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I realized it late and took the tarp off

I’m not exactly sure that my heat pump is fine so I did call the HVAC technician to be sure. But it’s still running after yesterday’s dumb move. My wife and I nearly choked out the heat pump yesterday. When we moved down here, it was with the intention of spending as much time outside of the central air conditioning as we could. We spent much of our adult lives in regions where the Winter weather prohibited us from being outside for almost half the year. And we also had big bills from the gas furnace in order to be stuck inside. When we got the opportunity to move down here, we took it. And since then, we’ve settled in to a great life and a shared passion for gardening. It’s not just the gardening as it’s also just creating a wonderful landscape on our 5 acres. This is the most space we’ve ever had. For sure, during the peak heating hours of the Summer, we try to get inside the air conditioning. So as we are enjoying the last weeks of Spring weather, we’re hustling to get our flower beds and garden squared away. When it got to lunchtime yesterday, we threw the tarp we’d been using to toss weeds into over the HVAC cabinet. We wanted it to dry while we ate lunch. Well, we forgot about it and the heat pump came on for hours. I realized it late and took the tarp off. It seems like everything is okay but having the HVAC technician give it the once over seems prudent. I’m sure hoping that we haven’t damaged the HVAC equipment with that dumb move.

cooling install

I’m still leaving windows open while the temperatures are still in the 80’s

I’m hearing that familiar tone outside my window come about lunchtime these days. I work from home as a consultant. When I’m not traveling for work, I’m right here inside the central air conditioning of my home office. It’s actually a great place to work. I live in a condo with awesome HVAC equipment and a great view. Living on the third floor gives me a great view of the natural landscape out the back of the condo. And it also allows me to hear all the heat pumps in the building start popping on, one after another. During the Summer, it’s almost like a full orchestra of heat pumps. There are different sizes since these condos have a range of square footage. And each heat pump has its own tones. During the peak heating of the day during the Summer, it’s like a crescendo of air conditioning taking place outside my window. But really, you just can’t beat the heat pump when it comes to heating and cooling in this region. Our Summer are hot and our Winters are fairly mild. I don’t live far enough south to have the heat pump stay silent all Winter. But we hardly ever get any snow or anything like that. This is the time of the year when the heat pump really earns its keep. I’m still leaving windows open while the temperatures are still in the 80’s. But soon, I’ll have to seal up the house and leave the thermostat on cooling for the Summer. That’s okay because I can count on my heat pump to take care of all my cooling needs.

 

 

air conditioner service plan

Well, at least I’m going into the heat season with a new tool this Summer.

We are mere weeks away from the real heat and humidity settling over us like a hot, damp pillow case. I swear, the Summer here feels like it’s actively trying to choke me out. But this is where my wife wanted to retire so that’s what happened. During the last year of my career, I spent my days inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office making a smooth transition happen. My wife was doing the same thing. We had already figured out where down south we wanted to live and she basically went from there. I was fine upgrading the HVAC equipment on the old house and selling it. That needed to happen for sure. It was just too much house. But I could have easily settled down in our home town for the duration. The Winter didn’t bother me as much as it bothered my wife though. And she was determined to get back to her southern roots. I totally get that and was eager to make that happen as she spent so many years up north for me. But I don’t think I could have been prepared for the four months of pure heat and humidity that is our Summer. It has cost me a fortune in air conditioning costs. Hopefully, this new smart thermostat will cut the costs of cooling significantly this year. In an effort to get more acclimated to the heat before my second Summer, I’ve been leaving the heat pump off as much as possible. But once those temperatures go back to the 90’s, I’m turning it all over to the smart thermostat.

heat and ac products

I’m not sure why the radio advertisement caught my attention.

It’s not like I actually really tune in to commercials on my way to and from work.

But I heard an ad about an HVAC service that I knew nothing about. It wasn’t even our HVAC company that was do the radio spot. Still, I was intrigued because I knew nothing about ductwork cleaning at all. When I got home, I called our HVAC company to talk with them. We belong to the HVAC service plan which pretty much centers on HVAC maintenance. But from time to time we get offers for discounts on other HVAC services. Unfortunately, I tend to just toss all those coupons along with all the other junkmail. So that’s why I called the HVAC company. Indeed, they offered the ductwork cleaning and ductwork resealing services. And for sure, I was getting the coupons and tossing the out. The lady at the HVAC company hooked me up with the discount anyway and I made an appointment for ductwork cleaning. The HVAC technicians came out right on time and were just so careful inside my home. I really appreciated that. And they even wore covers over their boots just to make sure. What I wasn’t prepared for was the amount of dust, debris and just outright funk that came out of our ductwork. I was overwhelmed and a bit grossed out by how much yuck these HVAC professionals took out of my house. But I was then pleasantly surprised by such a remarkable improvement in our indoor air quality. Wow, ductwork cleaning and ductwork resealing were such a marvelous surprise.

 

air vent

This is the first time that I have ever moved away from my home region.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever traveled as far from my home region.

I grew up so far north that we were almost Canadian. So those Winters come with a big need for heating. And we had a couple of heating methods. There was the gas furnace which was the heating part of the central air conditioning system in the house. But my dad also put in a wood stove to offset the heating costs and have a heating method in case of power outage of emergency. The air conditioning was really sort of an afterthought. But it came in handy for the 6 or 8 weeks during the Summer when some air conditioning sure felt good on hot days. Now, I’ve moved across the country and way down south for my first big promotion. I lived at home and went to community college. And I even lived at home for the first few years of my career. So this is a whole new thing for me. I’m a homeowner in a region that I know so very little about. I do know that the Spring feels hotter than the Summer back home. And I am counting on my new residential HVAC to get me through what I understand to be a very fierce Summer season. I’m doing my best so far but I notice that I’m one of the only houses on my block to have the air conditioning on all the time. I’m thankful to have this great heat pump but I wonder just how much more air conditioning I’m going to need once the Summer heat gets here.

electric heater

I should have cleaned out and organized the garage a long time ago.

