HVAC information for Homeowners

The later in my pregnancy, the hotter I get.

I don’t mean that I look better, I actually look worse.

My body temperature keeps going up and up. Before I was pregnant I would have a thick comforter on my bed 24/7. I constantly complained to my husband anytime he wanted to run the air conditioner. I wore pants and a jacket in my home at all times. In the summer we really had some fights over the cooling system. After I got pregnant I was a bit more tolerant over the AC settings. My husband would ask if I was hot and I actually was. I started tossing off the comforter at night. Now I am in the last trimester and I am sweating to death. I want the AC on all the time. I have now removed my comforter and instead used a thin sheet. When I work throughout the day, I keep the air conditioner on. I can no longer work out in my outdoor shed since there is no cooling system. I do yoga in the living room right under an AC vent. There have been a few times my husband has complained about being cold. Our thermostat has always been set at 74 degrees. Suddenly I want it to be more like 72 degrees. Being pregnant in the summer has been really bad as well. I just can’t take this heat. All I want to do is be in a cold vat of water or have icy air conditioning blow over me. Is that too much to ask for?

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I have learned that stray cats are really smart and just choose their new owner.

My mother started feeding cats in the neighborhood until this one stray stuck around.

She started meowing at the door, darting in the house and being a sweetheart. My mother now owns this adorable black cat that just wants to be held and cuddled. Well it happened to me but I inherited a much meaner cat. My cat is a giant and quite mean. He battles all the cats in the neighborhood and threatens to swat if I overpet him. He also is very demanding. He wants to be brushed four times a day, get treats every few hours and he rejected his cat bed. My cat has a real person bed that is directly underneath a HVAC vent. I set the home thermostat the way my cat likes it, not me. In the summer I blast more AC than I want since my cat comes in for air conditioning breaks. He sometimes lays on the cold tile or takes a power nap on his bed. During the winter I keep a low heating mode. I don’t want to overheat him with his fur coat, but I want it to be comfortable. He will lounge most of the day indoors with the heater on high. He is so much bigger, meaner and more demanding than my mom’s cat. He chose me though, so there is nothing I can do. He is my cat now. I eventually will need to change my HVAC unit since my cat hates the sound it makes when it turns on.

Commercial AC

I house sit for my son quite a bit.

He leaves on business trips and likes to have someone stay at his place.

That way his dog doesn’t need to go to the kernel, his plants won’t die and nobody will try to rob him. Staying at his place is amazing. He has a pool and a hot tub that I use a lot. He has tons of fitness gear that I utilize. His kitchen is newly updated so I have all sorts of gadgets to cook with. I will watch movies on his giant TV and enjoy the sound system. I get to sleep in a comfy guest bed and be by myself. My son recently upgraded his HVAC equipment. He has a smart pad that controls the heating, cooling, security cameras, door and window locks and lights. There are so many buttons on that contraption I don’t know what to do. I am worried about turning off security cameras or having no lights. My son has programs for everything too. The HVAC is zone control capable. Each room has its own program. The lights are on a timer. Everything locks around 10pm every night. So I am hesitant to play around and learn the system. The issue is that my son leaves the house in low cooling mode everytime. I think he does it to make me comfortable. Well I don’t need or want that much AC. I just freeze to death the whole time there. I should really figure out how to adjust the thermostat.

More about air conditioning

My mother has taken in a stray cat.

She started out just feeding the neighborhood cats.

Then one started hanging around her porch all day. Now this cat has a flea collar, toys, a cat house, scratcher and is named. My mother leaves a lot since she babysits my brother’s baby. When she leaves the cat needs to be fed. That is where I come in. I live across the street so it isn’t too bad. I went over, sat with the cat for a bit and fed her. I then work out in my moms house, shower and then hang out some more. The cat loves petting and attention. I work all online so it isn’t a problem to hang out. However, the weather has been pretty hot here. Sitting outside in 90 degree heat with a cat pressed against my leg is tough. I get where I am dying for AC. My mother doesn’t want to train the cat to be an inside kitty. She wants to be able to come and go as she pleases. Well it is tough not letting the cat inside. I really want to just hang out in the air conditioning and let the cat nap on a bed. I think we would both be happier that way. I also think that my mother is stuck with this cat no matter what. Keeping it outdoors isn’t going to change their relationship. Eventually the cat will be indoors almost all day long. I can tell that is what the cat wants. It will be nicer for me to hang out in air conditioning rather than outside in the heat too.

 

hot water boiler

It also turns off at 5pm since I am outside

My home’s former thermostat was an ugly dial one. It had a plastic toggle that you wiggled from 60-90 degree range. The numbers were really small and hard to read. It also was the perfect height for my husband’s shoulder to bump the toggle. He couldn’t read if he changed the temperature. More often than not, he would. Frequently I would come home to a sweltering house. My husband would have bumped the thermostat up to 80 degrees before work and not notice. The house then would have the heating system on all day without anyone home. I would then arrive at a super heated house and a high energy bill. It became apparent that we needed a new thermostat quickly. I replaced it with a smart thermostat. First I picked it because it was pretty. A smart thermostat has a silver surround and a colorful innerface. It looked new, modern and matched our decor. Next, I liked that the thermostat could have a program. I am someone that is constantly in and out of the house. The thermostat does scan for home occupants. If it finds out you aren’t there, the thermostat will turn off the HVAC unit. I choose to just do a timed program with it. So while I am inside working, I have heating or cooling. I get a break for my lunch and work out break. It also turns off at 5pm since I am outside. The house thermostat doesn’t turn on our HVAC until I am getting ready for bed. It saves me so much money.

a/c rep

When my husband and I were renting we had a terrible air conditioner.

