JOB Heating & Air Conditioning Saskatoon is eager to provide the best possible customer experience. Their aim is to be a professional resource for our clients before, during, and after the sale! Their team takes pride in service knowledge of modern equipment and training. They are recognized by peers, as  JOB offers sales, service, training & installations for residential, and commercial Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing systems in Saskatoon and area. In their latest article, they discuss what causes cracked furnace heat exchangers and why they are a problem.

Cracked Furnace Heat Exchangers: What Causes Them and Why They Are A Problem

The heat exchanger is the part of your furnace that is responsible for generating hot air. To create heat, your furnace burns natural gas. When gas is burned, exhaust byproducts travel through the heat exchanger. As the exhaust passes through the furnace’s exhaust outlet, metal is heated. Simultaneously, this hot metal heats the air. From there, your furnace system distributes hot air to your home through your air ducts.  

In order to function properly, the heat exchanger must remain sealed. That is why cracks are detrimental.

What Causes A Cracked Heat Exchanger?

The air inside your furnace and heat exchanger gets extremely hot. As a result, this extreme heat causes the metal inside the heat exchanger to expand and contract. Though well-maintained heat exchangers are built to tolerate this heat, eventually this stress causes cracks.

If your heat exchanger is several years old, stress cracks are common. However, if your heat exchanger is under 10 years old, there are other causes of cracking. Causes of premature heat exchanger cracking include limited airflow, and your furnace being too large for your home.

Limited Airflow

Limited airflow to your gas furnace is the result of blocked registers. If registers in the home are blocked, pressure builds up inside the furnace which causes cracks. It is important to note that a clogged furnace filter or obstructed air ducts are also causes of heat exchanger cracks.

Is Your Furnace Too Large For Your Home? 

If your furnace is too large for your home, this is an issue because it may ‘short cycle’, meaning it turns on and off frequently. Therefore, your heat exchanger expands and contracts more, resulting in overuse of your furnace system and premature cracks.

Why Cracked Heat Exchangers Are A Problem

If they are not dealt with, cracked furnace heat exchangers can pose a serious safety risk. If you notice a strange smell coming from your furnace or signs of rust along the exterior, this may indicate that there is a problem.

Carbon Monoxide Leak

Because heat exchangers contain carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrous oxide, a crack in your heat exchanger means these harmful gases could escape into the air ducts of your home. A carbon monoxide leak can result in illness and even death. 

Flame-Out or Fire

Another risk of a cracked furnace heat exchanger is a flame-out or fire. When gas and air combust in the heat exchanger, the gas builds up. This build-up of gas often reaches a high enough volume to be explosive. As the gas becomes explosive, it will force flames and air pressure out of any hole it can find, such as a crack in the heat exchanger. 

Unfortunately, unless your carbon monoxide detector beeps or you notice rust, you may be unaware your heat exchanger is cracked. In order to know for sure, an inspection by a professional technician is required. If you suspect your furnace heat exchanger is cracked, it is important to contact a technician immediately so it can be replaced in a timely manner.

These are just a few causes of cracked furnace heat exchangers and why they are a problem. Be sure to schedule your routine furnace maintenance to ensure your furnace is safe to operate this winter. If you need any assistance with your furnace or home heating equipment, do not hesitate to contact our team at JOB Heating & Air Conditioning.

JOB Heating & Air Conditioning are Trusted Saskatoon furnace experts. They show up on time, deliver on budget, and leave the work area cleaner than when they arrived! They take pride in their work in this city and surrounding area, so nothing means more to us than testimonials from their clients as their preferred plumber in Saskatoon.

‘Your Comfort is Our Concern!’

JOB Heating & Air Conditioning Are Trusted Saskatoon Furnace Pros 

Wiegers Financial & Benefits is one of the largest private financial planning and employee benefits consulting firms in Saskatchewan. Its Saskatoon Financial Planning Division provides business owners, households, retirees, and students with expert investment and insurance planning services to help them reach their long-term financial goals. They also have a Benefits and Personal Insurance division. 

They explain everything you need to keep current in your financial plan in their latest Wiegers Financial tip. Wiegers Financial & Benefits are Trusted Saskatoon Financial Advisors 

Up to Date or Out of Date? Everything You Need to Keep Current in Your Financial Plan

Wiegers Financial & Benefits is one of the largest private financial planning and employee benefits consulting firms in Saskatchewan. Its Saskatoon Financial Planning Division provides business owners, households, retirees, and students with expert investment and insurance planning services to help them reach their long-term financial goals. They also have a Benefits and Personal Insurance planning division. In this latest Wiegers Group Benefits tip, they explain flex benefits for employee wellness. Wiegers Financial & Benefits are Trusted Saskatoon Insurance and Group Benefits experts.

