I’m the sort who really likes structure and sort of knowing what’s going to happen. Getting hit with some sort of dire challenge without any preparation is something I don’t like too much. Whether it’s in the commercial HVAC of my office for the central air conditioning in my home, I do my best to manage risk. I’m not necessarily completely averse to risk. Living this life without taking any risks isn’t really living life at all. At the same time, I do my best to be reasonable when it comes to risks. The fact is, there’s so many things that happen randomly we have to deal with. So the more I can manage expectations and risk, the better off I am when I do have to deal with something challenging. One thing I definitely try to avoid is risking anything that’s essential. That goes for the heating and cooling inside my house as well. We live in a region where quality heating and air is a big thing. Our winters are cold and we need the gas furnace to keep us warm. And the summer is a scorcher so we need plenty of air conditioning as well. This means I need to eliminate the risk of HVAC equipment down time by being proactive. I belong to the HVAC service plan offered by my HVAC company. This ensures that the HVAC equipment is getting proper HVAC maintenance in the fall and again in the spring. And that goes a long way towards eliminating any risk that the HVAC equipment would not be able to provide the quality heating and air that we depend upon.
heating and air conditioning
After what happened almost a year ago to the afternoon, Felicity is pretty triumphant that she did indeed learn her lesson. However, it was a strenuous and high-priced lesson to learn. A Year ago, Felicity was awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of her gas furnace shutting down. It was rattling and sort of banging around enough that it woke her. Almost instantly, Felicity knew it was the Heating & A/C device, and she started kicking herself. By the time she got 4 steps down to the basement, she could smell boiling metal and Felicity knew for sure the gas furnace had warmed and shut itself off. Something had gone wrong and there was no way she was going to maintain it. Felicity is not mechanically inclined or handy when it comes to household stuff. And even more importantly, anything that has to do with the heating & cooling inside her cabin belongs to the Heating & A/C technicians. But the reason Felicity was kicking herself was because the gas furnace didn’t need to shut down. She forgot to get heating maintenance last fall as it slipped her mind. So, Felicity ended up with a high Heating & A/C bill due to the emergency Heating & A/C maintenance charge. But the issue itself was a switch that would have been substituted had she gotten the Heating & A/C heating maintenance done. Well, Felicity did learn her lesson and signed up for the Heating & A/C maintenance method the next afternoon. So now she is guaranteed to get Heating & A/C heating maintenance every fall. And so she is feeling much better about the heating in her cabin this year than she was last year.
DeSoto TX Heater Repair
So I ended up with a big HVAC bill due to the emergency HVAC service charge.
After what happened almost a year ago to the day, I’m pretty pleased that I did indeed learn my lesson. But it was a tough and expensive lesson to learn. A year ago, I was awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of my gas furnace shutting down. It was rattling and sort of banging around enough that it woke me. Almost immediately, I knew it was the HVAC unit and I started kicking myself. By the time I got three steps down to the basement, I could smell hot metal and I knew for sure the gas furnace had overheated and shut itself off. Something had gone wrong and there was no way I was going to fix it. For one thing, I’m not very mechanically inclined or handy when it comes to household stuff. And even more importantly, anything that has to do with the heating and cooling inside my house belongs to the HVAC professionals. But the reason I was kicking myself was because the gas furnace probably didn’t need to break down. But I forgot to get heating maintenance last fall as it slipped my mind. So I ended up with a big HVAC bill due to the emergency HVAC service charge. But the problem itself was a switch that would have been replaced had I gotten the HVAC heating maintenance done. Well I did learn my lesson and signed up for the HVAC service plan the next day. So now I’m guaranteed to get HVAC heating maintenance every fall. And so I’m feeling a lot better about the heating in my house this year than I was last year.
DeSoto TX
We aren’t yet even to February and I’m already thinking about how to rein in the costs of air conditioning.
Mid January is the depth of winter for our neighbors to the north.
