Archive for the ‘Heating’ Category
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
By Dan Jape, owner Reliable Heating, Air, Plumbing and Electrical
When you are in need for a new water heater, there are a number of different models on the market today. One can choose the regular tank water heaters that last for 10 to 12 years normally or a high efficient tankless type that can last 20 to 25 years and provide a large amount of hot water on demand.
But another choice that is quickly becoming popular is the Marathon water heater that will last a lifetime and is one of the most efficient ways to heat water. The tank of a Marathon is made out of a high impact, high temperature polysufone fiberglass that will never corrode or rust, and the tank is cocooned in a 2.5 inch thick foam insulation jacket that stops the heat from escaping from the heated water when it is in standby mode.
The Marathon comes with a lifetime warranty that allows for no pro-rating deductions if there is a leak. The water heater is simply replaced by Rheem no questions asked. If you are a Georgia Power customer, you can even qualify for a $525 cash rebate if you convert over to a Marathon.
One very nice feature of the Marathon is they can be installed in a basement or an upstairs closet/attic and you virtually never have to worry about your heater leaking and flooding your home and furnishing. Because of the special fiberglass construction, you are assured it will not fall apart and rust. Most Atlanta area homes have no overflow protection for their water heaters meaning hundreds of homes each year suffer flooding when the homeowner waits to long to replace an old unit. This will not be the case with Marathon.
All the internal parts carry a 6 year warranty and can easily be rebuilt after that if any failure occurs. If you have an electric water heater currently, the Marathon can cut your usage cost by half – and if you currently have a gas heater, you can normally save $60 to $70 per year.
All gas water heaters need regular maintenance and flushing to make sure sediment does not build in the tank and by not doing so, the lifetime will be shortened. The Marathons need no cleaning or flushing and other than an occasional check of the Temperature and Pressure relief valve, the Marathon is one of the few maintenance free water heater choices in the market place.
Another great choice for a water heater with an extremely long lifespan is the gas tankless water heater. They heat water on demand without holding any water in a tank on reserve. This means that they also are a very good choice to be installed in an area where a leak or failure could cause damage since they have no water in them to leak.
Either one is a very attractive option to consider when the old builder grade heater in your home starts nearing the 10 year old mark or it is rusty or leaking. They will truly be the “last water heater you buy.”
Georgia Power offers their customers a cash rebate of $525 for converting their old water heater to a new Marathon heater of any size. Reliable Heating & Air is a Georgia Power approved contractor who can process all the needed paperwork to get this rebate back to the customer quickly. Reliable serves all of metro Atlanta and surrounding cities quickly and efficiently. Call Reliable Heating & Air today for all your water heating or general plumbing needs.
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Posted in Care and Maintenance, Gas Water Heaters, Going Green, Heating, Plumbing, Saving Money, Uncategorized, Water Heaters | Comments Off
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Home Automation is quickly becoming affordable and easy to use and program. In the past one could spend tens of thousands of dollars on a system and many times never really get all the functions they wanted. This is quickly changing with the advent of systems like the Nexia Home Automation system from Trane and Reliable Heating & Air. The system allows one to completely monitor and adjust many different appliances and systems in and outside their home from any computer, tablet or cellular phone. The Nexia system from Reliable Heating & Air allows complete remote control of all heating and cooling systems in your home by using a bridge that ties into the Internet and will allow a user to change temperatures, monitor costs, check for proper operation along with a myriad of other features pertaining to their comfort systems. The Nexia system from Reliable Heating & Air & Trane also come with a module that can control lights or appliance in one’s home. Lighting can be turned off and on or dimmed from anywhere in the world and one can program specific times to have lighting adjust as well as any appliance such as ceiling fans, coffee makers, stereos, sprinkler systems or anything else they want remote access to. Window blinds can be opened or closed on a certain schedule everyday to help with energy costs and senors can alert one to a door or window being opened in their home. The Nexia system will send you a text