HVAC information for Homeowners

The more I thought about it and the more my wife and I discussed it, having a whole home air purification system was essential.

Not to say that it didn’t take me a while to get to that conclusion.

There was the first time we even approached the HVAC company about a solution to the indoor air problem. That’s when I first began to understand the importance of indoor air quality. I figure that since we lived where the air was clean, then the inside of the house would be the same. But indoor air and outdoor air differ. However, the indoor air can be given new life with help from the HVAC. I used to think that the air filter on the HVAC unit was cleaning the air. Found out that it was just stopping big particles from hurting the HVAC equipment. It wasn’t doing a thing to stop the bacteria in the air that was causing the odors. And those cheap air filters weren’t stopping pollen or pet dander or leached chemicals from attacking our respiratory systems. The more I learned and the more I was educated about the health benefits of great indoor air quality, the more the whole home air purification looked like a household essential. But it was an investment, I’m not gonna lie about that. The whole home air purification system isn’t cheap. Yet the results speak for themselves and are worth every penny. Our air is now so fresh smelling that it’s hard to believe. And the health benefits from the best indoor air quality possible are manifesting in our health and wellness.

 

Made the investment in whole home air purification

The general disdain for experts has sort of caught my attention.

There seems to be this general feeling that all experts should not be trusted.

Of course, that’s completely overstating it but there is this undertone that exists. So many in our society distrust experts just because they’re experts. And I had to catch myself a bit when the real estate expert suggested that we upgrade the HVAC equipment prior to listing our home. After watching so many just toss away the advice from experts regarding Covid, I wondered if I too was just tossing away expert advice. The fact was that I just really didn’t want to deal with the cost outlay or the hassle of replacing a still working HVAC unit. And the still working part was integral to my thinking as I just hate waste. Plus, I had spent money over the years on consistent, seasonal HVAC maintenance in order to have that HVAC unit run into its twenties. Still, I did catch myself before I vociferously pushed back on the idea of replacing the heating and cooling equipment. And that was a good thing. Because no sooner had the realtor registered my resistance than she was whipping out a laptop. There, she showed me all the data I needed to see to show that this real estate expert knew exactly what she was talking about. Putting in the latest in residential HVAC and HVAC technology would not only be a key selling point but would also jack up the value exponentially. She was right and we sold the house for a bundle.

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Being a homeowner has pretty much changed everything for me.

I remember talking to a friend of mine just after he had his first kid.

Just looking into his eyes as we enjoyed a coffee inside the air conditioning of a little spot one hot afternoon, I could tell. He was just different. There was another human person that he was now responsible for. And this guy was sort of a wild man. But the transformation was right there in front of me. While I didn’t have a kid and the odds are I won’t, being a homeowner has transformed my life in much the same way as my friend and his first born. While I wasn’t as wild as my buddy, I was certainly leaning into slacking. When it came to being at work inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office, I was all business and applied myself big time. But outside of the office, not so much. I lived in an apartment with poor heating and cooling in a not so great end of town. But it was cheap and I liked to save my money. Plus, it was such a crappy apartment that I didn’t have to care about it. That’s all different today as I am learning what it takes to be a homeowner. After replacing the HVAC equipment, I know one thing. And that would be the fact that the HVAC chores have to be on the list every single month. The HVAC air filter has to be changed each month without fail and I have to schedule HVAC maintenance seasonally for my new HVAC baby.

 

quality heating and air

The new HVAC equipment in our house honestly makes this place feel like a different house.

For years, even up to the end, I thought we had really good quality heating and air in this house.

The HVAC unit that we relied upon for more than twenty years sure did its job. That was actually the first thing we did to this house after we bought it. We inherited the old heating and cooling equipment along with lots of other problems when we first bought the house. But we were so maxed out on the mortgage and bills that trying to upgrade the HVAC unit had to wait. After a few year and a raise, we were on better financial footing and I started meeting with the HVAC company. At the time, the residential HVAC that we chose was really good if not the top end exactly. I mean, we were still under some pretty hard financial constraints. Still, that HVAC was great and it lasted 22 years without much drama at all. However, when I went back to the HVAC contractor this time, so much had changed when it came to residential HVAC. There was just so much new HVAC technology and other stuff. The HVAC contractor helped me get the latest in residential HVAC without blowing up our budget. And while I expected more of the same quality heating and air, I got far more. This new heating and cooling situation is just incredible. It’s literally the best HVAC heating and cooling I’ve ever experienced and the HVAC technology is quite intuitive so even I can figure it out.

 

Air conditioning repair

It seemed like this past spring cleaning was one for the books.

• Finally, we were basically released from being stuck inside the central air conditioning of the house all the time due to Covid.

My wife has a congenital health issue that put her at high risk. That meant that I had to be right along with her when it came to being careful and not straying far from the HVAC cooling of home. And where we live, it comes with a lot of HVAC cooling. This part of the country is well known for heat. Some might say it’s a dry heat to which I reply that it is a dry heat much like an oven. So there is a great need for good, reliable and efficient HVAC equipment. For us, we had the latest in residential HVAC installed about 6 years ago. But one thing we didn’t do was have the ductwork cleaning done prior to replacing the HVAC unit. So once we were triple vaccinated and the cases started to fall, we went back to the office and got on with our lives while still minding the risks. So we decided that this spring would be a great time to really pull out all the stops when it came to spring cleaning. That’s when we added the ductwork cleaning and it made such a huge difference. But one thing I wasn’t expecting was to increase the efficiency of the HVAC equipment with the ductwork resealing once the air ducts were cleaned. The ductwork resealing has been a most pleasant bonus as we saved an additional 15 percent this summer on air conditioning costs.

