Summit Heating & Air · Blog

How to Choose the Right HVAC System for Your Home

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Sizing, and why the load calculation matters more

The most common HVAC mistake is buying too much system: a 4-ton unit for a 3-ton house because bigger sounds better. It isn’t. An oversized system short-cycles, running in quick bursts that waste energy, leave the summer air humid, and wear the equipment out early.

The right size comes from a load calculation, which weighs your square footage, insulation, windows, the way the house faces the sun, the local climate, and how many people live there. We run a Manual J calculation to find your home’s real heating and cooling demand. It takes about two hours, and it’s worth every minute.

SEER and your electric bill

SEER, the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, measures how efficient an air conditioner is. A higher number means a lower summer bill.

SEER 13 to 14 is the baseline. It meets code and suits older homes and tight budgets. SEER 16 to 17 is where most people land: a solid step up in efficiency for a reasonable price, saving roughly 10 to 15% over baseline. SEER 20 and above costs more upfront and pays off mainly for homes that run the AC hard, where the savings can top 20%.

Colorado summers run hot but short. Most homeowners come out ahead at SEER 16 to 17. If you cool the house heavily or plan to stay 15 years or more, SEER 20 can be worth it.

Heat pump, furnace, or hybrid

A furnace paired with an AC is the traditional split system: separate equipment for heat and cooling. It’s simple and reliable, and efficient when it’s sized right. It makes sense in homes that already have ductwork.

A heat pump does both jobs in one unit. It moves heat instead of burning fuel, since even cold air holds some heat to move, which makes it very efficient in mild climates. Its output falls off in deep cold, below about minus 10 Fahrenheit, but most Boulder winters never get there.

A hybrid runs a heat pump and a furnace together, leaning on the heat pump in mild weather and the furnace when it turns bitter. It costs more to install, but it holds efficiency well through Colorado’s back-and-forth winters.

Brands and warranties

Stick with a manufacturer that has a track record in Colorado. Carrier is reliable, mid-priced, and easy to get serviced. Lennox offers the highest efficiency and a strong warranty for more money. York is a good value and dependable, though less common here. Trane is built like commercial equipment and priced to match.

Warranties usually cover parts for 5 to 10 years and labor for 1 to 5. Paying up for the longer labor coverage makes sense if you plan to keep the system past 15 years.

The real cost is installation and upkeep

The equipment is only about half the bill. The rest goes to installation, ductwork, electrical work, permits, and commissioning. A mid-range system installed well will beat a premium one installed badly, so we push for good equipment and a careful install in equal measure.

Maintenance decides the rest. Two tune-ups a year head off most failures and keep the system efficient. Budget $300 to $400 a year for it, and the equipment will likely outlast its rating.

Next steps

Start with a load calculation. Get three to five quotes and compare them. Ask each contractor about efficiency tiers and where the trade-offs are, and settle how maintenance will work before you sign. Then pick the system that fits your climate, your budget, and your timeline.

When you’re ready, we’re glad to walk through it with you. No pressure and no sales pitch, just straight advice.

Why a Seasonal Tune-Up Pays for Itself

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The short version

A tune-up isn’t a formality. For $150 to $200, a technician checks more than 30 components, catches wear before it turns into a failure, and keeps the system running efficiently. That visit often heads off a $2,000 breakdown and trims 10 to 15% off your energy bill. Across a 15-year system life, that adds up to thousands of dollars.

What we check

We check the refrigerant charge first. When it runs low, the AC works harder, draws more power, and strains the compressor, which is the priciest part to replace. If it’s low, we find the leak, fix it, and top the charge back up.

We go through the electrical connections next. Loose wires overheat and eventually fail, so we tighten every terminal and watch for the voltage drop that warns of trouble ahead.

The blower and fan motors get a look and a listen. Worn bearings grow louder and drag before they seize, so we lubricate them and tell you if a motor is near the end.

We clear the condensate drain, since a clogged one backs up water into the air handler, and we check the pan for rust while we’re there.

Last is the thermostat. Even a reading that’s off by a single degree costs you money as the system overshoots and undershoots, so we confirm it’s accurate and adjust it.

