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Chicagoans Can Still Save Big on HVAC!

February 1st, 2012

The thick of winter in Chicago didn’t show up until January. For many of us the mild winter meant less use of the furnace and odds are the system really hadn’t been put to the test until the first big snowfall of this year. Now you may be faced with the need to replace that old furnace. For many this is their current predicament and they are kicking themselves for not acting sooner. The federal tax credits and rebates ran out at the end of 2011. Many homeowners have accepted the fact that they are going to have to pay full price, but wait a second! There are still substantial savings out there to be had, but you need to know where to look!

Two Ways to Save:

  • Gas Company Rebates: The local gas companies in Chicago, Nicor and People’s Gas, are still offering rebates on high efficiency furnaces and air conditioners. Replacing both units can get you up to $800 in rebates, and even if you can only afford to replace the furnace, you could still get up to $200 back on your purchase. Every penny counts and the savings could be enough to make buying that high efficiency furnace worth it.
  • Lennox Home Comfort Systems: If the furnace and air conditioner you plan to purchase are from Lennox Home Comfort Systems, you could stand to save even more! They are currently offering manufacturer rebates up to $1450! » Read more: Chicagoans Can Still Save Big on HVAC!

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Go Green, Heating, Money Saving, Value

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Did the Clean Up Crew Miss a Spot?

January 30th, 2012

Remodeling projects and repairs leave a big mess in the home especially if the repairs involve drywall. Drywall dust and debris can get all over everything and if your contractors did not take the necessary steps to prevent making a mess, you could have this stuff all over your home and the clean up won’t be easy. You may think that they cleaned everything up but a few cycles of the furnace will prove that they missed a very big spot. The duct work and the furnace are probably filled with debris from your construction project and the only way to get rid of it is to have a professional cleaning performed.

HVAC Clean Up:

  • Duct Cleaning: Every time air circulates through the home it will pick up debris from the job that was done. This along with years of dust and other debris may be lurking in your HVAC reeking havoc on the air quality in your home. A professional duct cleaning will clear out everything that is inside your ducts and collect it safely outside the home for disposal. This will leave you with much cleaner air inside the home.
  • Heating and Cooling Systems: Now that the ducts are clean lets take a look at the furnace and air conditioner. Many homeowners use cheap fiberglass filters that do little to protect the furnace from the particles that flow through the air in the home. All of that construction debris may have found its way into your heating and cooling systems and it needs to be cleared out. A dirty furnace or air conditioner cannot do its job properly or in an efficient matter. You will end up wasting money on excess energy use that could have been prevented with a simple cleaning. » Read more: Did the Clean Up Crew Miss a Spot?

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Air Purifier, Air Quality, Duct Cleaning, Heating, Home Services, Maintenace

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Putting Off Plumbing Problems

January 23rd, 2012

You maintain the furnace at the beginning of every heating season and you check out the air conditioner before the heat of summer arrives, yet you neglect other major systems within the home. The plumbing system for example is one system that most homeowners do little to care for until something major goes wrong. A major plumbing problem is not only a major inconvenience within the home, but it can also cause an expensive mess. Take the time to have a professional perform a maintenance check on your plumbing system and you will prevent these problems and keep everything flowing in the right direction.

Plumbing Maintenance Checks

If you have minor plumbing issues like a toilet that clogs frequently or a water heater pilot light that goes out from time to time, a maintenance check may be all that is standing between you and a problem free plumbing system. Put the plunger down and get a pro to check out and clean your plumbing system. A true plumbing maintenance check will involve a thorough inspection of everything from your showers and kitchen sink to the sump pump and hot water heater. These are a few of the point that your professional should check:

  • Signs of corrosion: The hot water tank and old piping in the home are both susceptible to corrosion. You may need to have sections of the plumbing system replaced to prevent major leaks. Also, when it comes to the water tank, anything from an anode replacement to an entire hot water tank replacement could be possible. » Read more: Putting Off Plumbing Problems

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Posted in Home Services, Hot Water Tank, Maintenace, Plumbing