message if any one of these events occurs. Remote access door locks can be installed that allows you unlock your door remotely of give someone a code to allow enter your home once or any specific time you want. One real nice feature of the Reliable Heating & Air Nexia system is wireless cameras can be added that give someone a real time look at the home from any remote location and they can be programmed to tape record after a specific event has occurred such as a window being opened, a door opened and so on. This a great security feature that burglar alarms do not even offer. The Nexia system can be purchased from Reliable Heating & Air for under $500 with a new HVAC system and for only slightly more as a stand alone system. So if you live in areas such as Atlanta, Marietta , East Cobb, Woodstock, Roswell, Milton, Alpharetta, Canton, Dunwoody, Kennesaw, Mountain Park , Johns Creek , Doraville, Chamblee, Tucker, Norcross, Acworth, Hiram, Dallas, Sandy Springs, Buckhead, Midtown, Virginia Highlands, Duluth, Sugar Hill, Buford, Waleska, Smyrna, Vinings, Ball Ground, Austell, Mableton, Powder Springs, Cumming, Cartersville, White, Decatur, Lithonia, Lilburn, Stone Mountain, Lawrenceville, Ben Hill, East Point, College Park, Dawsonville, Free Home, Macedonia, McDonough, Cobb County, Cherokee County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County, Paulding County, DeKalb County, Forsyth County, Bartow County, Clayton County, Douglas County, or any other surrounding areas, we would be glad to come to your home to give you a no cost no pressure proposal on how you could start using this wonderful system today.
Tags: East Cobb, Nexia Home Automation, reliable heating & air, Trane
Posted in Air Conditioning, Heating, Safety | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air
It is not often that a new product gets me so excited I want to write about it twice, but this is one of those times. A few months ago I wrote about a new remote access thermostat Trane had brought out that allowed a user to control their heating and cooling systems from any web enabled phone, I-pad or computer. The system is called Nexia Home Automation system and now that I have one actually installed on my unit, I wanted to go over it again, as I truly believe it is a very cost effective, easy to use “Smart House” device that many will find useful in their lives. If you enjoy tech, you will love this system. It is being expanded everyday to do provide more and more useful features.
First, it is a remote access thermostat that allows one to monitor and control the temperature and energy consumption in your home, business and second vacation home. If you are like me, it is hard to use a normal programmable thermostat because you are never sure when you will come home in the evening. With ComfortLink, you can simply adjust your cooling or heating when you start home to make sure it is comfortable when you arrive. I have in the past just left my home cool all day since I work in homes every day without cooling and want my home nice and cool when I arrive. ComfortLink will also send me a text message if something ever goes wrong with my heating or cooling which allows me to be proactive on getting it fixed early so I do not have to spend an evening without conditioned air. It will send text messages reminding me to change my filter also, which I find is something even I forget to do. (Remember the saying about the cobbler’s kids shoes?)I can keep track of energy usage and take action accordingly. I can control dehumidification with this system and have multiple fan settings and circulation modes that will allow constant fan operation without adding moisture during the summer. If you have a second home, you can periodically run the HVAC to keep it fresh and dehumidified.
Another nice feature is the ability to adjust lights, fans or small appliances from a remote location. This can be handy if you think you forgot to turn off the coffee maker or curling iron or if you want to simply turn on lights when away from home for security. Outdoor lighting or appliances can be controlled as can over 200 different compatible devices. The possibilities are almost limitless.Regular receptacles in your home or business can be installed so almost anything you desire will be controlled from anywhere in the world.
Door locks are easily installed that can be opened from your phone allowing a maid or service person easy, one-time access to your home without leaving a key. Then once in your home, you can watch what is taking place in all areas of your home by simply installing a Trane wireless camera that shows you real time how many teenagers are actually in your home after school and what your maid is really cleaning out. Never worry about your children getting locked out again, as you can simply give them a code to get in and your system will send you a text message when they arrive home after school. Without bothering them or causing them to think you are “checking in on them;” you can check in on them with the camera.
