The Heating & AC Blog

This past week has been absolutely miserable.

We have been facing a heatwave this whole time.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if the cooling system was still working, but the AC shut down about 2 days into the heatwave. Of course, we called the local HVAC company to help us out, but they explained that a lot of people were in need of AC system repair because the heatwave was causing everything to break down. They said it was going to be a long wait to get an AC expert to our home, so they suggested that we either stay in a hotel or get some backup cooling systems like window AC units. Fortunately, we had a couple of window AC units in our garage, but they were old and didn’t work very well. We used the best one in the living room because that’s where most of us were hanging out. We were still miserable, but the slight amount of AC from the window AC unit was better than nothing. We also had a bunch of stationary fans running as well as the ceiling fans working. The other window AC unit we used in the kitchen, but that cooling system hardly worked at all. When I felt like I couldn’t deal with sweating in the house any longer, finally we got a call from the HVAC company and they said a cooling expert was ready to come to our home if we still needed the service. I said of course we needed it and the cooling expert arrived within the hour. He was able to figure out the issue with the central cooling system and before we knew it, we had proper cooling in the house again and we were comfortable at last.

ventilation

I can actually remember when my wife and I went to get a new kitten so many years ago.

• The cat is awesome and we decided to name the cat ‘Cooley’ because he loves hanging around the HVAC vents when the cooling system is running.

Just like us, he enjoys the perfect temperature control settings. Well, I was surprised one day when we couldn’t find Cooley anywhere. We had his favorite wet food waiting for him, but he was nowhere to be found. I actually opened the can of food and placed it on the floor for him in the basement. I figured he would come out to get it, but he never did. After a few days of not being able to find him, we ended up making missing cat signs with his picture on it and our phone number. Nobody ever called about the cat and we were sad about that. I kept putting dry food out for him and kept opening more cans of his favorite wet food though. Then, after about a week, suddenly I noticed the last can of food was eaten and some of the dry food as well. I looked around everywhere and called for Cooley. Then finally I heard his meow outside the window. When I checked the window where there was a window AC unit installed, I came to find that the side piece was broken and that’s how he got out of the basement. He jumped in the basement through the side of the window AC unit and came to see me. My wife was so happy when he was back and I immediately fixed the problem with the window AC unit so he couldn’t get out anymore.
ductless mini split

I was surprised when a group of kids came to our door telling us about a fundraiser they were doing for the local homeless shelter.

They explained that the HVAC equipment at the local shelter was basically dead and could no longer be repaired.

Since these kids had friends living at the homeless shelter, they wanted to be able to help them out. This is why they were inspired to help all those people by raising money for a new HVAC installation. Of course, it’s a commercial HVAC system so it’s fairly costly. They also said they were accepting other donations like blankets, coats, and shoes for the homeless people. I ended up giving the kids $100 and a few blankets that were hardly ever used. I thought it was so nice for those kids to be doing something like that. At that age, I was mainly worried about just playing games until the sun went down, I wasn’t big into community service. Of course back in school we had to do some community service, but these youngsters were doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. If we have more youngsters who are working so hard to help out their fellow people, then I think that there is hope for humanity in the future. I was happy to donate that money, even though I genuinely hope they don’t just take the money and blow it all at the arcade, I hope they turn in the money for those poor people at the homeless shelter. Nobody should go without access to HVAC equipment to keep comfortable, especially through the winter season!

 

hydronic heater

For the longest time, I have been working on my baby in the garage.

