The Heating & AC Blog

Lately, I have been having a problem, an A/C problem.

• Air conditioning problems are never fun, because not only do they affect your comfort, but they can sometimes be quite costly.

Which is why, whenever I can, I try to avoid having a HVAC professional come out to repair them. Especially nowadays, it seems like prices have gone up everywhere, and with most A/C companies already being quite costly, I can’t imagine what the prices are now. The only bad thing is, if you wait longer you risk the air conditioning issue becoming worse than it already is. So it is a balance of waiting long enough, but not too long. In my case, I was hoping that maybe the HVAC issue would resolve itself, without the help of a professional. Looking back, that was wishful thinking. It was hard to go without air conditioning, but I lasted close to a month. What made it harder was that my kids complained all of the time as well. Eventually, it became clear to me that this was an issue that was not going to go away. I was unhappy, but I knew if I wanted the cool comfort of the A/C again, I would just have to call an air conditioning repairman. The HVAC repair appointment is in a week from now, and even though it is unlikely, I still hope that maybe the A/C will start working again before the A/C tech comes out. But if not, then I will be stuck paying for the repair.

space heater

My sister kept repeating those same 4 words to me, and I didn’t want to hear it anymore.

• I told you so.

Those 4 words. What is she talking about? Well, about a month ago I noticed my air conditioning system wasn’t acting quite right. It was producing a bit of a smell, as well as a weird noise too. However, it was still working just fine, so I really didn’t think much of it. However, in hindsight, I should have just shut the unit off and called a HVAC worker right then and there. The air conditioner struggled on like this for another two days, before it eventually quit working. However, I didn’t want to call a HVAC technician out just yet. Why pay a costly repair bill, when I could ask a family member for help? My brother went to a HVAC university for 6 months, but then he dropped out to pursue another career. However, within those 6 months, he learned enough to repair HVAC machines. My sister told me that he wouldn’t repair it for me, and I didn’t believe her. I called and asked my brother and he said sure, no problem. It was supposed to be repaired this weekend, but my brother had something come up. The next weekend came and my brother gave another excuse, and so forth. A month passed without HVAC on my end, and I just kept believing he would eventually come out and help me. He never did, and that it was in the middle of summer, all of the HVAC corporations are busy, and I have to wait an additional 3 weeks before I can get HVAC repair. I should have listened to my sister.

portable space heater

I just got back from visiting my relatives up north, and when I walked through the door of my home, I noticed that it felt cooler in the house than usual.

• I almost didn’t notice, just because I had stayed up north with my family for awhile, and you actually start getting used to the cold there.

However, I am quite sensitive to temperature and so because of this I knew this was not the normal temperature of my home. I didn’t leave my furnace system on, and so I figured once I turned my heating device on, my home would be warm again. I thought that would be the end of the issue, but it wasn’t. I fiddled with the thermostat, and tried to turn the heating unit on, but for some reason it wasn’t responding. It was a sinking feeling I got, a feeling that meant that the HVAC unit stopped working, and that repairing it might be costly. I might as well not delay the inevitable, and so I called for professional help. When the HVAC tech arrived, he went straight to work on the furnace unit. I am always nervous for appointments like these, because all I can see is lots of dollar signs in the air. However, the air conditioning technician had the heater back up and running within 10 minutes, and the repair cost was minor. I was relieved. Not only to have the furnace working again, but that it wasn’t expensive either. It turns out the heating device just needed to be restarted, and then it was working again.

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My daughter came and complained to me about her room feeling pretty cold.

That was weird, because in my room it felt warm and cozy.

So I followed her to her room, and to my surprise, it was just as she stated, it was quite cold in there. What was causing this temperature difference? As I walked throughout the home, I noticed there were quite a few spots in the house that felt at a different temperature. I looked at my thermostat, and it was a few degrees lower than normal. I turned it up and thought that would be the end of things. However, later I noticed the home felt overheated. I looked at the thermostat, and it was well over 80 degrees! Somehow it was no longer on the temperature settings I put it on, and the temperature reading was completely crazy! It wasn’t hard to figure out that the thermostat was likely the issue. But to make sure, I called a HVAC business and asked for their advice. They told me it sounded like the thermostat was going bad, and I should order a new one. I did exactly that, and I bought a nice new and modern smart thermostat. The new smart thermostat came right off of the HVAC corporation’s website, and I knew it would probably take a week or so to get here. However, to my surprise, the thermostat was here within a few days. After careful installation of the new thermostat, the temperature returned back to normal. Problem solved.

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It is never a good sign when you have hot or cold spots in your home.

Or in my case, a room that is a different temperature from the entire home.

I walked through the door to my bedroom multiple times and it was always the same. My entire home was cool, but my room felt stuffy and hot. Naturally, you can probably understand why this has been affecting my sleep quality as well. I find myself waking up more and more and the quality of my sleep decreasing. The thing is, I have dealt with temperature differences in rooms before, but this time it somehow seemed different. In the past the culprit would be having the window open and letting too much sun in. Or having thermostat issues. But I had recently just replaced the thermostat with a smart thermostat, and the room in question doesn’t even have windows. So why is my room so hot all of the time? One of the key things to look at in this situation is the air conditioning system, since it is what heats and cools the home. I already knew my A/C device worked fine. So I grabbed my ladder and looked at all of the air vents next. Once I looked at all of the other air vents versus the one in my room, the problem became clear. Somehow, my room’s A/C vents were half closed. They weren’t even fully open! I made sure to fully pry them open, and was blasted in the face with air conditioning. The overheated room issue went away, and my sleeping quality increased as well.

Indoor comfort business

It was completely unexpected, but my air conditioning unit shut down yesterday! I have been living in my home for 2 years, and I had never had trouble with the central air conditioner.

So imagine my surprise when one day it was working fine, and then the next day it wasn’t! Anyways, I came home from work to a very overheated home.

Since the air conditioning device did not want to turn on again, I knew that this was an issue that was going to need to be handled by a HVAC professional. I did not hesitate to call a heating and air conditioning worker and tell them about the issue. I was surprised when they told me that they get phone calls like this all of the time. The appointment was scheduled for Saturday, and it was honestly hard to wait that long, because it was extremely hot inside of my home without the A/C. I even considered staying at a hotel until the time being, but in the end I decided to toughen it out. When the air conditioning professional arrived, it didn’t take him long to have the air conditioning machine back up and running again. What sweet relief it was to feel the cold air conditioning coming out of the air vents. The A/C specialist told me a few key tips to help keep the A/C unit working efficiently, and then was on his way. Now my HVAC method is working just like it used to, and I am glad to have it back.
hydronic heating

Man, I now totally have the set up since it really made more sense for me to go with remote working than go back to the zone controlled HVAC of the office downtown.

And here I was doing all the freaking out when they told us to go home to work in our own air conditioning.

I just didn’t think I be very good at working from home. Self discipline was never one of my strong suits. The office helped me when it came to structure. And having colleagues was important to me as well. But I also found that once I left that zone controlled HVAC in that office, there were some anchors in that office as well. It was really constant interruption. I remember trying to find just a quiet spot in a corner with air conditioning because to much was going on around my desk and the office. So once I started working at what I do from home and then only talking with colleagues via text, email or at designated times, less interruptions. Like much, much less. That led me to put really nice shed in my backyard and have it wired up. Then I called the HVAC company and had them install a ductless heat pump. Now, I’m crushing it at work and have so much more time for the rest of my life. Having control of my schedule at work has freed me up so much in my personal life that it’s worth not seeing my colleagues everyday. Life is good in my little office with the ductless heat pump and view of my backyard.

 

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