There is a simple walk around remote control device that is similar to a TV remote device that you can use in your home to control all these items if you just do not want to walk around and adjust all the lights etc. You can also turn off your cable box or satellite receiver during the day which, according to Clark Howard, can save you hundreds of dollars each year. You can turn it back on 10 minutes before you arrive and you won’t have to wait for your TV to boot back up.
These are just a few of the possibilities this system can bring you and Trane is constantly developing more and more uses for the Nexia system. It will soon control your home sprinkler system and all types of audio equipment. This is truly an exciting product that has only begun to scratch the surface of home automation and remote access that will surely be the standard in the future. Call Reliable Heating & Air today to get information about this product or arrange to have an in house demonstration. I think you will feel more connected to your most valuable asset, and enjoy features never available before in the world of “smart house technology”.
Tags: Clark Howard, HVAC, Trane, TV
Posted in Air Conditioning, Care and Maintenance, Dan Jape, Going Green, Heating, Saving Money | Comments Off
Monday, October 3rd, 2011
by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating, Air & Plumbing
Cold weather is right around the corner and you will soon be in need of heat in your home. Furnaces need a complete service and cleaning each year before they are turned on to make sure they are safe and efficient. Many times, a homeowner will make the assumption that just because a furnace ignites, it is safe to operate. This could not be farther from the truth. Modern day furnaces are a very safe appliance and when maintained, can give years of service. But it is important that the series of safety devices and components that make them safe are in good working order. All modern day furnaces are safe if they are maintained properly, but if neglected could cause a problem. Reliable Heating, Air & Plumbing employees 100 plus Nate certified techs to make sure all is in good shape for a long cold winter.
One of the most important items to check and clean is the heat exchanger. A furnace burns gas and heats up a metal box that contains the gas burners and when the box is warm, a fan blows air across the outside of the box and transfer heat to the air stream, which is then distributed to all the rooms of a home. This heat exchanger heats and cools thousands of times a year and this causes expansion and contraction. This can cause metal fatigue and cracks in this burner box which allows carbon monoxide to leak into the air stream. We have long optical scopes that can be inserted into a heat exchanger to check for cracks and fatigue to make sure they are airtight. This is extremely important to be checked every year, as this piece is a very stressed component of the furnace and can fail at any time a furnace is over 10 to 12 years old. It is also very important that any rust and debris that accumulates in the heat exchanger is vacuumed out to allow all the heat generated by the combustion of the gas to be properly transferred to the air stream.
Another very important series of devices that need to be checked are high temperature limit switches which monitor a furnace for an overheated condition. These high limits are crucial in making a furnace safe and they need to be checked and tested each year to make sure they operate correctly. If a fan or blower stops operating on a furnace, the gas will continue to ignite until these limit devices sense the furnace is overheated and shut off the burners and turn the furnace off. These limit switches are directly in the air stream and take a lot of abuse and they fail after a number of years.
Furnaces have a device that moves air and fumes through the heat exchanger and it is often a component that needs service in a modern furnace. This “draft inducer” is in the combustion stream of the furnace and is exposed to the hot, acid laden fumes of the by-products of gas combustion. Some manufactures make the housing of these inducers out of plastic and they become so hot, the plastic housing cracks allowing flue gases to be emitted into the living space of a home. Some early models also used metal housings and fan blades that was not built out of corrosive resistant materials and they rusted out quickly. These units need to checked at the start of every season for proper operation and integrity of the housing. A complete and through inspection on all the controls on a furnace have to checked every year to assure one all is working properly on their gas furnace.
A gas furnace that a builder installs in your home can give you 14 to 18 years of service if they are taken care of properly and serviced regularly. A furnace that a consumer purchases can last 20+ years and provide safe efficient heat if properly maintained. Have your local heating and air contractor check for correct operation and your family should be warm and safe this winter. If you are need of a new furnace, they start out as low as $1495 and can go up to $3500 for a top of the line model.
