This morning on the news Georgia Power announced they were putting a new power generating plant on line. I found it ironic that the new plant is running on natural gas. With the low price of natural gas, it is a good way to make electricity. When people tout electric cars or hybrid cars as the answer, they forget the power has to come from somewhere. Coal and natural gas consumption are used to generate electricity which takes away some of the “green” of electric cars. My name is Dan Jape and I own Reliable Heating, Air, Plumbing, and Electrical in Woodstock, Georgia.
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New Power Plant Goes on Line Today By Dan Jape
Friday, May 11th, 2012The Last Water Heater You’ll Ever Buy
Monday, April 2nd, 2012By 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.
Do you have room to expand?
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air
A few weeks ago I received a letter from Cherokee County water department informing me they were installing a back flow preventer on our home and letting us know of a need to have a thermal expansion tank installed in our plumbing system to prevent possible damage to our home. All cities and counties have installed or are installing back flow preventers to stop the possible contamination of the water supply in homes. A back flow preventer is a one way valve installed at the connection of your homes water supply and it makes the home a closed system that has no room for expansion which occurs when water is heated. A thermal expansion tank is required to stop the possibility of an over pressure situation that can damage to the water heater and the temperature and pressure relief valve in your home. The letter from the county gave us 30 days to have a expansion tank installed before the backflow valve is installed in our subdivision.
Cherokee County is currently putting the backflow valves in all homes and one should check with the water department to see when they are scheduled to do your home if you are a resident of Cherokee. Cobb and Fulton counties have already installed these valves in past years and if you live in these areas, you should already have a thermal expansion tank in your home. If you do not, you should have one installed immediately, as the lack of one can cause damage to the water heater or a collapse of the flue of a water heater, which can be very serious. They are round cylinders installed above of adjacent to the water heater and they contain a bladder filled with air pressure that allows the excessive pressure a place to expand to.
Until recently, I thought the thermal expansion tank was an item that would last for years with no maintenance required from the homeowner, and once you had one, you were set. But I found out I was wrong. I was called to a home last week to give a customer a price on a new heating system and I was surprised to find the first floor of their home had been severely flooded when their thermal expansion burst and leaked water on their furnace and then filled up their basement while they were away on vacation. He found out the hard way that thermal expansion tanks should be changed every 5 or 6 years according to the manufacturers. They are very easy to change once you have one and can be purchased at any home improvement store or hardware store as well as from your plumber. In most homes in Atlanta, a floor drain was not installed in the basement during construction, making a water leak from a water heater or thermal expansion tank a major problem. These two items should be checked on a routine basis for leaks and when over 10 years old, replaced to make sure you do not have a flood you may not detect until major damage is caused. Neither item carries a big ticket price to replace considering the peace of mind it can bring.
Check with your water department today to see if you have a backflow preventer already installed and if not, when they will install. If you already have a thermal expansion tank, check the date on it to make sure it is not too old and a potential for harm to your home.
When it’s time, it’s time! By Dan Jape
Friday, June 17th, 2011by 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.
Reliable Heating & Air Summer 2011
Monday, May 16th, 2011Dan 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
Spring Cleanup List Begins with HVAC
Monday, April 18th, 2011Courtesy of HGTV.com
To keep your house in top shape, give systems an annual checkup.
Spring cleaning is a tradition, but there are some other chores that should be part of your springtime routine, too. Most of them take only a few minutes, so get started!
1. Check your air-conditioning and heating equipment before the beginning of a new season.
2. Check and replace your furnace and air-conditioning filters every month. There are several types from which to choose, depending on your needs. Fiberglass filters last only one month, while the filters typically last three to four months. HEPA filters last up to six months and can be cleaned with a vacuum nozzle.
3. Most air conditioners have a drainage hole on the base of the cabinet, beneath the evaporator fins. This hole needs to be kept clear in order for the air conditioner to work properly. It’s a good idea each spring to use a paper clip or wire to poke through the hole and clear it.
4. To keep a dehumidifier working properly, remove its housing and let the unit dry completely. Vacuum every accessible surface and crevice.
5. Clean your bathroom fans once a year. Take the cover off, wash it in soapy water and clean dirt off the fan blades with a toothbrush. Be sure the power is off when you do this!
