Last summer, my wife and I found out the two of us would be having a baby. We were so happy by the news that it wasn’t until a few days later when we realized that we needed to make a nursery for the baby. We didn’t want to get rid of our guest room since we wanted to have an area for friends and family to stay when they came to see the baby. We also couldn’t get rid of our home office, since I transitioned to fully working from home, and I needed a quiet place to work and take zoom calls. We decided to convert our garage into a new master bedroom , and the two of us would be turning our old master bedroom into a nursery! The renovations were all going according to plan, the floors were installed, and the walls were insulated. The only decision I had left to make was how to heat and cool the room, and extending the ductwork would have been expensive and time consuming, andI didn’t want to sacrifice the one window for an ugly, inefficient window unit, I decided to go with a ductless mini-split, however a ductless mini-split is an Heating and A/C unit that can both heat a room in the winter, and cool a room in the summer. The replacement of the ductless mini-split was easy, as I only needed to drill a 3 inch hole for all of the necessary components. Thanks to the ductless mini-split, my wife and I have the most comfortable room in the house, which is important for my wife’s pregnancy. Thanks to the ductless mini-split, we were able to convert our old master bedroom into a perfect nursery for our new baby.

air conditioning

Last summer, my wife and I found out we would be having a baby.

We were so happy by the news that it wasn’t until a few nights later when the two of us realized that we needed to make space for a nursery.

We didn’t want to get rid of our guest room since we wanted to have a space for friends and family to stay when they came to see the baby. We couldn’t get rid of my home office, since I transitioned to fully working from home, and I needed a quiet space to work and take zoom calls. We decided to convert our garage into a new master bedroom, and we would be turning our old master bedroom into the nursery. The renovations were all going according to plan, the floors were installed, and the walls were insulated. The only decision I had left to make was how to heat and cool the room, and extending the HVAC duct would have been expensive and time consuming, and I didn’t want to sacrifice the one window for an ugly, inefficient window unit, so I decided to go with a ductless mini-split. A ductless mini-split is an Heating and A/C solution that can both heat a room in the winter, and cool a room in the summer. The installation of the ductless mini-split was easy, as I only needed to drill a 3 inch hole for all of the necessary components. Thanks to the ductless mini-split, my wife and I have the most comfortable room in the house, which is important for my wife’s pregnancy. Thanks to the ductless mini-split, the two of us were able to convert our old master bedroom into a perfect nursery for our new baby.

 

 

Air conditioning repair

Last summer, my wife and I found out we would be having a baby.

We were so excited by the news that it wasn’t until a few days later when we realized that we needed to make space for a nursery. We didn’t want to get rid of our guest room since we wanted to have a space for friends and family to stay when they came to see the baby. We also couldn’t get rid of my home office, since I transitioned to fully working from home, and I needed a quiet space to work and take zoom calls. We decided to convert our garage into a new master bedroom, and we would be turning our old master bedroom into a nursery. The renovations were all going according to plan, the floors were installed, and the walls were insulated. The only decision I had left to make was how to heat and cool the room. Extending the ductwork would have been costly and time consuming, and I didn’t want to sacrifice the one window for an ugly, inefficient window unit. I decided to go with a ductless mini-split. A ductless mini-split is an HVAC solution that can both heat a room in the winter, as well as cool a room in the summer. The installation of the ductless mini-split was simple, as I only needed to drill a 3 inch hole for all of the necessary components. Thanks to the ductless mini-split, my wife and I have the most comfortable room in the house, which is important for my wife’s pregnancy. Thanks to the ductless mini-split, we were able to convert our old master bedroom into a perfect nursery for our new baby.

 

Hydronic heater

How often do any of us read the warranties on the stuff we own? For me, it’s rarely.

And that habit ended up costing me dearly when it came my HVAC equipment.

