Smart Thermostat Facts

When it comes to maintenance, I’ve neglected my air conditioner. Normally, I am actually conscientious about making sure that a heating and cooling technician comes out for typical service plus cleaning of my system. Lately, but, I’ve been actually strapped for money as I’ve had to spend my money for one unexpected incident after another. It has been a year since my air conditioning unit has gained service. I am going to try to schedule service at least by next month. The concern is, it’s already mid-November, and I am going to crank up the heating system pretty soon, because I can’t handle the cold anymore at night. I am actually hesitant about using my heating system without having an HVAC technician take a look at it first. I may actually well have to this time. At least it will only be about a month before I could send someone out. I am well aware that it’s best to make sure that a heating system is thoroughly cleaned plus in typical working order long before things start getting easily cold. Again, I have abided by this principle several years in the past, but my financial situation just couldn’t allow it this time around. I am crossing my fingers that everything will be okay. As soon as I can I will be calling out the HVAC supplier that I’ve regularly relied upon. They even provided me a reminder call recently to see if I was still interested in being a customer!
Cooling corporation

My neighborhood had a big storm recently.

It wasn’t a hurricane; that’s not quite here yet.

Instead, it was just a bad afternoon thunderstorm. It dropped both rain plus hail plus there were a whole lot of lightning strikes. My home made out okay, however my neighbor’s weren’t so fortunate. At one point in the storm I thought that my home had been directly struck by lightning, because it sounded right on top of us, but it turns out my neighbor’s home had been struck instead. The lightning strike wreaked havoc on her electrical system. There was a lot of electrical detriment, plus the worst part for him was that the heating and cooling systems circuitry was fried as well! It was going to cost him a pretty penny to fix her HVAC unit at this point. This, of course, was about getting her home rewired. Well, I know my associate and I can be grateful that there wasn’t any sort of fire or anything. Still, it’s going to be quite some time before her family is going to be able to enjoy electricity, much less a running air conditioning unit. We decided to buy a couple portable, battery operated air conditioning units for our buddy as a gift. She was grateful, and said that at least she would be able to set one of them up in the master kitchen, and one up in her kids’ room. It was a tough situation to be in, however I am sure her family will pull through.

heating and cooling

An immense nor’easter was on its way.

Preparing my house for what would truly be the storm of the decade was necessary! My primary concern was the brand new HVAC unit that I had recently installed in my home.

I wasn’t about to risk letting my components, or even indoor components suffer any detriment whatsoever from this storm, no matter how disappointing it turned out to be. I had to prepare. The first thing I did was cover up the outdoor condenser unit with a tarp. I tied the tarp down as best as I could. Next, I made sure that my associate and I had surge protectors. One of my old surge protectors clearly needed replacing, then going back to the yard, I also knew that I needed to clear all the yard debris away and prune some of the hedges and bushes to make sure that there wouldn’t be too many sticks or branches flying in the wind. Ultimately, when the storm was on its way, the temperature inside my home was pretty much comfortable, all the wind plus abrupt cool air made it that way, so I decided that I would go ahead and shut the HVAC system completely off. I figured I wouldn’t be turning it on again until the storm had completely passed. As I heard a loud rumble of thunder in the distance, and saw the roiling black clouds approaching, I knew I made the right decision.

Cooling system

I tried to save money wherever possible.

I am not a cheapskate, but I try to be frugal.

One of the things that matters to me, though, is having comfortable heating and cooling. Our summers are brutal much of the time, but winters can often be pretty cold! We barely ever get mild weather, but there are brief times in the spring and the fall, when weather can be pleasant. So, I use my HVAC system excessively when I occupy my house. That being said, I tend to be away for at least dozens of hours a week! So, for the longest time, I got into the habit of turning my control unit up or down ten degrees when I wasn’t home, to save on my energy costs. In the heat of the summer, I would set my control unit to 70-degrees, before I left the home, so that it would rarely turn on. In the winter, I would set it to 60-degrees, so that the heat wouldn’t kick in so much, either. This has saved me considerable money over the years on my energy bills. The only thing I struggle with is coming home to a home that needs to be adjusted in temperature before it’s comfortable again. Luckily, my HVAC system is a pretty wonderful unit, so it brings things back up or down to comfortable temperatures quickly. I am even starting to wonder whether or not I should simply shut off the HVAC system before I leave for work in the morning, as it may not make all that much of a difference!
Zone controlled HVAC

My friend owns a small bakery.

I like to stop by at least a couple times a week, periodically on my dinner hour or over the weekend.

Business is pretty good for her. People enjoy the assorted pastries she makes, along with her three employees, but lately she has been telling me that she is having trouble with one thing. Sometimes, it gets distressingly hot in the bakery. In order to keep certain confectionery items from melting or otherwise not coming out quite the way she wants them to, she has to blast the cooling system. This is undoubtedly raising energy costs for her. She also needs to order service on the heating and cooling system because it needs to be clean to prevent the air quality from spiraling downhill. She wouldn’t want to have moldy or mildew air blowing on her cakes and pies! I was resting there discussing this one day when I realized there may be a straight-forward solution. I proposed that she supplement the air conditioning unit by strategically placing fans in certain parts of the bakery to keep the air circulation going plus to prevent certain confections from spoiling. She was easily kind of embarrassed that she never thought of that, however that is what friends are for: two heads are better than one! She even baked me a cake, just for giving her a straight-forward idea. I hear that it’s working pretty good. Maybe she will not have to spend so much money for air conditioning now.

