Heating Emergency or Scheduled Upgrade – 5 Things to Expect from Your HVAC Comapny

December 3rd, 2014


Recently my Facebook feed has been full of posts beginning “We woke up to a 50 degree (or thereabouts) house! What a time to be left in the lurch!” Murphy’s law says that many families will experience heating problems on the coldest days of the year. However unfair this may seem, I’ve found myself commenting that not all HVAC companies are created equal! Here are a few things to look for and a few services I’ve come to expect (It’s okay to expect the best!):

  1. 24/7 Emergency Service
    Any time of the day or night, the service crew should be ready to help. A large number of trained technicians on staff is key, so your wait time is minimized. One motto: “Your emergency is our emergency,” is a comforting idea when your family is cold and time is of the essence! And just in case you’re in the midst of one such emergency, Here’s a heating company who happens to fit all the criteria in this blog post.
  2. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
    There’s not much more to say about this one, except that this is a rare thing for a company to commit to, and those who have are elevated to a separate level of business in my mind. It makes me think of other stand-outs like Costco, Nordstrom, and REI, who have similar policies. I feel so confident buying from these places, because if something goes wrong: They will fix it. Period. Customer satisfaction is THE core of everything they do.
  3. Building Performance Certified
    These nationally certified staff are trained to take the health, efficiency, and comfort of the entire home into account. Only one local company has much of their team go through this rigorous training and testing to earn their titles as BPI Certified Professionals. BPI is the Building Performance Institute. They “develop standards for energy efficiency retrofit work using an open, transparent, consensus-based process built on sound building science….and quality assurance services that help raise the bar in home performance contracting.” Read more about BPI, and check out their Guide for Homeowners on how it all works and how to find the best contractor for your needs.
  4. Lifetime Guarantee and 1 Year Warranty
    Although these might sound like oxy-morons, they actually apply to different areas of the HVAC experience. The Lifetime guarantee refers to the Workmanship on installed ductwork, sheet metal, and piping. The 1 year warranty (for parts and labor) is in addition to any manufacturer warranties. The company should come out after the first year of use (free of charge) to make sure everything is working as it was when the equipment was installed. YES, this can happen with the right company. These safety nets and guarantees are some of the best and most comprehensive in the industry.
  5. Official Designations from the Manufacturer
    Look for certifications. Some heating companies will have their awards, designations, certifications, etc., on their website. These matter. One example: Carrier has a very selective process to designate Factory Authorized Dealers. They use these criteria: the job is done Expertly, Efficiently, Professionally, Right Technically, with the Right Parts, and Right for the Environment. Not all companies meet these standards. Just one more safety net to look for!

I hope explaining these 5 areas of service has given you insight on your search for a new heating system, repair, or upgrade. Now, if you or your neighbor are cold, you know what to do!

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The Right Ventillation Keeps the Home (and you!) Healthy

October 16th, 2014

A Heat Recovery Ventilator efficiently sends fresh, healthy air into a tightly sealed home, while removing stale air that can cause a slew of health problems. And it does all this while capturing the heat of the discharged air and warming the fresh clean air at the same time. This article from 360Chestnut accurately describes the importance of this device and how ventilation is crucial in the overall health of a home.

Energy Efficient buildings are not making you ill, it’s bad ventilation

There has been coverage in the press recently about how Energy Efficient buildings may be making us ill. Is ‘sick building syndrome‘ is rampant in energy efficient buildings? Here at 360Chestnut we are as passionate about healthy homes as we are about energy efficiency. We would like to inform you, our readers, about what you may have been hearing on the news.

Mold growth and dampness in buildings are indeed major concerns, but this is nothing new in the building industry and it is certainly not isolated to ‘energy efficient’ buildings. Let’s start by what can cause mold in any building; warm, moist air, from people showering, cooking or just occupying a room, coming in contact with a cooler surface.

The warm, moist air condenses, the dampness soaks into your porous surfaces (such as your drywall), and creates a condition where mold will grow. Regardless of whether this happens in a poorly insulated building or a highly energy efficient building there will typically be one factor in common, poor ventilation. In a building with poor insulation the chances that this warm air will hit a cold surface is considerably higher though, so chances of mold growth are higher (insulation is very important)…. Continue reading

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Dateline Report- Duct Cleaning Scams Revealed!