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Icicles Causing Power Outages

January 18th, 2012

If your neighborhood is prone to power outages, you may already know that wet, heavy snow and icicles can cause power outages during the winter months. Every neighborhood that experiences large amounts of snow fall or freezing temperatures is susceptible to these types of power outages. If you have ever had a power outage in the middle of the winter, you already know how terribly inconvenient they can be. They not only cut out the lights, but they also cut out the furnace and the sump pump. Depending on the extent of the outage, it may take days to return power to the home, and unless you want to cough up the money for a hotel or spend that time in an emergency warming shelter, we suggest seeking out alternatives.

An Alternative Power Source

An alternative to no power would be to have an automatic generator installed in your home. It would automatically kick on in the event that your home is cut off from the electrical grid. Through the use of natural gas, the system will create electricity for the various parts of the home that are hooked up to the generator. When this system is installed there are no extension cords to hook up or tanks of fuel to fill. Everything kicks on automatically and is hard wired into the home. » Read more: Icicles Causing Power Outages

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Posted in Consumer Protection, Furnace, Heating, Home Improvements, Home Services

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Can You Afford to Go Green?

January 16th, 2012

When energy efficient home improvements first exploded onto the home improvement scene, many of them were excessively expensive. Yes, they offered beefy long term savings but not many homeowners could afford the initial investment that it took to have these improvements installed. Nowadays, things are different. Green improvements are more popular these days, and manufacturers are bending over backwards to give the consumer what they want. This results in the ability to go green on a budget. One of the bigger investments that you could make in your home is the replacement of the HVAC system, and most of the major HVAC manufacturers have put out energy efficient systems that nearly anyone can afford.

Get More than the Minimum!

Replacing the furnace or air conditioner with a high efficiency system could save you hundreds yearly on your energy bills, but to maximize the savings you need to upgrade to the highest efficiency unit that you can afford. In the past this meant going with the minimum efficiency requirements and right now that would mean that you would purchase an 80% efficient furnace. Just because you operate on a budget doesn’t mean you have to settle for the minimum standard. » Read more: Can You Afford to Go Green?

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Furnace, Go Green, Heating, Information, Money Saving

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Boilers Teetering on the Edge of Replacement

January 11th, 2012

Boilers may be considered an alternative form of heating for the home, but for many homeowner that have had a boiler in their home for years would never switch over to forced central air. Boilers do have their perks over the more common forced air furnaces, and one of these perks is the ability to last for extremely long periods of time. Some boilers can even go up to 40 years before breaking down entirely, and if you have never replaced the boiler that is currently operating your home, ask yourself, “How old is my boiler?” Odds are the unit is getting on in the years and because everything has been working fine, you probably have not even thought to check the condition of the system. Doing so may have you leaning towards replacement in the very near future.

2 Big Old Boiler Problems:

  • Lack of Energy Efficiency: Boilers that are over 20 years old, even if well maintained, cannot hope to be very energy efficient. These old systems were simply not built for energy efficiency and in many cases, the unit is somewhere around 50% inefficient. Every time that old boiler kicks on it waste tons of your money, and unless you want to keep paying more than necessary, you should replace the unit with a new high efficiency model. » Read more: Boilers Teetering on the Edge of Replacement

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Posted in Boiler, Heating, Information, Money Saving, Safty

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Furnace Outage Quick Fix

January 4th, 2012

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could avoid having to call a professional every time your furnace broke down? Well, in many cases there is little that you can do to prevent the need for a professional assessment, but there are a couple steps you can take on your own that may get the unit to kick on again. With any luck, you will be able to get the unit to heat the home at least until you can have a maintenance check performed. Most homeowners don’t realize that the majority of furnace breakdowns are caused by a part of the furnace needing to be cleaned. If you could get the unit to start up again, you could avoid the cost of an emergency call and schedule a cleaning for the unit instead.

