Occasionally I absolutely need to slow down, relax and think, as well as look around before I making decisions. I believe that’s some pretty generic advice to give myself, however it’s absolutely apropo for this particular situation. I’ve made some mistakes, as well as now I’m paying for them in a sad way. I mean that I’m literally paying for them, because our utility bills have never been higher than they were this past month. You see, I let a salesman paint a beautiful rosy image for me the other afternoon, as well as I fell for the act hook, line, as well as sinker. What exactly do I mean? Well, I’m grumbling over the slickest Heating, Ventilation, as well as A/C specialist in our town, as well as our exhausting new air temperature control system, however everything went awry the afternoon that our control component was not working anymore as well as I had to get a professional Heating, Ventilation, as well as A/C specialist. The thermostat warned it was getting increasingly hotter, as well as the respected ventilation professional told me that I should think about replacing the entire control component unit for our Heating, Ventilation, as well as A/C system. He explained that there were more advanced components in the heating as well as cooling component market these afternoons, as well as I should buy one of the new HVAC models that was built for energy efficiency. He told me a modern thermostat would save me time as well as energy, as well as it could be customized to fit our family’s schedule so that the Heating, Ventilation, as well as A/C plan only operated when we were at home. I thought this new thermostat sounded absolutely amazing, as well as was dying to save some currency on our daily utility bills. That’s how I wound up with this poor control unit, which is way too hard for me to program as well as has a mind of its own. I have yet to modify the Heating, Ventilation, as well as A/C settings to coordinate to our personal schedule; rather, I’ve been unwillingly modifying our life to fit around the schedule of our heating as well as cooling plan!
Needed an actual a/c guy
My childhood preferred locale growing up has now turned into a therapist-worthy evening mare, however my Grandparents provided me the lake apartment that I remember being in as a child. The village is situated in the old south section of our country. These homes are entirely quite old however the architecture of the homes are beautiful as well as oozing character. They have consistently reminded me of the two-story homes with the picket fences in the dreams of playwrights. My lake apartment didn’t have any central air as well as heating as well as I was excited about childrearing in the same lake apartment that I grew up in, but however, I didn’t want them to have the same recollections attempt the a/c installation on his own. This personal do-it-yourself activity that our hubby has decided to take on has cost us thousands of dollars. After tripping circuit breakers as well as feeling care about I am drowning from sweat in our sleep. I came to the conclusion that it was time to put an end to this project. Finally, after a year of portable air conditioner units, extravagant electricity bills, as well as evening sweats. The Heating, Ventilation, as well as A/C company made a service call as well as we now have central air as well as heating before the cooler afternoons are upon us. Living in hot temperatures it’s the most important thing that central air component is always absolutely top notch.
Only problem was the heater install
I’m about to start shopping for a brand new home after living in an apartment. My biggest worry is about the heating and cooling. I know a little about HVAC units, however I’m not sure what kind of heating choice would work best for me. One thing I have been looking into is my friend’s suggestion of radiant heated flooring. Heated floors, or radiant heating, is either electrical pads that are put under the floor of a house, or systems of pipes that pump hot water from a boiler, installed in a similar fashion. The sizable difference between radiant heating and air-duct based heating is a more direct source of heating throughout the home. And a more cost-efficient ratio of energy used to the heat the system gives to the room. Rather than blasting heated air through a vent, which inevitably ends up floating upwards, and heating the ceiling more than the living room of a house, it gradually heats the air from the floor itself. Resulting in a more efficient heating, and the natural heating of furniture in the room as well! And there’s no worry about cooling, either, as I can simply use my air conditioning whenever the afternoons get warm with no worries about wasting energy. Or, driving the electric bill up by leaving the furnace going all day. All in all, it sounds like underfloor heating particularly well may be the way to go, so at least I’ll soon be able to cross that off of my checklist for my dream home planning!
Next time I will call the HVAC professional
When my husband started having breathing issues, my first thought was dust allergies. Even though the Springtime season was well passed, his asthma could be triggered by particles in the air. However, that theory was flipped over on its head when he opened up the closet of the HVAC unit, and nearly had an asthma attack on the spot. I looked inside after getting his inhaler, and wouldn’t you know: black mold, and a water leak that had gone unnoticed for what might have been a month. I tried bleaching the mold at first, though that only seemed to make more of a mess, rather than help. I finally decided to call an HVAC company for servicing. I was exhausted! We had to go without heating and cooling for half a month while we took care of this to keep the mold from going through the heating vents. But thankfully, when the HVAC serviceman came by, he was polite and got right on the job with the heating unit. He had to tear out the surrounding carpet, and thankfully that was restricted to the inside of the closet itself. After removing the sources of the mold, he properly bleached and scrubbed out the rest of the HVAC component in addition to the closet itself. This unclogged the air conditioning, which I hadn’t even thought of as a concern before. In addition to that, he left us with a clean heating and cooling unit with clean air to breathe. My personal advice, next time you have a concern with your heater – Just do yourself a favor, call in an HVAC expert!
AC is noisy, is that a bad thing?
My mom likes her house. Even though its an older model, she’s found that the year it was built has better building codes than new homes do–this means it was built to even higher standards than we follow today. However, she undoubtedly wants to upgrade or even just tune-up her HVAC system. While everything appears to be in working order, she finds at times that the HVAC system is just a little too loud for her liking. While it wasn’t much of a problem for my dad, with my mom it can be a bit of a nuisance. My father is a little rough of hearing, so when they go to watch TV, they regularly have to turn up the volume so he can hear the TV over the central air conditioner. However, this means that he has trouble hearing my mother talk to him, and they got so frustrated that they had an HVAC repair business come by to take a look at the system. My Mom does most of the cleaning and repair herself, although she was mad that the noise could be a sign of a major problem. The HVAC business assured her in that the HVAC system was in good working order for its age. However it was just a little noisy due to the model; In short- the HVAC system this loud when it was first installed, but it was the best at it’s time back then so no one minded. They’re happy that the HVAC system isn’t going to fall apart on them, however my mom still wants to get a new model so she doesn’t have to yell at my dad over the TV. She’s eagerly waiting for her first bonus from work so she can purchase a quieter central air conditioner.