The efficiency payoff

A well-kept system runs 10 to 15% leaner than a neglected one. In Colorado that’s about $15 to $30 a month, or $180 to $360 a year. Over a decade it comes to $1,800 to $3,600 in lower bills, against $300 to $400 a year in tune-ups.

Spring and fall, every year

Book maintenance before AC season in April or May, and again before heating season in September or October. Those visits catch the problems that show up at startup: a small leak, a thermostat acting up, a capacitor about to quit. Handle them early and you won’t get caught without heat or cooling when you need it most.

Schedule a tune-up whenever it suits you. You’ll leave with a full report and a straight answer on what, if anything, to do next.

Carbon Monoxide and Your Furnace

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The risk worth understanding

Any appliance that burns fuel, your gas furnace included, produces carbon monoxide. In a healthy system that CO is carried safely outside through the flue, and you never encounter it. The danger comes when something fails and that gas escapes into the house instead.

Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, which is exactly what makes it dangerous. You can’t see it or smell it, and the early symptoms (headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue) are easy to mistake for the flu. Understanding the risk and taking a few simple steps keeps a rare failure from becoming a tragedy.

Where the danger comes from

In a furnace, the most serious source is a cracked heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is the metal wall that separates the combustion gases from the air blown into your home. When it cracks with age or metal fatigue, combustion byproducts including CO can leak into that airstream and spread through the house. This is the single biggest reason a professional inspects the heat exchanger every year.

Other causes include a blocked or disconnected flue that can’t vent gases outside, poor combustion from a dirty or misadjusted burner, and inadequate combustion air in a tightly sealed mechanical room. Each is the kind of thing a tune-up is designed to catch.

Detectors are non-negotiable

A carbon monoxide detector is the one thing standing between an invisible leak and your family, so treat it as essential, not optional. Install one on every level of the home and near the sleeping areas, since that’s when a leak is most dangerous and least likely to be noticed.

Test them monthly, replace the batteries at least once a year, and replace the detectors themselves every five to seven years, because the sensors wear out. A detector that’s a decade old may not alarm when it counts. If yours are combination smoke-and-CO units, confirm they actually sense CO and aren’t smoke-only.

What keeps you safe

The formula is simple and worth following without exception. Have the furnace professionally inspected once a year, with the heat exchanger and venting checked as part of it. Keep working CO detectors on every level. Never run a generator, grill, or car in the garage or anywhere attached to the house. And take the early symptoms seriously, especially if several people in the home feel them at once and improve when they leave.

If it’s been more than a year since your furnace was inspected, or your detectors are aging, don’t put it off. Call us for a heating safety check. It’s a routine visit, and it’s the kind of routine that matters most.

The Dry-Air Problem: Winter Humidity

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Why winter air here is so dry

Colorado is dry to begin with, and winter makes it worse. Cold outside air holds very little moisture, and when your furnace heats that air, the relative humidity drops further still. The result is the familiar winter house: static shocks on the doorknob, cracked lips, a scratchy throat, and hardwood floors that gap at the seams.

Indoor humidity in a heated Front Range home often falls to 10 or 15 percent in January. For comfort and health, the target is closer to 30 to 40 percent. That gap is what you’re feeling.

What dry air costs you

It’s more than an annoyance. Dry air pulls moisture from your skin, your sinuses, and your lungs, which is why winter brings dry skin and more frequent colds. Dry sinuses are also less able to fend off viruses, so the season’s dryness and its illnesses feed each other.

Your house feels the strain too. Wood furniture, trim, flooring, and instruments shrink and crack as they lose moisture, and gaps that open in winter don’t always close cleanly come spring.

There’s a comfort-and-cost angle as well. Humid air feels warmer than dry air at the same temperature, so a properly humidified house feels comfortable a degree or two lower on the thermostat. Adding moisture can let you turn the heat down and still feel warmer.

Adding moisture the right way

For a single room, a portable unit does the job if you keep it clean. Left dirty, a humidifier tank grows mold and bacteria and then sprays it into the air, so empty and dry it regularly.