Reboot Your Furnace

When the computer freezes up, the only thing you can really do is shut it down and reboot. Nine times out of ten this will solve the problem and this could also solve the problem with your furnace. Sometimes the system’s cycle is thrown off or maybe a breaker will pop and the unit will not kick on like it should. One of the easiest things any homeowner can do is shut the unit down completely, flip the breaker, and then turn the system back on at the unit switch. This is how you can quickly and easily reset the system, and sometimes it is enough to get the unit going. » Read more: Furnace Outage Quick Fix

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Posted in Boiler, Furnace, HVAC Repair, Heating, Maintenace, Money Saving

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How Your Water Tank Prevents Erosion

January 2nd, 2012

The hot water tank seems to be a rather simple device. Water enters the tank, is heated by the burners, and then transferred throughout the home, but if you really think about it, how is it that the water tank is able to come in contact with so much water and remain rust and erosion resistant? For some homeowners, stopping the tank from eroding isn’t such an easy task. Although there problem usually lies in a lack of proper hot water tank maintenance. There is one very valuable part of the tank that is checked during a maintenance cleaning, and if this part is no longer doing its job, the tank will quickly become vulnerable to erosion. Don’t wait until the bottom of your tank rots out to find out you have a problem.

The Anode and Its Function

The part of your hot water tank that we are talking about is the anode. This vital component of your system sacrifices itself to corrosion and spares the integrity of the tank. However, over time, this part will lose this ability. The aluminum or magnesium that is being corroded will eventually be gone, and the tank itself will begin to break down. This can be prevented though by having the anode checked and replaced why necessary. Some home needs to have the anode replaced as frequently as every 4 years, but other can last up to 6 or 7 years before replacement is needed. Either way, you will not know when you anode needs replacement if you do not have the tank maintained yearly. » Read more: How Your Water Tank Prevents Erosion

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Posted in HVAC Repair, Heating, Home Services, Hot Water Tank, Maintenace, Plumbing

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Don’t Turn Off the Furnace!

December 28th, 2011

As you head out the door this holiday season to visit family and friends for an extended period of time, there is one crucial mistake that you must not make. Do not turn off the furnace. Many homeowners are looking for any way to save money, and you may assume that since no one will be home to need the comfort of the furnace, it won’t matter if it is shut down for a few days. However, you would be wrong! Leaving the furnace off during winter puts your home at serious risk for water damage, but it can be prevented!

How Your Pipes Will Freeze

When the furnace is turned off completely, the home has no protection against the elements. All you need is one extra chilly night to surround your home and suddenly you will have frozen pipes around the house. Within hours the temperature will begin to warm as the sun rises and those pipes will begin to thaw. The ice will have expanded the pipe and could have caused cracks that compromised the integrity of the pipe. As it thaws, water will begin to force its way through and the pressure may cause the pipe to burst! » Read more: Don’t Turn Off the Furnace!

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Posted in Boiler, Furnace, Heating, Home Services, Insulation, Money Saving, Plumbing, Safty

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A Burn Free Winter: Water Heater Safety

December 26th, 2011

Having small children in the home highlights the many hazards that stand in the way of their safety. We lock up cabinets that house dangerous chemicals and cover sockets, but have you taken the necessary steps to prevent your children from experiencing a scalding burn? As our children age, they begin to take showers on their own and turn on and off the water when washing their hands. One wrong turn and your child could set the water so hot that it literally burns their skin. What may be hot water to your skin can spell disaster for your child, but luckily there is a simple way to childproof the water in your home as well!

Set Back that Tank!

The problem lies in the settings on your hot water tank’s thermostat. Many homeowners have never even touched this device and probably have no idea that there are different temperatures that you could set your tank at. When the tank is set at or above 150 degrees, it takes about 2 seconds to experience a scalding burn. No one needs the tank set the high, and odds are if you are tank is set at this point, you are also overpaying on your monthly energy bills. Set the tank back to 120 degrees and you will be surprised at the lack of difference it makes in your morning showers. » Read more: A Burn Free Winter: Water Heater Safety

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Posted in Furnace, Heating, Hot Water Tank, Safty

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