Smart heating system
When people come over to our Grandfather’s house, they’re a little confused with all of the different methods of heating the house he has. However, I guess he’s certainly smart for setting the home up the way he has. He built his own custom home. I’m so proud my grandfather built something that will last in our family for generations to come. However, some of our relatives are a little confused by just how many ways he has to heat the house. The main heating system he has is an oil furnace, which isn’t what he wanted, because gas wasn’t an option in the town he bought the land in. And since he was moving to a truly rural area, he was bothered about losing power in the Winter season, and rightfully so! Occasionally when a absolutely bad Winter storm hits, it can take several weeks or more to get the power back. So he had a large wood burning fireplace installed in the upstairs living room. The fireplace has its own venting system, so it throws heat outward, heating many rooms on its own, and in the finished basement, he has a wood stove that heats the basement and pipes up to heat other rooms of the house. Together, the system keeps the pipes from bursting and heats the house to a truly comfortable temperature. Even when the oil furnace isn’t running due to a power outage. I’ve never seen a home like it–I wish everyone was so smart when building their homes!
Sealing a home
When I finally moved into my own apartment, I thought I had landed the deal of a lifetime. However, I was so distracted by all of the new amenities that I didn’t notice the temperature of the home was pretty cold. The real estate agent explained the property owner had the central electric heating turned off since the house had been vacant for a few weeks now. This was pretty standard–property owners always complain that they can’t find renters in the Wintertime because no one wants to move in the snow, and I find this is a good time to take advantage of though–sometimes property owners will let you move in and waive some of the move-in fee, or allow pets when they normally wouldn’t, just to get someone in the apartment. What I didn’t anticipate was that the chill had less to do with the HVAC unit being turned off, and more to do with the construction of the home itself. Immediately after moving in, I observed a chill on my neck anytime I didn’t have a hoodie or a turtleneck on, and even with the electric oil furnace now working right behind me, I still felt the chill; As it turned out, the windows only looked new. The building had been constructed in 1981, which was truly new for the area, however the windows had never been repaired since. Even though the electric oil furnace was now working as hard as it could, the windows were incredibly drafty, letting the warm air out and the cold air in.
Smart thermostat in our beach house
Every year, my friends and I go on a writing retreat to a beach house. It’s a great time to both get work done on our works in progress or even just get submissions done. We also have walks along the sea shore and drinks by the fire on the beach, then the owner of the house is a neighbor of the group, and uses his finances to keep fixing up the house so its better and better every year. This time, we came in to find he had installed a smart thermostat. A lot of the older members of our writer’s group didn’t know how to use it–its just a circle without any buttons, so it threw a lot of them off! But once my cover artists and I showed them how to use it, they couldn’t get enough of it! They loved being able to turn down the temperature in bed when it got too hot at night from an incoming warm front of a summer season storm, thanks to the app allowing them to control the thermostat with their smartphone. The smart thermostat also allowed us to turn the air conditioning on as we were coming back from dinner or shopping at the boardwalk as a treat for hitting our word counts. This allowed us to come home to cool house, without having the air conditioning on all day. I never considered purchasing a smart thermostat before, but after spending a month with one, I can absolutely see the benefits, and perhaps next year the owner will install the smart light bulbs too!
Her mother had radiant flooring
On a trip up to see my partner’s family a single year, all of us had not anticipated how much colder it was where they lived than it was where all of us do. This was evident when we arrived to his family’s town in northern Virginia in January, then we ended up having to buy heavier jackets while we were there to keep warm in the sub-twenties environment. One place that was regularly cozy & sizzling was my partner’s Grandparents’ house. I noticed after we had been there for a few minutes that my feet were regularly warm when I went in their home. I felt the floor & it was nice & warm as well. His Grandpa explained they had radiant heated floors. I had never experienced this where we live other than heated bathroom mats available at the home goods stores. I found it to be an incredibly efficient innovation. Heat rises, so heating the floors & using ceiling fans to circulate the hot air back down, the whole home was heated comfortably without having to use the oil furnace or central HVAC system. I was amazed at how efficiently a heated floor system was, however their electric bill was considerably lower than my other family members nearby. I don’t know that we will ever move to their area of the country, however if we ever do or ever have a home built, I will be sure to have radiant heated floors installed.
The furnace breaker was a pain
Winter time in the south area of the country can be a fickle thing. Summer temperatures last well into October, occasionally even November, however when Winter finally hits it drops into the thirties or lower. Though rarely does it snow in where I live, the Winter can become brutally windy with a chill. This is why I always look for a house with a gas furnace or wood-burning fireplace anytime we are in the market for a new home. This came in handy a few years back when our central heat went out in the middle of December. Our furnace and HVAC air handler is in a single room out in the garage, which is also unheated. We were really working late that day, and had a new baby as well. When we got home, the furnace had quit working at some point earlier in the day, as the house was cold inside. I right away went out to try to fix the problem, checking circuit breakers and wiring! My limited experience with air conditioning and heating units was beginning to show. After an hour or so of poking around, I finally got the heat to turn on, but however, shortly after it shut off again, and I could smell the tell-tale sign of ozone in the air. Somehow I had touched wires together and shorted something out. Luckily, I had enough wood in the garage to keep cozy by the fire until the following day when we had a certified HVAC worker come service it.