But for us, it’s the best time of the year. I wish we could keep the weather and the temperatures like this all year. For sure, it’s nice to not have the heat pump running night and day. And I love, love, love the fact that I have basically zero heating costs associated with the HVAC equipment. Like I said, the heat pump hardly even comes on during our ultra mild winter. But that won’t last a whole lot longer. The temperatures will rise in the next 6 or 7 weeks to the point where we actually will have to turn on the air conditioning. My wife is pretty sensitive to heat and so there’s plenty of air conditioning in our house. That’s also why I start thinking about preparing now in order to save later on all those air conditioning costs. One of the biggest things a homeowner can do in this region to save on cooling costs is to have a very tight home. So I spend this time of year going over every inch of the exterior of my house to seal up any cracks or gaps. I also inspect all the weather stripping as the sun can damage that pretty easily down here. Replacing the weather stripping is another important part of sealing up a house. I’ve also already scheduled the air conditioning tune up because having a well maintained heat pump is key to getting maximum efficiency. And this year, we’re adding some new solar shades on one side of the house in order to completely mitigate direct sunlight heating.
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My wife and I really did make the most of being stuck together for all of 2020 and most of 2021.
There were plenty of other people out there who were also stuck inside the central air conditioning of their homes due to covid risk.
My wife has a congenital condition that put her at very high risk if she was to catch the virus. So we had to take every precaution. And that pretty much led us to spending a year and a half at home. Both of us worked remotely from the quality heating and air of our home. At least we had that going for us. Our residential HVAC is pretty new and it’s really awesome. Along with a very high SEER rating, we have loads of other HVAC technology. I particularly love the zone controlled HVAC. It allows us to really customize the heating and cooling in our home. But we also ended up with some new HVAC equipment. My wife and I both got into wood working and created a bit of a workshop in the basement. There isn’t any HVAC ductwork down there so we had the HVAC company install a ductless heat pump. It’s amazing that we get so much quality heating and air from something so small. This is yet another example of how much HVAC technology has evolved overall. All it takes is that one ductless heat pump to provide great heating and cooling to that entire space. Anyway, we’re now staying home because we want to and we’re sure glad to have that ductless heat pump in our new hobby area.
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I appreciate having great neighbors.
That’s always been something that I sort of secretly wanted.
As a kid, I grew up in a big city and lived in a big apartment building. While we had neighbors, it wasn’t at all like living in a neighborhood. The building was older and we had radiant heating in the winter and just a window air conditioner in the summer. Nobody was rich and everyone was sort of to themselves in that building. So having a neighbor reach out to help you is pretty special for me. But recently, that has also gotten to be a bit awkward. This past holiday season, we had a hiccup with the HVAC equipment. Where we live it’s not brutal, brutal cold like they have way up north. But still it is cold enough that you need the heat pump running most days. And our heat pump wasn’t kicking on when we flipped the thermostat over to heating. A neighbor found out about it and offered his assistance. Of course, in our house we only turn to the HVAC professionals when there is a problem with the heating and cooling in the house. Our neighbor wanted to provide us with a number for a handyman he uses to do his residential HVAC repairs. I asked if the handyman was a licensed HVAC technician and my neighbor just kind of laughed. I took the number because that was the neighborly thing to do. But believe me, the first thing I did was call the HVAC company the next morning. And I’m glad I did. Not only do they guarantee the repair but it was not a big deal at all as they just had to replace a small relay switch.
hvac repairman
When you’ve lived inside rented housing all your life, there comes a big shift when you become a first time homeowner.
Suddenly, you’re not calling the superintendent of the building or the rental company to come fix the heating and cooling or whatever.
