The Heating & AC Blog

For the last week or 2, I had been asking my hubby Ed to take the air conditioning system component out of our study room window.

I assumed the icy winds coming in around the side of the air conditioning system unit, & I slept on that edge of the bed; Since I didn’t expect Ed to change sides of the bed with me, or to quit taking all the blankets, I knew I had to get rid of this air conditioning system unit.

While Ed went to town for me, I laid a carpet on the floor & pulled open the window. I thought it was going to be easy to remove the A/C unit, since I was the one who 1st installed it. I had one side of the A/C component lifted over the lip of the window. I was trying to raise the other side up, but nothing happened. No matter how taxing I pulled on the A/C unit, I could not get it lifted up out of the window. I looked around to see if I had missed something, when I felt my hand connect with something sharp. I pulled back my hand, only to see blood coming from several small pinholes. After edging the A/C component forward, I realized my climbing rose bush had grown in through the air vent holes in the back of the A/C unit. I had to lower the window & grab a pair of clippers to split the rose bush away from the A/C unit. It only took an hour to remove the A/C unit, but I made a note on the calendar to get rid of the climbing rose bush before the summer.

 

multi split air conditioning

Ed & I aren’t cheap, but every one of us are frugal.

• Ed and I didn’t have currency to throw away, & in purchasing an up-to-date oil furnace, every one of us wanted to get the best for what every one of us could afford.

Ed and I didn’t want to supply up savings for efficiency, but Ed didn’t want to supply up on efficiency just to save a little bit of currency. Ed and I wanted to compromise between savings & energy efficiency. After a long discussion & a lot of research, Ed and I knew what every one of us wanted in efficiency ratings. Ed and I figured that for the extra currency every one of us would spend on an energy & heating efficient oil furnace, every one of us would save on the energy bills. That would be a larger payback for us, than just saving currency, then with the cost of energy nowadays, every single penny every one of us saved was a big plus; Oil is now almost $6 a gallon, & every one of us want to use as little as possible… Until it becomes a necessity to use the oil, Ed and I are using our wood-burning stove, but every one of us can only get wood for so long. Once the snowfall starts, it cuts our wood shed off to us because of where it is located. That’s when we will use the oil furnace. Ed and I have a bit of time to decide which oil furnace every one of us wants, but if snow comes earlier, it cuts our decision time in half! Next week, I’ll purchase the up-to-date oil furnace, & keep it on just enough to keep the chill out of this up-to-date home until the wood-burning stove warms the place up, and conservation & quality of life are our more than one chief concerns this winter.

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When I needed a more up-to-date oil furnace, I wanted to get the same currency-back guarantee that I had from every other vendor I purchased from… I wanted to be sure that if I didn’t want the oil furnace, they would refund my currency or supply myself and others a more up-to-date one. I said this to the local Heating & Air Conditioning specialist, & she gave myself and others a strange look… She told myself and others that she wasn’t sure it was possible, and they gave myself and others plenty of choices for a new oil furnace, however a professional Heating & Air Conditioning company would explain all the differences between every oil furnace & tell myself and others which was the most efficient in heat & energy. The Heating & Air Conditioning company could measure & take notes so they would get a oil furnace that suited my heating needs & the efficiency that I required, then even though she gave myself and others answers that would suit the normal everyday person, I wasn’t cheerful. I wanted a guarantee that if I wasn’t satisfied with how the new oil furnace worked during the first sixty afternoons, I could return it. She eventually said she could not make that guarantee, & I would have to ask the Heating & Air Conditioning company when she came to the more up-to-date home to discuss the up-to-date oil furnace with me. I’m not sure I’ll follow through with the purchase from this company if I don’t receive some kind of guarantee. I don’t want to be stuck with the oil furnace for the next twenty years, if it isn’t exactly what I want. I’m thinking that I’ll talk to several other Heating & Air Conditioning companies in our area, & see if they can offer myself and others some kind of guarantee. If they don’t, I’ll go with the lowest price on the oil furnace I want.

 

air quality

When I first moved into my house, there was a coal furnace in the basement.

My mom laughed and told me how much of a mess you had with coal, but I couldn’t afford to buy a new furnace right away.

