AAA Heating & Cooling: HVAC Talk

Going green at your house!  Sure, recycle and use CFL bulbs to save energy, but if you want to make a bigger commitment that will lower your carbon footprint and also save money. The obvious place to start is by lowering our energy bills.

There are still many places you can improve your carbon footprint. Are you aware of the statistics about home energy costs? It’s shocking that nearly 50% of a home’s energy consumption goes to heating and cooling!

Check out the graph below from statistics supplied by Energy Star.Use the energy savings calculator to see how you can save!
http://www.genteqcomfort.com/ShowMeTheMoney/EnergySavingsCalculator.aspx

HOME ENERGY CONSUMPTION
The time is right to find out if the Evergreen motor will work for our home system. Evergreen is an energy-saving motor that can replace the motor in your home’s heating and cooling system, and it uses 30-50% less electricity than some motors. This motor alone could save us $125 in electricity costs each year.There will be up-front costs related to installing Evergreen, but if you intend to stay in this house for at least five year it will pay for itself pretty quickly.

Kind of makes me wonder how the pie chart for our house will look a year from now!Find out more about Evergreen motor by contacting AAA Heating and Cooling 503-501-5507- be sure to ask me, Michael about it during their next visit.

AAA Heating and Cooling has been installing The Evergreen IM high-efficiency ECM replacement motor for our customers to replace factory PSC blower motors in HVAC systems. That means AAA Heating and Cooling customers can now take advantage of the comfort and efficiency of ECM in an easy-to-install replacement motor.

Built from the same trusted, field-proven ECM technology that is found in millions of OEM systems nationwide, Evergreen uses up to 25% fewer watts in operating mode and up to 75% fewer Watts than a PSC motor in constant fan.

Evergreen IM can save the homeowner up to $300/year and will reduce your stock of PSC motors. You will not want to miss out on this opportunity, so contact Michael Thoen at AAA Heating and Cooling, 505-501-5507 or michaelt@aaaiaq.com and start seeing the saDesign/IAQ Specialist

Email: michaelt@aaaiaq.com
Phone: 503-284-2173 Ext. 5507
Web Site: http://www.aaaheatingandcoolinginc.comvings.

AAA Heating & Cooling has been a leader in improving indoor air quality for over 50 years. We offer Duct cleaning services to a verity of air filters and air purifiers.  Here you can find out what pollutants and allergens can affect you and your family in your home

The fruity fragrance of some air fresheners can be a bother.

Mary, a 46-year-old flight attendant, had a persistent runny nose that was sometimes so bad she had trouble doing her job.

She’d tried antihistamines, nasal sprays and “allergy drops” prescribed by a specialist. None of them helped.

Then she saw Dr. Stanley Fineman, an allergist, who found Mary wasn’t allergic to the usual household suspects — dust mites, animal dander, pollen and molds. Instead, she turned out to be sensitive to air fresheners she’d been using at home and exposed to in hotels. She’s not alone.

Fineman, the president-elect of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, told Mary’s story over the weekend at the annual meeting of the medical group to highlight an increasingly common problem. “I’ve been seeing more and more people coming in to my office who have allergy-type symptoms that are triggered by these air freshener-type products,” Fineman told Shots in an interview before the talk.

Patients complain about congestion, sniffles or a runny nose, he said. Headaches or sinus pressure are other typical symptoms.

It can be tough for patients and their doctors to figure out the cause.

One reason is that the sources of irritating chemicals are so ubiquitous. Plug-in air fresheners, sprays and scented candles seem to be everywhere. And the volatile organic compounds, key irritants in those products, can also come from building materials and furnishings, such as a new carpet.

About 19 percent of the population reported health effects from air fresheners, according to data cited by Fineman. For people with asthma, the figure was more than one-third.

“I’m not here to bash” air fresheners and candles, Fineman said. “I’m just here to raise awareness that the products can trigger symptoms in some patients.”

Fineman suggested that Mary remove the air fresheners from her house and stop using perfume. To ease her symptoms, he also recommended a saline nasal spray. But that may not solve her problems completely. “She’ll still be exposed in different public venues,” he said. Contact one of our design specialists at AAA Heating & Cooling to help you purify the air in your home and stop masking your indoor air quality problems with fruity air fresheners.

