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FAQs
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Heating
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air conditioning
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GENERAL FAQS
HEATING FAQS
Air Conditioning FAQS
CRAWL SPACE FAQS
General FAQ

“The SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) is how the efficiency of your heating and cooling equipment is measured. The SEER is the amount of cooling your system will deliver per dollar spent on electricity, as compared to other systems. For example, a 3-ton unit may have a SEER efficiency rating of 13, 14, or 15. The higher the SEER the more efficient the system will be. The SEER rating of any given unit can range anywhere from 13 to 21.”

Each split system cooling unit has a nominal SEER rating. This rating can be increased with the upgrade of the same series indoor unit. The SEER rating of a system is based on the combination of equipment installed in the home. The outdoor equipment (heat pump or air conditioner), as well as the indoor equipment (evaporator coil and furnace, or air handler), play a vital role in the total rating.

Your heating and cooling systems work incredibly hard to perform their functions for your home every day. The constant stopping, starting and continual operation can wear down any machine if the proper care and maintenance is delayed. However, by performing regular maintenance, you can maximize the lifecycle of your heating or cooling unit and guard against many common equipment failures. Preventive maintenance inspections performed on a regular basis can uncover leaks, rust, rot, soot, frayed wires and corroded electrical contacts. You should have maintenance completed on your system regularly to ensure maximum efficiency and prevent possible problems that may occur in the near future. Check out our Comfort Protection Club to see how we can help with this!

Heat pumps, air conditioners, furnaces and air handlers require a professional tune-up twice a year; in the spring and fall. Inspections on boiler and furnace systems should include ductwork, pipes, dampers, valves, the chimney, registers, radiators, pumps, blowers, fuel lines, oil tank and every part of the actual furnace and boiler. Meanwhile, heat pump and air conditioning unit inspections should also include inspections of the fan, compressor, indoor coils, outdoor coils, and refrigerant lines.
When your outdoor unit doesn’t turn on, check to see if the circuit breaker has been tripped. When this happens, you can easily reset it after locating the circuit breaker panel. If it still does not come on or cuts off soon after, call an HVAC specialist.
There are many factors that affect the sizing and specifications of your system, including square footage, insulation, window surface and configuration, geographic location of your home, duct sizing and arrangement, and many others. We can perform an in-home load analysis to determine which equipment combinations will perfectly suit your home and your family’s needs. Depending upon the construction of your home, one (1) ton of air conditioning can cool anywhere from 300 to 800 square feet of home. The only way to ensure the size of the system you purchase will be large enough to heat or cool your home, but not any larger than you need, is to have your home’s individual heating and cooling needs to be evaluated by a licensed professional.
As a Trane dealer, we are the best resource for identifying and supplying the correct, current parts for your system, as well as pricing and availability.
Under the standard factory warranty, Trane covers parts that fail during the warranty period due to defect in the part. The warranty does not cover labor. A warranty certificate was included with your homeowner information packet and is specific to the model numbers, serial numbers and installation dates of your products. All Trane equipment that we install is registered with Trane Corporation to ensure your 10-year parts warranty. If you cannot find your warranty certificate, we will also be able to provide you with that information. With a Total Comfort Plan, you’ll have a ten-year parts and labor warranty on your Trane equipment.
Heating FAQs
To figure out just what the blinking red light on your furnace is trying to tell you, you can consult a chart that’s located somewhere on your furnace. The number of blinks should correspond to a similar number on the chart and that can help you begin to understand and solve the problem. If the manufacturer’s suggested fix does not work, consult an HVAC specialist.
This points to an ignition system malfunction which is an issue that should be seen to by an HVAC specialist.
If your furnace is blowing cold air, it might be a sign that your furnace light is out. If it is, try relighting it to see if it remains lit. If it doesn’t contact a professional for further assistance.
Filters for your Trane unit are made from higher-quality materials than those of the disposable filters found in retail stores. For that reason, replacement Trane filters can only be purchased through a Trane dealer. However, keep in mind that some Trane filters are reusable, and can be washed by hand in cold water.