Cooling expert

I thought I was taking care of my HVAC unit.

It’s relatively new, at five years old.

I did everything right when I had it installed, hiring an HVAC technician who helped me choose from her supplier’s catalog. We weighed the pros and cons of several systems, and she measured my home to ensure we were choosing a system that was the right fit. I’ve been ordering maintenance for it twice a year since it’s started. Now, all of a sudden, I am hearing some disconcerting noises coming from the system – a brisk rattling and vibrating noise periodically; at other times,a loud banging noise. It scares me so much that I turn off the cooling system entirely. I thought it might be a major issue, so I called out an HVAC technician to see what the issue was. Long story short, there was nothing wrong with the unit itself, but the air duct was aging. It was falling apart. It had become disjointed in certain sites, and cracks were developing in others. I needed to get the entirety of my air ducts replaced. That cost a pretty penny, but it was less high-priced than actually replacing the unit itself! I was quite pleased with the contractor, because my unit ran actually quietly after the air duct was replaced. So if you ever hear unusual noises coming from your HVAC system, it may actually well be a concern with the air duct.

Heat and AC products

When I moved into a new home five years ago, I didn’t have any pets.

I don’t mind cats or dogs, but I wasn’t planning on getting one.

Then, about half a year into living there, a stray dog kept showing up at work. My co-workers and I would often feed it and leave water out for it. The dog ended up coming around for two weeks! I warmed up to the dog, and because nobody else seemed inclined to take it home, I decided I would provide it a home. The dog suckered me in. I have to confess that I have appreciated her company, but she sheds a lot! I didn’t mind doing a little extra vacuuming every now and then, but what I didn’t realize is that my air conditioning unit would be affected as well. Dog hair and dander was getting sucked into the system and fouling up the air filter faster than if I didn’t have the dog. I needed to call out a heating and cooling technician to wash my system, because the fur was easily flying and I wanted my system to be clean, and my air to be a little more breathable! Cleaning up after all the shedding is a pain in the butt, and the additional HVAC service is a bit inconveniencing, but I still love my dog to death. You adapt when you prefer someone.

Cooling technology

I took a big gamble when purchasing my first home a couple years ago.

I was so happy that I was able to afford this little home in a relatively quiet neighborhood just outside of town.

There were a few things that needed to be renovated though. One of them was the HVAC system, but there was no system in this home. The former tenant had gotten by with window cooling systems, and no heat, but I suspect they had space heaters in the winter. However, I wasn’t interested in getting by on such temperature control implements. I knew I wanted a central heating and cooling unit, although I didn’t realize I was in a position to buy a brand new one for this house. That’s when I decided to get an HVAC system second-hand. I thought it was luck when I came across a system on a social media website marketplace. The price seemed too wonderful to be true, but I was willing to take a chance. Well, long story short, it was tough to even convince a local contractor to install it for me, because they warned me that second hand systems could have a host of problems with them, and may not even be properly sized for your home. I was stubborn, though, and I insisted that I would spend my money to install it. The thing barely works! Now I have to spend more for the same people to remove it, and buy one of their models. It’s going to be a while before I have the money for that!

Air conditioning system

It’s been 17 years since I installed my heating and cooling system in my home.

I have treated this system as delicately as I possibly could.

However, it is finally showing signs of aging. The first indication my system was on its way out was my rising energy bills. The price of heating and cooling steadily increased for the past year. I was not using my system any more or less than I usually did, and my energy bills crept up and up until it was conspicuous how much I was paying. Then, I began to notice that certain rooms in my home were no longer as comfortable as the other rooms. I noticed that the side of the home that the system was farthest from kept getting warmer and warmer. It seemed like my HVAC system just wasn’t able to put out as much cooling as it used to. The final straw came when little problems began developing that required service calls, Something would go wrong, and then something else would go wrong, and then that same thing would need to be fixed a short time later. It was undoubtedly time for a new HVAC system! Still, I was quite impressed with myself that I was able to squeeze just over 17 years out of my system. Similar models may only last for a mere decade, if they are not properly cared for.

space heater

I bought a home with an HVAC system that was already several years old.

I was determined to get at least several more years out of it.

I took good care of it throughout those several years, so It did last that long. However, by the eighth year, it was pretty clear that it was time for a replacement. I called an HVAC technician to start talking about what kind of brand new system I might be interested in purchasing. I have been saving money in anticipation of having to replace my old HVAC system. I was ready to get a new one that I intended to have for at least 15 years! I knew I was staying put in this house. I was taking good care of the home. It’s in a wonderful area of town, and I’ve come to love my property. I was ecstatic when the HVAC technician mentioned that heating and cooling technology has greatly improved in the past decade. My family and I were looking at several different tempting offers for systems that provided a variety of perks plus benefits. I ultimately settled on a heat pump system, mostly because it takes care of both heating and cooling, and is quite efficient. It lasts for a long time! Once I settled on the system that was right from my house, the technician had to do the typical measurements and determine whether or not my air duct needed to be replaced as well. I was quite ecstatic that it didn’t need to be replaced!

Air cleaner