For the whole house, a humidifier that mounts on the furnace is the better answer. It adds moisture to the air as it’s heated and distributed, treats every room evenly, and connects to your plumbing so there’s no refilling. It’s a modest add-on when paired with a furnace, and it runs quietly in the background all winter.

Don’t overdo it

More isn’t better here. Push indoor humidity too high in cold weather and moisture condenses on cold windows and inside exterior walls, where it can feed mold and mildew. The 30 to 40 percent range is the sweet spot; in a deep cold snap, ease it down so the windows stay clear.

A whole-home humidifier with a good control holds that balance for you. If your house turns into a static-charged desert every winter, ask us about adding one when we’re out for your heating service. It’s one of the smaller upgrades that makes the biggest difference in how the season feels.

HVAC Rebates & Tax Credits in Colorado

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The sticker price isn’t the real price

A new high-efficiency system is a real expense, but the number on the quote is rarely what you actually pay. Between federal tax credits, utility rebates, and state programs, a well-chosen upgrade can come with thousands of dollars in help. The catch is that the programs are scattered, and you have to know to ask.

Here’s the plain-language version of what’s available to Front Range homeowners, and how the pieces stack.

Federal tax credits

The federal government offers tax credits for qualifying high-efficiency equipment installed in your home. Heat pumps carry the largest credit (a percentage of the project cost up to an annual cap), and high-efficiency furnaces and central air conditioners qualify for smaller amounts.

Two things to keep straight. First, a tax credit reduces what you owe at filing time; it isn’t cash back at purchase. Second, the equipment has to meet specific efficiency thresholds to qualify, so the model matters. We’ll flag which systems on a quote actually clear the bar.

Utility rebates

This is where the fastest money usually is. Xcel Energy, which serves much of the Boulder area, runs rebate programs for high-efficiency furnaces, air conditioners, and heat pumps, and these are typically paid as a direct rebate rather than a tax credit, so you see the benefit sooner.

Rebate amounts and qualifying equipment change from year to year, and sometimes mid-year, so the figure that mattered last season may have moved. Always confirm the current offer before you sign, and check whether your specific utility has its own program on top.

State and local programs

Colorado has added its own incentives for electrification and efficiency, including support aimed at heat pumps as the state pushes to move homes off gas. These stack with federal and utility programs in many cases, which is how the savings add up to real money.

Because these programs open, close, and change funding, treat any specific number as something to verify at the time you buy rather than a promise.

Making it simple

You don’t have to become an expert in incentive programs to benefit from them. The practical path is to get a quote for a system that qualifies, then have your contractor identify which credits and rebates apply and handle the utility paperwork. Most of the utility side we can file on your behalf.

The one rule worth remembering: confirm every program’s current terms before you commit, because the details shift. When you’re ready to look at a system, we’ll lay out which incentives apply to it and what they’re worth this year, so the price you compare is the price you’ll actually pay.

Smart Thermostats: Worth It in a Colorado Home?

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Past the marketing

Smart thermostats promise big savings, and the boxes are covered in numbers. The honest answer is more modest and more useful: a smart thermostat saves real money for some households and very little for others, and the difference is mostly about how you already run your heating and cooling.

If you’re the kind of person who already sets back the temperature when you leave and at night, you’ve captured most of the savings a smart model offers. If you leave the house at one temperature all day, there’s real money on the table.

Where the savings come from

The savings don’t come from the technology itself. They come from not heating and cooling an empty house. A smart thermostat just makes that easier and more automatic.

It learns your schedule, or follows one you set, and eases off when you’re away. It uses your phone’s location to stop conditioning the house after everyone leaves and to have it comfortable before you’re back. And it shows you where your energy goes, which tends to change behavior on its own.

Independent studies put the typical savings in the range of 8 to 15 percent on heating and cooling. In a Colorado home with real winters and hot summers, that’s a meaningful annual number, enough to pay back a mid-range unit in a couple of years.

