Though air-conditioning and heating can seem worlds apart, both of these main components of your home’s HVAC system work hard to provide a controlled climate inside your Northern Virginia home. Knowing how those seemingly separate entities share parts and labor together to cool and heat your home can help you understand the importance of the maintenance, tune-ups and repairs an HVAC system requires.

No Part of Your HVAC System Is an Island

Many parts of an HVAC system function in tandem. It’s important to know how and why so that the entire system is maintained as a whole.

  • The air handler circulates conditioned hot or cold air through the ducts and vents of your home. In an A/C or heat pump system, it includes an evaporator coil. In colder climates, the evaporator is usually connected to the furnace. The furnace blower then circulates the air. 
  • Ductwork provides the path for the heated or cooled air to all of the rooms in your house. Supply ducts bring conditioned air to rooms, while the ducts that bring the air back are called return ducts. Problems with ducts, such as air leaks, poor insulation or blockages, can impact both the heating and cooling performance of your HVAC system.
  • The thermostat is part of the HVAC system that uses sensors to regulate the temperature of the air, hot or cold, inside your home. Its job is to maintain the chosen temperature settings by automatically switching on or off your heating or air-conditioning. A thermostat can either be a simple, manual on/off device or feature programmable energy-saving settings that help an HVAC system operate more efficiently.
  • Air filters remove pollutants and allergens from the air before it enters the furnace or air handler. They can either be simple, just removing the largest particles to protect equipment, or very high efficiency, removing nearly all of the airborne particulates. With the more efficient filters, though, you must be careful they don’t impede airflow.

Please contact us with any questions about HVAC systems, or to schedule an appointment to have your system checked out by one of our trained technicians. We provide superior services to Northern Virginia homeowners, and we’d love to help you weigh the options and find the right solution for your Northern Virginia home!