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Posted in Air Conditioning, Awards, Care and Maintenance, Commercials, Dan Jape, Going Green, Heating, Plumbing, Safety, Saving Money, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Friday, June 17th, 2011
by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air
When it’s finally time to replace your old heating and cooling system, there will be many choices and different decisions to be made that will affect your comfort, efficiency and overall happiness with any new system selected. It would benefit anyone to become familiar with the different components and terms you will face when that day does arrive.
There are 3 separate pieces of equipment you have to replace when purchasing a new HVAC system and they are the furnace, the indoor cooling coil, and the outdoor condenser or air conditioner. You have choices of different furnaces and condensers, but generally there is only one coil for any system.
There are many different manufacturers of furnaces and many different models available, but there are really just two distinctly different types of furnaces, single speed, single stage furnaces and two stage, variable speed furnaces. A single speed single stage furnace comes on full blast anytime it runs and the motor in it consumes $250 a year of A/C electricity. A two stage variable speed furnaces comes on gradually and only uses the amount of gas needed at any given time to heat your home and it’s blower consumes only $30 annually of D/C current. The Variable Speed furnace also comes with a special thermostat that actually allows the furnace to reduce the amount of humidity in your home by an additional 5 to 10%, and when it is drier in your home, you can actually keep it warmer and feel the same comfort level, which will save you money.
You have many choices in different outdoor condensers and what you pick is critical in your comfort. There are two different types of outdoor units, single speed units and two speed units. The two speed units are the best choice for most homes in the south, as they can be large enough in capacity to handle the extreme hot days, but because of their two speed design, they slow down to remove more moisture than a regular single speed condenser. The efficiency of these two speed units is usually so much better than a single speed unit that they can reduce the electric consumption by over 50% compared to your old cooling system you have in place now.
There are “builder grade units”, consumer grade units and top of the line units in both single speed and two speed. Builder grade units are units designed for a low, upfront price point and come with short warranties and will usually provide a shorter life span, as most builders are only interested in how a particular appliance operates for one year, which is the standard warranty a new home comes with.
Consumer grade units today come with a 10 year parts warranty and some companies offer a 10 year labor warranty or even a lifetime warranty if properly maintained. Units such as these can last 18 to 20 years often times and are available up to 16 seer in most cases.
Top of the line air conditioners are loaded with safeties and controls that allow them to last 20+ years and cut operating costs up to 60% while doing the best job in dehumidification and cooling and come in single speed, two speed single compressors, two speed twin compressors and even solar powered. Units such as these are more expensive up front, but are a better investment in the long run, by offering superior operation, efficiency and comfort.
It helps in any market place to know about the different products that are available and it is always a good idea to get at least 3 different estimates to see if there is a general consensus to what each company recommends.
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Posted in Air Conditioning, Awards, Care and Maintenance, Commercials, Dan Jape, Going Green, Heating, Plumbing, Safety, Saving Money, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Monday, May 16th, 2011
Dan Jape, Reliable Heating & Air
Now that warm weather has arrived, it is very important that your cooling system is checked to make sure it is operating at peak efficiency. If your system is low on refrigerant or coils are dirty, it can cost you hundreds of dollars more each year to cool your home. Make sure you do not waste your money operating a cooling system that is not operating at peak efficiency.
Most HVAC companies offer a service contract which provides two visits a year to clean and tune up your heating and cooling systems and the summer inspection should include cleaning the outdoor unit of mud and debris lodged in the outdoor coil. This cleaning helps a unit give the best efficiency possible. It is always best to sign a service agreement with your company, as it gives your priority treatment during peak times and a discount on parts. At Reliable, we offer a lifetime warranty on most parts if a service agreement is put into effect at time of repair. If that same problem or part ever fails again, we fix it for free, no questions asked.
