New Water Heater Regulations

by

In April 2015 new regulations went into effect on water heaters. While the goal of these new regulations is to make water heaters more energy efficient a by product of this goal has caused water heaters to grow in size.

Now manufacturers are making bigger waters heaters that still hold the same amount of water. The change in dimensions isn’t ridiculously different, about 2-3 inches wider and taller for tanks holding less than 55 gallons, but big enough that replacing older water heaters that are in tight fitting spaces could tricky.

Here’s a brief video from AO Smith explaining these new regulations and how they impact homeowners. Read more

Let’s Talk About Air Conditioner Maintenance

by

There is a variety of options when it comes to air conditioner maintenance and almost almost every heating and cooling company has it’s own name for it. But what’s included in an annual cleaning (sometimes called preventative maintenance)?

The following are the most important parts of your system that air condition your home and should be inspected and cleaned every year, ideally before you start using it regularly. Read more

Read This Before You Pay for a Duct Cleaning

by

Duct cleaning has been up for a debate for quite some time. Is it really money well spent or is it a hoax that companies use to get easy money in their pocket?

If you look through your local newspaper, or even on Groupon you may see companies offering coupons or specials on duct cleaning for less than $50. Sounds like a pretty good deal, especially when that $50 is 50%, 65% or even 85% off the regular price.

Unfortunately, more times than not, the old saying, if it’s too good to be true than it probably is, is wisdom to live by. Read more

No More Excuses! 3 Ways to Avoid Forgetting to Change Your Filter Ever Again

by

We’ve been talking a lot about air quality since we started this blog and more specifically we’ve mentioned several times the importance of changing your furnace’s filter regularly.

But as we’ve done this a majority of homeowners have said they don’t change their filter regularly. Usually they tell us one of three things;

  • I’m too busy
  • I don’t want to spend the money on a filter
  • I don’t really think it matters if my filter is replaced regularly

We’re going to ignore those of you who think there are not any negative side effects to changing your filter  and focus on those of you with time and money issues (wait, isn’t that most of us).

Here are three quick ways you can help yourself take care of this task. Read more

An Interactive View of Your Home’s Air Quality

by

Your Home's IAQ

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put a lot of time and research into figuring out how Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) effects our health. With some studies showing people spending well over 60% of their time inside their home, the air quality should be important to all of us, not just the EPA.

As we explored the website, we came across a very interactive and informative program that shows some of the areas, common to most homes, that may be diminishing your home’s IAQ. Instead of reinventing the wheel and because we love finding good information to share with you. Read more