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.

I’m Glad You Asked…

“But why?” you may ask. “Why should I get my furnace tuned up when it seems to be working fine?” Well, I was hoping I’d get a chance to answer that question. It’s just something you might call “taking care of business.” There are certain things we do that may be inconvenient at the moment – but they keep us from having to take care of something much worse down the line.

It’s like going to the doctor for a checkup each year. Maybe nothing’s wrong, but if something is starting to develop, we want to find it quickly before it gets worse. Our health matters to us, so this makes sense. The same is true for going to the dentist. No one enjoys the ritual of cleanings and dental checks, but they keep our teeth “tuned up,” you could say, so we can keep enjoying our favorite foods.

Now that we’re headed into Winter, our furnace or heater will matter to us even more. So we want to do a preventive checkup to make sure it’ll be in good shape on the days and nights when we’re counting on it for our comfort and safety. Would you like to learn more? Take a look at this free report, What’s the Big Deal About Tune-Ups?

You’ve Been Breathing WHAT?

Quick question: what’s the worst thing you’ll breathe today? Yeah, I know. It’s an odd thing to ask, but you might not be aware of the odd things that end up in your indoor air.

For example, have you ever heard of something called a Volatile Organic Compound? Well, whether you’ve heard of it or not, there’s a chance you just breathed one in. That’s right. Just while you were sitting there, you may have just breathed in a Volatile Organic Compound.

Believe me, this is something that’s very common. That’s because VOCs are gases that are emitted by a wide array of common products, including paints, varnishes, cleaning supplies, printers, glues, permanent markers and so forth. And the VOCs that fill our airtight homes are a part of what’s led to the declining quality of indoor air in recent years.

If you’d like to learn more (and I hope you do), take a look at this free report, Why Is Indoor Air So Much Worse than Outdoor Air?

Now or Later? And the Big Impact that Small Question Can Have

At some point any of us will say, “I’ll deal with that later.” There is, after all, only so much our “now” can hold. Whether limited time, limited money, limited mental energy, limited physical energy or a mix of all of those at once, the “now” that’s right in front of us for handling issues has to be well managed.

So you want to make good choices – the kind that looks past the now to what’s coming later. Maybe you’ll ask a set of questions like: In the future, will this action help prevent prospective problems that will cost me more time, more money, more inconvenience and be really uncomfortable at an unfortunate time?

That’s the sort of question you might ask yourself when you’re considering routine maintenance on your home comfort system. When you look at it in the context of “now or later,” it’s pretty easy to figure out the answer that makes the most sense. To learn more, take a look at this free report, Simple Math: How Routine Maintenance Adds Up to Be Well Worth Your While.

Uncovering the Mystery of Maintenance

Maybe you’ve invited a service technician to your home before (yes, we do think of this as “invited” because we’re glad to be chosen by you). But once he got there, you started hearing clicks and clanks and simple expressions like, “Hmmm.” So you start wondering, “What in the world is he doing?”
Well, I can sympathize. It isn’t fun to have a stranger in your home sort of doing his own thing, as if you don’t need to be involved. That’s why our techs explain what they’re going to do, and then when they’re done, explain what they did. It takes the mystery out of maintenance. It reassures you about what’s taking place on a very important piece of equipment in your home.
Maintenance involves specific steps, particular to the equipment. In fact, we can tell you now what kinds of things are going to take place to save you energy, convenience and comfort. To learn more, take a look at this free report, What’s on Your Maintenance Checklist?

Lost in Translation

How about a quick language test? Ever hear of the terms SEER and EER? Well, if it’s near dinnertime, you might think that SEER sounds like something you do to a steak, and EER sounds like corn just off the stalk. So maybe I’m just hungry, but I’m not talking dinner – I’m talking comfort.

And therein lies the problem. If you don’t share a common language, it’s hard to understand what someone is trying to tell you.

This concept is true in all sorts of ways – whether it’s English vs. French, or text message acronyms vs. correct spelling in complete sentences, or industry terms vs. what words people actually understand.

All industries seem to have an “insider language,” where words and technical terms are thrown around as if they should make sense to everybody. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.


We see that often as our customers are trying to choose the most energy-efficient solutions for their home, but sometimes they feel like things are lost in translation. If that could be you, you might appreciate this brief report on, “The Language of Energy Efficiency.”

When Waiting Doesn’t Make Sense

Here’s one of my all-time favorite phrases: “I’ll deal with that later.” Actually, I misplaced my sarcasm font or I would have used it just then. But a lot of people I know really do like that phrase.

Sort of like “deferred maintenance.” This is a concept known by businesses and institutions with property, buildings and equipment that basically means, “We don’t have the budget to repair what’s declining as it is declining, so we’ll deal with it later.” It’s easy to sympathize with the approach of waiting until something is broken until calling for a repair. But it can also be a costly approach.

Homeownership isn’t really any different. We have to keep an eye on the systems and infrastructure that keep our home running. Your air conditioning system, obviously, is in this equation.

By investing each year in routine maintenance, you can save long term on the cost of repairs, extend the life of your equipment and avoid inconvenient breakdowns. It’s simple logic, and only takes a little bit of planning, which means – dare I say? – dealing with it now. But that doesn’t have to be scary. Read "Make Plans for Air Conditioning Maintenance" for quick tips for maintaining your system.