The Future is Flexible: Flex Benefits for Employee Wellness

JOB Heating & Air Conditioning Saskatoon is eager to provide the best possible customer experience. Their aim is to be a professional resource for our clients before, during, and after the sale! Their team takes pride in service knowledge of modern equipment and training. They are recognized by peers and offer sales, service, training & installations for residential, and commercial Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing systems in Saskatoon and area. JOB Heating & Air are Trusted Saskatoon Plumbers

In their latest article, Jeff Bolton, JOB's owner, shares their top fall plumbing tips.

5 Fall Plumbing Tips From JOB Heating and Air Conditioning

Here are 5 fall plumbing tips to help protect your home this season. 

Tip #1: Disconnect and Store Outdoor Water Hoses

Since outdoor hoses are made from rubber, freezing and thawing weakens the material and causes cracks. Disconnecting hoses in the winter and storing them in an area of your home that does not reach freezing temperatures will ensure the longevity of your hose is maintained. If you leave your outdoor hose connected all winter long, any leftover water can freeze and expand. This causes faucets and any connected pipes inside your home to freeze and potentially burst. 

After disconnecting your outdoor house, it is important to check the faucet for any leaks. Faucet leaks can lead to water damage and cause plumbing issues when temperatures drop and things freeze. Once faucets are checked for leaks, it is a good idea to insulate them for further protection.

Tip #2: Shut Off Outside Faucets 

Most homes are equipped with an interior shut-off valve for the outside faucets. Be sure to shut off and drain them so there is no remaining water in the outside lines that could freeze and create plumbing issues.

Tip #3: Inspect Your Hot Water Heater and Ensure Maintenance is Completed

The fall season is the perfect time to drain your hot water heater as it needs to work much harder in the cold months to provide hot water to your household. Maintenance includes flushing your hot water heater to remove sediment build up. The sediment build up is important to remove as it causes rust and can block proper heat transfer. Flushing your hot water heater will ensure it is operating efficiently, saving you money on your hot water bills. 

If your hot water heater is more than 20 years old it may be time to consider a replacement before something goes wrong. You do not want to be stuck without hot water, especially heading into winter.

Tip #4: Insulate Your Pipes

Be sure to insulate any pipes that may be exposed to cold temperatures such as those in your basement and garage. Insulating your pipes properly will prevent them from freezing in the winter. 

It is important to note that it is common for gaps to develop in the areas where pipes enter your home. These gaps between the pipes and the walls allow for cold air to get through. Cold air seepage can lead to pipes freezing and thus increase your heating bill. Luckily these gaps can be sealed using caulking and weather stripping, and taking the time to seal them can prevent larger issues down the road.

Tip #5: Inspect Your Sump Pump

A working sump pump is extremely important to prevent flooding as it removes excess water from the foundation of your property. If your sump pump is left exposed to extreme temperatures it can freeze. Freezing prevents your sump pump from operating correctly and can compromise its ability to protect your home. Be sure to inspect your sump pump this fall to ensure it is working as it should, or have it inspected by a professional if you are unsure.

These are just a few plumbing tips to help protect your home this fall. If you need any assistance with your plumbing, furnace, or home heating equipment, do not hesitate to contact our team at JOB Heating & Air Conditioning.

JOB Heating & Air Conditioning is a Trusted Saskatoon plumbing company. They show up on time, deliver on budget, and leave the work area cleaner than when they arrived! They take pride in their work in this city and surrounding area, so nothing means more to us than testimonials from their clients as their preferred plumber in Saskatoon.

‘Your Comfort is Our Concern!’

JOB Heating & Air Conditioning Are Trusted Saskatoon Plumbing Professionals 

Citations, mentions, and SEO explained by Sara, owner of Trusted Saskatoon. 

There are many benefits to being a Trusted Saskatoon partner. My local team spends all of our time and energy promoting the Saskatoon partners on the directory as the best options in their industry in Saskatoon and the surrounding area. Once a business passes our unique verification process, we invest in consistent advertising, and we promote them both individually and as a community of trustworthy, reputable, locally owned, and accountable businesses. We do not do this because they ' bought our favour', we do it because they have proven themselves to be trusted.  Each of the businesses listed on Trusted Saskatoon has signed a contract agreeing to uphold the 5 Trusted Guarantees of Service. 