I had to fix the furnace every morning and add coal to the coal hopper, so I had heat all day long. When I got home, the house was warm, and I didn’t need to fix the fire until night time. I loved the heat that came from my coal furnace, but it was too much work. I worked twelve hours a day, and I just wanted to get home, eat my dinner, and go to bed. The only time I had to myself was on Monday and Tuesday, when I didn’t work. I stuck with the coal furnace for the first year I lived in the house, and then I bought a new HVAC system. What made me decide so soon was that I walked out of the house with soot on my face. I didn’t know it was there until I heard someone laughing and saw them pointing at me. I couldn’t work in a hospital when I had coal dirt on my face, and smelled of coal dirt. I didn’t like being laughed at, either. I called the HVAC company and told them I wanted a ductless HVAC system in my house. It took me a couple of weeks to have a day off work when they could install the new system, but it was worth it. I didn’t have coal dirt in my house, and the heating was better than anything I had ever experienced. I also now had air conditioning without needing to put an AC unit in the window.

heating business

The HVAC technician who came to school for the job fair was telling everyone that anyone would look good in the uniform.

• I was quite a curvy girl, and I couldn’t imagine that uniform looking good on me.

I said as much and he laughed. He told me they tailored the uniforms to fit each individual. He was sure I was going to look amazing in the HVAC technician’s uniform. I thanked him and walked away with a smile on my face. After graduation, I signed up for HVAC courses at the local community college. After the first six weeks, they passed out uniforms to us. We had to give our measurements so they could give us a uniform that fit, and I thought mine was going to fit perfectly. It surprised me to see that my uniform was baggy in the legs and backside, but tight everywhere else. There was no way I could wear this uniform to class. The HVAC technician lied about the uniform looking good on anyone, because it looked horrible on me. I took it home and started doing some repairs. I had to rip the shirt apart to add some room and take the pants in. By the time I was done with the changes, my uniform was definitely looking much better. There were two other women in class that had the same problem. We went to my home over the weekend where I changed their uniforms so we all looked good in our HVAC uniforms. We caused quite a commotion with the male HVAC students, which made our instructor laugh and call for order.

hvac home services

When I went to HVAC technical school, I thought they taught all the basics.

It’s funny how missing one small class can make such a tremendous difference.

They take it for granted the HVAC students knew how to change the air filters in the HVAC system. They also think we know where the air filter goes. I knew none of this. No one taught me how to change the air filter, let alone where it was located. I went to a job fair at the high school and enjoyed talking to the HVAC technician who was there from the local HVAC company. I wanted to find a job that would be sustainable long into the future. My dad always preached job security, and I would have that with the HVAC company. Once I got into HVAC technical school and started classes, I was realizing how much I didn’t know, and wondering if I was on my own. I talked to some of the other students and found out I wasn’t alone in my ignorance. That didn’t mean that any of us were going to quit HVAC school, but it made us want to work harder. We teamed up and started a study group. By the end of the HVAC courses, we were vying for the top of the class designation. After taking the HVAC certification class and passing the exam, I wasn’t number one, but I was number three, and my two best friends got number one, but we all got a place with one of the local HVAC companies.

air purification system

I needed a new furnace installed before the Christmas holiday arrived.

We didn’t want to rush into the decision on which furnace we wanted, but we didn’t want the old furnace to break down in the middle of our Christmas party.

My husband said there wasn’t much he could do about the furnace until the HVAC company came to the house and did their measurements. I knew measurements had a lot to do with the air conditioning, but I wasn’t so sure it was the same with the furnace. Two weeks later, the HVAC technician made it to the house, and we discussed the different furnaces they had in stock. He told us about the energy efficiency of each furnace, and we talked about the different fuels the furnaces used. The one thing I didn’t want was a gas furnace, and that eliminated several furnaces. I wasn’t sure I wanted an oil furnace right now, either. The cost of heating oil was so high that I couldn’t afford to purchase it. That’s when I thought about getting the ductless HVAC system for the house. It cost little more than a new furnace, and it supplied us with heating and air conditioning. We wouldn’t need to worry about buying a new air conditioning unit so soon after purchasing the furnace. We would have heating and air conditioning, along with dehumidification and air purifications, without having several systems. My husband thought we had finally hit on the best idea for our home. We won’t need to go without heat while having the ductless system installed. The ductless HVAC system will run while they remove the old furnace.

electric heating