Your HVAC Equipment Blog

I’m new to actually enjoying winter.

Growing up and all of my adult life came with a harsh winter.

That is until we moved to the south a year and a half ago. Since then, I’ve been marveling at the amazing weather we have for 8 months in a row. I’ve also been marveling at the versatility of the amazing heat pump. Where I came from, there was only one part of the HVAC equation that we needed to reference. Of course, that was the heating. The homes I lived in all had a good gas furnace to get us through a winter that literally lasts nearly five months. When it came to summer, we really didn’t need a whole lot of cooling. I’d throw a window air conditioner in the bedroom for the odd night that it was too warm to sleep. But we didn’t have air conditioning as part of the HVAC equipment. So having a heat pump has been really enlightening. I’m really glad that I spent an hour with the HVAC technician as he did our first air conditioning tune up that first spring. This was when I fully understood just how remarkable a heat pump is. It was hard to believe that the heat pump simply had to change refrigerant flow to provide either cooling or heating. But that’s really all it takes with the heat pump. When it’s hot, the heat pump extracts heat energy from the house and exhausts it outside. This makes way for more cooling air to take it’s place. But when we need some heat in the summer, the heat pump simply reverses the process by extracting heat energy from the outside air. I’m deeply impressed with this residential HVAC unit. And I’m just lucky to have a heat pump because these summers demand cooling comfort.

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I don’t think we’ll ever go back to a resort.

At least not until the kids are out of the house.

It just doesn’t make sense to get hotel rooms for us when we now have access to all of these vacation rentals. On top of that, the rentals come with residential HVAC equipment. The hotel rooms we stayed in always had commercial HVAC that just seemed a bit overwhelmed by the heat. And there is nothing worse than coming back from spending all day in the sun to deal with a hot room and poor air conditioning. If we can get the same house going forward that we had this year, I’d be overjoyed. My wife certainly nailed it this year on our vacation rental home. This place was perfectly situated between the beach and a bunch of other cool locations. We could walk to the beach and walk to several restaurants and other entertainment. But for me, it was the residential HVAC in that house that made my vacation. I don’t need a whole lot to be happy when I go on summer vacation with my family. All I need is good food, time to relax and really good air conditioning. I’m such a miser with the thermostat setting at our house that I love to just splurge with all the cooling I want when on vacation. And this place had zone controlled HVAC so my wife and I even had a thermostat in the master bedroom. It really was a blissful ten days. I’m just hoping we can get that same quality heating and air next year.

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When my place of business reopened after more than 18 months of me working from the central air conditioning of home, I was so ready.

Working from home was a necessary evil and I understood that for sure.

But I really didn’t enjoy the experience. I was always moving from one place to another with my laptop in order to get my work done. The wife and kids were also cooped up inside the quality heating and air of home at the time. So there were many motivations for me when it came to getting back to that zone controlled HVAC in the office. My return to that perfect commercial HVAC was short lived. I knew that the company had struggled through the pandemic and I was glad that they were even able to remain solvent. But in order to continue, the company had to make some cuts. Of course, that came with layoffs during 2020 and I felt really lucky that I didn’t get cut. So I was kind of stunned when I came back to the office and within a week, I to was relieved of my position. I got a severance package which helped me while I was able to process what was happening. And then it dawned on me that I could go out and compete against the company as an independent consultant. So I took some of that money from the severance package and bought a storage unit from the home improvement store. Once I had it wired, I had the HVAC company come out and put a ductless heat pump in there so I had good heating and cooling. And these days, I could not be more happier with my home office and being my own boss.

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I have a daughter who is a total unicorn.

The fact that she is the baby also sort of sets her apart in my eyes.

But it’s her personality that really makes her so special. Yet with all her uniqueness, there comes a lot sensitivity. She’s an emotional sort who is always trying to help or serve others. And that can come with some tough lessons. But she’s also sensitive to the slightest change in thermostat settings. And while all I could do was support her when it came to the emotional sensitivity, I could actually do something about the physical sensitivity. I couldn’t do much about where she went to school and that heating and cooling equipment. That little girl goes out the door with all manner of layers each day as she heads off to school. That’s something I can’t really control. But I can control this thermostat situation in our home. So I called the HVAC company to inquire about zone controlled HVAC. I was very pleased to find out that I didn’t have to replace our entire HVAC system in order to get zone controlled HVAC. Instead, all I had to do was have the HVAC technician come out and tweak our existing heating and cooling equipment in order to get zone controlled HVAC. Once the heating and cooling upgrade was complete, our home had six different zones. And I made sure that my youngest had a thermostat in her room. It’s made a big difference for her and I’m just so glad that I could do something that made her a bit more comfortable in this world.

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When I bought my first home, I knew there were going to be challenges.

• That was apparent given the state of the place.

While it was structurally very sound, there was so much other work to be done in order to make it livable. For sure, I would have loved to have walked into a turn-key situation with great quality heating and air along with all the other cool stuff. But that wasn’t in the cards. I had already been saving for a down payment on a home for more than a decade. I have a good job where I work inside zone controlled HVAC day in and day out. But the more I saved the further away it seemed I was getting from owning my own home. So I ended up going a different way and looking for a starter home that needed a lot of help. I finally did find what I was looking for in the place I call home now. Well, I love the fact that I’m a homeowner finally. But it came with plenty of challenges. Like I said, I was prepared for challenges. but what I wasn’t prepared for was the surprise I got with the HVAC replacement. The HVAC contractor called me at work to inform me that the ductwork was not usable. This news would destroy my renovations budget if I had to replace the entire ductwork system. So instead, I went with a series of ductless heat pumps that produce wonderful, quality heating and air in my home. There are three of these ductless mini splits in my home and I’m just loving them. Plus, using ductless heat pumps kept me under budget as well.

 

 

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I just had zero clue when it came to the link between respiratory health and the indoor air quality of my house.

• So that being said, I had even less of a clue about the relationship between good indoor air quality and the HVAC equipment.

All that changed late this fall. There was a bug going around our area and of course I ended up getting it. I tend to fall prey to colds and flu but normally, I’m down for a few days and then bounce back. But this latest illness was of the respiratory variety and just wouldn’t go away. I felt better after a few days but my respiratory symptoms kept on and on. Finally, my wife was having none of it and made an appointment at the doctor’s. I’ll do you just about anything not to go to the doctor but I knew my wife was right. But I sure didn’t expect to get an education about indoor air quality from the doctor. I was not expecting that at all. She started asking questions about the HVAC air filter and other HVAC components. I thought that was sort of strange so I asked her about that line of questioning. She indicated that my respiratory condition could be lingering because a poor indoor air quality. So she suggested that I call the HVAC company when I get home and make an appointment for ductwork cleaning and ductwork resealing. Once that was done, the doctor suggested that I replace the cheap HVAC air filter with a HEPA filter. And she explained all about the value of it good indoor air quality. I did everything she said and sure enough, my respiratory symptoms were gone within 36 hours.

 

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