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!

These rebates can make up for the fact that the federal rebates are long gone. Don’t miss out twice and act now to save as much as possible!

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.

Get your home cleaned up properly and have a professional HVAC cleaning performed. This will restore the home’s air quality and energy efficiency and prevent problems caused by lack of maintenance. Also, remember to ask your contractors how they are going to protect your HVAC system when you have work performed in the future.

Consider This Before Tackling a Repair:

• Time: Many of the jobs on your list will take more than a day to complete, especially if you have no experience with the repair. Many of us only have a couple days on the weekends to work with when it comes to finding time for these repairs, and if you don’t have the time, you need to accept that you are never going to get these jobs done on your own. The pros will be able to check many of those repairs off your list in one day!
• Tools: Another aspect of performing repairs in the home is the supplies that are needed to complete the job. Many of us don’t have power tools, painting supplies, and other basic tools of the trade, and renting or buying them could make doing the repair on your own pointless. Consider all of your costs before taking on a job by yourself.
• Skills: We all know someone that thinks that they can fix anything. A person that is good with their hands can perform many household repairs, but there are some jobs that are simply beyond the expertise of an untrained professional. Major plumbing repairs, electrical work, and many other jobs take months or years of professional training to master, and they shouldn’t be messed with without that kind of knowledge.

Consider all of these things before saying no to the pros and make 2012 the best year yet for your home!

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.
• Leaks: You may have leaky pipes all over your home and not even be aware of their existence. Professionally trained plumbers can see the signs that you may have missed and can repair the problem on the spot. A leaky pipe can lead to mold and mildew formation within the home, and that is one problem you don’t know want to have.
• Sediment build up: The hot water tank, faucet heads, pipes and shower heads are all susceptible to sediment buildup especially if you live in an area with hard water. Your plumber can clear this sediment once a year and keep things flowing properly.
• Speed of drainage: Slow draining sinks and tubs along with toilets that frequently clog can often be repairs with a simple cleaning that should be included in any maintenance check done by a pro.

These are just a few of the points that your maintenance technician should check, but in the end you should be left with a clean and free flowing plumbing system in your home.

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.

Controlling Comfort

This is the simplest way to ensure the comfort of your family all year round. You may not be able to control the weather or how fast the power company can repair outages, but you can control your family’s comfort. Consider an automatic generator for your home this winter season and enjoy unwavering comfort.

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.

A High Efficiency Unit You Can Afford

Lennox Home Comfort Systems, one of the leaders in the HVAC industry, has made high efficiency heating available to all in the creation of the G43 natural gas furnace. This unit, though it falls under the lowest price level offered by Lennox, is able to compete with some of the high end units in AFUE ratings. It is rated at 92.1% AFUE which makes it nearly 100% efficient with the fuel that it consumes. The unit may not have all of the gadgets that the high end units have, but AFUE ratings are what add up to savings.

If you gave up on the idea of going green years ago because you thought you couldn’t afford it, take another look. Going green is more affordable than ever, and your old HVAC system is a good place to start your investigation of the world of energy efficient home improvements.

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.
• Safety Concerns:  Other problems that you may be facing with the old boiler and not even know about are safety concerns. That tired old unit has gone through thousands upon thousands of cycles. During each cycle the heat exchanger expands and contracts and with time this process takes a toll on the metal. You could develop cracks or breaks in the heat exchanger that could allow carbon monoxide to leak into the home. The only way to know what kind of condition your heat exchanger is in is to have it checked by a pro every year. This problem is inevitable if the boiler lasts long enough, and you are better off replacing the system when it starts to get on in the years that to attempt to squeeze a few more unsafe years out of the unit.

The moral of the story is that your old boiler needs to be replaced! That is the bottom line and though you may not like it, replacing the system will have greater benefits than you could have every thought possible with that old system in the home. Upgrade today and secure the safety of your wallet and your family.

Traditional Vs Low Flow

The traditional toilet will use between 4 and 6 gallons with every flush, and that is way more water than is truly necessary to get waste out of your home. Nowadays, toilets must meet a government regulation that requires them to use only 1.6 gallons or less per flush of the toilet. You may have heard the many rumors that claim that these new toilets can’t handle the waste that they are intended to get rid of, but that is simply not the case. Early low flow toilets did have their fair share of problems, but these days, low flow toilets function as well if not better than your traditional wasteful toilet.