Michael C. Thoen

Design/IAQ Specialist
Email: michaelt@aaaiaq.com
Phone: 503-284-2173 Ext. 5507
Web Site: http://www.aaaheatingandcoolinginc.com

AAA Heating & Cooling con provide you with the right water heater for you and your family needs, here are some pros and cons with Tankless water heaters.

Pros

• You can’t put a price tag on going green.  There’s no dispute about this – Tankless water heaters use less energy.  Doing the environmentally responsible thing doesn’t always have a measurable return on investment.  I mentioned this last week, but only briefly.   Not everything we spend money on will give us a return on our investment – we all know that.   After all, what’s the payback period on a sofa?
• Tankless water heaters make sense for a cabin / vacation home.  Traditional water heaters have a ‘vacation’ setting, but I’ve heard it’s a bad idea to use this setting, because it greatly increases the potential for legionella pneumophila growth.   Having a Tankless water heater installed in one of these settings would result in much more than a 25% fuel savings.
• Energy Star Tax Credit.  This $300 tax credit which includes Tankless water heaters expires December 31, 2011.   You can read about it here - tax credit.  I’m guessing we’ll see another one show up when this one ends.
• Fuel costs will continue to rise.  As we all know, fuel costs continually increase.  If fuel costs tripled in the next 20 years at a linear rate, a Tankless water heater would actually give me a return on my investment.

Cons

• Low water flow = no hot water.  If there isn’t enough hot water flow, a Tankless water heater just won’t turn on.  One person even commented that they had to turn on the hot water faucet at their bathroom sink and leave it on the entire time they took a shower, or they couldn’t get hot water.  For instance, Rinnai Tankless water heaters need at least .6 gallons per minute, Bosch needs .65 gallons per minute, and Rheem at least .4 gallons per minute of hot water flow to kick on.
• The cold water sandwich.  If you think gefilte fish sandwiches sound bad, just try one of these.  The cold water sandwich effect is something that happens with every Tankless water heater.  When the faucet is turned on, off, and on again, you’ll end up with a slug of cold water interrupting your hot water flow.  Some Tankless water heaters require the call for hot water to last for at least three seconds before the burners turn on, so there can be several layers of hot and cold water in the pipes.  This doesn’t exist with traditional water heaters.  You can read more about this at Rinnai’s web site – they claim to have nearly eliminated the cold water sandwich, but not completely.
• The long wait for hot water.  One already has to wait nearly forever to get hot water at their kitchen sink, but the wait would be even longer with a Tankless water heater.  One interesting solution that I heard a plumber mention was to install a dedicated 3/8″ supply line to his kitchen sink from the water heater.   He claimed that this still provided just as much water flow, and made the wait much shorter.  I’ve considered doing this at my own house, although this is technically a code violation.

A small tank-type water heater stops the cold-water surprise. Adding a 10-galon electric water heater to a thankless model creates a buffer to eliminate the section of cold water left in the Tankless heater’s heat exchanger. If located near the bathroom, the tank also can reduce the wait. Another solution is presented by Navien, which has a small tank inside the Tankless water heater to help eliminate the cold water sensation. AAA Heating & Cooling has worked with our customers to help solve our clients concerns of long waits for hot water. Contact AAA Heating & Cooling for you complementary consultation about Tankless water heaters.

Design/IAQ Specialist
Email: michaelt@aaaiaq.com
Phone: 503-284-2173 Ext. 5507
Web Site: http://www.aaaheatingandcoolinginc.com

When temperatures begin to drop outside and the leaves begin to turn, it is check up time for your furnace. Now that we are in the middle of the winter you still can take advantage of a furnace tune-up. Getting your furnace ready for the long winter ahead can save money and prevent costly repairs needed on a cold winter day, when you really need the heat instead of a large repair bill. AAA Heating and Cooling has been proudly servicing the HVAC upgrades, service, repair and duct clean needs of the greater Portland Metro area for over 50 years.

Scheduling an appointment for furnace cleaning and maintenance is smart. AAA Heating and Cooling offers a discount package at this time of year. It is also wise to have your ducts cleaned. Ducts and vents are an important part of your heating system. If there are leaks, warm air escapes, providing less heat for comfort and causes the furnace to run longer. Duct testing and sealing is also offered by AAA Heating and Cooling Inc. Sealing leaks will eliminate or minimize the air that escapes and provide a more energy efficient system that does not have to over compensate for lost heat. Duct cleaning also means that the air you breathe will be cleaner. You may also want to take advantage of and request a quick and inexpensive service to test the air quality in your home for allergens, mold and toxic substances as many illnesses are related to and(or) caused by airborne agents.

