When my parents told me what life was about, stupidly, I believed them. They always preached the importance of a good education, an enjoyable job, and a nice home. Settling down and preparing for a long life, leading to a miserable death, was the right way to live, they said. So, I got that degree, the right job, and the nice house. Then, I slowly waited to die. However, at some point along the way I began questioning exactly what I was doing. IS this living? My uncle came at just the right time to show me how wrong. I learned this because of my failing air control equipment. My heating had failed. It was bitterly chilly in my home and I couldn’t figure out why the temperature control wasn’t controlling the indoor air handling component correctly. I kept working with the furnace, trying to relight the pilot, and checking the Internet for further troubleshooting. FInally, I gave up and called my uncle, a professional air quality control specialist. He was nice enough to come quickly; he diagnosed the problem and made various small repairs. As my uncle talked to me about HVACs, he also told me about his life in this business. It turns out, the life of an indoor heating and cooling professional is invigoratingly interesting! Every day is different in this repair world, unlike my own. Now, I’m applying to go back to school, for HVAC repair!
I never thought about wear and tear
I never considered the life I was born into until I finally changed my perspective a few years ago.
It turns out, there are plenty of ways to live, besides the suburban drawl that seems to sink a lot of people.
You don’t have to buy the newest, fanciest gadgets all the time. You don’t need a big house, or even require the amount of comfort we strive to supply for ourselves. An example? The air quality control plan most of us have. Have you been using a central heating and cooling setup your whole life? It turns out that air quality control systems do not need to be as intensive – wasteful – as we’ve made them out to be. It’s illogical when you consider the benefits we enjoy from HVAC systems in our lives. Besides the cost of the system, itself, you have to pay for endless professional repairs on every furnace or air unit you purchase for the lifetime of the equipment. If you forget professional service appointments, you’ll pay dearly in electricity. I figured all of this out the difficult way when my HVAC system started releasing unevenly tempered, stinky indoor air a few years ago. I realized I had never called an HVAC company for a repair before. My system was ineffectively handling the indoor air, the systems were barely increasing the temperature, and my ducts were in bad shape. After I got done with the big overhaul, I was better off buying a new system.
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Waiting for new HVAC
I wasn’t super eager to sell the house.
This I made clear from the very beginning.
But, I also realized that this was an extraordinary real estate market. It was almost stupid not to sell the house really. But now that I’m living in a rented duplex with weak heating and cooling, I sure do want my house back. What maybe makes the whole thing even that much harder to take is the fact that our home was like perfect when we sold it. In order to get top dollar, we made some big time upgrades to our home. The HVAC equipment was replaced and man, what a replacement. The HVAC equipment that we had installed was the latest in HVAC technology. The heating and cooling equipment itself was top notch. Plus, it was super efficient with such a high SEER rating. I was stunned by how much our heating and cooling utility costs went down once the new HVAC unit was installed. But our home also came with a smart thermostat and zone controlled HVAC. That meant that there were 5 independent temperature zones in the house and each with its own independent thermostat. It was quite the set up. We put the HVAC upgrade in first prior to the kitchen upgrades. So at least I got to enjoy that awesome heating and cooling set up for awhile prior to closing on the sale. Now, we are in a bit of a holding pattern. Paring down our stuff was essential and the condo has served that purpose. The lack of quality heating and air is really motivating me and my wife to find the next spot so we can settle down there with the sort of HVAC we just left.
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Don’t forget to watch the HVAC condensate
It could be said that I may try to cover all of my bases all the time and maybe a bit too much.
However, that is just sort of the way I was brought up and I like to be prepared as opposed to not.
Still, I can over worry a bit about the small stuff. However, when it comes to potential problems around your house, there is no small stuff. Take the HVAC equipment for example. I rely on the HVAC equipment to provide the heating and cooling comfort my family needs and expects. To that end, I try to do everything I can to make sure the heating and cooling equipment is is good shape. I do all the once a month stuff like change the air filter. And I belong to an HVAC service plan. The HVAC service plan is great because I don’t have to worry about setting HVAC maintenance appointments. The come out for heating maintenance in the fall and air conditioning HVAC service in the spring. But along with my monthly HVAC chores, I make sure that I’m keeping an eye on the HVAC condensate. This is the moisture that comes from the condensation in the HVAC equipment. Normally, that run right out a drain line away from the house and it’s no problem. However, it’s smart to make sure that drain line is clear at least once or twice a year. A back up of this drain line could cause a water damage problem wherever the HVAC equipment is located in the house. Again, it’s a better safe than sorry situation that I simply pay attention to.
Good air conditioning at a good cost
Getting good value is something I’ve always been quite keen on. I like to be able to get my money’s worth out of stuff while also getting plenty of efficiency. That’s the way it is with my car. My car may not be much to look at but it’s ultra reliable and I’ve gotten my money out of it for sure. Plus, it gets such great gas mileage. I suppose I bring the same sort of psychology to the HVAC equipment. Where we live, the HVAC equipment of choice would have to be the heat pump for sure. The winter is mild and doesn’t take much heating. However, we sure need all the HVAC cooling we can get during our long, hot summer. To that end, I have always tried to get the best value and efficiency from my air conditioning. It starts with an air conditioner tune up in the spring. Having an HVAC professional perform essential HVAC service on the air conditioning ensures it’s going to operate at max efficiency. From there, it’s really more up to me than anything else. I don’t just set the thermostat at a low setting and walk away. That’s wasterful on a number of levels. No, I program the thermostat so the temperature rises during the heat of the day. But, the thermostat setting comes down toward the evening and by bed time, we have a comfortable cool house to sleep in. It’s not rocket science but it does take a bit of attention to get the most out of HVAC cooling in the summer. And doing it in a way that doesn’t cost me a ton of money is a great value as well.
