Prevention or Failure?

Can you imagine if someone actually asked you that question? “Sir, would you prefer to perform a little bit of prevention today or have your heating system fail around 2 am tomorrow when it’s supposed to be 10 degrees below zero”? First, we would probably question if he knew something we didn’t – immediately. Then, we would really, really hope he was kidding. No one wants their home freezing cold with no hope of getting heat on soon at 2 am on a Sunday morning!

That would be a terrible inconvenience full of worry, not to mention the time to contact help (if you even can!) and the money spent trying to right everything again. It is definitely better just to avoid this happening altogether. I will take prevention every single time that choice is offered to me.

While this is a very dramatic scenario, it is a real possibility for people who choose not to have their furnaces and boilers serviced year after year. For more information on what you need to do to keep your heating system and your home safe and sound this season, read "Hey, I’m freezing in here. Is the furnace even working?"

The Daily Grind...

Unless you are on vacation, you are most likely involved in your daily grind. You know what I mean – it’s the things you do each day, each week and each year forever and ever on end. They are the things we must do to keep going; keep our jobs, our homes, our families, etc., but if we don’t have a break from our daily grind every so often, we get burned out. We no longer have the desire to perform the way we need to – to be efficient and effective in our everyday lives – and when that happens, everything goes downhill.

Guess what? The same thing happens with the equipment in our homes, in particular our heating systems. If each day, year after year, it does its thing of working to keep us warm, but is never checked on or “refreshed,” it cannot continue to perform properly. It will stop being effective and efficient and will start to break down. We all know bad things happen when heating systems start to break down. If you want to avoid the daily grind wearing down your system and costly repairs that are sure to come afterwards, read “The Brunt of the Furnace and Boiler.”

What’s Blowing through Your Home?

When it comes to Fall allergies, sometimes our indoor air can be just as bad for us to breathe as outdoor air.

Dust mites, bits of mold and pollen all find their way indoors and gather in our vents. The first time we turn on our furnace, all the warm toasty air blowing through our home is also blowing all of these allergens into every room of our house and we are breathing it all in.

If this sounds like something you really do not want to experience, we are with you! Fortunately, there are things that can be done to cut down on the allergens in our homes and improve our indoor air quality.

If you would like to learn more about how to breathe better in your own home and the steps you should take to make sure your furnace is part of the solution instead of part of the problem, read more in this free report "The Allergies Are Coming."

The To-Do List

At my house, the to-do list seems never-ending. No sooner do I complete one task than another one appears.

I know this is just life and it will always be this way, but there are days when I sure wish there was someone else to handle all the things that need to be taken care of, maybe something like a “House Manager.” I am sure there are people in this world that have them, but I am not one of them.

Fortunately, we do live in a country where just one phone call will generally have someone on their way to fix whatever problems you are having. Thank goodness for that. I cannot imagine having to be an expert in all fields and manage my to-do list on a daily basis. It would just be too much.

If your home comfort system is giving you trouble, let us help you mark one thing off your to-do list. Just call or email and let us hear from you.

Calling Mr. Clean...

Is your home clean? I don’t mean obsessively clean, just people-live-here-clean.

By now, most of us have got the basics down of keeping our home tidy, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, etc., but did you know your home comfort system also needs a good cleaning? I bet that is one thing that gets overlooked.

It is not something that jumps to the front of one’s mind when you are going through a mental list of what needs to be done. Too often, we neglect our home comfort system. We expect it to work with maximum efficiency the second we turn it on without ever stopping to think about what has spent months building up while it sat there unused.

For information on why and how to have your home comfort system cleaned, read “The Dirty Secret...”.

The Cost of Efficiency

We are fortunate to live in a time where everything is becoming more efficient. While that is a wonderful thing, it does not come without a price tag. Even light bulbs are more efficient. Yes, high efficiency light bulbs will last 10 times longer than your regular light bulbs, but they are not inexpensive. In regards to the high efficiency light bulb, it will cost you more money upfront to purchase it, but it does save you money both in energy costs and in the frequency with which it has to be replaced. So while more expensive, it does work out in your favor. This can be something that is hard to understand. We are much more prone to want a good deal upfront, or to pay the least amount of money for something out of pocket, than to focus on what it saves us on our utility bills. The same is true for our home comfort systems. A new high-efficiency unit will save you a lot of money on energy costs, but the upfront cost can be intimidating. Read “I’d Like to Pay You $425 Cash Trade-In for Your Old Energy-Wasting Furnace” to learn how you can save money upfront (the way we like to save money) by replacing your unit and getting the benefit of saving money on your energy costs as well.

When Your Plans Change...

You’ve probably got a sense of what you plan to do today – even if it’s a lot like what you did yesterday. Some of us are detailed to the hour about what we’re going to do and when. Others know generally what they’ve got to accomplish or where they’re supposed to be.

So we plan specifically, or we plan generally. Either way, sometimes the unexpected interrupts, and plans change.

At Kent Heating and Air Conditioning Inc, we hear from folks like you quite often who are experiencing a change in plans. It’s often related to a change in temperature in their home – too cold, too hot, but never “just right.” So they need a repair. No problem. We’ll make plans to get there right away.

Sometimes, we’ll hear, “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, and now I’m ready.” And they call for help with a home improvement. Or they’ll say, “I really have been concerned about how our indoor air is affecting the kids’ allergies.” So, we’ll make a plan to test the environment.

The point is whatever your plans are, or however they may change, we’re here to help. Just call or email and let us hear from you.