And all the upkeep and maintenance of a house is on you as well. There was a big learning curve for me when I first bought this house. And I guess I was a bit surprised by it. That has to do with the fact that I was just so eager and excited to leave apartment life behind. I never lived in an apartment that had actually good residential HVAC. Also, I was ready to shed the noisy neighbors and all that stuff as well. To be able to pay a mortgage and build some equity was what I was all about. And I think that I simply didn’t fully get the fact that owning a home comes with plenty of tasks. So initially, I wasn’t very good with many of the responsibilities that come with homeownership. A big one was the HVAC duties. I was leaving dirty air filters for months at a time which is not good for the HVAC equipment. And I forgot to call for the HVAC maintenance that was essential to the performance and longevity of the residential HVAC. So I called the HVAC company and signed up for the HVAC service plan. This way, I don’t have to remember the HVAC maintenance appointments as the HVAC company takes care of that. And then, I set alarms across all of my devices to remind me to change the HVAC air filter every month.
hvac technology
I don’t like surprises.
Even if it’s a birthday celebration or something life that, I’m not into surprises.
I’ve been this way all my life. Preparation and understanding what’s in front of me has always been the name of the game for me. So, encountering any sort of HVAC complication during the renovation of my first home was not the sort of surprise I was looking for. But that’s exactly what happened when I bought this house. I’ve spent the better part of a decade getting together enough money for a down payment. Of course, the closer I got the further away home ownership seemed for me as the prices exploded. Finally, I was tired of the poor HVAC in apartments and living side by side with people that I purchased a home that needed plenty of work. I was up to the task when it came to most of the things that needed to be done. But of course, I am not qualified when it comes to the heating and cooling of my home. For the HVAC in my house, I turned to the HVAC professionals. And that’s when I got the surprise. The HVAC contractor came out to do an inspection and that resulted in the aforementioned surprise. It turns out that not only was the heat pump shot, the ductwork was also unusable. This immediately blew up my renovation budget. But thankfully, the HVAC professional had a ready solution. And that came in the form of a series of ductless heat pumps which now provide some of the best quality heating and air that I’ve ever experienced.
Geo heat pump
I’m so glad that we made the move to the south once we retired.
I realize that this is sort of stereotypical behavior in some sense.
So many retirees from the north end up down here. But I now understand the appeal of trading a gas furnace for a heat pump and a wonderful winter. Sure, the summer can be brutally hot. Yet, that’s why we rely upon the latest in residential HVAC for air conditioning comfort in the summer. The little house that we ended up buying when we moved down here came with brand new heating and cooling equipment. And we love having this heat pump provide both the heating and cooling we need in one HVAC unit. But we also love the fact that our home came with a sunroom attached to the back. I was a bit skeptical about having a sunroom in a region where there is sun all the time. And I took the advice of a neighbor when we moved in to call the HVAC company for some residential HVAC in the sunroom. Adding that ductless heat pump to the sunroom made all the difference during the summer of course. That cooling comfort was a blessing during the blazing summer. But it’s also been really nice this winter. There are certainly days when I wake up and want to go outside to enjoy my coffee in the sunroom. So having that ductless heat pump be able to knock the chill out with a little bit of heating first thing in the morning has been ideal.
hvac installation
When it’s this nice outside, I just don’t want it to end.
- I realize that much of the rest of the country does not feel the same about mid January.
And rightly so. I can’t even imagine dealing with a winter that required a gas furnace. Then dealing with the high cost of heating a home would be equally challenging. But really, it would be the lack of getting outside and enjoying blue skies and sunshine that would be the toughest for me. This time of year, the heat pump stays pretty quiet but there is an abundance of clear skies and unlimited sunshine. However, this time of year has also been one that has included an amount of dread. That dread comes from an approaching spring. again, that’s an unusual sentiment given most people love spring. It’s the season of rebirth and enjoying better weather. And indeed, I do enjoy rebirth and watching our region green up. But along with that green comes plenty of pollen. And that pollen can just wreck me. But with the addition of a whole house air purification system, I’m no longer worried about the pollen in my home. This type of air purifier works within the HVAC equipment to provide an allergy free sanctuary. Finally, I’ll be able to at least have the inside of my house be pollen free so I’m not suffering in my home this spring. While I’ll miss the perfect weather that we experience during winter, I’ll be sure glad to have this new HVAC addition. Along with a pollen free sanctuary, I’ll be enjoying about the best indoor air quality possible.
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