Air Conditioning FAQs

Each home is a little different. You only need to change the filter when it’s too dirty to let air through. Pets, dirt, and dust can cause you to need to replace your filter more often. If you are unsure how often to replace your filter, take it out and hold it up to the light. If you are not seeing light through it, you are not getting enough air through it. At a minimum replace your filter at the beginning of a new season, during the spring and fall. When you replace it, if it is very dirty, try replacing it every 3 months. The purpose of the filter is to keep dirt and debris from damaging the internal components of your cooling system while still allowing enough air to move through the system. A dirty filter causes more strain on the electrical components causing them to fail sooner and your energy bill to be higher than it needs to be.
Inspect your unit’s distribution channels. Make sure that the fan on your unit is carrying air into the rooms or into your duct system.
If your unit turns on but doesn’t cool, check your thermostat to be sure that it is set at the correct temperature. You should then check the condenser and evaporator for dirt and clogging. If too much dirt builds up, your unit may not turn on at all.

There are a couple of different levels of troubleshooting. Basic troubleshooting that anyone can do if they know what to check, and advanced troubleshooting that most people are not trained to do. Be careful how much you attempt on your own, it is easy to get in over your head and do more damage than good.

We made this video to show you some easy air conditioner troubleshooting steps you can try before paying a technician to come to your home. These are the most common, preventable things our HVAC service technicians come across.

The 4 most common are lack of airflow, communication issues, failed components, and refrigerant levels. Airflow and communication issues are the easiest for homeowners to troubleshoot themselves. If you’ve tried to solve these on your own and you still need help, we’re happy to send one of our HVAC service techs to your home to diagnose and troubleshoot your air conditioner.

Ask yourself these 4 questions and then, based on your answers, make a decision.

  1. How broken is it? This can range from “ok” to “it won’t turn on”. After you have an HVAC technician look at it they should be able to tell you if it is minor or major.
  1. How old is your air conditioner?10 is the magic number, that is what they say the life expectancy is for air conditioners, give or take a few years. The closer you get to that age, take that into consideration.
  1. How often is it breaking down? Frequency matters. If you have an 8 year old air conditioner that is breaking down every year, it is probably only going to get worse.
  1. How much do the repairs cost? This is where personal preference comes into play. You have to weigh the costs of repairs and how often you’re having to make those repairs vs what it would cost to replace your air conditioner.

At Southern Goodman, our HVAC install department can complete an air conditioner install in as soon as a day. We stage the equipment the night before so it can be picked up early the next morning. The size of your air conditioner install will determine the size of the installation crew we send to install your system. Our goal is to complete your air conditioner install in 1 day.

According to energy.gov, 6% of the electricity we generate goes to cooling our homes, costing consumers $29 billion a year. So the best way to reduce your cooling bill is to use your AC less, here are a few suggestions.

  1. Adjust your thermostat up a few degrees. Most of us use our air conditioners to beat the heat but it would cost a little less if, maybe, we used them to take the edge off. The feeling of hot and cold is all relative. So in the hottest parts of the summer when it’s 100 outside, maybe you don’t need to cool the house to 68 to feel comfortable, maybe 75 or 80 would feel a lot cooler than 100 but cost less.
  1. During the hottest parts of the day, cover the windows that the sun is shining into. Sometimes our windows can act as a magnifying glass and superheat those rooms. Draw the shades or find something to block those rays.
  1. Turn on ceiling fans. Turning your ceiling fans on can create a breeze that evaporates the moisture from our skin and gives you a cool feeling. It doesn’t really change the temperature in the room but it feels like it does.
  1. Don’t add a lot of humidity into the room. Humid air retains heat more than dry air. If you have a whole home humidifier, turn it off for the summer. If you have a room humidifier or defuser, use it less.
  1. Upgrade to a high-efficiency air conditioner. Once it’s time to replace your air conditioner, ask the technician that meets with you show you more energy efficient models. They cost a little more upfront but same you more on your electric bill. You may even qualify for rebates and incentives from the manufacturer or the utility company.
Depends on whether you are trying to save money or get comfortable. If you are trying to save money, the higher you set it the less your air conditioner will run, therefore saving you more money. If you are trying to be comfortable, personal preference applies. If you’re looking for a happy medium, find what is comfortable and then adjust it up a couple of degrees.
Since they are electronic, programmable thermostats are more accurate and efficient than thermostats that contain mercury. With programmable thermostats you can control the temperature in your home at different times of day without ever touching your thermostat. Because everything is automatic, you will never forget to change the setting on your own.