A lot of work and effort goes on behind the scenes that may not be immediately obvious or understood by our Partners. In this article, I explain how my team helps our partner's websites rank higher in local search independently of their listings on our Saskatoon directory.

The SEO Impact Being Trusted Has On Our Partners' Local Search Rankings

The key to being found online is having correct, consistent information. The internet and search engines really value that, combined with fresh, new, relevant content on sites that are both yours and NOT yours!   
This is where local SEO citations and mentions on high-quality local directories such as Trusted Saskatoon, on social media, and other trustworthy websites and sources come into play.

What are citations, and how do they impact local SEO?

Citations are online mentions of your business on 3rd party websites. If your business is listed on Trustedaskatoon.com, that counts as a local citation. The same goes if your business information is mentioned or featured on 3rd party blog posts or online newspaper/media articles- such as the Star Phoenix new faces new places for example. Citations and online mentions are essential for local businesses since they send out signals telling Google and the other major search engines they can trust your Saskatoon business.

Why do we recommend focusing on citation building?

We all want to be on the first page of Google for our category in our local market for our main target search keywords. If your website ranks higher in search, it should attract more visitors and generate leads, which should lead to more business. 

To be well ranked in local searches, you need to ensure that search engines have all of the correct information about your business. If your most important data is not consistent, search engines are less likely to recommend your website as a high-ranking option for local prospects searching for your products and/or services. 

How The Local Search SEO Point System Works

Google is essentially the head librarian of the web, and as there are over 570,000 new websites added per DAY to the internet, it’s a HUGE job! As such, Google has lots of 24/7 library assistants helping with the massive and ongoing task of ranking the approximately 1.7 billion websites currently listed on the world wide web. If these assistants, or ‘web crawlers’, find links on 3rd party websites that link back to your business’s website, they know it is trustworthy, and you will earn an SEO point. If that backlink is on a quality local website, like www.trustedsaskatoon.com, then you are awarded additional, highly valued local SEO ‘points. The same is true for citations; if web crawlers find your business information listed in important online directories, mentioned on other people's blogs, and featured in articles / local news, it solidifies the fact that they can trust your business information to be correct.

Citation building is a small but essential local search marketing puzzle piece. Our team is working on our clients' behalf to ensure the information we have about them on Trusted Saskatoon is up to date and relevant.

Check out the video below for more information, and if you have questions please do reach out to our team!  

What’s the difference between online citations and online mentions? 

An online mention is when a business or brand is referenced, or "mentioned" on the internet. While often referring exclusively to social media mentions, they also count every time an online publication, website or blog ‘ mentions’  a brand or business name. If the mentions are combined with backlinks to your website and over 300 words of rich, locally-focused content, all the better.  By rich, we mean that the content includes quality, copyright-free images, relevant keywords, embedded videos, location-specific words, etc. If that is the case, then the value of that mention increases A LOT! This is why we ask our Partners to work with us to provide information about their specific business/ industry. We take that information and write quality Trusted Saskatoon Tips that feature them as the local experts in their industry!  

When we tag our Partners on our Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter platforms, the search engines and web crawlers take note. This, in turn, adds additional SEO POINTS and improves their website’s organic search value. Their businesses and websites gain more ‘authority' within their respective industry categories in local search. Positive SEO leads to increased visibility, which can prompt more mentions and increase SEO points. Less is NOT more regarding citations, mentions, and links to websites.

If our Partners want to maximize our expertise, promotions, and online klout. In that case, they need to provide us with more information in the form of interesting, helpful and engaging expert tips about their industry. Our team will do the rest. We know how to take the content and get as many ‘ SEO points ‘ as possible. We then pay to promote that content locally so it reaches your ideal prospects. The more we can help our clients build a solid citation and link-building foundation, the better they rank in local searches for their categories.  Our goal is for our Trusted Saskatoon Partners to get their unfair share of leads in their categories locally online! 

About Trusted Sara

The founder of Trusted Saskatoon, Sara Wheelwright, has over 27 years of marketing experience. A multi-award-winning entrepreneur and marketer, she expanded Trusted’s services by launching a full-service Saskatchewan digital marketing agency, Trusted Marketing Services, in 2014. The success of Trusted is a testament to the importance of having business integrity in a digital age, where access to free-flowing information constantly influences consumers. Her experiences and insight are relevant to all business owners interested in progressive marketing strategies. Her biggest strength is communicating the complexities of online marketing and how the internet works to local business owners in a way they can fully comprehend. This, in turn, empowers them and helps them compete in this new marketing landscape.