HVAC in the News
In a world where most HVAC providers are small mom and pop shops, how do these guys get so much publicity? I’ve linked to them in the past because they have a good informative web site. However it blows my mind when I see their company show up in US Business review! Here are some exerts that I found interesting from the article on Four Seasons.
Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning’s name makes sense not only because the HVAC provider works year-round…
Kind of cheesy, however this seemed more interesting and to the point.
“By the time I was about 22, I had about 15 guys working for me,” Musial says. Eventually his father retired, leaving Musial in charge by himself but armed with the knowledge and teachings handed down to him. “I’m glad I was able to have all those years of training with my dad because it really taught me the right way to do things,” Musial says.
Also of interest…
The company’s devotion to quality has earned it numerous awards, including the Super Service Award from Angieslist.com for the past five years. Four Seasons also has received the Dave Lennox Circle of Excellence Award from Lennox, making it one of only 25 out of 7,000 dealers nationwide to receive that honor. The company also has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, the highest rating possible. Musial says the company’s stellar reputation is even more impressive when one takes into account the sheer number of customers the company services in a given year. He adds that unlike some other service providers, Four Seasons’ growth has not made the company sluggish or less responsive to customers.
Chicago Heating and Cooling, Heating, Air Conditioning, HVAC, About Chicago Heating and Cooling
How to Prepare and Respond to Severe Storms
Bad weather. There may be nothing more frightening then the helpless feeling when a severe storm approaches. Most of us hope it will pass without serious damage. Unless you’ve taken proper precautions, the impact of such a storm can be catastrophic. It’s not just a matter of protecting your possessions; severe weather can be life threatening and should be taken very seriously. In summertime, the biggest danger is usually from thunderstorms. A severe storm can spawn a tornado, but even if it doesn’t, the damage caused by high winds, heavy rains, hail, and lightning can be devastating. In our part of the country, especially this summer so far, severe storms are pretty common. Knowing what to do when they arrive is critical. The tips you’ll find here will go a long way toward protecting your home, family, and possessions.
Potential Dangers
Lets start with the most obvious danger – lightning. While you may feel protected inside your home, lightning can still cause big problems. There are two things you should never use during a lightning storm. One is a wired phone. Cell phones are ok, but any phone that plugs into a wall could carry electricity from a lightning strike right into your body. The other thing you should never do is take a bath or shower during a thunderstorm. Lightning can be carried through the pipes in your home. Lightning can also cause all kinds of trouble for your appliances and other electronic devices. It sounds like a lot of work, but one way to protect things like your refrigerator, washer, microwave, computer and television, is to simply unplug them unless you have a good surge suppressor on each one. Even better is to add a second layer of protection using a “whole-house” surge suppressor installed by a licensed electrician. Coupled with individual protectors, there’s no better way to prevent damage from electrical spikes.
Flooding Issues
Another problem brought on by rain storms is obviously flooding. Flooding can damage possessions inside and outside your home. A good early warning system can help limit the damage from flooding whether it’s brought on by rain or just a leaky pipe or fixture. There are products you can purchase that won’t necessarily stop flooding, but will let you know about it before it does any major damage. You can also install equipment that will cut off the supply of water into your house if it senses a problem caused by a leak in your house. You should also consider investing in, or maintaining your sewer backflow valve. Without it, you could have unsanitary water being pushed back into your home. That’s never a pleasant situation. If your home has a sump pump, you want to make sure it’s properly maintained so it will function properly when needed. A licensed plumber can make sure it’s in peak condition.
Calm After The Storm
Once the storm passes there are still some safety and comfort issues to consider. Hopefully you haven’t lost power to your home, if you did it may be too late to buy a portable generator. A permanent generator set can make all the difference in the world and take away any worry of losing power for a lengthy period of time. Four Seasons Heating & Air Conditioning can furnish and install a variety of sizes of permanent generators. If you’re waiting for electricity to come back on, keep your appliances unplugged so the sudden surge doesn’t permanently hurt them. This is another instance where a protective surge suppressor will reduce the risk of damage and save you a lot of time and effort. Check to be sure rising water, wind or lightning hasn’t damaged any of your utility services. Check for fire in and around your home. You should also take a look at your central air conditioning system to make sure it’s in good working order. It can be damaged by flying debris, and at the very least may need to have some coil fins straightened out. Worst case is it might have been zapped by lightning. Most systems contain delicate electronics both inside the home and outside. If you notice any damage, or suspect the system has been zapped by lightning, it’s probably best to have a technician check it out before turning it back on!!