October 8th, 2014

Our team at MHPE encourages all folks interested in duct cleaning to watch these videos before hiring a contractor.
These scammers are the worst kind of morons you could meet. Similar schemes have been found nationwide being used by dozens of seemingly reputable businesses.

Chris Hanson Files – Air Duct Cleaning Scams Part 1

Chris Hanson Files – Air Duct Cleaning Scams Part 2

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The Real Deal on Energy Saving Gadgets

August 28th, 2014

This is probably the best article I’ve read for an overview on all those heavily pushed gadgets and doodads that get sold as “home energy solutions.”

From ACHR News

Do Energy-saving Products Actually Save Customers Energy?

HVAC Contractors Need to Educate Consumers

By Joanna R. Turpin

August 18, 2014

All homeowners want to save money on their energy bills, which is why they are often intrigued by gadgets, additives, and one-off products that claim to offer significant methods to cutting energy usage. These products are appealing because they usually cost significantly less than taking the whole-house approach to saving energy, which may involve adding insulation, sealing ductwork, and upgrading heating and cooling equipment.
But HVAC professionals warn that, in many cases, these products do nothing more than separate homeowners from their hard-earned money. As Jordan Goldman, LEED AP/CPHC, engineering principal, ZeroEnergy Design, Boston, noted, “The focus needs to be on upgrading the building envelope — that’s where the biggest benefits are going to be. There is no singular fix. Homeowners shouldn’t fall for magic bullets and anything that seems too good to be true…
CONTINUE Reading Here

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Because James Brown says so…

August 27th, 2014

The first thing you need to watch when researching home performance:

You may now continue your education.
Professor Brown has completed his lecture.

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BPI CEO: Kids Suffering in Our Unhealthy Homes

July 1st, 2014

Our Homes Suck – And That’s Why Our Kids Have Sinus Problems

By: Larry Zucker (CEO of the Building Performance Institute) 

We all know about how stack effect works in homes, but during presentations, I’m always surprised by how many hands are raised in response to the question: “How many of you think you can make a house too tight and cause problems with indoor air quality?” Generally, at least three-quarters of the room raises their hands. Really? My colleague Joe Kuonen says that getting a house so tight that you need to ventilate is a feat worth celebrating. “Now, we can get fresh air from a place we can trust,” he says. Where do most of our homes get their fresh air? From places we cannot trust, like crawl spaces.

What do we know about crawl spaces? Generally, they are dark and wet. This is a perfect habitat for mold, rodents and insects to thrive – and gain access to the house. Those of you who have spent a lot of time in crawl spaces have horror stories about close encounters with both living and dead creatures. Allison Bailes once published a photo of a dead opossum in a crawl space next to a disconnected return duct!

On the other side of the band joist is the basement where the air handling unit often resides. If there is insulation on the band joist, it is generally discolored by filtering air that passes through the crawl space. Thankfully there is a furnace filter, you might say. If you look at most furnace filters in people’s homes, you’ll generally find them clogged and gross. And with the furnace filter slot at the end of the return duct, the furnace filter is protecting the blower motor from the air that everyone in the house has been breathing. This can’t be good for your health.

Why should we care about the quality of indoor air?

READ MORE HERE…

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Home Performance: More Than an Energy Audit

May 26th, 2014

Forward thinkers understand Energy Auditing.  An energy auditor looks at your energy useage, your house and prescribes behaviors and equipment that will help bring down your total energy consumption.  What most people are confused on is what makes Home Performance different. A recent video by Corbett Lunsford of the Chicago Green Dream Group spells it out beautifully.

He gives his 4-3-2-1 of Home Performance.  He says there are 4 Elements to Home Performance:

  1. Heat Flow: What can I use to make my building more energy efficient or higher performing?
  2. Airflow & Pressure: Both can cause a myriad of problems in the house including indoor air quality, comfort and energy efficiency.
  3. Moisture: This will damage a building’s durability faster than anything else, is a major component in poor indoor air quality and can greatly affect comfort as well.
  4. Indoor Air Quality: If you have respiratory problems caused by poor indoor air, we need to take a step back from energy efficiency until we’ve ensured that the air in your home is safe to breathe.