When a simple one is smarter

You don’t need the flagship model to get most of the benefit. A basic programmable thermostat, set once for weekday, weekend, and night, captures the bulk of the savings for a fraction of the price. If you keep a steady schedule and don’t care about phone control, it’s the better value.

The premium features (learning, remote sensors for uneven rooms, integration with a smart home) are genuinely useful if you’ll use them. If you won’t, you’re paying for a nicer screen.

The honest recommendation

For most Boulder-area homes, a smart thermostat is worth it, with two conditions: that you don’t already set back the temperature diligently by hand, and that your system supports one without an awkward install. If you already run a tight manual schedule, the savings are thin and a programmable model does the job.

Not sure which camp you’re in, or whether your wiring will cooperate? We install these routinely and can tell you in a few minutes whether it’ll pay off in your home or just look nice on the wall.

Get Your Furnace Ready Before the First Freeze

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Don’t let the first cold night be the test

Along the Front Range the first hard freeze can arrive before October is out, and it has a way of showing up overnight. The furnace has sat idle all summer, and the first time you ask it to run is the worst possible time to learn it won’t. A little attention in September heads that off.

Most fall furnace prep is simple enough to do yourself in an afternoon. The rest is worth a technician’s hands. Here’s the split.

What you can do yourself

Start with the filter. A fresh one at the start of the heating season sets you up for good airflow and clean air through the winter. If you can’t remember the last change, it’s overdue.

Test the furnace before you need it. Pick a cool morning, switch the thermostat to heat, and set it a few degrees above room temperature. The furnace should fire within a minute or two and blow warm air. Do this in September, not November, so there’s time to fix anything that’s wrong.

Expect a brief burnt-dust smell on that first run as the summer’s dust burns off the heat exchanger. That’s normal and passes in a few minutes. A smell that lingers, or one that’s sharp or acrid, is not, and means shut it down and call.

Walk the house and clear the vents. Open supply registers, pull furniture off them, and make sure return vents aren’t blocked. Then look outside at any high-efficiency furnace’s PVC intake and exhaust pipes and clear them of nests, leaves, or debris.

What’s worth a professional

A fall tune-up is the piece most homeowners can’t do themselves, and it’s the one that prevents the expensive surprises. A technician checks the heat exchanger for cracks, which is a safety issue tied to carbon monoxide, tests the igniter and flame sensor that cause most no-heat calls, verifies gas pressure and combustion, and confirms the safety controls all work.

That visit catches the small faults, a weak igniter, a dirty sensor, a loose connection, before they leave you without heat on the coldest night. Booking it in September or early October beats the November rush, when every furnace in town seems to fail the same week.

Don’t forget the thermostat and detectors

Swap the thermostat batteries if it takes them, and set your heating schedule for the season. And test every carbon monoxide detector in the house, replacing batteries as needed. Heating season is exactly when CO risk rises, and a working detector is non-negotiable.

Run through this list before the first freeze and you’ll head into winter confident the furnace will start when you ask it to. If your test run turns up anything off, or you’re due for a tune-up, give us a call while there’s still time to do it on your schedule instead of the weather’s.

Repair or Replace an Aging AC?

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The question every August

The AC quits in the middle of a heat wave, the technician quotes a repair, and you’re stuck on the same question everyone faces eventually: pour money into a unit on its way out, or bite the bullet and replace it. There’s no single right answer, but there is a clear way to think it through.

It comes down to three things: how old the unit is, how much the repair costs, and how well it’s been running lately.

The age and cost test

A useful rule of thumb weighs the repair against the equipment’s remaining life. Multiply the repair cost by the age of the unit in years. If that number tops around 5,000, replacement usually makes more sense; if it’s well under, the repair is likely worth it.

A $400 repair on a 6-year-old unit comes to 2,400, so you fix it. The same $400 on a 14-year-old unit is 5,600, and you’re better off replacing. It’s a rough guide, not a law, but it captures the real trade-off: money spent on old equipment buys you less time.

Age alone matters too. Most air conditioners last 12 to 15 years in our climate. Under 10 and a repair usually pays. Past 15 and you’re on borrowed time, where each fix buys a season or two before the next failure.