There are some big changes in the HVAC business brought about by the passage of the new Georgia State Energy Code, which goes in effect this year. It calls for some new tough policies regarding the heating and cooling systems that are installed in new homes.
Blower door tests are now required on all new homes to check the infiltration rate of a new home. The result must be less than 7 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals . Companies such as Reliable Heating & Air are required to have a DET certified specialist on staff to check the tightness of the duct systems and the thermal envelope of the structure. Duct leakage now has to be tested and certified to meet the new standard for tightness. Duct mastic has to be used to seal ducts to make sure they are tight and not leaking conditioned air.
Programmable thermostats are required with every system as are attic tents or covers over the attic staircases. Attic vent fans can no longer be installed in a new home unless they are solar powered. Electric furnaces cannot be installed in any new homes after January 1, 2011. A heat pump must be installed as the primary heat source if natural gas or propane is not used.
There are many other facets of this new energy code, but these are some of the highlights that might affect your HVAC system in the future.
For over 33 years, Reliable Heating & Air has been known as the company to trust for all your heating and cooling needs, providing top quality service at affordable prices. Many times, our customers have looked to us for referrals to handle their plumbing needs also since they have always felt a high level of trust and satisfaction from conducting business with Reliable. We have searched for many years for the right plumber who gave the same great service experience we like to provide our customers and have never been able to give a recommendation without worrying about the outcome. We are now proud to announce we have opened up a plumbing division offering the same great pricing and helpful cheerful service our customers have always had counted on for their heating and cooling needs and we guarantee 100% customer satisfaction. Call us today for any plumbing or heating and cooling needs.
Dan Jape, Owner – Reliable Heating & Air
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Posted in Air Conditioning, Awards, Care and Maintenance, Commercials, Dan Jape, Going Green, Heating, Plumbing, Safety, Saving Money, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air
There is an exciting new Trane product we have available that will allow you to put control of your home in the palm of your hand and provide total comfort and total security from any remote location. The “LiNK” system allows you to monitor and remotely control the temperatures and energy efficiency of your home as well as controlling the door locks, security lights and even turn on cameras that show you what is happening in your home. Many different systems in your home can be controlled from your web enabled phone or laptop computer. Two hundred and thirty-one different systems can be connected to the LiNK system and all you need is an internet connection.
Controlling and monitoring you homes heating and cooling system has many uses. I never know when I will get home on any given day, so a programmable thermostat is useless for my lifestyle. LiNK allow me to adjust my temperatures when I am on my way home so my comfort level is already where I like it before I get there. LiNK will send me an alert if my home gets too hot or too cold, possibly alerting me to a problem with my system.
One of the most exciting aspects of the LiNK system you will enjoy the most is the ability to have wireless camera’s pointed at your front door and throughout your home that will show you real time pictures of who just entered your home and what is actually taking place even though you might be out of town. The LiNk system can be programmed to allow select people in your home at certain times and not others and keep a 90 day record of when and who came in and out. This could be very useful for cleaning services, exterminators etc. It would also be very handy to know when your teenagers come home and who was with them. I will occasionally get a call from my security company that I had an alarm go off and I do not know if it was a false alarm or a real emergency. So far, thank goodness, all have been false alarms, but the drive home to check it out is a very tense trip I would rather not have to make. LiNK would allow you to verify to the police that you have had a real break in and need them to actually respond.
You can remotely turn off and on lighting and open and close your garage door in addition to many other uses. You can even program your system to work in concert when you arrive from work, push a button and the garage door will open, your entryways will light up, your security system will recognize you, and your front door will unlock. LiNK can have your favorite music playing for you when you get home and while you were away, LiNK can make sure the lawn sprinkler watered your lawn on schedule. If it had rained, you could have bypassed the sprinkler system from work.
The great thing about this system is it is modular and you can slowly but surely add new devices as you find you need them and as long as they are Z-Wave compatible devices, the sky is the limit. And the best part is the system is very affordable!
