Your furnace works tirelessly throughout the winter to keep your Greensboro home warm and comfortable. However, like any mechanical system, it has a lifespan. Over time, even the most well-maintained furnace will experience decreased efficiency and increased wear and tear. Recognizing the signs that it’s time for a replacement can save you from unexpected breakdowns, costly repairs, and higher energy bills. In this post, we’ll explore some key indicators that it might be time to invest in a new, more efficient furnace.

To work with a proven Greensboro HVAC contractor on the potential upgrade to a new furnace, take a moment now to reach out to the experienced Berico team. Everything from furnace repair to new furnace installation can be handled by the friendly, talented pros and Berico.

 

Use Age as a Guideline

While the age of your furnace isn’t an absolute answer to the question of whether or not you need to upgrade to a new unit, it is a starting point. Generally speaking, you can expect to get 10 to 20 years of service out of a furnace under normal conditions. So, if yours is reaching that point, it’s probably about time to make the switch. With that said, there are other factors that need to be considered, such as those discussed below.

 

Watch for Frequent Breakdowns

It’s not a big deal if you have one thing go wrong with your furnace and you have to have a repair completed by the Berico team. However, if those breakdowns keep happening – and they get more and more frequent – you should start thinking about just replacing the furnace instead. After all, every dollar that is spent repairing the old furnace is a dollar that could have gone toward purchasing the new one.

 

Track Your Energy Consumption

An aging furnace is going to get less and less efficient as time passes, and it will consume more energy as a result. So, a good way to see how your furnace is going is to keep track of your energy consumption on your utility bill from month to month. For example, find your bill from a month last winter and compare it to how much energy you used during a month this winter. Has consumption gone up significantly? When you upgrade to a new model, you’ll find that you use far less energy, meaning your utility costs will go down, and those savings will somewhat offset the cost of the furnace.

 

Listen As the Furnace Runs

One other way to determine if your furnace needs to be replaced is by listening to what it sounds like as it runs. A properly functioning furnace will be relatively quiet, and the noise it produces will be steady. On the other hand, when a furnace is nearing the end of its useful life, it’s likely that there will be some strange, loud noises produced from time to time. Consider those noises a sign that you should replace the unit soon.

Teaming up with the right heating and air contractors is fundamental to your comfort in and around the Greensboro area. Make sure your system is living up to its potential by connecting with Berico today and learning more about the many services that are available. You’ll be in good hands from the start!

When you have any type of plumbing work done on your home – whether it is a repair or a new installation – you have a variety of choices to make. One choice, of course, is which of the many Greensboro plumbers you are going to call in for the job. On that point, simply pick Berico and know that you are in good hands.

You’ll also need to decide if you would like to improve your home’s eco-friendly performance while having this work done. Green plumbing is the concept of making small improvements to the way the water system works in your house in order to consume less and help the environment. This type of environmental plumbing is an excellent way to get the performance you need while doing your part for the world around you, as well. This page will take a closer look at this topic and why it’s so important.

 

An Introduction to Green Plumbing

If you stop and think about it, the way your home utilizes water is likely pretty inefficient. A significant amount of water is used up each time you flush the toilet, for example. Added up over the course of a month, or a year, countless gallons of water are wasted in the average residential plumbing system that could have been saved with a bit of careful planning and through upgrading a few key components.

This is the foundation of green plumbing. More and more people are looking to find ways that they can save water while still having a plumbing system that is able to get the job done. That goal is within reach when green plumbing is employed, and the rest of this page will explain why this is such a worthwhile project and how you can make it happen in your house.

 

A Number of Notable Advantages

The primary advantage of green plumbing is the way that reduced water consumption can benefit the environment. Modern life places a tremendous strain on the limited water resources we have available, so if every home was able to reduce how much water it went through on a daily basis, the difference would be enormous.

Cutting down on water consumption is far from the only advantage, however. Some green plumbing measures also help to reduce energy consumption – more on that later – so that’s another benefit to the earth that can be enjoyed. Between using less water and using less energy, it’s easy to see how green plumbing can lead your entire household toward having a smaller environmental footprint.

Finally, you might also enjoy a longer useful life out of some of your appliances when you reduce water consumption. When less water is moving through the system, less wear and tear will accumulate, and you should be able to get an extended life span out of some of your components as a result.

 

Help the Environment – And Save Money at the Same Time

You might be primarily motivated to explore green plumbing because of the environmental benefits, but that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate the financial savings that will come along with it. In fact, you can go a long way toward offsetting the cost of the plumbing upgrades when you start to see savings on your utility bills moving forward.

