Making the Case When Your Furnace Doesn’t Make the Grade

It’s a common question for a common experience. When your home heating system is getting past its prime, when you find that your comfort isn’t what it used to be, when energy bills appear higher than they should be and when you’ve had to call for repairs on multiple occasions… that’s the time homeowners ask, “Should I replace my furnace? Or should I shell out more for repairs?”

Your home comfort system is a significant part of your home – not just representing a portion of your overall investment, but also claiming about half of your energy costs each month. So, the equipment itself as well as its operational efficiency are integral to your family finances.

When making the case for replacement rather than repair, what should you consider? Energy Star, a program of the federal government, suggests that you first take into consideration the age of your equipment.

If your heat pump or air conditioner is more than 10 years old, or if your furnace or boiler is more than 15 years old, that’s the time to consider replacing your system with home comfort equipment that has earned the Energy Star label. High efficiency heat pumps can save up to 20 percent on heating and cooling costs over the units they replace. Energy Star-qualified furnaces are 15% more efficient than conventional furnaces. Or, if you have a boiler, consider replacing it with an ENERGY STAR qualified boiler that is 5% more efficient than a new, standard model.

What else should you consider?

·         If your equipment needs frequent repairs and/or your energy bills are going up, your cooling or heating equipment may have become less efficient.

·         If some rooms in your home are too hot or too cold, improper equipment operation, duct problems or inadequate insulation could be the cause.

·         If your home has humidity problems, this could be caused by poor equipment operation, inadequate equipment and leaky ductwork that leave the air too dry in the winter or too humid in the summer.

·         If your home has excessive dust, that’s not just a sign of poor housekeeping. Leaky ducts can pull particles and air from attics, crawl spaces and basements and distribute them throughout your house. Sealing your ducts may be a solution.

Let us help you get a complete picture of energy use in your home. Schedule your energy analysis today. Just call or email and mention this offer, and we’ll take care of you. 

Is a Clean House Bad for Your Health?

Keeping air pollution out of your home is not just a matter of cleanliness. Just think about it. You could scrub your floors and countertops, light a perfumed candle – even add a new coat of paint and new carpeting – and while the look will improve, your indoor air could actually be even more compromised.

Household cleaners, perfumes, paint, new carpeting, some types of furniture… any of these can contain chemicals known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that enter your air and, as a result, could soon enter your family’s respiratory system.

There are a number of other very ordinary, common sources of indoor air pollution. You’ll see more about them if you’ll take a moment to read this report, Sources of Air Pollution in Your Home.  

Source of Air Pollution in Your Home

There could be a problem with the air you’re breathing. With airtight construction prodded by energy-efficient building practices over the last few decades, homes are less likely to exchange air as quickly – meaning the natural ventilation from times of old now no longer allows for the routine exchange of air between inside and outside. That means what’s inside your home stays inside your home, including the pollutants that collect over time. What’s more, because Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors, these pollutants are potentially reaching right into your family’s breathing passages.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are several common pollutants found in homes these days. They include:

Combustion Pollutants – Gases or particles that come from burning materials, major residential sources of combustion pollutants improperly vented or unvented fuel-burning appliances such as space heaters, wood stoves, gas stoves, water heaters, dryers and fireplaces. Common combustion pollutants include carbon monoxide (CO) which is a colorless, odorless gas that interferes with the delivery of oxygen throughout the body. Carbon monoxide causes headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea and even death. Additionally, nitrogen dioxide is a colorless, odorless gas that causes eye, nose and throat irritation, shortness of breath and an increased risk of respiratory infection.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) – These are chemicals found in paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, varnishes and waxes, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment, moth repellents, air fresheners and dry-cleaned clothing. VOCs evaporate into the air when these products are used or sometimes even when they are stored. VOCs irritate the eyes, nose and throat, and cause headaches, nausea and damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system. Some of them can cause cancer.

Asthma Triggers – These include mold, dust mites, secondhand smoke and pet dander. Asthma triggers cause symptoms including coughing, chest tightness, wheezing and breathing problems. Molds produce spores that float in the air, land on damp surfaces and grow. Inhaling or touching molds can cause hay fever-type symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, red eyes and skin rashes. Molds can also trigger asthma attacks.

For peace of mind on any of these pollutants, contact us today for an Indoor Air Analysis. Just call or email, and we’ll take care of you. 

Weather Alert! It's Cold!

There’s an app for this, there’s an app for that. There’s hardly anything we do or enjoy that can’t benefit from a little technological assistance, right? As a matter of fact, I recently heard of a “winter wake up” app, which combines the functions of an alarm clock with online weather forecasts. The result is that if your app determines that wintry conditions are going to create delays in getting to work, it’ll wake you up a little early so you’ll have more travel time.

