We’ve had a lot of warm days this summer so far.

Some days, it’s so hot, I just can’t wait to go back inside to enjoy some air conditioning.

Even with our car, I had to take it to the auto repair shop so they could refill the AC compressor with refrigerant. I did this to make sure the AC system was working perfectly because I couldn’t deal with just rolling the windows down while driving. So one of the main things was working on the pool. I kept shocking the pool every week to make sure everything was good and added all the balancing chemicals to make sure the PH was between 7.2 and 7.6. One thing I was complaining about was the high cost of chlorine. It seems that chlorine in recent years has almost tripled in price, and they say it’s because of a chlorine shortage. Whatever the case may be, I just wish the prices would go down. So while getting the pool cleaned, I was bothered because the water was still cloudy, no matter how many clarifying chemicals I put in there. Finally when I went to change the sand in the sand filter, I found the issue. The pipe inside was cracked, so the water was not filtering how it is supposed to. So I got a new replacement part for the sand filter and then filled the filter with fresh sand. Within a day, the water was crystal clear in the pool! Everybody was so happy when they were able to go swimming, especially when we have been dealing with so many hot days.

 

climate control

When I heard my buddies were all going on a fishing trip, I really wanted to go.

• The thing is, I had all this work I had to have completed.

I work from home, but I still have deadlines I have to meet, else I won’t get paid for the projects that I work on. I wasn’t planning on going on any trips early in the month, it was just one of those things that everybody thought to do at the spur of the moment. I wish I would have known before I put my schedule together and committed myself to so much work. My buddies asked me if I was going to be able to make it for the fishing trip. They were renting a boat and everything. The boat even had air conditioning and it has solar panels to keep the batteries charged up. It sounded like so much fun. I didn’t want to say that I wouldn’t make it, I just decided I would work harder and finish up all my work and maybe I would be lucky enough to meet the guys on the last day they would be out fishing. I worked so hard, it was crazy and I raised my stress levels because I was really pushing myself. I worked late into the evening hours and I was drinking coffee and energy drinks like crazy. Then the next morning, I got up early and packed some things and went to meet my buddies at the lake. Fortunately, I was able to meet everybody just as they were getting ready to launch out into the water for the last day of fishing. I was glad I made it and I stayed up for as long as I could before I fell asleep. The AC on the boat felt so relaxing, I just couldn’t help but take a long nap.

 

HEPA filter

When we were having our home built, we were thinking about the best HVAC system to have installed with our new construction project. We looked at a bunch of different HVAC plans for the home, and we finally agreed on something my wife and I both enjoyed. The one thing that we both definitely agreed on was having two fireplaces, one in our master bedroom and one in the living room. We didn’t want to have to worry so much about splitting wood all the time, so we opted for a couple of gas fireplaces. Then we looked into which HVAC would serve us the best. We decided to go for a boiler system which would be hooked up to radiant heated floors. Having heated floors throughout the household we thought would be wonderful and we opted to have a couple of radiators in the basement keeping it nice and cozy down there. The boiler we went for is highly energy efficient, so we should be seeing incredibly low heating costs through the winter months. My favorite part though is the high velocity cooling system. They had to install the ductwork for the AC system. The ductwork is so narrow though and it’s amazing the speed of which this system is able to provide cooling for the household. I have special ductwork in the basement as well for the ideal cooling. There’s a section of the basement I want to use for storage, and then there’s a place where I want to set up a mini movie theater because we enjoy watching movies in this family!
heating technology

Recently, my buddy told me that we should remodel my bathroom and he knew exactly how to do it.

• So we worked together to tear out all the old stuff.