Using less water simply means you will spend less on that resource month after month. Cutting down on your water bill is a great start, and if you include upgrades that reduce energy consumption, you can reduce the size of that bill, as well. Even if these savings are modest at first, they just keep coming month after month, and the cumulative effect over the coming years will end up being significant.

You could also wind up saving some money by avoiding plumbing repairs after you upgrade your system. Once many of your fixtures have been replaced by new, green fixtures, you’ll be well-positioned for potentially many years of hassle-free plumbing performance.

 

Types of Green Plumbing Fixtures

So, what kinds of upgrades to your plumbing system will fall into the category of “green plumbing”? There are many to consider, including those listed below –

• Low-flow toilets. If you were to break down the water consumption in your home, you would likely find – perhaps to your surprise – that your toilets are the main water usage feature. An inefficient toilet can use several gallons of water in just one flush, so you can easily imagine how that will add up over time. Upgrading to low-flow toilets can save more than 10,000 gallons of water in your home in just one year!
• Low-flow showerheads. While your toilets might lead the way in terms of water consumption, your showers aren’t far behind. This is particularly true in a home with several family members. Adding low-flow showerheads will cut down on the volume of water that is used during showers, without any significant loss of performance. You’ll be able to get just as clean in a shower with a low-flow head, and you’ll be saving water – and money – at the same time.
• Tankless water heaters. While this is a bigger investment than a low-flow toilet or showerhead, making the switch to a tankless water heater is a great way to make your plumbing system far more green. The value here is found in the reduced energy consumption of the tankless system. Rather than continuously using energy to keep a big tank of water warm, tankless models only heat the water when you are going to use it, meaning significant energy savings are enjoyed. There is also a functional benefit to tankless water heaters that shouldn’t be ignored – since there is no tank and the water is heated on demand, you won’t run out of hot water during a long shower or an extended dishwashing session.

If you would like to have some green plumbing fixtures added to your home, or if you simply have some repairs that need to be made, Berico should be your first pick. Give the friendly Berico team a call today and get started on this important project.

When you don’t work in the plumbing field, it’s easy to believe just about anything you hear about how plumbing works or what problems you are likely to encounter with your system. Unfortunately, much of what you hear talked about with plumbing falls firmly into the category of a myth. This page will highlight some of those myths and explain how you should handle your plumbing system instead.

For professional help with Greensboro plumbing problems that will ignore the myths and get down to the truth, contact Berico right away for assistance.

 

A Slow Drain Will Eventually Fix Itself

Some homeowners seem to believe that simply leaving a slow drain alone over time will allow it to “clear itself,” and the problem will go away. Rarely is this going to be the case. The drain is slow because there is a clog in the pipe, and that clog will need to be cleared one way or another. Dealing with this issue as soon as possible is best to avoid more serious problems later on.

 

You Can Flush Anything Down the Toilet

This is most certainly not true. Just because something technically will fit down the toilet does not mean it should be flushed down the system. Serious problems like major clogs and damage to your pipes can occur when you flush anything other than toilet paper. Sticking with only toilet paper going down the toilet is a great way to protect the health of your overall system and prevent expensive repairs.

 

All Old Houses Have Bad Plumbing

In the Greensboro area, there are many beautiful old homes that have been in place for a century or longer. So, are all of these houses destined to deal with ongoing plumbing problems? Not at all. With proper maintenance and timely repair when something does go wrong, an older home can enjoy reliable plumbing performance with no end in sight.

 

Plumbing Fixtures Don’t Need Maintenance

You should always be wary when you hear that something doesn’t need any maintenance at all. That’s just not how life tends to work – even the best parts and systems wear out and require attention at one point or another. If you tend to your plumbing system just like you tend to anything else in or around your house, you’ll be rewarded in the long run.

 

Drain Cleaners Are a Great Solution

In some cases, a drain cleaner will actually be able to improve the performance of that drain – but you’ll be doing some lasting harm along the way. The chemicals that are used in drain cleaners can be very harmful and will erode your pipes over time. Instead, opt for mechanical methods of removing a clog, such as a plunger. If needed, get help from a professional plumber to make sure the work is done correctly.

The great thing about working with Berico is that you’ll be able to have all of your plumbing problems solved quickly and easily by one expert team. Whether it’s a running toilet, kitchen plumbing issues, or anything else, you’ll be in the right hands from the start. Get in touch now to learn more.