Wasteful Shower heads

Faucets and shower heads are also quite wasteful. Old shower head would pour down 4 to 5 gallons per minute in the past, but with a low flow shower head in place, you will only use 2.5 gallons per minute. But won’t that sacrifice water pressure? No! These high tech shower heads are able to keep the water pressure high without wasting gallons upon gallons of water. You can also install aerators in your faucets to cut down on the amount of water wasted washing hands, brushing teeth, and doing dishes.

Quick Return on Your Investment

The best thing about making these upgrades is the money you will save! Sure there will be a little out of pocket cost initially, but most, if not all, of that cost we be recouped in savings during the first year of use. From that point on everything will be pure cash in your pocket every month when it comes time to pay the water bill. It is everyone’s job as a citizen of this planet to do your part to conserve out resources. One of the most vital of these resources is water, and if you are wasting gallons upon gallons of water in your home consider upgrading your toilet and fixtures today!

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.

Maintenance is Still Needed!

If you are lucky enough to get the unit started by doing this, you still need to get the unit checked! It could break down again at any moment, and you need to figure out what caused the problem in the first place. A maintenance check and cleaning may even be all that is needed to get the unit back into reliable and safe working condition, but you will never know if you put off the problem. Don’t get yourself into the same situation again and schedule a maintenance check right away!

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.

The Importance of Yearly Maintenance

A yearly cleaning will ensure proper anode function and it will also prevent other sources of break down and erosion. All you need is a trained professional to give the system a good check up once a year. Many homeowners have this job completed while they are having the furnace or air conditioner serviced. Not having this system, or any part of your HVAC system for that matter, checked is like asking for an inconvenient break down. Save your money and your time and keep on top of your yearly maintenance during this coming year.

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!

Water Damage is Not a Cheap Fix

This will leave water flowing into your walls or floors and will cause serious water damage to the home. The cost of drying out the home, preventing mold growth, and replacing all of the damaged materials will set you back hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars. The whole point of shutting off the furnace was to save money, but in this case you will be spending way more than you would have saved.

Better Ways to Save Energy

The better way to save money on energy costs would be to set the thermostat back to 55 degrees while you are gone. At this temperature the furnace will only kick on when absolutely necessary and it will protect your home from the potential damage that would be caused by frozen pipes. As an added layer of protection, you could also wrap the pipes that are most vulnerable. Wrap the pipes under kitchen sinks and in the ceiling of basements, and if you would like to have your home assessed for trouble areas, you could always have a plumber handle this job all together. Either way you need to keep your home protected from the hazards of frozen pipes.

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.

Safety and Savings

Most homeowners can’t even tell that their tank has been set back, but they can rest assured that their family is protected from the threat of scalding burns. All this time you have been wasting money overheating the water in the home to dangerous levels, but now you can start saving and start protecting your young ones.

Updating Your Dining Room

• Modernized Fixtures: Outdated light fixtures are the number one giveaway in an outdated dining room. This is can be a very simple upgrade if you know what you are doing. This is one of those upgrades that will require extra care. The last thing you want is for that fixture to come tumbling down in the middle of your turkey dinner.
• Wood Flooring: Changing the flooring in your dining room may seem intimidating, but pull up that raggedy carpet and you may be surprised by what you find. We have seen homes with beautiful hardwood floors hidden beneath hideous carpets. If you aren’t lucky enough to have hardwood floors beneath your carpet, you can install laminate floors in a weekend with a little elbow grease and a good set of instructions.
• Creating a Focal Point: The problem with many dining rooms is that they don’t have a good focal point to pull the room together. This can be anything from an elaborate table centerpiece to an antique china cabinet or framed painting. You make the choice, but find a piece that you can design the room around this holiday season.
• Opening Up the Floor Plan: Another big problem that older homes have with their dining rooms is that they are closed off from everything else. This eliminates sources of natural light and creates a very claustrophobic feeling when the room is packed with people. Check with a contractor to see if any walls can be removed in order to open up the floor plan. Do not attempt this on your own because the wall you remove may be load barring and cause serious damage to the home if removed.

Get the dining room ready for the holidays by making a couple modern changes. Give your home a room that it can be proud of and get to work today!

Why is My Furnace So Noisy?

