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Leave Science Fiction to the Movie-Makers

The Inland Empire isn’t Los Angeles, but we are close to what outsiders like to call La La Land. We’re talking about the entire entertainment industry, not just the Academy Award winning movie by the same name. It’s an industry famous for turning fantasy into reality. Myths are turned into legends.
That’s good for the big screen, but not so much for home heating. We here at Sanborn’s Air Conditioning and Heating are more concerned about some common myths when it comes to your furnace. So in the interest of setting the record straight, here are a few furnace myths and what our pros have to say about them:

    1. Myth 1: Closing vents in unused rooms or spaces will save power. As logical as it may sound, the reality is it just doesn’t work that way. Your system is set up to work with all vents and registers open. When you close them, it disrupts the pressure balance and airflow resulting in your system working harder.
    2. Myth 2: Cranking your thermostat to the highest setting will heat your home faster. Instead, remember the saying, “Patience is a virtue.” Your furnace will deliver heated air at a constant rate, no matter the thermostat setting. Your lack of patience will likely result in a too-warm house and increased utility bills.
    3. Myth 3: The bigger the better. We love to do things big in America. Big cars, bigger SUV’s and huge trucks. But an oversized HVAC system is not necessarily better. The key is in the design and furnace installation process. Your system needs to be tailored in size and efficiency to fit your home and be installed correctly. A system with too much heating capacity will actually result in inefficiency and higher utility bills.
    4. Myth 4: I don’t need regular furnace maintenance. This is worse than Hollywood’s worst grade B fantasy movie. It’s easy to say, “If it is working fine, why mess with it?” But that theory quickly goes out the window when your furnace stops working when you have a house full of guests for the holidays. You can usually prevent those unexpected heating system repairs with regular furnace maintenance and filter changes. Tune-ups will also keep your system running smoothly, prolong the life of the system, and cut energy usage through increased efficiency.

 

  • You can save money by using portable space heaters. Like most science fiction movies, this is only true if a lot strange things happen. If you spend virtually all of your time in one location inside your home AND you shut off your central heating system, then using a space heater in that single location could save money. What really happens is most people use a space heater AND continue to run their central heating system which increases energy use. And don’t even get us started on the fire dangers posed by space heaters.

There you go, five big furnace and home heating myths that you will never see exposed on the big screen. You may hear many other questionable stories about your furnace and other HVAC systems. Your friends at Sanborn’s Air Conditioning and Heating, your HVAC experts for Yucaipa and the entire Inland Empire, will be happy to give give you the straight story. Just give us a call. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!