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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Silent But Deadly


In case you didn't know, there is a silent but deadly killer out there and it can impact anyone that uses a gas furnace to heat their home.  Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can happen within a matter of minutes and is responsible for more deaths than any other single poison. This odorless, colorless poison can hurt you slowly in low levels, cause permanent neurological dysfunctions in moderate levels or take lives in higher levels. Protection against this deadly poison is as easy as installing a simple carbon monoxide detector in your home or office.

Older and/or poorly maintained gas furnaces can produce hazardous amounts of carbon monoxide.  It is always best to routinely have your gas furnace checked at the beginning of every heating season by a qualified technician who knows exactly what to look for.  At Environmental, we actually have a special going on right now for furnace checkups.  Just give us a call and let one of our certified technicians come out and take a look at your gas furnace system, for peace of mind if nothing else.

--Nickadeemus
919-535-8422
www.enviro-nc.com

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Happy Holidays





From me and everyone else at Environmental, we wish you all a safe, warm holiday break!


--Nickadeemus
919-535-8422
www.enviro-nc.com

Friday, December 17, 2010

Heat Pump FAQ

In this blog I just wanted to address the most common questions we get here at Environmental Heating & Air in regards to heat pumps....

How exactly does a heat pump work?  An electric heat pump is a single unit that both heats and cools your home. A heat pump is the most efficient heating and cooling system available today because it generates less than one unit of heat for each unit of energy it consumes.  In summer, it moves heat from inside your house to the outside.  In winter, it moves heat from the air outside to inside your home.  This is done using the refrigerant that is pumped by the compressor through the indoor and outdoor coils.


Do I need a supplemental heating system with an electric heat pump?  An electric heat pump operates most efficiently at temperatures above the low 30's.  When temperatures dip below that, some supplemental heat is required.  Which is where the heat strips come in, these are spring like coils that are heated by electricity and are located by the blower.  Heat strips are used in a heat pump system to assist in heating when the temperatures drop to the lower 30's and below.

Is it true that heat pumps will not get my home as warm as a gas furnace?  Some people think this is true, but actually what a heat pump does is keep the room temperature more constant than a gas furnace, so you're more comfortable all the time.  With gas furnaces, a lot of people find themselves being too hot or too cold quite often, whereas a heat pump corrects this problem by maintaining a more constant temperature.

If it maintains a more constant temperature, doesn't that mean it runs more often than a gas furnace?  Yes a heat pump does tend to run more often but you have to realize that it produces two to three units of heat for each unit of energy it uses (compared to less than one unit of heat from a gas furnace), so you end up with significant savings at the end of the month.
 
Well if it runs longer and during the winter and summer months, doesn't it wear out sooner?  Not really, heat pumps have basically the same life expectancy as a regular air conditioner with a gas furnace.  The difference in service life is very little, if at all.  Even the Gas Research Institute admitted recently that "As the efficiency of heat pumps is increased, their anticipated life increases as well."


--Nickadeemus
919-535-8422
 







Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Previously Touched On

In case you haven't been outside in like the last three weeks, it's freezing cold!!  I'm sure your heat pumps and furnaces have been working overtime trying to keep your home nice and toasty.  I've touched on this before in a previous blog, but I can't emphasize enough the importance of these simple things you can do in your home to ensure warmth while maximizing the efficiency of your heating system.

  • Insulate attics, windows and doors. Heat escapes through every part of a building but especially through the roof of a building. Insulate between your roof and ceiling to keep the cold out and the heat in. Seal and weatherproof doors and windows to eliminate cold drafts. Heat escapes even through closed doors and windows.
  • Maintain your heating system!  That means keeping your filters changed and being proactive with any repairs or issues you might have with your system.
  • Install carbon monoxide detectors to augment your smoke detectors and make sure they have fresh batteries. A good rule of thumb is to replace batteries every time you change to and from daylight savings time.
  • Reverse the circulation of your ceiling fan so that it pulls the air up towards the ceiling.  This is effective because it keeps the warm air moving so that it doesn't just accumulate at the ceiling, it's especially effective for homes with high ceilings.

Remember, these above simple steps can actually have a huge effect on how warm your home stays and how much your next electric bill will be.

--Nickadeemus
919-535-8422
www.enviro-nc.com

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Reviews

In our ongoing efforts to give customers the best possible products and the most reliable service available, we have found an outstanding online review website called Customer Lobby that will verify customer's authenticity before publishing an online review.  What this means is, with most review programs like Google for example, anybody can post any kind of review they want without any verification or confirmation that this person actually had any service performed by the company.  Some companies actually have their employees go in and post positive reviews to make their overall review average higher!  Former employees and competitors will often go in and post horrible reviews for a company just to make the company look bad.



Customer Lobby has formulated a way for customers to post honest reviews about a company that anyone can look at and know that it was a truthful review by an actual customer who had a job performed for them by that company.  I know this is immensely important when checking out which company or service you need to have performed, I do it all the time.  So check it out sometime when you get a chance, also if you are a fan of the Environmental Heating and Air profile page on facebook, the reviews will be automatically posted there as they appear on Customer Lobby.

--Nickadeemus
919-535-8422
www.enviro-nc.com

Friday, December 3, 2010

Federal Tax Credits And A Big Solar Sale


There's only one month left before the federal tax credit for all new heating and air conditioning units meeting the minimum requirements runs out!  So if you're "on the fence" about getting a new system installed, it's go time!  These tax credits are great and as of right now there is no word on when or even if they will be coming back.

Environmental is having a HUGE sale on a range of solar products including items from system controllers to solar expansion tanks.  Again, solar products are the future and the sooner you get a jump on how solar energy works and how it will greatly reduce your monthly utility bills, the better off you will be!  So hop right over to Environmental's website and check out all the solar items for sale, don't miss out!

--Nickadeemus
919-535-8422
www.enviro-nc.com