Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2014

Why Do it Yourself Shouldn't Apply to Propane

Why Would you Risk your Family's Safety We bet that you have a handy man or woman in your home or family that can always fix a leaky faucet, tighten this or that, and fix whatever is broken. The last thing they would think to do is call a professional, I can do it is there first response.  This is the last thing that should cross a DIYer's mind when it comes to installing gas products, but it isn't. In a new ad campaign from the Propane Education & Research Council or PERC addresses the aftermath of a gas fire from a DIY project gone wrong.  The ad campaign shows a home that has extensive fire damage, a disappointed wife and insurance agent, and a husband that thought he could do it.   We all think that we can do it until we can't. When it comes to gas unless you have the proper knowledge to set pressures, properly connect equipment, or know where to place equipment, there should never be a time when you think you can do it. Gas, when properly installed

What does Home Comfort mean?

Home Comfort starts with the right equipment for your needs and your home. What does it mean to have home comfort, we'll be talking about how to achieve this through your heating and cooling equipment.  Home comfort from an energy standpoint should be viewed through this question, are you comfortable in your home all year around? If you're warm enough in the winter time but maybe paying more than you think you should you're not comfortable. Choosing to sweat in the summer instead off turning on the AC because of the electric bill is a perfect example of not having home comfort in more ways than one. So how can you be comfortable during the winter and summer without breaking the bank, first look at how old your equipment is. If your heating system is more than 20 years old you should consider a new boiler or furnace. Air conditioning systems that are 7 years or older should be replaced. Mini-split air conditioners are much more energy efficient than window units and o

What the Natural Gas Utilities aren't telling you

Methane Gas is 20x more powerful of a greenhouse than Carbon Dioxide. When you think of Oil heat what comes to mind? Dirty, expensive, foreign and inefficient fuel source what about Natural Gas? The Natural Gas utilities want you to believe that their product is cleaner, more efficient, domestic, and better for the environment.  This is what they are telling you, but it's not the whole story about Oil heat or Natural Gas. First we would like to paint the modern picture that is Oil and heating with Oil.  The United States is projected to became the worlds' largest producer of Oil by 2015. That means that the Oil that is used to heat your home will come from and stay in the US. Natural Gas comes from the US too, right? Yes it does however the Oil that is delivered to your home helps to keep people in your local community employed. While Natural Gas utility companies are monopolies and like National Grid can be owned and headquartered outside of the US.  Local Oil co

Annual Maintenance: Why do I need it?

Annual, Preventive, Regular Maintenance No matter what you call it, boilers, furnaces, AC units, and water heaters need to be tune-up periodically to ensure that they deliver their max performance. Now this has to be just a scam from the heating companies to get more money, my heating system has been running fine for years, why should I have some clean it?  The jury may be out for how regularly you should schedule maintenance but the general guideline is once a year.  Why you ask, well because your heating system collects dirt, dust and other particles that build up and lower your system efficiency. Making older system even less efficient and making new energy efficient systems seem much less modern.  You might still wonder, does it really make a difference, well we are lucky enough to have a testimonial that shows the benefits of annual maintenance.  This past winter was on average 15% colder than the previous year's winter, if you ran the same year to year you would use 15