The reason why furnaces with these types of motors are so noisy is because they only run at one speed: high speed. There is no in between and there is no time wasted working up to top speed. Instead the fan immediately starts up and a sudden blast of air is pushed out into the home creating the noise that wakes you in the night. This problem can be solved with a simple fan upgrade or you would make sure that your next furnace is built to not experience this problem.

Quiet and Energy Efficient Furnace Retrofit

Variable speed blower motors are the perfect retrofit replacement part for your furnace. If your unit still has several good years left in it, this simple upgrade can reduce the excess noise created by the unit and boost its energy efficiency. These motors ramp up to speed when the unit kicks on and ramp down once the cycle is over. This decreases the noise created by the motor, and as added benefit conserves energy. This motor can also adjust to the needs of the home. It doesn’t have to always run on high speed if it can meet the temperature needs without doing so. Overall you will experience a quieter and more efficient furnace, and when it comes time to replace the furnace, almost all high efficiency furnaces come with one of these motors built in from the start. Switch to variable speed this winter and enjoy the many benefits these motors can bring

The Safety of Small Children

Flat screen televisions are very insecurely balanced upon their stands. One tip forwards or backwards could send that TV falling off an entertainment center and onto whomever may lie below. Small children love to climb on furniture and one moment of distraction could lead to a disaster in your home should your child decide to use the television for support. This is an accident that has been growing in frequency over the past few years, and falling televisions have cause very serious injuries and even death.

Mounting Your Flat Panel TV on a Wall

For those that worry their child may use their television as a brace, you may decide to mount the television on the wall instead. This may be a safer option, but if the television is not mounted properly and securely this could lead to an equally dangerous disaster. Many “do it yourselfers” have attempted to mount their televisions without first seeking the proper advice. You can just throw the TV up on any wall and hope that it will stick. Odds are it wont and you will either come home to find a shattered TV on the floor or it could fall and injure someone.

Do it Yourself or Call a Pro

Don’t test your handyman skills on this project and find a skilled professional to handle this job. You have invested all of this money in this high tech television and you need to make sure that it is mounted safely and securely. There are plenty of expert handymen out there nowadays that offer very affordable services, and getting your new television mounted may be cheaper than you once thought. Find someone near your home and play it safe this holiday season.

The Furnace and Its Blower Motor

Many homeowners don’t even realize that gas powered furnaces use electricity, but if you have a unit with an inefficient blower motor in it, your furnace could be using a lot more electricity than necessary. The standard blower motor has one speed: high. The unit comes on and the blower forces air all over the home until the home reaches the desired temperature. If you have an air purifier, humidifier, or fancy air filter, you may keep the fan running between cycles as well. This helps improve air quality and evens out the temperature in the home. However, these old motors waste much more energy than necessary and there is a better option out there.

Variable Speed Blowers Save Money!

You don’t always need the fan to be blowing at high speed. There are times when the weather is mild enough to warrant lower speeds and your air quality appliances don’t need high speeds to get their job done. So, the variable speed motor solved this problem by offering your furnace a variety of speeds to choose from every time the unit kicks on. This motor won’t use any more electricity than necessary to keep your home comfortable, and it will actually provide more even heating and cooling. The best part is that it does all of this without you having to set anything manually. So when you choose your new furnace, make sure that it has a variable speed motor in it and you will enjoy improved comfort and maximized energy efficiency.

3 Steps to Organization:

• Sorting: The first step towards creating a cleaner garage is to look through and organize the things that are currently occupying this space. Assess which items you want to keep and which can be thrown out or donated. You will be surprised how many things you are holding onto that you haven’t used in years! Create two distinct piles: what you want to keep and what you want to go. Once you know what you are going to need to store, you are one step closer to a clean and organized garage.
• Permanent Storage: There are two ways to tackle garage storage. You can either do it yourself or enlist the help of a professional. Slapping together wire shelves that can be purchased at nearly any hardware store is easy enough for most people to handle on their own. All you need are some plastic storage containers to place on the wire shelves and you are set to store the items you want to keep. For a more polished and professional look, you may want to consult a contractor. Professionally installed cabinetry, wall hangers, and work stations can truly transform your garage. These jobs are more complex, and if you are going to be hanging or storing heavy objects, you are going to want to make sure that these storage solutions are installed correctly!
• Garage Floor Epoxy: Another option that you have is to seal the garage floor with an epoxy. Kits can be purchased at a local hardware store, but the task is tedious and could cause a mess if not done properly. Have a pro handle this job as well if you think it is too much for you and you will be amazed with the results. The epoxy will give your garage a clean and put together look and also keep the floors cleaner as the years go by.