The signs pointing toward replacement

Beyond the math, a few patterns tip the scale toward a new system. Repeated repairs in a short span mean the unit is unraveling, and the next failure is rarely the last. Rising energy bills from an aging, low-efficiency unit are a cost you pay every month, not just when it breaks.

Then there’s the refrigerant. Older systems use R-22, which has been phased out and is now expensive and scarce. A leak in an R-22 system can cost more to recharge than the repair is worth, and that alone often decides it.

Uneven cooling, a unit that struggles to keep up on hot days, and a compressor on its second failure all point the same direction.

The case for repairing

None of this means replace at the first sign of trouble. A newer unit with a straightforward fault, a bad capacitor, a failed fan motor, a contactor, is almost always worth repairing. These are normal wear items, they’re not expensive, and they don’t mean the system is failing.

If the unit is under 10 years old, has been reliable, uses current refrigerant, and the repair is modest, fix it and move on. Replacement is a big expense, and there’s no reason to rush it on a system with years left.

Deciding well

The worst outcome is a rushed decision made in a hot house with a pushy quote in hand. When your AC gives you trouble, ask for the repair cost, the unit’s age, and an honest read on its condition, then run the numbers. We’ll give you all three and tell you which way we’d lean if it were our own home, whether that means a repair or a replacement.

AC Blowing Warm Air? Check This First

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Running, but not cooling

It’s the hottest afternoon of the month, the AC is humming along, and the air from the vents is room temperature at best. Before you book a service call, there are a handful of checks that solve this more often than you’d guess. Most take a couple of minutes and cost nothing.

Work through them in order. If you get to the end and the air is still warm, then it’s time to call, and you can tell us what you’ve already ruled out.

Start at the thermostat

Confirm the obvious first. The thermostat should be set to “cool,” not “heat” or “fan only,” and the temperature set below the current room reading. If the fan is set to “on,” the blower runs even when the system isn’t cooling, which pushes room-temperature air and can feel like a failure when nothing’s wrong. Set the fan to “auto” and see if cold air follows.

If it’s a battery thermostat, weak batteries can leave it powered enough to display but too weak to signal the system. Fresh batteries are a five-minute test.

Check the filter and the airflow

A badly clogged filter is a leading cause of weak cooling. When airflow drops, the indoor coil can get so cold it freezes into a block of ice, and a frozen coil blows warm. If you pull the filter and it’s gray with dust, replace it, switch the system to fan-only for an hour to thaw any ice, then try cooling again.

While you’re at it, walk to the outdoor unit. It needs to breathe. Grass clippings, cottonwood fluff, and leaves packed against the coil choke it, and so does anything stacked within a couple of feet. Clear it and hose the outside of the coil gently if it’s dirty.

Check the breaker and the drain

An outdoor unit that’s silent while the indoor fan runs often means a tripped breaker. Air conditioners can trip the outdoor circuit separately, so check the panel and reset it once. If it trips again, stop, since a repeat trip is an electrical fault, not a nuisance.

Some systems also shut down cooling when the condensate drain backs up and a safety switch senses the full pan. Clearing the drain line can bring it back.

When it’s time to call

If the thermostat is right, the filter is clean, the outdoor unit is clear and running, the breaker holds, and the air is still warm, the likely culprits are low refrigerant, a failed capacitor, or a compressor issue, and those need tools and training. Call us with what you’ve checked, and we’ll come ready.

Straight Talk on Your Summer Electric Bill

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Where the money goes

Every July the electric bill jumps, and the AC gets the blame. It’s usually right. In a Colorado summer, cooling is the biggest swing in a home’s energy use, and small choices about how you run the system add up to real money over a season.

The good news is that the cheapest improvements are also the easiest. You don’t need new equipment to shave a summer bill. You need to run what you have a little smarter.

The changes that actually pay

Start with the thermostat. Every degree you raise the setpoint saves roughly 2 to 3 percent on cooling. Set it to 78 when you’re home and let it drift to 82 or higher when you’re out, and the savings compound across a hot month. A programmable or smart thermostat does this for you so you don’t have to remember.

