HVAC Repair Tips for Homeowners

This year we’ve been having a lot of crazy thunderstorms.

Usually they last for weeks at a time with no break day-to-day, however this is usually isolated to the late summer season.

It makes sense to expect daily thunderstorms without many breaks in the precipitation. However, this last year there were storms throughout the rest of the year beyond just the late summer. I know that my lawn loved all of this extra rain because it was lush and green in a way I haven’t seen in years. My wife has a garden in the backyard and it thrived as well with all of this extra rainfall. But with the rain comes thunderstorms and occasional high winds, especially when we get funnel clouds and tornado warnings. That’s when it gets scary because you worry that something could come and destroy your house in a matter of minutes. Recently a tree fell during a bad thunderstorm and nearly destroyed the side of our house. It missed the house by inches, but instead it destroyed our HVAC condenser unit. I’m happy that the damage was isolated to the HVAC condenser, but at the same time it’s frustrating having to call and get to have a new condenser installed. I was thrilled that it was covered under the warranty for the parts and labor. I just had to wait a week to get the work done because it was the late summer season and that’s when the HVAC company is doing the most air conditioner installation work. That meant a week without air conditioning in my house unfortunately.

air duct

My parents taught me to never waste electricity if I can help it.

They were really stingy about me leaving lights on in parts of the house I wasn’t using.

We had multiple stories in that house with the second and third floor and an attic above. It was easy to accidentally forget a light on if you left a room upstairs and walked to the main floor. Regardless of that fact, we still got in a ton of trouble by our parents if they caught us doing it. Doesn’t matter how many times my parents would make the same mistake, they always got mad at my siblings and up to them which city was the equivalent of taking money in the back burning it in a big bonfire. They’ve made that analogy with us on several occasions. So because of them, they are very sensitive these days about things that are an obvious waste of electricity. If you can get by without needing any kind of indoor heat throughout the year, you’re really lucky. I’ve only lived in part of the country or that was the case, and even then it would get cold a couple days of the year and I felt like I needed a space heater. But the problem is that most space heaters are really inefficient with the electricity they use. The ones that use a fan to blow the heated air around or the worst because they literally cool off the heating element in the process of trying to heat your house or home. I really don’t want to use any of these terrible space heaters again, but sometimes you just need one to work. That’s when I would get a radiance space heater that doesn’t utilize a fan.

energy saving tips

I like it when products come with warranties right out the gate.

I have the same laptop that I’ve had for the last 8 years, and it’s because of the warranty.

The first one I bought broke within 6 months of use, and the company sent me a new one. And then when I got a new one I got the extended warranty for that device as well. My recent cell phones have come with really good warranties too. I can’t complain when the company is willing to replace the phone as soon as the screen cracks. However that requires compliance with some of their strict rules including the screen protectors. Some of the other types of things that come with warranties that come to mind are heating and cooling equipment such as air conditioners and furnaces. Our recent HVAC system has been warranted and insured for 10 years. The company will replace any parts and components that break within that time frame as long as we use a licensed and certified heating and cooling company to service and maintain the system. Then we have a separate labor warranty contract with the heating and cooling supplier. Basically we have to pay for a two week times a year maintenance plan to keep a warranty on parts and labor for the system. If you don’t do this, you have to pay for the labor fees whenever a partner component is replaced under warranty. That means there’s a separate warranty with the HVAC manufacturer and another warranty with the HVAC supplier. You have to maintain both or you’ll pay for any damages done to the heating and cooling system.

 

smart hvac

When I first bought a telescope a few years ago, I found a decent one for $200. Then when I got back into using telescopes again in the last month, I was amazed to see forum threads on the internet suggesting I spend $500 on a new telescope. I know that inflation has increased the price of everything, but it amazes me to see the disparities. I think some hobbies evolve considerably as the technology involved evolves on its own. This definitely happened with music performance equipment over the last 40 years. Nowadays you can sync up all of your instruments in a live performance so they’re all playing on the exact same beat. The types of synthesizers that you can purchase under $1,000 in today’s world make the same category pale in comparison several decades ago. I know that heating and cooling technology has evolved considerably as well. When I was a kid, if you wanted an air conditioner for a small space and didn’t want to buy a central HVAC system, the choices were fairly limited at the time. My parents had a window air conditioner in our house when I was growing up. Nowadays you can buy ductless mini split air conditioners for the same size spaces that are effective and efficient, but they cost as much as 10 times or more money as a similarly performing window air conditioner with the same BTUs. When you look at the price differences like that, it’s hard to justify spending the money on the ductless mini split.

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