld Lang Syne.” It is hard to find a New Year’s Eve party where people won’t leap into singing “Should old acquaintance be forgot…” as the first stroke of midnight sounds. This tradition encompasses the globe, with almost every culture that celebrates New Year’s on January 1st breaking into song with the same set of lyrics.

Where did this song come from? And what do the words “auld lang syne” actually mean? The best place to ask these questions is Scotland. The Official Gateway to Scotland website calls the song “one of Scotland’s gifts to the world, recalling the love and kindness of days gone by, but in the communion of taking our neighbor’s hands, it also gives us a sense of belonging and fellowship to take us into the future.”

The melody of the piece originates from Lowland Scots folk song tradition. It was legendary Scottish Romantic poet Robert Burns (1759–1796) who created the words we know today, however. During the later years of his life, Burns dedicated much of his work to collecting Scottish folk tunes and giving them new life. The first mention Burns makes of “Auld Lang Syne” is in 1788, when he calls the song “a glorious fragment.” Burns wrote new lyrics to the old melody, and used the words “auld lang syne,” which is Scottish for “old long since,” and which can be translated into standard English as “long, long ago” or “days gone by.” The phrase was already known in earlier Scottish poems and folk songs, and appears to be the equivalent of “Once upon a time…” for Scots fairy tales.

Soon after Burns introduced the song to the public, it spread across Scotland as a New Year’s custom, and then to the rest of Great Britain. Scottish immigrants took the song with them as they moved across the globe, and by the middle of the 19th century it was a holiday tradition throughout the English-speaking world. By the close of the 20th century, it was a global phenomenon to ring in the New Year.

We imagine that you’ll end up singing or hearing “Auld Lang Syne” at some point this New Year’s (maybe you’ve already heard it while watching It’s a Wonderful Life).

All of us at D’Spain Sales & Services would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy coming year in the tradition of the song.

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5 Facts about Santa Claus

December 25th, 2014

Many holiday traditions involve the story of Santa Claus, the lovable old man who spends most of his time at the North Pole taking a single evening to deliver presents and candy to children everywhere. But since Santa Claus is so elusive (unless he happens to be visiting your local shopping mall), how do we know so much about him? Where exactly does his journey begin? Our holiday guide details 5 of the most common traditions associated with Jolly Old Saint Nick.

  1. The Origins of Santa: The name “Santa Claus” comes from St. Nicholas (a name which became Sinter Klaas for short in Dutch), a Christian Bishop from 4 A.D. who was known for giving his fortune away to those in need in Turkey. Santa Claus’ first associations with gift-giving comes from Holland’s St. Nicholas’ feast day, during which children would leave out their shoes overnight and find presents waiting inside the shoes on the next morning.
  1. The Stocking by the Chimney: While many people associate Holland’s shoe tradition with the origins of hanging a stocking, this isn’t entirely accurate. Hanging stockings instead comes from the legend of a time St. Nick helped a man afford to marry off his daughter by throwing a bag of gold down the chimney, which landed in a stocking that was hanging up to dry.
  1. St. Nick’s Outfit: Santa got his fashion sense from a wooden cutout handed out during a meeting of the New York Historical Society in 1804. But it wasn’t until a 1930s Coca Cola advertisement that his traditionally blue, white, and green outfit was transformed into a big red suit.
  1. Leaving Cookies out for Santa: Food was traditionally used as ornamentation during the holidays in medieval Germany as apples and cookies commonly adorned the home at wintertime. When the Christmas tree became a common symbol of the season, edible treats began to vanish, a phenomenon which became attributed to Santa Claus’ snacking habits.
  1. Why Santa Drives a Sleigh: Santa gets his sleigh from a tale spun by Washington Irving, the same author who brought us the Headless Horseman. He wrote down an account of a dream in which Santa Claus drives a weightless wagon through the sky, and the stories became so popular, they stuck around.

Here at D’Spain Sales & Service, we hope that you have a joyful and safe celebration, no matter what holiday traditions you engage in this year. Happy holidays!

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Are Heat Pumps a Good Choice for Winter Heating?

December 17th, 2014

It’s a good question, but the answer depends entirely on the climate in which you live. Heat pumps are a unique form of heating system, with their own advantages and operation prerequisites. They can certainly serve a home well during winter (why install a heating system that can’t heat during the coldest time of year?) but there are a couple of things about which you should be aware. Let’s take a look at the inner workings of a heat pump, and what it can do for you.

How Heat Pumps Work

A heat pump has two main components, an indoor unit and an outdoor unit. Each unit contains a coil, and is connected by a refrigerant line that runs between them. As the names suggest, the indoor unit is installed inside the house, while the outdoor unit can be installed up to 100ft away.