I’ve just never been one to look into warranty terms. I see the paperwork when I unpack stuff but I rarely even save it. I have now learned the hard way that this sort behavior has to change. It began when I came home last August to a house that was sticky and hot inside. This wasn’t supposed to be that way given we had good residential HVAC. I noted that the HVAC equipment was running but not producing the HVAC cooling that it should have been. I checked all the thermostat settings and they were where they were supposed to be. That’s when I should have called the HVAC company. Had I read the warranty information on the HVAC equipment we owned, I would definitely have called the HVAC company. Sadly, we know how I deal with warranty information. Instead of calling the HVAC company, I decided to tackle the problem. After looking online for 15 minutes, I felt I was capable of diagnosing the HVAC equipment problem. Isn’t it ridiculous that I though I knew what I was doing after looking online for a few minutes? Anyway, by attempting to repair the HVAC system myself I did two things. The first was that I made a small HVAC problem a big one. This was solved by and HVAC professional but at quite a cost. The second thing I did was void the warranty on our HVAC unit by attempting to fix it on my own. Read the warranty information.

Quality air conditioner

The heat pump is quiet now.

During winter, we really don’t hear much from the heat pump.

Our winters are pretty heavenly and we rarely need much if any heating from the heat pump. But the opposite is true for the summer. Actually, the heat pump starts kicking on with HVAC cooling in early spring. But the real work is to be done between June and October. That’s when the heat and humidity are peaking. That means temperatures that stick right near the triple digits. The same goes for the humidity. And this combination can be a staggering duo to deal with. For years, I just paid the utility bills in the summer and hated it. But this past summer was different. For the first time since moving to this region, I decided to get a plan together to save on HVAC cooling costs. Turns out that it really didn’t take all that much effort to do just that. The first thing I did was to get the air conditioner tune-up from the HVAC company. That makes the heat pump run as efficiently as possible. Then, I tightened up the house with new weather stripping and sealing spots that were leaking HVAC cooling. I covered all the windows that get direct sunlight heating and then programmed the thermostat. That was the only thing that was a bit tough to get accustomed to. But I did get used to the house being in the low 80’s during the day and it also ended up saving my hundreds of dollars in HVAC cooling costs.

furnace/heater tune-up

We are in for another cold winter.

But our house is ready.

The heating maintenance has been completed and that’s the last next to last thing on the list when it comes to winter prep. I start getting things ready for winter as early as mid summer. This is more for all the wood I have to get cut, split and stacked. We use a wood stove as a supplemental heating source as well as emergency heating in case of power outages or a gas furnace problem. But with the HVAC maintenance each fall, we’ve never experienced the gas furnace breaking down on us. Once all the wood is all stacked up, I focus on the house and the HVAC equipment. I make sure that the weather stripping is in good shape and replace any that needs it. Keeping the house sealed tight also includes yearly inspections of the exterior as well as insulation levels in the attic. Once the HVAC technician completes the heating maintenance, I only have one last task to complete the winter prep. And that task consists of me putting a solid plastic cover over the HVAC cabinet outside. This is essentially protecting the HVAC cooling equipment for the long winter spent outside in the elements. The hard plastic shell keeps the weight of snow and ice from damaging delicate parts inside the HVAC cabinet. Plus, some of the icicles that fall from the top of the roof could really damage the HVAC equipment as well if left unprotected. It’s sort of ironic that I finish preparations for winter by protecting the source of our HVAC cooling.

air conditioning filter

We live in a region that is just scalding hot from June through August.

Shoot, the air conditioning can even keep kicking on into November some years.

So, it’s pretty vital to have good HVAC cooling during the summer period. We’re fortunate to have the latest HVAC technology in our residential HVAC. The heat pump we have for heating and cooling our home is one of the most efficient and reliable on the market. The SEER rating is the highest we could find in fact. But not everyone is as fortunate as we are when it comes to having the best in residential HVAC. This was evident as the summer began. Our neighbor is the sweetest lady who is a widow and on a very fixed income. Yet, she is so incredibly positive, kind and the first one in our neighborhood to help when someone needs it. Thankfully, the neighborhood was able to reach out when she was in need and that makes me happier than I can articulate. It started when I kept noticing that the heat pump was silent at her house as the temperature climbed into the upper 80’s. So I asked her and she told me that it wasn’t working but she hoped to have the money to replace it by Thanksgiving. All it took was one email which was then forwarded to the rest of the neighborhood and we had put together a fund for a new heat pump. The local HVAC company made up the difference and installed the new HVAC equipment for free. Again, I couldn’t be prouder of our little community. This is how it’s supposed to work.

