Your HVAC Equipment Blog

I think this was the first morning that I walked outside to get the mail and heard our heat pump.

• It’s not too tough to miss as it’s right outside the back door that leads to the deck from the kitchen.

I have a bit of a routine just about every morning. I rise early, make coffee and find a place outside of the central air conditioning on the deck. During the Summer, this is the only time of the day that I’m guaranteed to be able to sit outside. The peak heating hours of the day are just far too intense. It’s not like I can take my salad outside of the commercial HVAC to sit on a park bench this time of year. Yea, we’re past the point of me getting some sunshine at lunchtime. It’s either eat at my desk with the zone controlled HVAC or find air conditioning in some food spot close by. Generally, it’s sitting at my desk with my salad. So getting outside each and every morning is an important part of my whole structure. Once I get my first cup down and the sky is starting to wake up with sunshine, I head out through the gate in our backyard to walk to the mailbox. And that’s when I pass the heat pump. For sure, it’s been coming on here and there for cooling for the past month. But yesterday, it was the first time I heard the air conditioning running in my home before the sun came up. This is a sure sign that we are entering the heat season. So it’s time to keep a close eye on the thermostat setting and find a cool spot for the next four months.

 

 

a/c professional

And he’s just the same down to earth, great guy that he was way back when

It’s funny how there are people you knew when you were young that ended up just the way you thought that they would. That’s so true with one of my best highschool buddies. Actually, we go back to the days of a small country school house. I remember how hot we were in the Winter with that radiant heating. And we were hot the rest of the year as well because there was exactly zero amount of commercial HVAC in that place. Perhaps this initially sparked an interest in HVAC for my buddy. He was such a good guy, well thought of and did well in school. When I was trying to get into college, my buddy had already made up his mind what he wanted to do. I don’t know why or how but he sort of mapped out his career by starting out as an HVAC technician. I think there was perhaps some passion for working on heating and cooling equipment for sure. But I also think my friend was also choosing a path where he could be financially successful as his own boss. I went off to college and ended up moving to the other end of the country. It’s been something like 25 years and I caught up with him on a rare visit to the region. I was pleased to see that he indeed followed that road map he’d laid out all those years ago. He went from HVAC technician to HVAC contractor to an HVAC professional who now owns his own, local HVAC company. And he’s just the same down to earth, great guy that he was way back when. I love a happy ending.

 

furnace filter for sale

I just hate it when small businesses fail.

That’s just another person who is facing a crushed dream.

But then, there are all the financial ramifications that got with that failed small business. One of my favorite local food spots just closed. And it was primarily due to the fact that they didn’t spend any money on the commercial HVAC. When your business is located this far south, it’s really wise to invest in good air conditioning before anything else. This place was sort of quaint and cute anyway. It sat right down on the river in a not too crowded spot. The dining room was great from November till about mid March because the doors were open to the river and the deck. But once the temperatures and the humidity start working their way up during the peak heating hours of the day, it’s time for air conditioning. Whatever commercial HVAC system was in that place was deeply overwhelmed. Even if they didn’t want to replace all the HVAC equipment, they could have added a ductless heat pump at least. But nothing and finally, people just stopped showing up. I hate this even more so because I too am a small business owner. And my fate can also be determined by the whims of the buying public. That’s why I make sure that I have all the fundamentals covered. Insurance, fair lease, well paid help and yes, really good commercial HVAC. I mean, I can’t imagine expecting customers to frequent my business if the air conditioning is just non-existent. Especially not in the Summer season.

 

Click for more on air conditioning

So far, so good when it comes to the new smart thermostat. We’re not in the teeth of the heat and humidity yet. But we are pretty dang close. The highs are in the upper 80’s and the humidity level is at about Summer levels. So that means the air conditioning has been popping on more and more. But it’s still sort of weird because I have nothing to do with any of this at all. And being the thermostat hawk was once my jam. I was the one in the family who was all over the thermostat setting during the Summer. It was with good reason though. When we first moved this far south, I was super glad to be done with snow, ice and the gas furnace. The Winter here was even better than I thought it could be. But the first couple of Summer seasons nearly broke the bank when it came to the costs associated with cooling our home. For sure, I’m always going to get an air conditioning tune up. It’s good for the life of the HVAC equipment and increases efficiency which ultimately saves me money. But leaning straight into a ton of air conditioning in the Summer, down here, is madness. That’s why I was the one who was always on top of the thermostat setting. Yet, that’s not the case now that we have smart thermostat HVAC technology in our home. The HVAC technician and I set some general parameters but that’s it. The smart thermostat is the one who is learning patterns in order to not overcook an empty house. And it knows the peak heating hours as well so it adjusts all day long. But I still feel sort of oddly benched from my thermostat duties.

 

 

HVAC home services

One less thing on my plate is always fine with me.

I’m really not a control issue sort of person. Or at least most of the time anyway. I am, in fact, a single mom who is always balancing and juggling. The fancy way we say that inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office is prioritizing and multitasking. It’s really just the way things are done these days. There’s no way that everything that comes your way during the work day gets addressed. So you pick your battles and delegate stuff. And I’m good with my professional life as I like what I do and who doesn’t love having zone controlled HVAC in their office? But at home, the delegation of tasks and responsibilities falls largely on nobody. My kids are so busy inside the central air conditioning of our home with academics. And when they aren’t studying, they’re outside of the air conditioning with athletic pursuits. So while I hold them accountable for general orderliness, I don’t expect them to take on adult responsibilities. Those are really mine. That’s why I’m so excited about joining this HVAC service plan offered by my HVAC company. Now, when it comes to HVAC maintenance, all I have to do is continue to remember to change the air filter for the HVAC equipment. The HVAC service plan takes care of everything else. I don’t have to remember to call for HVAC maintenance appointments or even be home for HVAC maintenance. It’s just one more thing that I don’t have to figure out how to get done.

 

a/c tune up

Scary how easy it was to save something like 20 percent on my heating costs this Winter.

And that’s not even factoring in how much heating costs went up this year.

Actually, the news that heating costs would rise in our area was what lit a fire under me to finally prep the house. You can’t grow up this far north without knowing all about prepping a home for Winter. So I definitely can’t use ignorance as an excuse. Fact is, I’m just too dang lazy when it comes to stuff like that. I’d much rather sit around the central air conditioning of my living room watching football. Watching a game between two teams I hate is preferable to doing household projects. Plus, I suck at household projects. I just didn’t get that gene passed along. My dad worked on everything in the house except for the heating and cooling equipment. So it’s sort of ironic that I actually did something for my home that benefited the heating and cooling equipment. I had also avoided doing the Winter prep because I figured it’d be hard to figure out and labor intensive. Again, that wasn’t the case at all. I was able to download a list from our HVAC company’s website that gave me explicit directions along with a shopping list. All there was to do then was to do it. It literally took me two weekends of working a few hours in the morning. That’s it. And I saved hundreds of dollars on heating costs because of that effort. Sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. I’ll be doing that every Fall from here on.
Heat pump install