Winter preparations are key, especially with HVAC
I’d much rather be over prepared than caught with my pants down when severe winter weather hits.
This is the thought that goes around my head as I try to motivate to keep preparing for winter even when it’s not winter.
But that’s just sort of the deal around here. Our winters are long, cold and full of snow. That means it’s too late to deal with heating issues once the bottom falls out of the thermometer. So, I work through the summer and fall in order to be ready when the winter weather settles in for five or six months. We have a great gas furnace that efficiently heats our home and has been very reliable for us. Of course, I make sure to have the HVAC professionals come out to do the heating maintenance prior to even a hint of winter. If for some reason there was something amiss with the gas furnace, I would want time to deal with that and not have to rush and sort of HVAC repair. The gas furnace does a great job for us. But we also have a supplemental heating source which also serves as a backup to the gas furnace. And it’s the old school, natural source of heating. We have a wood stove that helps to heat our home and is there in case of a power outage as well. I even have a hard plastic shell that goes over the HVAC cabinet for the air conditioning. This keeps falling ice and the weight of snow off the delicate parts and fan of the HVAC cabinet.
Healthy air with help from the HVAC
Enjoying clean indoor air was just part of the deal or at least that’s what I thought.
In my mind, the indoor air was clean because it was inside a clean house and not next to a factory belching smoke.
That’s how little understanding I had when it comes to indoor air quality and the HVAC equipment. That’s another part of my problem. I honestly thought the HVAC air filter was cleaning the air for us. Otherwise, why have an air filter right? Well, I found out last year that my ideas around the air I breathe in my house were so far off. The HVAC can play a very significant role in cleaning the inside air. It just doesn’t do it quite the way I had it in my mind. The first thing I learned was that the air filter I was using with the HVAC equipment was not cleaning our air. The type of air filter I was using with the heating and cooling was only there to protect the HVAC equipment. To actually have an air filter that cleans the air, I needed to buy a HEPA filter. And then I learned just how important indoor air quality is to our health. That too came as a shock. But clean indoor air is so important to our overall health, our respiratory health and our immune strength. I was amazed that I could change all of that for the better with just a small change to the HVAC equipment. I gladly pay more for a HEPA filter now and am so glad to have the sort of indoor air that promotes good health.
Sought the HVAC company for help with my air quality issue
I asked what was the significance of the UV and he said that was the tool used to eliminate harmful contagions and it has been proven to kill even the latest covid virus.
When my doctor said I needed to focus on improved air quality in my home, I figured I could resort to using HEPA filters. I had an HVAC professional come out to help and he said my system actually wasn’t powerful enough to use HEPA filters. He said I could either continue to use my HVAC with air filters that had a high MERV rating, or I could upgrade my HVAC if I felt it necessary to use the HEPA filters. He also said I could have an air purification system installed which uses HEPA filters. I didn’t want to have to upgrade my HVAC system but it was good to know that I could use a quality air filter regardless. The air purification system actually sounded like a great idea and so I went for that installation. The HVAC professional said I definitely wouldn’t regret it and I should consider the UV air purification system. I asked what was the significance of the UV and he said that was the tool used to eliminate harmful contagions and it has been proven to kill even the latest covid virus. Well, I figured that was enough said and I went for this quality UV air purification system. So far I really appreciate the improved air quality and I didn’t have to pay a small fortune to achieve excellent air quality. I was experiencing breathing complications before, but now I am doing pretty well and I am getting good rest at night. I’m glad I went to the HVAC company to help me out with this air quality issue I had.
The air quality was pretty bad until the ductwork cleaning
Recently, my buddies have been complaining about the air quality in my house.
It has been pretty bad regardless of me changing the air filters regularly. My buddies determined that it was the ductwork system that needed cleaning and they showed me how dirty it was behind the HVAC vents. I was concerned because I knew the ductwork cleaning was going to cost a lot of money that I didn’t actually have. I asked if my buddies would pitch in to help, but they all didn’t want to either because everybody was low on money. Then one friend said he knew somebody who wasn’t an HVAC professional but knew how to take care of ductwork cleaning. He said all the time he was vacuuming his ductwork system with his shop vac. I thought that sounded like a pretty good idea and so we invited the man over. He came over with all his tools. They were all kinds of crazy shapes and he said they were just as good as the vacuum tools that the HVAC professionals used. He said that he 3D printed these tools with his own equipment and he has been able to clean his own ductwork and help friends for many years now. He took care of the ductwork cleaning and we all took turns at it. He ended up just wanting a little bit of money and some beer and he was good to go. We all didn’t have any issues splitting the bill because it was so cheap! I guess you don’t necessarily need an HVAC professional to help clean with the ductwork, it’s not like you’re working with moving parts with the risk of electric shock, but you still have to shut the power off to the HVAC system when you are cleaning.