Who should you hire for furnace maintenance? It is always a good idea to ask friends, family or neighbors who they hire to do the job for them. Word of mouth is the best advertisement and if a company has a good reputation, you will hear about it, as well as the bad. Consider how long the company has been in business. You may even want to check with the Better Business Bureau or an association of local heating and air businesses. Doing your research will be a worthy investment and the company you hire for the service may even pass a long a discount to you for referrals in the future. You will also be assured that the service you receive is quality maintenance. Also, check to see if the company offers a money back guarantee or return service if not satisfied. Additional tip – if you see the company name listed as a top online search engine response for your area and the company does not have negative feedback, be confident that you have probably found a highly reliable and established company.

Wondering what takes place when furnace maintenance is done? Switches, valves and burners are first on the list to check, making sure they are running properly and whether they may need replacement. Testing air flow and ignition, along with changing filters and checking run cycle is included in a comprehensive check of the overall system. How much time will the furnace maintenance take? Generally, less than an hour and a half, depending on whether replacements or repairs are needed.

After the maintenance is done and the even cooler temperatures of later fall and winter set in, you are ready to turn on the furnace and relax in comfort, knowing that your furnace is well prepared to work for you and will do the job until spring comes again.

11/28/2011 Cause of recent fire released-NBC Channel 11 news

Grand Junction, Colorado-The cause has been released for a fire that ripped through a home Friday morning.  Friday’s fire at Serenade Court left the family homeless and killed a cat.  It has been ruled accidental.  The fire was determined to have originated in the DRYER VENT! 

In recent years there has been many stories about dryers that catch on fire.  Should you be concerned? Yes of course.  We should take seriously anything that may put our families at risk.

Was the problem the Dryer? Rarely!!

After investigating it is usually determined to have been the venting within the home  catching on fire, and not the actual dryer.

Keep your dryer as lint free as possible. By keeping your dryer clean, not only will you significantly reduce the fire hazard, you will also save money $$$$$ as your dryer will run more efficiently and even last longer!

To keep your dryer clean:

• Use a lint brush or vacuum attachment to remove accumulated lint from under the lint trap and other accessible places on a regular basis.
• Inspect the venting on the outer wall.  Common blockages include birds nests, rodent nests or just clogged guards and screens.
• Every 1-3 years, depending on your usage, have the dryer venting cleaned out by a qualified service company.

AAA heating and cooling offers dryer vent cleaning through out the Portland area. And in most cases the cost for the dryer vent cleaning is zero, when a complete furnace duct cleaning is completed…..Be safe and save money, get your dryer vent cleaned and start the new year off safely..

Steven Jones
Design/IAQ Specialist
Email: sjones@aaaiaq.com
Phone: 503-284-2173 Ext. 5515
Web Site: http://www.aaaheatingandcoolinginc.com

The term hybrid has been used extensively to describe today’s fuel efficient cars. The heating and cooling industry has used hybrid heating systems, also known as dual fuel systems, for decades.

In a hybrid car the system decides when to use electricity and when to use gasoline for optimum performance and economy.

The same holds true for hybrid heating systems. Most commonly, a gas furnace is installed with a heat pump (rather than a simple central air conditioner). Heat pumps perform best at milder winter temperatures, as the temperature drops the system will shut down the heat pump and switch over to the gas furnace.

In rural areas some homeowners have install high efficiency propane furnaces as the back up to the heat pump.

An interesting feature is that the systems are adjustable. There is an outdoor thermostat that determines when the heat pump shuts off and the furnace takes over. If natural gas rates were to rise a homeowner can adjust the heat pump to run more, if electric rates rise the gas furnace can be adjusted to carry more of the load. Fuel choice may be an attractive option to have in the future.

Heat pumps act exactly the same as an air conditioner in the summer months. They provide the same Btu’s of cooling sound the same, use the same amount of energy and are the same size and shape. Heat pumps are more expensive and estimates range between a few hundred to as much as a few thousand dollars more than just an air conditioner.

If you are a homeowner considering a central air conditioning system we encourage you to ask a heating and cooling professional about a hybrid heating system.

Victoria Allen
Phone: 503-284-2173
Web Site: http://www.aaaheatingandcoolinginc.com