Spring Is Here Time To Tune Up Your AC

May 10th, 2011

We’ve already had a few hot days and the weather is making the turn towards summer. Its time to have your air conditioning serviced. Servicing your air conditioning helps maintain efficiency and extend equipment life. Most reputable service companies provide service agreements. At a minimum a service agreement should include one inspection and cleaning for each of your Plumbing, Heating and/or Air Conditioning systems, provide for repair service of your systems at a discounted rate and provide you with priority scheduling.  Beware of the $49 preseason tuneup/inspections available out there they are usually no more than a visual inspection and light cleaning and most importantly to the company offering them a chance to get a service tech into your house to try to up-sell you. Go with an established reputable company that offers fair pricing, not the cheapest, and will give you the price of any repairs before they do the work. Shopping only on price is asking for problems. How can a company that charges half what their competition charges provide you with long term quality service? They will be struggling to survive and looking for every way they can to cut costs usually at your expense. A quality service company has highly skilled personnel and continually trains them to keep up with the ever changing technologies in their industry. This does mean they will not be the cheapest you can find but they are much more likely to give you a good value and stand behind there service and products.

Do You Have An Old Thermostat?

April 13th, 2010

We are all aware that mercury is poisonous.  But did you know that most older thermostats have mercury in them?  Especially the old round non-programable style.  If you have one lying around because you changed it out bring it to our shop and we will properly recycle it for you.  You can also give it to one of our techs when we are out to your house for service.  Don’t forget to ask our techs about the special disount for turning in a mercury thermostat in when we are performing a service.

Safety for your home while on vacation

March 25th, 2010

A lot of us are going to be going on vacation soon when the kids are on spring break.  Before you go away even for a weekend don’t forget to do these simple things.

  1. Turn off the water to your  house at your main water valve by your water meter.  Coming home after vacation to a flooded house is no fun. 
  2. Turn the water heat thermostat back to vacation setting if you have a gas water heater or just turn the breaker off if you have an electric water heater.  Why pay for energy to heat water when you are not there?
  3. Turn the thermostat setting back. Why should you pay for heating the house to a comfortable temperature when you are not there?  
  4. Make sure all your windows are locked.
  5. Stop your mail and newspaper service or have a neighbor collect it for you.
  6. If you have an automatic garage door opener disengage it and lock the door manually
  7. Put a few lamps on random timers that turn the lights off and on randomly.
  8. Ask a neighbor or family member to check out the house every few days.

Remember water from even a small leak can be very damaging.  Better to err on the side of caution than come home to a flooded mess.