When the heat is turned on, the outdoor unit uses the coil inside it to evaporate refrigerant into gas. This process leeches heat from the air surrounding the unit into the coil. The gaseous refrigerant is then pumped inside to the indoor unit, which condenses it back into a liquid state. This releases the thermal energy from the refrigerant, where it can be used to heat the home.

This kind of heating has a lot of advantages. It’s energy efficient, safer than combustion systems, and pays for itself in savings on your heating bill. However, there is one big thing you need to think about before installing one:

Climate

As discussed above, heat pumps rely entirely on the surrounding air to provide thermal energy. This is a good thing in some ways, because it allows the heat pump to work without wasting resources on combustion like many heating systems do. Unfortunately, it also means that very cold climates can severely hamper a heat pump’s effectiveness. The colder the air, the less thermal energy will be available for the heat pump to use. This is only a real issue in areas that routinely sink under 0 degrees Fahrenheit. In those areas, however, you might want to consult a professional to see if having a heat pump would be worth it.

If you’d like to know more, call D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc or you can schedule a service appointment with us. We provide heating services in the Helotes area.

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How Heat Pumps Provide Both Heating and Cooling

December 11th, 2014

Heat pumps are popular systems for cooling homes, but they can also heat, too. It may seem confusing that a system that doesn’t generate heat like a boiler or furnace can offer heating, but this is one of the ingenious aspects of heat pumps systems, as well as one of the benefits.

So how does a heat pump heat your home? Let’s take a look.

Heat in the Air

Believe it or not, there is always heat in the air, even when it’s cold outside. Your heat pump uses this latent heat to help heat your home – but there is a process. As we stated above, heat pumps don’t generate heat; instead, they transfer heat from one location to another. To help facilitate this transfer, refrigerant is used. During the winter, the outdoor unit of your heat pump system absorbs the heat in the surrounding air; the heat pump concentrates this heat to intensify it, then distributes the heat to your living spaces.

The Reversing Valve

So what enables a heat pump to provide both heating and cooling? A component called the reversing valve. The reversing valve changes the direction of how the refrigerant flows, which allows the heat pump to work in two modes: heating or cooling. A reversing valve has two settings within it: one is excited, the other is relaxed. The valve manufacturer sets which state stands for heating and which stands for cooling, so there can be variations between valves. What doesn’t change is that once a state is set for a specific operation – either heating or cooling – the other state setting is always going to be the other operation. But as the homeowner, you have it much easier: simply press a button on your dual-mode thermostat to change from heating to cooling and back again.

Heat pumps can be complex components, so if you are experiencing issues with your heat pump in Bandera, call D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc.

Our trained and certified heating experts can help with any heat pump issue you may have, so call us today!

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Qualities of an Excellent Professional Electrician

December 10th, 2014

There are certain vendors your home simply can’t be without: excellent heating and cooling service providers, excellent plumbers and excellent electricians.

Finding reliable service providers for your home can be challenging, and when it comes to finding good electricians, there are some specific things you need to be able to count on. Here are some tips to help you find a reliable, professional electrician in fair Oaks Ranch, TX:

  • Training and certification – working with electricity is complex and requires a number of hours of education and training. Check to make sure that any electrician you want to work with has the training and certification required for your area.
  • Licensed and insured – any tradesperson who does work on your property should be licensed and insured. If they aren’t, you will be liable for any injuries or damages that happen while he/she works on your property.
  • Be fully updated on the National Electric Code (NEC) – the National Electric Code, also known as the NEC or NFPA70, outlines the standards for the safe installation of electrical wiring and equipment in the United States. Codes can be updated at any time, so it’s important to know that your electrician is fully up-to-date on all standards.
  • Make sure there’s a physical address – whether you are hiring an individual or a company, make sure the person or company has a traceable, physical address.
  • Experience – ask your electrician what his/her experience has been working in the field. Classroom and apprenticeship learning are important, but hands-on experience is just as important.
  • Provides written estimates of work – electrical work can be complicated and can sometimes be costly. Any good electrician should be willing to give you a written estimate of the proposed scope of work.
  • Guarantees/refund policy – any tradesperson should be willing to stand behind his or her work; the best way to do that is to offer guarantees on work and/or have a refund policy.

Taking the time to find an excellent professional electrician can help you avoid problems that can occur when you hire the first person you see online or in the phonebook. Experiencing electrical problems right now?

D’Spain Sales & Service, Inc., has been offering comprehensive electrical services since 1974, so if you are in need of excellent electrical service, call us today!

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