 

 

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I’ve always been a bit disappointed in the air conditioning in my bedroom.

I guess I should say our bedroom.

My wife and I share the bedroom that is at the very end of the house. This seemed like the most likely bedroom for us since it’s at the furthest end of the house. We wanted to have the most privacy we could. I mean, we love our children but getting away from them isn’t the worst thing in the world either. But we sure gave up the amount of HVAC cooling we get in the room for the privacy. There were a few things working against us. The first being that this bedroom is literally the very end of the house. Not only is it exposed on three sides but it also gets direct sunlight heating all day. This is the only part of the house that gets unrelenting exposure to direct sunlight heating. That said, our bedroom lies at the very end of the ductwork. And that’s just physics. While the HVAC equipment is in good shape, we just don’t get the full amount of air conditioning as it has to travel so far. So we decided to add some value to our home and give up that hot room. The new addition to our house has just been finished and we love it. What’s more, we have our own HVAC cooling with a ductless heat pump. It’s August and I’ve never been happier to retire to our bedroom at night thanks to the great HVAC cooling from the ductless heat pump.

 

boiler repair

I don’t really feel like a guy’s guy and I never really have. That’s just a fact that makes it all the more strange that I actually have a man cave. This wasn’t exactly my idea. There was some talk during the pandemic about how I just couldn’t get all the air conditioning that I wanted. My internal thermostat tends to run a bit hotter than the rest of my family. So when we were stuck inside the central air conditioning during the pandemic, I was stuck with the thermostat setting. And it’s not like I just sat and whined about it. But I was hot and spent time out of the air conditioning walking in the evening. I figured if I was going to be hot, I might as well get out and get some exercise. Plus, coming in from a hard walk always made the HVAC cooling feel even better. So perhaps that’s where the idea that dad needed his own space came from. I also live with an all female household. That’s my wife and three daughters. So their idea was that since I’m a man, I would like a man cave. I certainly love the intention and the consideration. I mean, how awesome are my girls? And for sure, I’m totally in love with ductless heat pump they put in the part of the basement where they put together the rest of my man cave. It’s awesome and I’m getting all the excellent air conditioning that I can stand. Still, I think I’m going to have tone down the overtly sport themed decor. And I really don’t need a keg. But I love my girls for trying and I adore the ductless heat pump.

 

boiler

My wife was right, I was just so predictable.

There was no argument to be made when she stated her case. At first, I thought that I was sort of cool and on top of it. But when she pointed out the obvious, it was tough to feel that cool. For sure, I get up and go to the office and work all day inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office. Then, I hit the gym on the way home to work out in their commercial HVAC which is so on point by the way. From there, it’s home to my central air conditioning and that would be my day. But the thing that was pointed out was that’s my day over and over and over. The spontaneous thing that I once had and thought I still sort of had was just gone. It’s not like I was hating my life or anything even close to that. Yet when my wife called me predictable, I bristled. I was sure that I was still sort of vibrant and cool. But that was in my head. The facts were the facts. So this summer, we had to go up to be part of a family reunion with her folks. We were meeting in a place we hadn’t been to and were planning on finding a room about an hour from the site. Well, I showed her some spontaneity when I guided our car with the air conditioning blasting onto a country road neither of us knew anything about. I just knew that it was headed right toward where we were going and that the air conditioning in the car would hold out. But ended up finding the funkiest motel with the best air conditioning ever.

 

 

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I learned a lot about myself and my family during the time that we were cooped up inside the central air conditioning of our home.

Like a lot of families, this is where we spent the better part of like 18 months.

There was no going to the zone controlled HVAC of the office. I had to work remotely from the air conditioning of my home. And that wasn’t the most easy thing either. We have four kids. Two of them were out of the house and at university. But when the pandemic hit, we had a houseful again. So the spare bedroom that was my oldest son’s was his again. My wife took over the home office and I was sort of the odd man out. I went from trying to share with my wife to finding a quiet spot under an HVAC air duct to work. The HVAC cooling sure made it easier that first spring and summer. But eventually, I knew what I had to do if I was going to make this working remotely thing work. I had to take back the garage. But there wasn’t any heating and cooling out there so even when I did clean it out, it was going to be steaming out there with no HVAC cooling. That’s when I focused on just getting the space organized. Because once that happened, I knew that I was going to have the HVAC professionals install a ductless heat pump in the garage. And once that was done, I had my own space with the very best HVAC cooling in the house.

space heater

I like to spend a good bit of my time out here with the ductless heat pumps

It’s sort of hard for me to even say the words guest cottage. The fact that I’m in the position to actually have a guest cottage is nothing short of remarkable. And while I’m so thankful, it still makes it tough at times to really lean into this lifestyle. What we just spent on the residential HVAC in this house was what I put down on my first home. That place was a wreck and didn’t even have residential HVAC but it was mine. And back then, that was really something. These days, I make less of the decisions when it comes to how we spend the money. It all seems so crazy that while I’m involved and write the checks, my wife is the one who does the rest. She was the one to find this house as a matter of fact. And of course, we ended up ripping out so much stuff to remake the house the way she wanted it. That goes for the latest in residential HVAC and all the requisite HVAC technology. There is a new kitchen with all the latest appliances and stuff that looks like it’s right out of a commercial kitchen. But for me, it’s the guest cottage that I like. I had the HVAC company come out and install a pair of ductless heat pumps in this little one bedroom space. It sort of reminds me of my first house. I like to spend a good bit of my time out here with the ductless heat pumps. This space is just more appealing to me because it’s simple like I am at my core. But the ductless heat pumps sure do make it feel comfortable.

a/c care plan