Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Ohana is Hawaiian for family. But it's more than that. its not just your blood relatives. It is anyone close to your heart. Your neighbors, co-workers, church family. All can be your ohana.

As for Ohohna, this is THE most frequently asked question. 

My family and I were Disney nuts. We used to go to Orlando as often as possible. Once, we went to the Spirit of Aloha Luau that they hold on the beach at the Polynesian Resort. Being Disney, the Luau was both entertaining AND educational. Of course they taught the true meaning of Aloha, but because of a Disney movie named Lilo and Stitch, they also taught us about ohana. Well, my 5 year old son noted that Hohn (phonetically) was in ohana so it must be spelled oHohna. Hohn being our last name. And so a company name, and a company philosophy was born.

I love this one.

Just a couple of base concepts.

1. Rubbing alcohol. On your skin, it feels cool. This is because the evaporating point of alcohol is 53 degrees(F). As soon as it touches your warm skin it instantly starts evaporating and pulls heat out of your skin to fuel the process.

2. A pressure cooker.  Water boils at 212(F), but we can prevent it from boiling by putting it under pressure. Basically, the space in the pot fills with steam until it cant take anymore steam and the rest of the water has to stay water, regardless of temp.

"Freon" (which is actually like Band-Aid or Kleenex, a brand, not a substance) has a boiling point of about -41(F). What we do is use it like a sponge. We compress it to wring out any heat it is holding, keep it under pressure to keep it from boiling, "release it" into a larger pipe in your evaporator, which is the equivalent of letting the sponge go, absorbing heat instead of water. We then take it back to the condenser and squeeze it out again.

The even MORE layman's way of explaining it, is like a trucking system. your indoor coil is cooler than the air inside, so the blower brings warm air to it. The heat attaches itself to the cooler Freon, which goes outside to the condenser coil, and THAT fan blows the heat away. The Freon is the trucks, the evaporator coil and condenser coil are the docks, and the blower and fan are the dock workers.

This one is a bit controversial, but I strongly say DON'T. There are a lot more things that can go WRONG than can help. 

Chemicals that dont get rinsed well causing early degradation. 

Caps get left loose that looses all your freon.

"Back in the day" there were oil ports that needed oiled, belts that needed tightened, etc. But just like car batteries that used to have water added on a regular basis, or points in the distributor that needed to be filed, those things have gone away.  Motors are sealed and maintenance free and I haven't seen a residential system with a belt in decades.

That doesn't leave much to maintain.  So what I recommend is

1. Change your filter on a regular basis.
2. Rinse off the outside unit with a regular water hose after cutting the grass OR a big rain.
3. Check the pan under your air handler once in awhile. If there is water in it, call us.

Other than that, I don't feel there is much a technician can see 1 or 2 days out of the year that would be of great benefit. If anything is not working, you'll know.

Why would you want a filter that takes 3 times as long to do the same work?

Honestly, pleated filters, ones that look like this (vvvvvv) from the side are not good for normal residential systems. They restrict the air flow causing the blower to pull more amps which costs you more money to run. You don't get as much air out of the vents, meaning it has to run longer, once again costing you more money. The increased amps can hurt the blower motor, once again costing you a LOT more money. AND last but not least, because of the decreased air flow, the house stays dirtier.

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But it catches the smallest allergens...

But if those allergens can't get to the filter they cant get caught. The regular old flat filters were perfect in design. At first the holes are very large. LOTS of air flow that can pull the largest dirt across the room. As that larger dirt sticks to the filter, the holes get smaller, less air, but catching smaller dirt. And so on and so on until the filter is dirty catching the smallest particles

Just as in the summer an air conditioner grabs heat from inside and takes it outside, in the winter, a heat pump grabs heat from outside and brings it in. As the temperature outside gets lower, there is less heat for it to grab. Once the low 40s or high 30s are reached there is little usable heat left, so the system cant keep up. Once the house starts cooling faster than the heat pump can heat, the house temp starts falling. once it gets a degree or two lower than you want it to be, the AUX heat strips (electric heat) kicks in. Then you will notice sometimes warm, sometimes not, but house stays close to where you want it but wont quite get there.

NO!

Drains are usually clogged by dirt and dust that didn't flow out quickly enough.  Pouring in bleach would just give you a white clog instead of a brown one.  Not much help, and bleach, if it sits still can degrade the plastic of the pipe. Have your drains pulled from outside a couple of weeks to a month after the start of AC season.

No!!

While its true R22 is no longer manufactured, there are plenty of substitutes made. So don't believe it when you are told you have to replace the system over refrigerant availability

NO!

Age is no reason to replace an ac. For some reason people have been convinced that if a system is X years old, they need a new one. When i started, over 25 years ago, it was 30-40. Now it seems like once it hits 7 or 8 years old they are talking you into new units.

You will be told to buy a new one for efficiency.. Keep in mind, before you can save money on the electric bill, first those savings have to pay for the system you just bought.  Guess what... about the time you hit the break even point, youll be told how you can save money with a new one again. Step Away From The TRAP!

I say its the coil.  What looks like a radiator.  When it starts flaking off, that tells you the metal is degrading and its time to start planning on a new one in the next few years. But unless you are close to the beach, that shouldnt be an issue for many years UNLESS

1. Dogs.  they often mistake the ac for a fire hydrant.

2. Chemicals.  Too often, people use chemicals to clean the ac and then dont rinse it well. this can cause early degradation of the coil.  ONLY use water!!