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SUMMER IS COMING!!!
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Homeowners are looking forward to warmer weather after snow and freezing rain took a toll on residences across the nation during the winter. Harsh weather even left its mark on the typically warm Southeast, which experienced some of its coldest temperatures on record. Springtime is revealing a list of post-winter home repairs that need to be made. After being stuck inside for the past few months, getting outside to assess home damage and tackle projects will help you get a jump-start on the season. Begin with weekend projects that alleviate water damage, such as clearing out gutters and downspouts. Look at the roofing and siding of your home, and repair any broken or missing shingles or panels.
These projects allow you to dust off your tool kit, organize your garage and make a list of what needs to be done in the coming months to improve the stability and comfort of your home. This is also a good time to make sure your home's heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is functioning properly and at its most efficient rate. Here are some things homeowners can undertake this time of year:
1 Check the furnace filter. Cleaning or changing the filter each month will help extend the life of your furnace, and it can help you save on energy costs associated with heating and cooling.
2 Clean air ducts. Remove ducts and return-air grille plates, and thoroughly clean them with a rag, scrubbing brush or vacuum to prevent any irritants or dust from making their way into your home's air.
3 Inspect the outdoor air-conditioning unit. Remove leaves, grass, dirt and other debris that has built up around your outdoor unit or heat pump to ensure nothing is obstructing the airflow.
4 Listen for strange noises. Simply listening for loud or unfamiliar noises is good protocol for evaluating bigger issues that might be plaguing your home comfort system.
5 If you have an old HVAC system, or if you are wondering how well your system is performing, take the time to schedule a routine maintenance checkup with ComfortMaster. We can advise you on ways to improve the safety and comfort of your home and make sure the system is operating properly.
6 Additionally, ask your us about what you can do to maintain greater control over energy costs and environmental impact, especially on hot days.
With these improvements, your home will look and feel as fresh as spring, and your cabin fever will be a thing of the past.
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SWINE FLU
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The Swine Flu – What can you do as a home owner to minimize your risk?
With the recent coverage of the latest emerging flu strain (the so-called swine flu, H1N1), home owners are scrambling to see what they can do within their home to mitigate the risk of possible infection.
What is H1N1?
This particular strain of influenza, H1N1, is being called the swine flu, but it’s actually a combination of swine flu, avian flu and the common flu. According to industry experts, in its current form, H1N1, it isn’t particularly robust. However, viruses have a way of mutating and getting stronger, and this could become more evident as time passes. The term “Pandemic” simply describes the fact that the virus is showing up in several countries across the globe at more or less the same time. Although the term sounds bad, in fact it does not describe the virus’s strength, it is more of a geographic indicator. The CDC – Center for Disease Control is in a cautious – yet hopefully prepared mode.
How does it Spread?
H1N1 has been shown to spread like the common flu, via small airborne droplets (like those generated by a sneeze). Thus – we need to take the general precautions of washing our hands frequently, and being acutely aware of the risks associated in public areas. Should someone come in direct contact or physically transmit the virus (i.e. sneezing, putting their hands in their mouth or eyes), there is no help as transmission has occurred. But prior to direct contact, once a person sneezes – the virus and saliva atomizes in the air – and it now becomes airborne.
So how do you kill this flu?
According to industry experts, UV systems for air treatment and Whole House Air Cleaners would have a preventative effect on the environment. This is where technology can really help. The airborne contaminates can be spread through your home HVAC system – BUT with UV lights and IAQ equipment (whole house air filtration) your risk can be minimized. Killing and capturing the virus before it can be spread.
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HISTORY of AC
The idea of air conditioning started before a machine was created to produce the cooling effect desired. The first attempt at building an air conditioner was made by Dr. John Gorrie (1803-1855), an American physician, in Apalachicola, Florida. During his practice there in the 1830s, Dr. Gorrie creating an ice-making machine that essentially blew air over a bucket of ice for cooling hospital rooms of patients suffering from malaria and yellow fever.
In 1881, when President James Garfield was dying, naval engineers constructed a box-like structure containing cloths saturated with melted ice water, where a fan blew hot air overhead. This contraption was able to lower a room by 20 degrees Fahrenheit but consumed half a million pounds of ice in two months' time.
A close ancestor to the modern air conditioner units was first made in 1902 by an American engineer by the name of Willis Carrier. The machine at that time was called "Apparatus for Treating Air" and was built for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Co. in Brooklyn, New York. Chilled coils were used in the machine to cool air and lower humidity to 55%, although the apparatus was made with enough precision that the humidity level desired was adjustable.
After the invention by Carrier, air conditioners began to bloom. They first hit the industrial buildings such as printing plants, textile mills, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and a few hospitals. The first air-conditioned home was that of Charles Gates, son of gambler John "Bet a Million" Gates, in Minneapolis in 1914. However, during the first wave of their installation, Carrier's air conditioner units were large, expensive, and dangerous due to the toxic ammonia that was used as coolant.
In 1922, Carrier had two breakthroughs - he replaced the ammonia with the benign coolant dielene and added a central compressor to reduce the size of the unit. The next advance was when Carrier sold his invention to movie-theater operators, with a notable debut in 1925 at the Rivoli on Broadway in New York City. In a short amount of time, air conditioners were installed in office buildings, department stores and railroad cars. The United States House of Representatives had air conditioners installed in 1928, with the Senate, White House and Supreme Court following suit in the years after. After World War II, window units air conditioners appeared, with sales escalating from 74,000 in 1948 to 1,045,000 in 1953.
Today, air conditioners have been said to be a partial cause for the changes in the South, and for most of us who have experienced its cooling benefits in times of searing heat waves, it is an invention that is hard to live without.
Source: Jones Jr., Malcolm. "Air Conditioning". Newsweek. Winter 1997 v130 n24-A p42(2).
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DID YOU KNOW?
MYTH: It's more efficient to leave the air conditioner running at a lower level during the day than to shut it off and have to re-cool the house again later.
FACT: The less you use the AC, the less electricity you use. When the AC is running regardless of the level, you are paying for it, when it is off, you're not. Keep your windows closed while the AC is off to keep out additional humidity, a well insulated home should only drop a few degrees throughout the day while you're not home.
MYTH: Opening the registers in all rooms and leaving the interior doors open will circulate cold air throughout the house more efficiently.
FACT: Closing doors, vents and ductwork to unused rooms makes better and more efficient use of an air conditioner. Cold air goes where the heat is. If there is a hot unused room, the air conditioner will work to cool it off. By closing that room off to the rest of the house (by register or even more closing the duct work leading to that room), your home will stay cooler more effeciently.
MYTH: To cool off a house faster, you should crank the thermostat 5-7 degrees cooler than the desired temperature until the home cools off.
FACT: Lowering the temperature on the thermostat does not make the air conditioner work any faster when cooling off your home. An air conditioner extracts the hot air in a home and replaces it with cold. An air conditioner only replaces a given amount of hot air with cold in a particular time frame.
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TIPS FOR SAVING
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Tips for saving on your utility bill. |
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WOULD YOU?
Would you drive your car 20,000 miles without changing the oil, checking the tires, or giving it a regular tune-up? Of course not. No car owner would drive a car for that many miles without proper maintenance. It has to do with safety, reliability and fuel efficiency.
So, why do you ignore your air conditioner? Regular tune-ups will keep it running more effeciently longer. This can save on repair bills and even cut utility bills.
Call us today for a quote on an Energy Savings Agreement that can save you money on your utility bills.
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