We don’t really have a nice, dry heat here in Lousiana. Our summer season isn’t just hot. It’s sticky and it’s muggy. That level of humidity can cause some problems on top of discomfort. Remember, your air conditioner has a dehumidifying effect in your home. As refrigerant evaporates to cool the air in your house, it draws moisture out of the air. That moisture collects on the coil before dripping off into the condensate drain.
You probably know that damp conditions can lead to the growth of biological pollutants like bacteria and mold. That latter one is a real concern when it comes to your air conditioning system. Avoid this highly undesirable combination with these tips from the Shreveport, LA, HVAC professionals on our team. Should mold start in your AC, remember, that system can potentially spread the spores throughout your entire home. That is definitely not a situation that you want to allow for.
The thermostat is a small but essential appliance in your home. It’s easy to overlook, but think about the job it does: it controls the comfort levels in your house and the fans circulating the air. (If you have a humidistat as part of the thermostat, it also controls humidity levels.) Unfortunately, people often have misunderstandings about thermostats, and this can end up raising their comfort costs.
Summers in Louisiana bring both heat and humidity—and everyone knows this is an unpleasant combo! No matter how hot it is, a high level of humidity will make the heat feel worse. This is because the moisture in the air makes it harder for the human body to release heat through perspiration. With more heat trapped in the body, people feel even hotter than the air around them.
When the last cold days of winter and early spring are in your rear-view mirror you probably won’t need to turn your furnace back on until fall comes again. In fact, we recommend you do either a partial or full shutdown of your furnace system once the weather forecast shows nothing but warm days for a long stretch to come. This is an easy way to lower your energy bills. 
Spring is often a time of weird weather shifts, but the trend is toward warmer weather until the true summer heat settles in. You’ll use your home heating system less and less through April and May until it shuts off for a few months.
When the cold weather winds down as spring advances, you’ll want to put the winter far behind you and consider your summer plans. The air conditioner in your house will soon switch to regular operation, so this is the ideal time to schedule its annual maintenance appointment.
As the winter winds down and the official start of spring arrives (i.e. this week), you’ll probably not give much thought to your furnace. The weather is going to warm up gradually on the climb toward the summer heat.
The heat pump is a hard-working comfort appliance. It puts in more work than a standard air conditioner or a furnace because a heat pump runs in both winter and summer. When it’s cold, a heat pump draws heat from the outside to warm the house. When it’s hot, a heat pump draws heat from out of the house to cool it. It uses the same components no matter if it’s in heating or cooling mode, so these parts can wear down rapidly over the years—twice as fast as an AC or a furnace.