Change the filter. A clogged filter makes the blower work harder and cuts efficiency, and it’s the single most-neglected maintenance item in most homes. A clean one is a few dollars.

Close the blinds on the sunny side. Solar heat pouring through west and south windows in the afternoon is heat your AC has to remove. Shading those windows cuts the load before it starts.

What helps less than you’d think

Some savings ideas sound good and deliver little. Closing vents in unused rooms doesn’t help the way people expect; it throws off the system’s designed airflow and can raise pressure enough to hurt efficiency. Leave them mostly open.

Turning the AC off entirely while you’re at work, then blasting it cold when you get home, saves less than a modest setback. The system runs flat out to recover, and in a well-shaded house the difference is small. A steady, moderate setpoint usually beats big swings.

And chasing a colder-than-needed house is just paying more. Every degree below 78 is roughly another 2 to 3 percent, night after night.

The bigger picture

If your bills are high despite doing all this, the equipment itself may be the story: an aging, low-efficiency AC, leaky ducts bleeding cooled air into the attic, or a system that was oversized and short-cycles. Those are worth a look, because they cost you every summer.

Want to know where your money is actually going? We’ll walk the system, check the ducts and the charge, and tell you which fixes pay back and which aren’t worth it. No upsell, just the numbers.

Why Your Upstairs Is Always Hotter

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Heat rises, and your house proves it

It’s a familiar summer complaint: the thermostat downstairs reads a comfortable 72, but the upstairs bedrooms feel like an attic. You’re not imagining it, and it isn’t a broken system. It’s physics fighting your ductwork.

Warm air rises. Every summer, heat collects on the upper floor while the cooled air from your AC settles low. Add a roof soaking up sun all day and second-floor windows taking direct light, and the upstairs is fighting a losing battle. The question is what to do about it.

The easy adjustments

Start with airflow balance. Most homes have adjustable dampers or at least register vanes. Partly closing the registers on the main floor pushes more cooled air upstairs. It feels backward to choke the rooms that are already comfortable, but that’s how you rebalance the system.

Next, use the fan. Setting the thermostat fan to “on” keeps air circulating even when the AC isn’t cooling, which mixes the layers and evens out the temperature between floors. It costs a little more in fan runtime and saves a lot in comfort.

Ceiling fans help for the same reason. They don’t lower the temperature, but moving air makes a room feel three to four degrees cooler, which is often enough to make an upstairs bedroom livable without touching the thermostat.

The bigger fixes

If the quick adjustments aren’t enough, look at the envelope. A hot second floor is often an insulation story: an under-insulated attic lets the roof’s heat pour straight down into the bedrooms below. Bringing attic insulation up to current levels is one of the highest-return comfort upgrades in a two-story home, and it cuts winter heat loss too.

Windows matter as well. West- and south-facing upstairs windows take a beating in the afternoon. Cellular shades, exterior awnings, or a low-E film cut the solar gain before it becomes indoor heat.

Then there’s the ductwork itself. Builders often run the same duct sizes to both floors, which leaves the upstairs starved because it’s fighting gravity for its share of cool air. A technician can measure the airflow and, in some cases, resize or add a run to fix the imbalance at the source.

When one system isn’t enough

For homes that never balance no matter what, zoning is the real answer. A zoned system uses separate thermostats and motorized dampers to cool the upstairs and downstairs independently, so each floor gets what it needs. It’s a bigger investment, but for a house that’s been uncomfortable for years, it’s the fix that finally works.

Most upstairs-is-hotter problems don’t need anything that dramatic. Start with the dampers, the fan, and the shades, and see how far that gets you. If the upstairs still bakes, call us and we’ll measure the airflow and tell you whether it’s a balance issue or something worth zoning.

MERV Ratings, Explained

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

What MERV actually measures

Stand in the filter aisle and the numbers are everywhere: MERV 8, MERV 11, MERV 13, and a wall of brand names on top. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, and it measures one thing: how well a filter traps particles. The scale runs from 1 to 16 for home filters, and a higher number catches smaller particles.