Cooling tech

The realtor wasn’t inside our house five minutes before she started pointing out the stuff that was wrong with our home.

• This wasn’t easy for me to take as this was somewhere that was dear to me.

My husband was right that we needed to sell the place since the kids were grown. However, listening to the litany of perceived slights was more than I could take. When she told us the HVAC equipment was basically trash and had to be replaced, I burst out crying. I have no idea why it was the HVAC unit that did this as I really don’t have a strong connection to our heating and cooling equipment. More likely, it was just the way this was happening as though this wasn’t the home that we’ve loved for 25 years. I ended up having to walk away. The realtor left shortly thereafter without the listing. My husband was so sweet to me and we just walked around our house pointing out all the things we loved about the house. He also found another realtor. This realtor was different. While there were things that had to be improved, he was kind and respectful in our home. When it came to upgrading the heating and cooling equipment, he showed us facts and figures about how this effects the value of a house. This made it much easier to get the latest in residential HVAC which ended up helping us get an amazing price on our home. We also have the best quality heating and air in our new place so an HVAC upgrade really is relevant and important to selling a house.

 

Hybrid HVAC system

The HVAC contractor told us, in no uncertain terms, to do two things right away

I carried over something from my childhood that I probably need to change like soon. When it was Christmas or my birthday and I opened a present, I just tore into it. And then once I had it opened up and in my hands, I was just so into it. There was simply no time for directions. It was all about playing with my new toy. This was the case a few months ago when we had our new HVAC equipment installed at our home. The process of getting the new HVAC unit took the better part of a year. It started with getting the news from the HVAC technician that our heat pump was at the end of its life. We took him at his word and began saving for the new heating and cooling equipment. Then, it was figuring out what we wanted for heating and cooling given how much residential HVAC had changed over the years. Then it was simply a matter of paying for the new HVAC unit and getting on the HVAC installation list. Thankfully, our old heat pump hung on and we got the new HVAC equipment before suffering a heat pump collapse. I was so jazzed about trying out all the new HVAC technology that I pretty much tuned out the HVAC contractor as he was giving my wife vital instructions. Thankfully, my wife isn’t like me and she paid very close attention. The HVAC contractor told us, in no uncertain terms, to do two things right away. The first was to get the warranty on the new HVAC unit registered with the factory because there was only a sixty day window to do that. Second, we needed to call the HVAC company to set up seasonal HVAC maintenance for our new HVAC unit.

HVAC technician

I have found that it’s really hard to enjoy yourself when you are just too hot and sweaty. This is what happened to me last week when I went to an annual Christmas play in our area to see some of the local neighbor kids in their roles as Mary and Joseph. I love going to Christmas plays and all kinds of holiday functions, and I always have. The problem this year is that I have started getting really sweaty all the time for some reason. My mom laughs and says that she thinks I have started menopause. I don’t think that’s what it is, but I could be wrong! I certainly keep having hot flashes here and there this year. Anyway, when I went to that play last week, I thought that they had the temperature settings way too high inside of the building. I wanted to open one of the windows to help with cooling the place off, but no one besides me seemed like they were uncomfortable at all. It was really hard to sit there with the heating vent right above my head . The place seemed like it was never going to end, and I was sweating profusely by the time it was finally over. I don’t know what to do about all the other plays and programs that I have lined up. I don’t know if I am going to make it through them if the buildings all have their furnace systems turned up the way that that one did. It was just miserable for me!

Heating and air conditioning system