I didn’t realize it at the time.

My husband was always complaining of being too hot. He used the overhead fans a lot and wore tank tops and his underwear. I had a pretty summer comforter that I used most of the year that was lightweight. I Was comfortable and happy in the apartment. When we moved to our own home, the air conditioner was much better. This unit actually was properly sized for the house and had gotten yearly AC maintenance. I never realized how bad our apartment AC was until my husband ran our home air conditioner. I also never noticed how cold my husband likes his living conditions. He runs the air conditioner 24/7 now. He doesn’t use overhead fans anymore and is happier. I am not as happy. I can’t use my pretty summer comforter anymore. I have to wear pants and a jacket inside my home now. Frequently the AC drives me outdoors. I will sit on my computer outside to work. I will choose to be in the hot sunshine rather than my shaded home. I have tried to talk to my husband about a temperature setting we could both enjoy. He has gone so long without quality AC that he is unwilling to compromise. So for now I am going to suffer. I won’t last too long with this level of AC though. I need to be able to wear shorts in the summer if I want to.

 

 

heating equipment

I am so thankful I have a handy husband.

When we rented our apartment the landlord told us not to call him about HVAC.

He said that the machine had just gotten service and there was nothing to be done. Well my husband opened up the system and found the air filter clogged with dirt, dust and cat hair. Obviously a HVAC dealership hadn’t been there. The first thing they do is replace the air filter. My husband cleaned the entire inner workings of the system. He lubricated the fan belt and he is actually certified to have coolant. So he dumped some in the system. The AC device worked like a charm! We never had any complaints. During our time at the apartment my husband had to do a lot of maintenance. He got the dryer working when it quit twice. He fixed an outdoor light with a wiring issue. He repaired the stove, dishwasher and ice maker. His greatest feat is still the air conditioner though. That machine was definitely old and tired. It wanted to die so bad or at least get yearly AC service. Since the landlord was so cheap, we just had to make do. My husband worked on the air conditioner all the time to keep it up and running well. We were able to have quality AC all three summers that we lived there. Now we own our own home and have a good air conditioner. I still think about that apartment AC unit from time to time though.

air conditioning repair

For a long time I just lived with a terrible air conditioner. The stupid thing just kept icing over. Anytime it got really hot outside I would notice my home would start to feel warm. I realized that my AC worked itself to the point of freezing. I read online that it could be dirty. I started changing the air filters biweekly rather than monthly. I got a HVAC dealer to put coolant in the system all the time. I also made sure to give it proper cooling maintenance once a year. Still, I had to use a hairdryer in order to melt away the ice. I finally got sick of it. My HVAC contractor told me that it technically could still run and be fine. The issue is that it is old, dirty and just going to ice over every now and then. I didn’t want to waste my time anymore. I finally sprung for an upgrade. I got a ductless AC unit for my house and now I don’t worry about anything. I don’t need to do the air filter changes and cleaning like before. I also haven’t needed to call my air conditioning business as often. The AC unit works like a dream. I get the level of AC I want, when I want it. What is great is that the mini split also offers heating if I want it. For now, I am only using the cooling functions since my area doesn’t get that cold. It is nice to know that I have heating if I do want it.

Heat pump install

My husband and I do the snowbird thing.

It is great being in the best of each area weather wise.

I never deal with snow, ice and cold anymore. I don’t have the scorching southern summers at all. There is some work to owning two houses though. I feel like I am constantly rushing to clean one home only to enter another dirty one. I am always frantic to get groceries to fill an empty fridge. If anything goes wrong in one of the houses, it is kind of a mess. When I had a plumbing issue in my northern home, it delayed my trip down south. I have found the best thing to do is to hire yearly services for all of those things. I have a cleaner come to both houses when I am not there. She washes all the floors, windows and bedding so I don’t need to. I have a person that does a grocery run before I come into my house. Both places have people watering my plants too. Another necessary thing was hiring yearly HVAC service. I get my northern and southern home checked once a year. I try to make sure to be in the area for the HVAC contractor. It isn’t a big deal if I am not. I give them the code to get into my house, they do their thing and I get a bill. Both my HVAC systems are working in tip top shape now that I do that. There are no unexpected breakdowns or repairs anymore.

air conditioning provider

I go back and forth a lot due to work.

It started to become a problem in the wintertime.

I left one winter season and came back to a huge mess. A pipe in my kitchen froze due to the heater shutting off prematurely. Then the water in the pipe caused it to expand and break. I had standing water for weeks all over my kitchen floors. I had to get a plumber to fix the issue and redo my flooring. I also had to buy a new heating system. It was a really expensive and disgusting mishap in my home. I bought a smart thermostat now to make things easier. It is nice being able to check in on things remotely. I have cameras in my home so I can see what is going on. The smart thermostat allows me to keep an eye on temperature. That way if my heater breaks down again, I will see on my phone how cold it is inside. I Could call a HVAC business and get it repaired right away. I also can adjust the temperature from my business trip without any concern. If my home area gets a sudden heatwave, I can turn off the heater and save some money. If a cold front comes in, I can up the heating. I just need to access the app via wifi and there is no problem whatsoever. There are other little perks to smart thermostats like it tells you energy efficient settings, humidity levels, air quality concerns and if you need to change an air filter.

 

heating maintenance