That sounds like more is always better. It isn’t, and the reason is airflow.

Why higher isn’t always better

A filter puts a barrier in the path of your air. The finer that barrier, the harder your blower has to work to pull air through it. Push it too far and you starve the system: airflow drops, the furnace can overheat, the AC coil can freeze, and your energy use climbs even as comfort falls.

Most homes are designed around a filter in the MERV 8 to 13 range. Go much denser than the system was built for, especially in a one-inch slot, and you can do more harm than good. The trick is matching the filter to what your equipment can move.

Picking the right one

Here’s how the tiers shake out for a typical home.

MERV 8 is the baseline. It captures dust, lint, and pollen, protects the equipment, and flows easily. It’s fine for a home without allergy concerns.

MERV 11 is the sweet spot for most people. It adds finer dust, pet dander, and more pollen while still flowing well in a standard system. If someone in the house has mild allergies, start here.

MERV 13 catches smoke, fine particulates, and many bacteria-sized particles. It’s the most a typical one-inch slot should carry, and only if your system has the airflow for it. It’s the tier worth reaching for during wildfire-smoke season on the Front Range.

Above MERV 13 you’re into territory that usually needs a dedicated media cabinet or a system built for it. Forcing that density into a standard slot backfires.

Thickness changes the math

A four-inch media filter changes everything. Because it has far more surface area than a one-inch filter, it can hit MERV 13 without choking airflow, and it lasts six months to a year instead of one to three. If your system has a media cabinet, use it. If it doesn’t, adding one is one of the better air-quality upgrades available.

The short answer

For most Boulder-area homes, a MERV 11 one-inch filter changed every one to three months is the right call. Reach for MERV 13 if you have allergy sensitivity or want to be ready for smoke season, and only if your system can handle it. When in doubt, ask us what your equipment was designed to move. We’ll check the airflow and give you a straight recommendation.

Spring Allergies and Your HVAC

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Your system moves the air you breathe

When the cottonwoods and grasses start up along the Front Range, most people blame the outdoors for their spring allergies. But the air in your house passes through your HVAC system again and again, and what that system does with pollen, dust, and pet dander has a lot to say about how you feel indoors.

The good news is that the same equipment that can circulate allergens can also strip them out. It comes down to the filter, the ducts, and a few habits.

Start with the filter

The filter is your first and cheapest line of defense. A basic fiberglass filter protects the equipment but catches little pollen. A pleated filter rated MERV 11 to 13 captures far more of the fine particles that trigger allergies, without choking airflow the way a too-dense filter can.

Change it more often in allergy season. A filter that’s due anyway loads up faster when pollen is heavy, and a clogged one stops filtering well and starts restricting airflow. Every one to two months through spring is a good rhythm.

Ducts, humidity, and the rest

Ducts collect dust over the years, and while routine duct cleaning is oversold for most homes, it’s worth doing if you can see debris at the registers, if you’ve just finished a renovation, or if there’s any sign of mold. A visual check tells you more than a sales pitch.

Humidity matters too. Dust mites and mold both thrive in damp air, so keeping indoor humidity in the 35 to 50 percent range discourages them. Colorado’s dry climate usually keeps us under that ceiling, but a humidifier run too hard in spring can tip a room the wrong way.

If someone in the house has real sensitivity, ask about a whole-home air cleaner or a media filter cabinet. These sit in the ductwork and filter far more thoroughly than a one-inch filter can, and they’re a better fix than a portable unit chasing one room.

A simple spring routine

Put it together and the routine is short: fit a MERV 11 to 13 filter, change it every month or two through the season, run the fan during heavy pollen, keep humidity moderate, and check the registers for dust. Most of it costs a few dollars and a few minutes.

If allergies still dog you indoors after that, the ductwork or a dedicated air cleaner is the next place to look. We’re happy to walk your home and tell you which, if either, is worth the money.

Frozen Heat Pump? What the Ice Means

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

A little frost is normal

Walk past your outdoor heat pump on a cold morning and you may find it wearing a coat of frost. In winter that’s expected. A heat pump pulls warmth from outside air, which chills the coil below freezing, and moisture in the air condenses and freezes on it. The system is built for this.