It’s a 1968 Ford Mustang that I was able to get from a junkyard for a reasonable price. I have been working on it in my garage, but a lot of the time it’s either too overheated in there or too cold. My wife said that I should have the ductwork extended into the garage and I should call a local contractor to see if I could have that done. I ended up calling an HVAC company and they were happy to send an HVAC expert out to my place. The HVAC expert admired the car that I was working on and he was telling me about an old school Pontiac Firebird that he was working on. We talked about cars for a little while and then we got down to business. He told me that my HVAC was not sized correctly to extend the ductwork into the garage. He said we could upgrade the AC condenser unit, but it would cost a small fortune. He said the best move would be to have a ductless mini split air conditioner installed in my garage. I thought that sounded more expensive, but he said these systems are relatively cheap especially if they only require a single zone. He said they last a long time too with minimal maintenance, but you do have to take proper care of them by cleaning the air filters regularly. I agreed to the installation. He said I should add some insulation to my garage, and I’ll be in good shape. I did just that and now I can work on my mustang year round with no issues thanks to my new ductless mini split air conditioner which also provides heating in the winter.

find local hvac

So I went for the ductless HVAC installation

This past spring, I thought I was just going to have a regular cooling system tune-up like usual and have no issues with the AC during the summer. Things didn’t go as expected at all. The HVAC professional ended up telling me that the cooling system was shot. He said that technically it could be repaired, but it wouldn’t last for long before the next repair and the repair work would be costly. He explained that it wasn’t really worth repairing any longer because the cooling system was so old. I wished that somebody would have warned me that my cooling system was practically dead. Of course, I can only blame myself because I knew that it was pretty old. I just somehow assumed that it was going to keep lasting for another few years at least, but it died abruptly. Just the previous season I swear the cooling system was working like a champ. So I went over my replacement options. After the HVAC professional inspected the ductwork system, he said that I would have to go ductless if I wanted a replacement that wasn’t a small fortune. He said the ductwork had holes in it. That actually explained why the energy bills were fairly expensive during the last season. He said a ductless HVAC system would be the best option and it would save us a lot of money on the energy bills. So I went for the ductless HVAC installation. Honestly, I’m impressed with the new system and I hear it can last for up to 25 years with regular maintenance and care. I’m hoping that is true, but I enrolled into an HVAC service plan to keep it in good shape and make sure the warranty isn’t voided.

 

whole home heating

When I was talking with my best buddy about going to see a concert on the other side of the country, he said that we should drive out there. I asked him if he was serious, and he said of course he was. I said that a plane flight would be far quicker and we could be there and back in a single weekend. The concert was going to be a Saturday night and I thought it would be great to be back by Sunday evening. I didn’t want to be driving so far but he talked about how it would be nice to see all the sites on the way. I talked him into taking a flight with me and we got seats next to each other. When we were on the flight ready to take off, he finally admitted that he had never been on a plane before and I could tell he was nervous. I tried to calm him down and he asked me how to adjust the temperature control settings. I told him it wasn’t the best air conditioning in the world, but I showed him how to adjust the knob above his head to blast AC at him. I said he couldn’t actually adjust the temperature control settings, but he could at least adjust the speed the AC flowed from the vent. He said it would have to do and he tried to sleep through most of the flight instead of worrying about a plane crash or something like that. We got to our destination fine, but he refused to get back on another plane after the concert. We ended up getting a rental vehicle after all and we had the AC system cranked all the way back home.

 

air quality

When I first started working at the company I currently work for, I was desperate for work.

I was laid off from my previous job and I didn’t want to go on unemployment. I would have been making far less money and I don’t think we could have carried on living where we were. So I got numerous job interviews, and this place was the only one who gave me a chance. I was a little bothered about the lack of air conditioning during the interview and I was sweating a lot, but I thought they would have the AC system fixed by a local HVAC contractor. Well, when I first started with orientation, everybody was turned off by the overheated room we were stuck in. It felt like the air conditioning wasn’t working at all. Some people asked about the temperature control settings, but they were told an HVAC company was called to repair the HVAC system. I thought that was at least some good news, but a lot of people went on their breaks and never came back. Out of a group of 14 new hires, me and just one other guy chose to stick around. We actually became pretty good buddies though and we often talk about how miserable that first week was without a properly working air conditioner. Fortunately, a team of HVAC professionals arrived eventually and took care of everything. It was because they were so busy that they took a long time to get to our business building. I’m not sure that I could have lasted longer than a week without air conditioning, but I needed the job so I desperately hung in there.

 

furnace/heater service