Author: Steve

I am happy having a boiler as my home’s heating system. A boiler uses water to move heat energy, avoiding a lot of the drawbacks of a forced air furnace. It is a closed system, using the same water without bringing in and introducing contaminants into the air. The operation is virtually silent and because […]

It raises or lowers temperature very quickly Because my house was constructed during the 1800s, it presents some challenges. While we’re thrilled with the hardwood floors, big front porch and gorgeous stairway, we’ve had difficulty handling heating and cooling. The ceilings are high, the windows big and there’s no conventional duct system. When we first […]

Before my husband and I built our home, we researched all different types of heating and cooling systems. The weather in our area includes very cold and snowy winters along with hot and humid summers. We require just about year round temperature control. Heating and cooling add up to about 50% of our household energy […]

While I spent a great deal of time researching before I purchased my furnace and air conditioner, I accepted whatever thermostat the HVAC contractor chose to install. It was a very plain plastic model with a button to push to raise or lower temperature. It didn’t include any especially helpful features but it worked to […]

My girlfriend Sarah started doing ceramics and pottery with her mother in elementary school. Her mom was a hobbyist sculptor and had a pottery wheel and a kiln. Working with clay was one way for the two of them to spend time together and bond, plus it was fun for Sarah. She ended up taking […]

The last time the annual board meeting was held, the A/C failed while I was in the session. The situation got so bad that the people I was with and I had to move the discussion to a different room where the atmosphere was more favorable. It was such an embarrassment since ours is the […]

I had never imagined that being rained on could be painful until that day. The rain mixed with small hailstones pelted a single mercilessly as I made our way from the farm to the house. I was soaking wet from head to toe, plus water pooled where I stood. I had earlier called the local […]

Due to my allergy and a mild case of OCD, I am always dusting and cleaning my house. I was always ordering a new air filter until the guy from the local supplier who mainly delivered them told me to consider buying a washable filter that I could clean instead of replacing it to save […]

We had a clear budget on how much the two of us would spend on heat and AC products while I was in our renovation project. The local supplier the two of us had contacted had even given us a quotation that the two of us used to come up with the budget. It was […]