5 benefits of a routine repair agreement
if you have ever had your heating or cooling system cleaned by a skilled, you have probably been offered a routine repair agreement at least once. most of us probably politely turned down the service without thinking twice, but if you take a closer look, signing a routine repair agreement could be what is best for you and your heating, ventalation, and cooling system. these are the top 5 benefits of signing a routine repair agreement:
- reminders: have you ever noticed how the years seem to fly by? have you ever missed a maintenance of or two? if so, routine repair plans often include reminders about your yearly routine repair. the business that you purchased the agreement from will either call or mail you a reminder to time line your yearly maintenance of on your heating or cooling system.
- save coin: we often turn down these offers because they require paying more now and saving later, but if you are going to have your systems cleaned every season, why not pay ahead of time? if you do the math, we bet that you will find that you save coin over paying for the maintenance of services individually, and these programs often come with added benefits that reduce the cost of repairs.
- vip services: many decent heating, ventalation, and cooling buisnesses will bend over backwards to convenience the home owners that are members of their routine repair programs. what that means for you is more convenient scheduling, and maybe even shorter wait times when you have a heating or cooling emergency.
- extended warranty coverage: if your heating or cooling system is no longer covered by the manufacturer’s warranty you could get stuck paying big bucks in the event that one of your systems has a part failure. routine repair programs often include “warranty-like” coverage that will get you a discount on parts and labor costs.
- peace of mind: when you have a routine repair agreement with a skilled and honest heating, ventalation, and cooling business, you will have someone to lean on in an emergency. you will no longer have to search around in the middle of the night for someone to resolve your heating system because you will already have someone to turn to.
24 hour furance also recommends this great site: Central Air Repair Contractors
get your humidity in balance with your hvac
as this winter comes to a close, ask yourself a question. have you noticed any new squeaks in your difficult wood floors? if the answer is yes, you most likely have a humidity imbalance in your houtilize . you may say that you don’t even notice the squeaks in your floors, but let this hitch to continue and selling your houtilize may become very difficult. taking actions nowadays to prevent further damage is easy and affordable. not taking action will leave you with a costly repair on your hands once the hitch gets out of hand.
keeping humidity in balance isn’t easy
keeping humidity and temperature in balance is not as easy as you may think. the warmther dries out the air in the houtilize during the winter, and sometimes the cooling system cannot keep up with high humidity that occurs during the summer. your hvac system requirements a bit assist. when the air is leted to dry out, the wood in your floors also dry out and shrink. the excess moisture in the summer will cautilize the wood to swell and over the years the wood will become brittle and warped. keeping the humidity between 35 and 55 % and the temperature in the houtilize between 60 and 80 degrees will prevent this from occur ing.
backup for your hvac system
a whole houtilize humidifier and dehumidifier are needed to achieve this. they will keep the houtilize in balance while your warmther and cooling system take care of controlling the temperature. in the end your floors are sheltered and you avoid the cost of squeak repair down the line.
locate additional method s to conserve | mount greenwood, vernon hills, morris
gas prices are beginning to soar and no matter who you may think is to blame, you really have only one method to prevent these enhances from wringing you and your wallet dry. you will either have to cut back on how much gas you consume or locate additional method s to conserve. with the approaching summer season, many of us are most likely eying that cooling system as just a different source of high costs. invest some cash nowadays, and conserve all summer. four seasons can create it possible with close toly any budget.
reducing your cooling costs
- cleaning the cooling system: an worn out dirty cooling system cannot function efficiently. the seer rating on lower machines is already significantly lower than what is possible in a newer machine. but, you can maximize your cooling system’s efficiency by having it professionally cleaned. a 20 + point tune up from four seasons warmthing and air conditioning can enhance your cooling system’s seer rating and get you the giantgest bang for your buck every time you utilize the system this summer.