6. Check the flappers on your toilets at least once a year. If they are showing their age, replace them before they start leaking and wasting water.
7. Remove all faucet handles and clean their insides to keep the screws from corroding. Use a rust remover if necessary.
8. Replace the batteries in smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors twice a year: when the time changes to daylight savings time and then back to standard time. While you’re at it, dust or vacuum the detectors to keep them working at peak performance.
9. Make sure you have a fully charged fire extinguisher that you can reach quickly and easily.
10. Inspect and, if necessary, caulk around your home’s windows and doors annually. That will help keep out heat and humidity in the summer and cold drafts in the winter—and save money on your utility bills all year round.
11. Open and close all windows. Do they all open easily, yet close tightly? If not, check the weather stripping. There are a number of different types to consider.
12. The best time to caulk a joint outdoors is during the spring or fall. That’s when the width of the joint is halfway between its seasonal extremes. A plastic drinking straw or a length of plastic tubing makes a handy extension tube for caulking hard-to-reach places. Secure the extender with duct tape.
13. To really clear and clean screens for springtime, rub them with kerosene on both sides, then rinse with soap and water. Kerosene fumes are dangerous, so make sure to do this outside or in a well-ventilated area.
14. To fix a small hole in a window or door screen, dab clear household cement over the hole with a toothpick. If the screens are plastic, test the cement on a scrap to make sure it won’t melt the material.
15. Use the same technique to repair screen tears. Pull the two halves of the tear together and hold them in place with masking tape on one side. Apply the household cement to the tear, then smooth with a putty knife. When it’s dry, gently remove the tape and apply cement to the other side.
16. Clean out the gutters of winter debris and check them for damage from ice. Install gutter screens or protectors to help keep debris out of the gutters.
17. If a roof gutter is sagging, pitch it back to a level position by tightening its strap with pliers. The tighter the strap is twisted, the more the gutter will rise.
18. Be sure the gutters slope properly toward the down-spouts.
19. To prevent basement flooding, make sure there is at least three feet between the side of the house and the down-spout’s outlet. Use one of the following methods to reach that distance:
- Add an elbow for pipe and extension, although that often leaves the outlet still too close to the house.
- Use a splash guard that stretches about three feet.
- Attach a flexible extension hose to the end of the down-spout and bend it in away from the house.
20. To prevent foundation erosion as well as basement flooding, build up soil around the house and slope it away from the foundation.
-For more home improvement tips and money-saving ideas, visit HGTV.com
-Dan Jape
Big Savings Available Now!
Friday, April 15th, 2011by Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air
This is an exciting time to be in the market for a new HVAC system in the greater Atlanta area due to the many programs and specials available to help with the cost of replacing an old inefficient system.
The tax credit program is still available for homeowners and it is $500 as a straight bottom line credit off your income taxes. It is called the 25C program and it is available to most taxpayers without any income limits. You simply have to purchase a high efficiency furnace and air conditioner or heat pump and you can earn this lucrative credit. The $500 tax credit will pay for some of the upgrade costs needed to qualify for this great program.
There is money available from all the major EMC electric companies to finance a new heating and cooling systems and it is in the form of a 36 month no interest loan that can make the payments very affordable on a new comfort system that can save hundreds of dollars in energy bills every year. They also have very low interest loans for people who need long term payments.
The Atlanta Gas Light company has a number of specials that are available to almost anyone in the Atlanta area that has gas at their home. There are a number of different gas marketers, but they all buy their gas from Atlanta Gas Light Company. There are a few cities that have their own gas companies such as City of Austell or Sugar Hill that do not participate in the gas promotions, but the vast majority of Atlanta homeowners can take advantage of these specials. If in doubt if you qualify, call our office and we can help you. If you replace a furnace and an air conditioner and use an 80% efficient furnace, you can earn a $200 cash rebate and if you purchase a 90% furnace and an a/c unit, you can earn a $400 cash back rebate. If you currently have a heat pump or a dual fuel system with a gas furnace or a heat pump, you can earn a $1000 cash rebate if you replace the gas furnace and air conditioner or if you just replace the gas furnace and have the heat pump rewired to work as an a/c unit. This is a very lucrative program and this money will go a long way in helping with the cost of a new HVAC system replacement.