3 Recommendations:

  1. Air Sealing (Air Ducts and Home): It is cheap, effective, doesn’t need to be maintained or replaced and uses no energy (zero operating cost!)
  2. Insulation: Largely ineffective without air sealing first!
  3. HVAC: Without the first two, replacing a furnace with a more efficient model is akin to driving a Prius on flat tires!

2 Systems in Home:

  1. Envelope: The Envelope is comprised of the Air Barrier (made complete by Air Sealing any holes), which is the windbreaker for your home and the Insulation, the sweater.
  2. HVAC: This stands for the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning systems in your home.  Water heating is included.

1 Goal: CONTROL. Energy Efficiency is a result of control.

The kicker here is that the only way to properly demonstrate control of a building is Home Performance Testing.  Things you can expect to gain from taking these 3 recommendations (as tailored to your house, concerns and budget) are increased comfort, lower utility bills, better indoor air quality, and a more durable home.  You also get confidence in your home performance contractor because they are the only ones that can PROVE the results they promise.

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The Most Stringent Building Energy Standard in the World

May 9th, 2014

Passive House (Passivhaus in German) is the most stringent building energy efficiency standard in the world.  It is not just an energy code or energy design but is integrated with the architectural design of the building to create a wholistic approach to reducing the building’s heating losses and thus decrease the need for expensive mechanical heating equipment.  The end result is a house that has a drastically reduced ecological footprint (low carbon emissions), along with superior comfort and indoor air quality.

According to Passive House Alliance United States, buildings that meet this standard use 80 percent less energy than conventional buildings.  Specifically this is achieved through maximizing your gains and minimizing your losses.  The process begins with strategic design and planning to test “what if” scenarios using certified passive house software.  During this process specific climate, siting and sizing is performed to ensure things like windows being positioned to maximize solar gain.  Passive house construction uses roughly twice the insulation value of modern code and great care to ensure that the building has no breaks in the thermal envelope.  Blower-door air leakage testing is an important component of passive house construction as the standard requires very low leakage to the exterior (0.6 air changes per hour at 50 pascals).  Advanced windows and doors are also used to minimize air leakage.

Now that the house is nice and air tight an Energy Recovery Ventilator is used to provide adequate, filtered fresh air for the home.  An ERV has the advantage of recycling indoor energy by passing that energy to incoming air further decreasing the heating load on the house.  The decreased heating load on the house makes the use of alternative energy to power your building much more attainable and cost effective.

Content from: http://www.phaus.org/learn/passive-house-education/what-is-passive-house-

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The Importance of Air Sealing Attic Penetrations

April 30th, 2014
Can light sealing by CAZ Energy Services. Photo: Hunter Hassig

Many times when homeowners are looking at home improvement solutions for cold spots or high energy bills they think insulation. While insulating your attic and crawl space sub-floor up to code standards is very important for whole home comfort and energy efficiency it is insufficient on its own. This is because in almost every home there are numerous holes in the ceilings that allow air to move freely between your attic space and the conditioned living space of your home. Insulation is a thermal barrier NOT an air barrier. To further illustrate this think of insulation as a sweatshirt. It will keep you warm on a calm day but on a windy one you will need a wind breaker or rain jacket to stay comfortable. Air sealing those holes in your ceiling that lead to the attic creates a consistent, level air barrier that acts as a wind breaker for your home.

Where exactly are these holes? According to The Homeowners’ and Trades Resource Center the three most common areas are wiring penetrations, plumbing penetrations and where your drywall meets up with the framing. Some other trouble areas include soffits, dropped ceilings, chases, vents, exhausts, bath fans, recessed lighting (ie. can lights), and ductwork in your attic. In order to seal small holes like those around bath fans, use silicone caulk or expandable foam. To seal bigger gaps like those found in dropped ceilings and soffits, use rigid foam or drywall (depending on local code) to bring that area to the same level as the rest of the attic and then seal around it with foam or caulk. Sealing these holes will not only save you money on your utility bills but will lead to a more even temperature in the house and many times improve indoor air quality as well.

Some content from: http://blog.sls-construction.com/2011/air-sealing-attic-penetrations

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Surprising Facts About Indoor Air Quality

March 24th, 2014

11 surprising facts about indoor air quality [Infographic]

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