But I just didn’t. This is a problem with me sometimes. I know there are things I need to do around the house but I just can’t find the motivation. I spend a lot of time inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office every single week. To the tune of a minimum of 50 hours and closer to 60 hours a week. I’m thankful that I like that job and for the great commercial HVAC in the building. Still, when I get home, all I want to do is do nothing inside my own air conditioning. My wife is pretty much in the same boat. So weekends come around and we do the minimum of house work that we didn’t do during the week. And then, we try to get out of the central air conditioning of our home and have some fun. We don’t have kids but we sure were able to accumulate a bunch of stuff. And much of that stuff ended up in the garage. I finally had enough and got after it this Winter. I ended up doing such a great job that I really enjoy spending time out there puttering around at my work bench. So I called the HVAC company to have them come out and add some residential HVAC in my garage for the Summer. No way you can spend more that 45 seconds in that garage during the Summer without some cooling. I’m really looking forward to spending some time out there all Summer now that I can count on the ductless heat pump for that cooling comfort.

Quality HVAC

One thought that I had recently after reading about bad air quality on dirt roads was the fact that there is no possible air purification for cars! I mean there is no way you can bring even a portable air purification system in a car because it does not run on batteries. What they need to do is start building air purification systems for cars that come out of the same place as the heating and air conditioning. Or better yet, use the concept of whole home air purification systems but put it into a car’s heating and air conditioning. Where you can select the air purifier to come on and blow with the heating or air conditioning. Wouldn’t that be great? I do not know why they have not come up with it yet! I know it would cost more to buy a car with air purification systems in it, but for folks like me it would be an investment that I would not mind making. Because sometimes I drive through bad areas in terms of air quality and my allergies act up. If I had some kind of air purification in the car to go with the central heating and air conditioning system it would not be this way. It would be very helpful as a matter of fact. More than anything! So if any inventors are reading this please think about finding a way to make an air purification system for cars! I would be very very happy about this if it were to happen and buy it right away.

 

cooling system

But for the bad days I do have a few portable air purification systems that do the job in keeping the indoor air quality at bay so to speak

Did you know that dirt roads can cause bad air quality? I did not know this till recently while reading something online about it. I wasn’t sure if it was one hundred percent true. But after thinking about it, I can remember that any time I had to travel on a dirt road in the past my allergies would act up and I would wish that the car had some kind of air purification system in it! So there must be some truth to the fact that dirt roads cause bad air quality. I am glad that I do not live near any of the dirt roads in my area or else I would have probably needed to invest into a whole home air purification system for my home. The air quality in my local area is ok some days and bad on some days. But for the bad days I do have a few portable air purification systems that do the job in keeping the indoor air quality at bay so to speak. But the whole thing about the dirt roads and the air quality was something totally new to me in terms of solid information on dirt roads causing bad air quality in many areas. The next time I have to travel on a dirt road I will have to see if I can take another route to avoid it so that I do not have to deal with the bad air quality that comes with these dirt roads. It was an interesting article that I read to say the least!

Clickable link

After it pays for itself, we will be able to basically get our heating and cooling for free! Anyway, I didn’t have enough money to pay for it at that point and that’s why I decided to put up their sign

By putting a sign for our HVAC company out in the front yard for a couple of weeks, we are going to be able to save ten percent off our furnace installation. I could not believe it when the HVAC technician told me that they offer this little discount for their first time customers. I was really glad to find out about it, though, because I was wondering how in the world we were going to be able to pay such a high HVAC company bill. We had to have our HVAC system completely replaced because of some water issues that we had down in our basement. Of course, they said that the warranty would not cover it and then the home warranty would not cover it either. I was so mad about it, but my husband told me that being mad about it wasn’t going to achieve anything. I have to agree with him there. But that’s when we both decided that we would just start saving all kinds of money so that we can get the brand new heating and cooling system installed. We figured that if we got a high efficiency one, we would end up saving money on our heating and cooling bills in just a few years. After it pays for itself, we will be able to basically get our heating and cooling for free! Anyway, I didn’t have enough money to pay for it at that point and that’s why I decided to put up their sign. They are a great HVAC company, after all. So I don’t mind advertising for them.

hvac for sale

We have been working on restoring an old house for the past several months and up until now, it’s been really easy and fun.

We haven’t really had to make that many hard decisions up until now.

I am at the point right now where we are going to have to decide what to do about the HVAC system. Neither my husband nor I really know all that much about heating and cooling or about whole home air purification systems. We just know that we need one of each in the house that we are restoring. Even though people think that they want to live in a great old house with a lot of unique history, some people don’t know that you have to get zone control heating and cooling for the place. On top of that, you end up fighting about it and your kid starts complaining about the terrible indoor air quality in the place. At least, that’s how it was in the last old house that we restored a couple of years ago. We are getting to be pretty good at it, but as long as there are issues with the heating and cooling systems in these houses, I am always going to insist that we have a professional HVAC technician come in to take care of the heating and cooling for us. I mean, after all, the indoor air quality in your home is more important than anything else is. That’s why I insist on splurging and hiring a great HVAC technician every time since then. I don’t think that it could hurt matters and I’m confident that it could actually help.

a/c care plan