We even put in brand new walls and installed a few GFCI electrical outlets. We installed a new toilet, a very nice shower bath combo with sliding doors and we installed a ventilation system as well. While the bathroom was looking amazing by the time we were finished, there was still an issue. The HVAC vent was not providing a lot of cool air in the bathroom. A few of the other HVAC vents were like that in the house as well. My buddy said he could help me to install a zoned HVAC system if I wanted to go that route. I asked if he was a trained HVAC professional or something and he said he was not. He did say that he had installed ductless mini splits on numerous occasions and he could probably do the installation in his sleep. He told me there were ductless mini splits designed to be installed by the average homeowner, so I didn’t have to worry about anything. He even said most of the warranty remains intact so long as you get regular maintenance performed on the system. I thought it sounded good so I ordered a ductless mini split and together we installed the thing with 5 different zones. After installing the ductless mini split, the cooling was able to flow around the house easily, and it is nice to have customized temperature control settings in the different zones of my home.

quality heating and air

He said if you were going for solar panels, it would be smart to have all electric to enjoy huge energy savings that way

When I requested to have a free consultation through our local contractor, the HVAC guy was highly spirited. He seemed genuinely excited when it came to talking about all the different types of HVAC equipment in the modern age. He said he worked with his uncle on HVAC systems since he was a youngster and always dreamed about becoming an official HVAC expert, and he was finally living the dream. Everything he spoke about sounded so inspirational, I halfway wanted to go to an HVAC trade school after talking to this guy. Of course, we were only looking for the best type of HVAC system to have installed in our home. What really caught my attention was the hybrid heating systems. They sound like they only provide heating when in reality, they are a heat pump in combination with a furnace of sorts. The heat pump has both heating and cooling capability and I love that! Not to mention, these modern heat pumps are extremely energy efficient, and I expected to see a huge decrease in our energy costs. I asked about which furnace to go for, the oil, electric, or gas. The guy was saying it depends on your situation. He said if you were going for solar panels, it would be smart to have all electric to enjoy huge energy savings that way. He said some people prefer oil furnaces because they are safest, but they can be costlier to operate. He said personally, he would go for the gas furnace because you’d enjoy the most savings. So we went for a gas hybrid heating system and so far, we have been enjoying it immensely!

 

heater maintenance

The new HVAC supplier that opened in our town recently looks great.

My wife and I have been meaning to go visit since the place had their grand opening.

I heard from some friends that we really missed out because they had a huge sale for their opening and they even gave away free UV air purifiers while supplies lasted. My buddies all got their UV air purifiers, which I thought was nice because they definitely needed better air quality at home. Finally, my wife and I went to this place and we were in for a treat. Their home services were quite appealing. We learned about their HVAC service plans, and the one we liked would cover everything we needed, including our plumbing and electric concerns. They also said they would change our air filters with HEPA filters. The cost for the service plan I thought was very reasonable considering they would change our filters with HEPA every quarter and they would take care of all our regular maintenance needs. I also chose to look at their UV air purifiers amongst other things. While my buddies got some portable UV air purifiers, I decided to go for a new whole-home UV air purifier. This thing was top-of-the-line and I knew that my buddies were going to be jealous because my air quality was going to be better! I also was able to expand on the HVAC service plan to include HEPA filter changes for the UV air purifier, so I’m saving a lot of money with my service plan!

a/c rep

When I kept complaining to my wife about the costly energy bills, she always said that it wouldn’t hurt to find some energy saving tips.

I didn’t feel like I needed tips on saving energy, I felt like I just needed to do better at sticking to a strict budget.

Still, no matter how much I tried to save money, the energy bills were killing me. Finally, I agreed with my wife that some energy saving help might be good for us. First we looked online to see what energy saving tips we could find, and we found a wealth of free information. The first thing we looked at was acquiring a smart thermostat. Here we had been using this old dial thermostat and my wife and I could agree that it was time for an upgrade. I remember asking her if it seemed foolish to spend more money when we were trying to save money, but it was clear that a smart thermostat would save us around 15% or so on the energy bills. So we were able to find a smart thermostat on sale at the local hardware store. I actually was able to install the new thermostat myself and it wasn’t all that challenging. I basically followed a simple tutorial that was provided by the manufacturer. After using the thermostat for a little while, we experienced a huge decrease in the energy bills. After doing the math, it was indeed around 15% which was awesome! I couldn’t wait to find other energy saving tips, and we did. We started using blockout curtains to prevent the sunshine heating from occuring in our home, and I have been cooking outside a lot more in the summer months. We are also considering upgrading all our light bulbs to LED.

oil heater

A majority of our HVAC repairs have been handled by a local contractor who is nearest to our home.