The goal is to get that car back in the garage and with a little elbow grease you can do it! Don’t wait till the first blizzard leave you digging out your car in order to make a difference in your garage, and start organizing today!

Watch What Goes Down the Disposal!

• Bones: Turkey bone, chicken wings, ribs, and any other animal bone that may be left over after a delicious meal need to make its way into the garbage can and not your garbage disposal.
• Pasta and Rice: Putting pasta or rice down your garbage disposal has got to be the easiest way to impact your sink. We have pulled out full sections of piping that are literally packed with noodles that had expanded and backed up the sink. The homeowners assumed the garbage disposal could chop them up into small enough pieces but even small pieces of pasta swell with exposed to water.
• Stringy Vegetables: Peeled carrots, asparagus, potato skins and any other string vegetable can spell out the end for your garbage disposal if you are not carful! Peel those vegetable over the garbage can and avoid a disposal disaster this holiday season.
• Grease: Although it may be liquid when it’s hot in the pan, that grease will turn to sludge once it makes its way into your pipes. Avoid this problem by collecting grease run off in a coffee cup or other container. Wait for it to harden and then scrape it into the garbage can.
• Cheese: Have you ever had a cheese sauce go wrong? We have seen a few too many cheese sauce disasters find their way into the pipes of the home. This quickly obstructs your pipes and could stink up your kitchen if it becomes lodged close enough to the surface of your sink

Think twice about the things you are pouring down your garbage disposal and your sink. Scrape off as much food residue from your plates into the garbage before they make their way into your sink. The garbage disposal is a handy devise when used properly, but it could cause expensive backups if you are not careful with how you and your family use it.

• Filthy Filters: A dirty filter will stop the proper amount of air from getting into your furnace. This leads of overheating that will trip the furnace to turn off as a safety mechanism. Simply change the filter and you could be back in business.
• Lack of Air Flow: Snow and other debris can block the ventilation system of a high efficiency furnace. If this is your problem, the harmful gases created by the furnace will back up into the unit and force a protective shut down which will look like short cycling. Clean away the obstruction and you may be able to restore proper operation.
• Lack of Maintenance: Furnaces that haven’t been cleaned in ages tend to overheat easily. The unit will kick on, run for a couple minutes, overheat, and shut itself down only to repeat this cycle a few minutes later. A thorough cleaning performed by a professional will get things moving smoothly for the remainder of the season.
• Over-sized Furnace: Some homeowners will purchase a furnace that is built to heat a larger space because they fall under the misconception that bigger is better. In this case, it isn’t. Too big furnaces will overheat constantly and never get the home to the desired temperature. You will deal with drastic temperature swings and the only way to solve this problem is to replace the unit with one that is sized properly for the home.
• Cracked Heat Exchanger: When the heat exchanger on your furnace develops a crack, carbon monoxide along with the other gases created by combustion will leak into the home. Luckily, most heaters have safety mechanisms that will kick in when the heat exchanger overheats. This will shut the unit down over and over until the problem is addressed. The system will most likely need to be replaced.

Leave it to a Pro

These are just some of the reasons why your furnace could be short cycling. Take time to check filters and ventilation before you spend money on a service call, but if that isn’t enough, you need a pro. Don’t mess around with something as important as your family’s safety and comfort.

New Technology

The technology that makes it possible for your furnace to operate at such high efficiencies is relatively new, and because of this fact, you may not be aware of some of the differences your new system has compared to the unit you had in the home before it. By improving the way that the system is vented, the manufacturers of your high efficiency furnace were able to get more energy out of the natural gas that the furnace would consume. However, this new venting system can become easily obstructed and the obstruction will trigger safety systems to prevent proper function of the system.

Venting Your Furnace and Its Safety Systems

You will notice that instead of venting your furnace through the chimney, high efficiency furnaces will typically vent through the side of the house. Usually there are two PVC lines, one for the vent, which is the exit for unburned hydrocarbons, and one line for makeup air feeding to your furnace. It is important that these lines be kept clear of debris and snow. After a heavy snowfall, it is possible for these lines to become drifted over. When this happens, the safety controls on the furnace will keep the furnace from operating. Before placing a service call, this is something you can check to avoid unnecessary service.