Well, you don’t need an app to know the conditions your heating system is facing. Cold temperatures are going to make it work extra hard. Plus, if you haven’t had it serviced before the season begins, you run the risk of having an undetected carbon monoxide leak that could cause serious risks for your family’s health.

That’s why we’re so big on recommending routine maintenance on your system. It’s just a good idea any way you look at it, and this helpful report illustrates some of the benefits. Take a look. 

The Routines of Saving Money, Protecting Family Health

Just think of it as any ordinary experience – you make a simple call that preserves a multi-thousand dollar investment, decreases your monthly energy expenses and protects your family from serious dangers that can come from faulty heating equipment operation.

Actually, there’s nothing routine about routine maintenance on your heater or furnace. It’s the type of decision making that the most discerning homeowners choose. That’s because it pays for itself in energy-savings, lengthens the life of a fairly pricey piece of equipment and detects dangers – particularly that of carbon monoxide leaks – that could prove to be a very serious risk for your family’s health and well-being.

Here’s what you can expect from a regular maintenance routine:

Longer Equipment Life – Just like with your car or truck, mechanical equipment needs to be maintained if you want it to operate efficiently and safely over the long term. And home comfort systems are very long-term investments. After all, you’ll want to keep it running safe and smooth for longer than most people keep their vehicles, so don’t you think it’s due a “professional pit stop” now and then? Absolutely. Taking care of your home comfort system is the best way to make sure it keeps taking care of you.

Energy Savings – Again, just like with your vehicle, poor condition can affect gas mileage, but better condition makes it better. Connections and systems in your heating equipment can get loosened or go lax over time, and that affects efficiency – which affects your energy costs. Routine maintenance is like pressing a “reset button.” It takes your system back to an earlier time when equipment was running efficiently and safely. And your energy bills show the difference.

Repair Savings – When you detect a minor problem before it becomes a major repair, you trade the major cost for a minor expense. And that’s a very good trade. In addition, you avoid the inconvenience of a breakdown at a most uncomfortable time – which would trade a routinely scheduled tune-up for an emergency service call. And that’s not a good trade. 

Peace of Mind – Heating system tune-ups also come with all-important safety checks to detect the presence of carbon monoxide and other dangers. This importance cannot be overstated!

Schedule your routine maintenance now. Just call or email, and we’ll take care of you.

Cost of Comfort

With the economy the way it is and rising natural gas costs, we have to try and find a balance of cost over comfort. That’s why being energy efficient is so important these days because it can save you a lot of money on your energy bills.

At RCMechanical, Inc., we have several ways to check your system to make sure it is running at optimal performance and keeping more money in your pocket. There are also some small things that you can do to cut down on energy costs. Change your HVAC filters monthly during peak heating and cooling seasons. They only cost a few bucks to replace and a dirty filter makes your system work harder and longer. You can also look for any leaks around your windows or doors that could be letting the heat escape.

If you want to know more about what to expect come this cold season, read our free report “Predicting the Cost of Your Home Heating.” You can see more about the costs of natural gas and a way to cut down your energy usage by 20% from last year. 

Predicting the Cost of Your Home Heating

Calculating the cost of energy to run our homes seems like such a mystery at times. But what would you expect from an industry that issues something called a “Market Prices and Uncertainty Report”? That’s one of the publications the federal government creates about the outlook for energy prices (though it’s hard to imagine other business sectors touting “uncertainty” as if it’s a given).

So what’s ahead for natural gas prices this winter and how will it affect the homes around here that depend on this source for their cold-weather heating comfort?

Trying for an uncomplicated explanation here… basically, the cost to heat your home is going to be affected by how much natural gas folks “think” will get used (that’s called a usage prediction). Plus, how much natural gas they “think” will be needed. That’s called a demand forecast. Plus, what’s available now (that’s the inventory).

There’s also a little factor called “speculation,” which is when investors bet on the price energy will reach in the future. And you add to that one more unpredictable factor called “the weather.”

That very frigid winter we “enjoyed” last time hit the inventories pretty heavily. Plus, Mideast unrest always causes concerns about oil exports. So there’s much about energy costs that we cannot control. But here’s the other side of the equation:

There’s a LOT we can do about the energy efficiency of the systems that run your home, thus providing you savings on energy all season long.

If you’d like to learn how to beat the high natural gas prices, you can start with an analysis of the current energy usage in your home. We can do that for you free; just let us know you’d like to get that survey.

Replacing an old energy guzzler with a new, highly efficient model can save 20% over last year’s energy usage – and that’s just one of the perks ahead when you’re ready to make a change. In fact, you’ll find that a very generous trade-in allowance, super-long guarantees and extra convenient financing will make your upgrade decision very easy. Want to learn more? Just click this link:  

Get a free energy survey analysis and see if a new system is your best bet for continued comfort!