- put in a new cooling system: ever wonder what seer rating your worn out cooling system is operating at? well, when you have the machine evaluateed by four seasons, you can locate out. some worn out machines are less than 10 seer and some would even be rated below 5 seer. when you think about that four seasons nowadays offers machines that can reach 20.50 seer, you can see how much energy you are really wasting by using this worn out machine. upgrade to a new energy efficient cooling system with four seasons and you are sure to see the savings returned every month on your energy bills.
don’t wait for the first warmth wave to act. utilize these warmer days as a warning of what is sure to come once the summer truly arrives. four seasons is your go to warmthing and cooling company for any hvac need, and we can assist create saving cash easy this year and for years to come.
locate additional method s to conserve | mount greenwood, vernon hills, morris is a post from: warmthing and cooling warmther repair
maintain your cooling system to control noise
there are plenty of houtilize owners out there that tell all of their friends that annual tune-up is a throw amethod of their time and cash. if you ever run into one of these people, take a look at their cooling system before you take them at their word. odds are the machine is in bad shape and the houtilize owner doesn’t even knowadays it. the noise generated by the machine alone is the dead give amethod to the hitchs that lie beneath, but you can spare your cooling system from meeting this fate by realizing the value of having your annual tune up performed each and every summer season.
don’t discover the value of tune-up the difficult method
poorly cared for cooling systems often break down frequently and the need for tune-up becomes very obvious. but, there are some houtilize owners that have cooling systems that continue to cool the houtilize despite the lack of tune-up. these machines may cool the houtilize down, but they are not hitch-free. an cooling system can still run with dirty, rusted fan blades, clattering bearings, and a worn down compressor, but it can’t run quietly and it cannot run efficiently. keep your cooling system well maintained to prevent your cooling system from becoming a menace to your neighbors and your wallet.
sealing and insulating your duct system
do you suffer from high energy bills? does it seem like no matter how many energy effective upgrades you make you really don’t see a decrease in energy cost? the problem may be that your homes air ducts system is full of leaks that are costing you big bucks every time you run your heating and cooling systems. even if you have a high efficiency heating and cooling, they will never effort at peak efficiency when attached to a leaky and un-insulated duct system. what you need to do is properly seal and separate the air ducts. some of the benefits that come from doing so include:
- increased enjoyable environment: when there are leaks in the air ducts, the air that circulates through your house never reaches its target destination. this usually leads to rooms that receive little to no heating or cooling. insulting air ducts prevents the warm and cold air that circulates through the duct from being lost to the un-conditioned areas of the house like the loft, basement, garage, and any other un-conditioned region that your house may have.
- savings: when your house is properly heated and cooled you save energy. leaky and un-insulated air ducts allows heating and cooling to prematurely escape the system which in turn causes the heating or cooling system to run for extended periods of time. when the ducts are properly sealed and insulated, heating and cooling is able to reach the target rooms of the house and condition them more quickly than if there were leaks in the system. running the heating, ventalation, and cooling system less turns into savings on your energy bills that you will notice.
- saving the planet: when you loose energy will leaky air ducts, you are adding to the problems caused by global warming. as part of your responsibilities as a property owner, you should make it your priority to have a green and energy effective house.
don’t make this mistake!
hopefully these benefits have convinced you to have an inspection of your duct system. some property owners choose to separate and seal their air ducts on their own, and end up using the wrong materials to do so. sealing the air ducts with duct tape may seem like the logical way to go, but duct tape is probably the worst material you could use to close up the gaps in your duct system. there are two main problems with using duct tape:
- short lifespan: duct tape may seem like it lasts forever when we use it for various repairs around the house, but when put under the extreme conditions in your air ducts, it fails to stand the test of time.
- cannot withstand temperature changes: the temperature in the air ducts is constantly fluctuating between warm and cold. when put to the test, duct tape failed to stay in place and seal properly.
don’t loose your time sealing the air ducts with duct tape. use mastic tape or have a skilled seal and separate the air ducts for you. in the end you will see an increase in your enjoyable environment and in the amount of coin you keep in your wallet every month.