Call us today (770-594-9969) to learn more about this exciting new way of controlling your home.
Tags: control door locks, dan jape, home automation, home monitoring, home security, remote lighting, remote music, security lights, wireless cameras
Posted in Air Conditioning, Care and Maintenance, Going Green, Heating, Saving Money | Comments Off
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air
Two years ago when the tax credit program started, December 31, 2010 seemed so far down the road it would never come. Well, here we are at the end of one of the best deals we have seen and there is only a few months left to take advantage of the $1500 credit that has allowed millions of homeowners to replace old inefficient heating and cooling systems. There have been many negative reports in the media about the stimulus plan and its success or failure has been debated to death by the press and talk radio, but the positive side of this bill is the impact it has had on every average homeowner who had old worn out heating and cooling systems that needed upgraded. These people have been able to purchase top of the line super high efficiency heating and cooling systems for the same price as an entry level system. A very nice added feature to these new systems is a special thermostat that not only controls temperature but also controls and removes more humidity than a regular system. The increased moisture removal makes one feel more comfortable at higher temperatures saving cooling dollars.
There are many new models and sizes available today that earn the tax credit and they give homeowners many more choices that were not open to them just a few months ago. Another positive side of this tax credit program is that all the different manufacturers of heating and cooling systems have advanced technology and efficiency to meet the government standards and these new models will be around for years after the credit program goes away in a few months. If you have not looked into the tax credit program, you should call your heating and cooling provider and at least explore this program as it ends December 31, 2010 and there is no extension or plans to extend this program, so do not miss this opportunity to cut your utility bills in half and increase your comfort by two fold.
The cold weather is here now and it is time to get your furnace checked for proper operation and safety. A properly adjusted furnace can save hundreds of dollars in cost of operation and make sure that your heating system is in top working order. Furnaces should be cleaned of rust and soot and have the heat exchanger inspected thoroughly each year. Gas pressure should be adjusted and the gas jets cleaned to assure proper operation and efficiency. Your air filter should be changed every 2 months and the blower wheel and assembly should be kept clean and free from dirt build up.
Another nice addition to your comfort system this season would be a central humidifier that adds moisture to your homes heating system. These units prevent damage to your homes hardwood floors, cabinets and furniture. They also prevent dry skin and static electricity and reduce the heating bills as it is more comfortable at a lower temperature when the moisture is increased. This is the opposite of the summer when comfort is increased with lower humidity. Call Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air at 770 594-9969 for all the details about the expiration of tax credits.
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Posted in Air Conditioning, Heating, Saving Money | Comments Off
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Free service call. Free diagnostic with service call. Free repair with paid service call. Free furnace with air conditioner!! And now FREE FREON. I know you have seen them all before. That ad that screams an offer that is too good to be true. It makes you stop just a second and ask yourself, could this really be free- like that quarter laying on the ground of the parking lot- or is just a come on to get me to buy something else at an inflated price to cover the cost of the “free” offering?
I have always found there is no “free” in life, that free always comes with strings attached and sometimes those strings are not pleasant. The free service call, the free repair, the free furnace and free diagnostic are all priced into what you are charged for and in the end you pay more for usually inferior goods and services than if you had just used an honest contractor offering no free services.
Now comes the most harmful “free promotion” I have seen used as a marketing campaign to date: The offering of “free Freon” if your unit has a leak and needs a recharge of refrigerant. While this is a way to get in the home and pitch a new system to the homeowner with a leaky system which needs to be replaced, the danger of this advertising campaign is there will be people who have systems that leak thousands of pounds of Freon into the atmosphere every summer and they will take advantage of this program to simply put more Freon in their system only to have it leak out two or three times over the season. The problem with this is that Freon, which is just a brand name for R-22 refrigerant is actually difluoromonochloromethane which is a hydrochloroflurocarbon or HCFC, a poisonous toxic gas that when released into the atmosphere causes damage to the environment and the ozone layer. It is not something to be pumped into leaking systems to only leak out into the atmosphere. If you have a leaking air conditioning system, the proper course of action is the stop the leak and stop polluting the world for future generations.