Trane also has incentives of $200, $400 and $1000 dollars or interest free financing for 36 months. All you have to do is purchase a high efficiency heating cooling system and the rebate is an instant rebate given at the time of time of purchase.
If you have not had your existing system serviced for the summer, now is the time. If your unit’s coils are not clean or if your units are slightly low on refrigerant, it can cost hundreds of dollars in wasted energy bills. A dirty blower wheel and any number of items out of sync can come back to haunt you in higher bills and poor comfort. People who have their routine service performed are assured they are getting their monies worth when the long hot summer days arrive with a vengeance. Call Dan Jape today at 770 594-9969 for details on this new tax credit program and take advantage of all the utility incentives available to help pay for a new energy efficient Trane Comfort System.
12 Months of Giving
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011by Dan Jape – Reliable Heating & Air
Do you know a family in need of a replacement heating & air conditioning system? Perhaps a friend, family member or co-worker that has fallen on hard times and is going without heating or cooling?
Submit your story of a family in need & once a month, Reliable Heating & Air will select a winner who will receive a complete 13 SEER comfort system (heating & cooling).
Visit the 12 Months of Giving page to submit an entry.
Winners will be announced at the end of each month.
The following restrictions apply
Employees affiliates and family of Reliable Heating & Air and WSB are ineligible. Free system includes the following equipment: 80% afue single stage furnace, 13 SEER a/c, matching cooling coil and digital thermostat only, all labor and installation supplies. 1.5 ton to 5 ton system only. Nominee’s equipment must be verified by Reliable Heating & Air technician as inoperable and beyond repair. We reserve the right to verify and and all information submitted for accuracy. Nominees must be Georgia residents as we are only licensed in Georgia. Other restrictions may apply based on type of dwelling.
Don’t forget the ducts
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010By Dan Jape – Reliable Heating & Air
One of the most important aspects of your home’s heating and cooling system is the duct work. Proper duct work can make a huge difference in the comfort and efficiency of your home. I visit four or five customer’s homes each day and in the vast majority of them, I find duct work issues that need to be corrected to make sure the new heating and cooling system we install will deliver what is promised in terms of comfort and efficiency. I see a number of customers who simply are talked into replacing the equipment in their home without analyzing the distribution system and they end up with the same poor comfort level they had before they purchased a new system.
One of the most frequent problems we find is lack of the proper amount of return or intake duct work. A proper operating system has to have the correct amount of return ducts to match the output of the system. Without the correct amount of intakes, many problems will arise such as lack of cooling capacity, overheating furnace heat exchangers, freezing cooling coils and reduced life of the entire system. Many homes suffer this issue and it must be corrected when upgrading your HVAC system.
Many homes have duct work built out of fiberglass or duct board. This a foil covered, glue impregnated sheet of fiberglass that is used as plenums or distribution boxes on the top and the sides of furnaces and is a very poor choice for ducting material. It is very porous and rough inside and collects dirt and debris and after a few years of service is always filthy dirty. Mold grows on the inside of this material and it is very hard to keep the corners and seams sealed up to keep air from leaking out in attics or basements. Metal ducts and plenums need to be installed to replace this inferior product when a new system is installed in your home to assure you of proper airflow, comfort, and efficiency. In some extreme cases, I find actual splitter boxes or wyes made of this duct board to try and save money on new home construction. You can find these by looking for boxes made into triangle shapes with many ducts attached to them. These impede airflow, overwork the furnace blower, and provide inferior comfort to the entire home. They have to be replaced to make sure you are getting the full comfort and efficiency a new HVAC system can provide you.
The last and one of the most important aspects of your ducts is making sure they are sized properly to deliver the correct amount of airflow to each room in your home. Almost every homeowner I visit complains about the comfort in their bonus room or the room over their garage in a two story home. This discomfort is caused by lack of airflow to overcome the heat loss or heat gain in this special room, which is over unconditioned space and needs more air flow to make this room comfortable. I will never understand why builders ignore this room and provide a space that in many cases cannot be used in peak weather conditions. This problem is easily corrected when replacing your comfort system and should not be overlooked and if it is, the problem will still be there after the new system is installed.
One should never purchase a new HVAC system without having a competent contractor inspect the duct system to assure you that your new heating and cooling system will actually deliver the promise of comfort and efficiency that you should demand from this purchase.
Home Automation Made Affordable and Easy
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010by 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.