If you have the fan setting on your thermostat set to “on” or “run”, causing it to run all the time, it may just be that the compressor has cycled off and there is nothing wrong. You can try adjusting the thermostat down and see if the air conditioner kicks on.

The other option is that something is not broken and it needs to be diagnosed to figure out what is causing the problem. It could be a lot of different things; frozen coils, refrigerant, bad compressor, a capacitor that has gone out, etc.

Before you pay a company to come to look at it, try these simple troubleshooting steps. You might be causing your own problem and not even realize it.”

It depends. It is possible your problem is a lack of insulation in the attic or uninsulated windows. It is also possible that your air conditioner is undersized or the ductwork in your home is undersized. You could also need more return air vents.

If you suspect the issue is with your air conditioner, the first step would be to have a technician come to your home and make sure everything is sized properly, the air conditioner and the ductwork. They will also check things like the refrigerant levels to make sure they are not too low or too high.

If the problem is with the ductwork, it can be fixed. Many times it is messy and requires a lot of drywall patching and repainting. It may be that the best solution is a new ductless technology called a mini-split system. One of our HVAC supervisors can show you what options are available and the price of each option. This visit is free and there is no obligation to buy.

It only cost $59 to get a certified HVAC technician to your home to diagnose and troubleshoot your air conditioner. They will find out why your air conditioner is not working and then give you options to repair it. Check out our Specials page to find all of our current offers!

They will arrive in a truck stocked with all the parts and tools to start your repair while still at your home, unless the situation is unusual. Once you approve the work, your HVAC technician will begin. Most of the time your air conditioner repair is completed the same day we arrive.

The magic of how your air conditioner works are the refrigerant and the coils inside and outside of the home that remove heat and moisture from the air. Airflow is key in the whole process. We made this video to explain the basics of how an air conditioner works. Our hope is that with a little information and understanding you will be able to make better-informed decisions when it comes to repairing and replacing your air conditioner when the time arrives.

Crawl Space FAQ

A wet crawl space is going to cause problem after problem. Moisture here can cause a lot of damage, including wood rot – which will inevitably endanger the structural integrity of a home – as well as the growth of dangerous molds and bacteria which could make your family really sick. Not only this, but moisture here will devalue your property quite significantly.

Your crawl space acts as the base of your home. If it’s in poor shape, the rest of your home is going to experience a lot of problems in time.
Whenever mold grows, wherever it grows, it releases spores up and into the air. Nearly 50% of the air your family breathes each day first originated in the crawl space. This means that those mold spores are in the air. When your family breathes them in, it can cause a wide variety of serious health problems, including: respiratory problems, asthma attacks, skin rashes, eye irritation, allergies, coughing, sneezing, or cold/flu-like symptoms.
Excessive humidity in this area of the home can lead to wood rot, which can lead to problems for the structural integrity of the home. Also, mold needs three things to live, which are moisture, excessive humidity, and organic materials to feed on. These three things are often found inside of the crawl space – get rid of one of these “ingredients” and mold can’t grow.
Encapsulating a crawl space involves sealing it off from the outside environment. All contractors do the work a little differently, but most will install some or all of the following below your home: vapor barriers, floor liners, dehumidifiers, insulating material, sump pumps, drainage systems, and crawl space floor stabilizers.
It varies, depending on what kind of condition your crawl space is currently in – i.e. how much clean up work is going to need to be done? Also, the size of the crawl space will play a role in how much time it will take.