24 hour furance also recommends this great site: Home owner help
reducing the cooling load bring downs noise
although it may only be march, summer temperatures have arrived and the hum of cooling system condensers can be heard on close toly every residential street. some are louder than additionals, but as the temperatures continue to soar, things are only going to get noisier for some houtilize owners. the warmer the conditions is, the difficult er the cooling system has to work in order to keep the houtilize cool. unless you have additional barriers in place, your cooling system can suffer and so will your utility bills.
insulating to bring down the cooling load
the cooling load on your cooling system will affect its ability to operate not only quietly but also efficiently. bring down the cooling load and you will bring down the noise and conserve cash! insulating is an easy method to bring down your houtilize ’s cooling load and there are two areas in the houtilize that can advantage greatly from this affordable service:
- attic insulation: adding insulation to the attic is the first step towards reducing your cooling system’s cooling load. i fresh thick layer of attic insulation will assist your houtilize retain more cool air within the houtilize this summer. this will enhance your comfort and bring down the number of cycles your cooling system will have to create on even the hottest days.
- duct work insulation: in order to enhance the quantity of cool air that is pumped into each area, insulate the ducts work within the houtilize . this will prevent cool air from being lost on its method into the target areas of your houtilize .
both of these services can be performed at a somewhat low cost, or you could take a weekend and do it yourself! either method , boosting the quantity of insulation within the houtilize is a wise investment in your comfort and energy savings.
Air Conditioners, Why Installation is So Important!
Four Seasons Resource Center likes to promote the use of Energy Star products, especially when it comes to heating and cooling. The benefits of using energy star furnaces and air conditioners are numerous; one of the most beneficial to consumers is the opportunity to save money on heating and cooling costs. However, when it comes time to purchase a new central air conditioner, you should also get a system that is installed properly. If not properly sized or installed the efficiency of your system can be reduced by up to 30 percent. This will result in higher utility bills and possibly shorten the life of the equipment.
Here Is What To Look For In A New Central Air Installation
1. Proper Sizing of Equipment
Bigger is not always better when selecting a new cooling system. In fact a system that is too large will not keep your home comfortable because of frequent on & off cycling, also known as Short Cycling. It is important that your contractor is able to correctly size a heating or air conditioning system for your home. It is possible to oversize and under size the result in both cases is inadequate performance, improper airflow and conditions that will shorten the life of your system or cause your system to fail over time.
2. Proper Refrigerant Charge
There are several methods to verify correct refrigerant levels, including super-heat, sub-cooling and weigh. Several tests must be performed to confirm that the system has the correct charge. A qualified contractor should make the appropriate adjustment by adding or removing refrigerant. A system that is not properly charged will not operate effectively and will also lead to possible equipment failures.
3. Optimizing Air Flow
If air flow in your heating and cooling system is too high or too low, you may confront problems and higher utility bills. A contractor should test air flow and make any needed adjustments for optimal performance.
control your energy costs this summer
although this past winter offered chicagoans a break from the hefty costs of warmthing a houtilize , there is no guarantee that this summer will do the same. in fact, we can all expect our wallets to become a bit lighter at the gas pump since even if houtilize energy costs stay low, gas prices are already expected to soar! unless you want to sit out in the warmth with no your cooling system, nowadays is the time to begin beefing up the energy efficiency of your houtilize . here are two low cost method s you can conserve giant bucks on your cooling bills this summer.
low cost boostments that lead to giant savings
- seal your duct work: leaking ducts lose much of the warmthing and cooling they are trying to pass around the houtilize before it ever reaches its target area. seal these leaks and your will not only experience enhanced comfort, but you will also locate that your cooling system utilize s less energy to keep you cool.
- clean your cooling system: a dirty cooling system is a different source of energy efficiency loss within the houtilize . during the early parts of the summer season, many hvac companys offer giant discounts to those that get their cooling system cleaned early on. take advantage of these discounts and boost your cooling systems efficiency at a very affordable cost.
any boostment you create to the energy efficiency of your houtilize will put cash back in your pocket every month. you may not be able to control the gas prices, but you can control how much energy your houtilize throw amethod s by making green houtilize boostments as soon as possible!