To clear it, the unit runs a defrost cycle: it briefly reverses, sends warm refrigerant out to the coil, and melts the frost away. You might see steam rising off it, hear a whoosh as it switches, and feel cooler air indoors for a few minutes. All of that is the system working as designed.

When ice is a problem

The trouble sign is ice, not frost. If the coil is buried in a thick, solid block, if the top of the unit is capped with ice, or if it stays frozen for hours and never clears, something is wrong. A healthy heat pump frosts and defrosts on a cycle. One that’s iced over solid has lost that rhythm.

A few things cause it. Low refrigerant keeps the coil too cold and defrost can’t keep up. A failed defrost sensor or control board means the cycle never triggers. A stuck reversing valve can’t send warm refrigerant to the coil. And a fan motor that isn’t spinning lets ice build with nothing to move air across it.

There’s also the simple stuff. If the unit sits low and snow drifts around it, or ice from a roofline drips and refreezes on top, airflow gets blocked and ice accumulates. Keep at least a foot and a half of clearance on all sides and knock down drifts after a storm.

What you can safely do

If you find the unit iced over, switch the system to emergency heat at the thermostat so your backup keeps the house warm, and turn the heat pump itself off. You can pour warm, not boiling, water over the coil to melt the ice. Never chip at it with a tool, since the coil fins bend easily and a puncture means an expensive repair.

Once it’s clear, switch back and watch whether it frosts and defrosts normally. If it ices up again within a day, the defrost system or refrigerant charge needs a professional look.

When to call

Occasional frost that clears on its own needs nothing from you. Ice that keeps coming back, a unit that runs constantly without defrosting, or a coil that won’t clear all point to a fault worth diagnosing before it strains the compressor.

Boulder’s freeze-thaw winters are hard on outdoor equipment, and a heat pump that ices repeatedly is telling you something. If yours does, call us and we’ll find out why.

When Your Furnace Can't Keep Up in a Cold Snap

hello@summithvac.example (Summit Heating & Air) — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The furnace runs, but the house won’t warm

It’s the coldest week of the winter, the furnace is clearly running, and the thermostat reads three degrees below where you set it. That gap is the classic sign of a system that can heat a normal night but can’t quite cover an extreme one. Sometimes it’s a real fault. Often it’s something small.

Start with the easy checks. A clogged filter is the most common cause we see: as it loads with dust, it chokes airflow, the furnace can’t push enough warm air, and it may overheat and shut itself off early. Swap in a clean one and give it a day.

Check the vents and the thermostat

Walk the house and confirm supply registers are open and clear. A closed vent in a spare room or a couch pushed against a register starves the rooms that matter. Return vents need clearance too, since blocking them is like asking the furnace to breathe through a pinched straw.

Then look at the thermostat. If it’s set to swing from a deep overnight setback straight to a comfortable morning number, the furnace may need hours to climb in single-digit weather. Try a smaller, steadier setback during a cold snap and see if it holds better.

When it’s the equipment, not the setup

If the filter is clean, the vents are open, and the furnace still can’t hold temperature, a few equipment issues tend to be behind it. A weak or dirty flame sensor makes the burners cut out early. A failing igniter means inconsistent starts. And an undersized furnace, or one near the end of its life, runs out of capacity when the outdoor temperature drops below about zero.

There’s also the ductwork. Leaky or uninsulated ducts running through an unconditioned attic or crawlspace can lose a quarter of their heat before it reaches the rooms. On a mild day you’d never notice. In a Front Range cold snap, that loss is the difference between comfortable and cold.

Get ahead of the next one

Boulder winters swing hard, and the coldest nights are exactly when a marginal furnace shows its limits. If yours struggles every January, that’s worth diagnosing before next season rather than during it. A tune-up catches the small faults, and a load check tells you whether the furnace is genuinely sized for your home.

If your house won’t warm up and the quick checks haven’t helped, give us a call. We’ll find out whether it’s a ten-minute fix or a sign the system needs more attention, and tell you straight either way.