If you call this company, they will gladly come out and pump your system full of difluoromonochloromethane at no charge and keeping coming back and filling it up at no charge as it leaches into the air we breathe. This is just not being socially conscious or “green”. They may think it is a good way to get into your home to try and sell you a new system, but in the real world, a lot of people will just opt to have their systems filled up over and over again, never really knowing what problem they are contributing to. A law was passed called the Clean Air Act and it called for the removal of Freon from our cars first then our homes and businesses. It is now illegal to keep pumping up a leaky air conditioner that has over 50 pounds of Freon in it and it is environmentally irresponsible to keep pumping up a home air conditioning system that will just contribute to a problem that will have long reaching ramifications for future generations.
I seriously doubt the company advertising this “free freon” promotion meant any harm. They are by all accounts an honest company that does good work. The heating & cooling industry is extremely competitive in the Atlanta area and we’re all looking for new and inventive ways to grow our businesses, but we have to make sure that we do it in an ethical and environmentally responsible manner. Pumping “free Freon” into the atmosphere is not something we should do in any way shape of form!
The bottom line is this: Do not be fooled into thinking you are getting something for nothing. Repair or Replace your leaky air conditioner instead of just pumping it up. I still believe what my parents taught me years ago: Nothing free is worth having.
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Posted in Air Conditioning, Care and Maintenance, Going Green, Heating, Safety, Saving Money, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Monday, February 15th, 2010
by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air
After a ten year phase out, Freon is now dead and gone forever and this change will have an impact on most every home and business in the country. Back in the early 1990′s, law was enacted that called for the phase out of CFC’s, halons, and HCFC,s due to the fact they destroy the ozone layer and are responsible for creating an ozone hole over the South Pole. Freon is an HCFC and whether you believe in the ozone issue or not, everyone who currently has an old air conditioner that runs on Freon will be affected by the phase out since the law mandated that no new Freon based a/c units can be built after January 1, 2010 and after January 1, 2015, there is a ban on the sale and use of Freon in residential use. As the production of new Freon is limited, the price of this gas is going up to the point to where if you have an old leaky a/c system that uses Freon R-22, it will be a better idea to replace your a/c system instead of spending hundreds of dollars fixing leaks and recharging the system with Freon. Freon is going to be expensive this summer and to keep adding more to a leaky system is not a good use of your money. The state of the economy has the price of new systems lower than ever before and warranties have been escalated to 10 years parts and labor making this the best of times to cut ties with your Freon based a/c system.
New units now use R410a refrigerant which is far better than Freon in removing heat and moisture and is the only refrigerant available for home use. New units can cut your electric bill by 50 percent while giving you comfort you have never known. There are tax credits available of $1500 from the federal government which will pay the cost of upgrading to the very best furnace and a/c system. You will get a variable speed furnace with a built in dehumidifier and a 16 seer a/c system that will keep your home cool and dry in the summer and an even temperature in the winter. There are also factory rebates of $1000 or 36 months same as cash to help with the cost of upgrading your comfort system. Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air was one of the first contractors in the Atlanta area to specialize in the new R410a refrigerant having installed some of the first units on the market late in 1999.
Every year people who know they have to replace their cooling systems get estimates over the winter when business is slow and they get the best prices of the year. But instead of going ahead and getting the work done early before the warm weather arrives, they procrastinate until it get hot and contractors are already busy, then they call and try to get off season deals. The heating and cooling business is all about supply and demand. In the warm months, there is an abundance of jobs and customers waiting to have work performed and no contractor can give you a special deal because the time to do your work could be sold at full price to the next person waiting in line. Do not wait until spring to try and repair or replace your a/c if you already know you need service. Get it done early if you want the best price and experience no waiting in a hot house. Call Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air today for details about the new green refrigerant R410a.
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