Then one day we saw a commercial on the television advertising massive discounts for HVAC installations. It was for new customers only, but we were actually thinking about going for some HVAC upgrades already. My wife kept talking about getting radiant heated floors. I remember telling her not to get her hopes up because I thought it was likely that we wouldn’t be able to afford such an installation. I already had a quote from our local contractor and the price was way up there. So I decided to call this HVAC place and had an HVAC contractor come out. The guy gave us a quote for radiant heated floors with the new customer discount. The price was unbelievable! We decided to go for it and we easily had enough for a new cooling system installation as well. The HVAC contractor we were working with said he would advise going for a ductless mini split AC system. He said these systems are shockingly energy efficient and provide excellent cooling. He actually told me that he has a ductless mini split in his own home which he installed himself. I told him it must be nice to be able to install your own HVAC system. The next thing he said really surprised me. He said you don’t have to be a professional to install a ductless mini split air conditioner. He said with a simple installation video, most homeowners would be able to take care of the installation rather easily without any specialized tools.

indoor comfort business

We had a tense moment last month while we were using our fireplace. Now, you’re never supposed to leave a fire unattended, especially the fireplace in your home! This is why some people choose to get either gas fireplaces or electric ones, so they don’t have to deal with the risk of a fire in the home. Of course, everybody enjoys the authentic feeling of a wood burning fireplace, so you must take precautions. In our case, we weren’t using a spark guard in front of the fireplace. On top of that, I was cooking in the kitchen. I asked my son to keep an eye on the fireplace, but he was too busy playing his online game when a spark flew out of the fireplace and caught the carpet on fire. Suddenly, the smoke alarms were blaring and I instinctively grabbed the fire extinguisher. I saw the smoke coming from the area of the fireplace and ran over there and started spraying where I saw flames. Fortunately, I was able to get all the fire out and the whole place didn’t burn down. I got everybody out of the house and opened all the windows to air out the smoke. Fortunately, only the carpet was burned and it didn’t destroy the wood flooring beneath it, so we had that carpet replaced. We got a spark guard for the fireplace so this never happens again. It would have been disappointing had our whole house burned down, but I’m glad that everybody is okay and we have taken steps to prevent this kind of thing from happening down the road.

 

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Those birds will keep coming back so you have to make sure to add some protection to your chimney to prevent them from building nests

While it’s true that most homeowners prefer gas furnaces over oil furnaces, oil furnaces are actually much safer than gas furnaces. Still, even with a good working oil furnace, you might encounter some issues if you are not keeping up with regular annual maintenance. If you ever encounter smoke coming from your oil furnace, make sure to shut it off immediately! You don’t want to wait around to see what might happen. Not to mention, you can’t get your oil furnace worked on until it cools down. If you are in the winter and this happens, make sure to pull our your backup portable heaters and get a fire going in the fireplace to help keep you warm while you wait for your oil furnace to be repaired. Oftentimes, the complication isn’t very serious when you have smoke coming from your oil furnace. It could be a matter of simply swapping out the nozzle and filter. If your nozzle and filter are old, this can cause your system to smoke due to overheating issues. Also, the issue could be coming from your chimney. If your chimney is obstructed, it’s important to clear anything out. A common issue is dealing with bird nests. Those birds will keep coming back so you have to make sure to add some protection to your chimney to prevent them from building nests. There are materials you can acquire to install on your chimney that make it impossible for birds to get inside. Also, you might have soot buildup, so that needs to be taken care of immediately. When all else fails, be sure to call a professional to take care of your situation with your oil furnace.

 

 

air conditioning workman