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Since we were renting the lakeside house for an entire month, we did a lot of research on it.

Of course we studied the website and the pictures, but we also drove up there to see it in person! It’s a three hour drive from home, but in this case we felt it was worth the extra time.

Everything we saw and read about the house made it seem perfect… but there was one major issue that was invisible, and we didn’t realize it until it was too late. Although the central HVAC system seemed to work perfectly, the indoor air quality was dismal, and we could not figure out why! The first night we tried our best to soldier through it, but the air quality immediately took a toll on my wife. She was sneezing and coughing, so the first thing I did was to check the air filter. Much to my surprise, the air filter was almost pristine, and must have been replaced just before we arrived. So if it wasn’t the air filter then what was causing such an issue with the air in the house? Finally I decided to get out my tool box and remove one of the grates from the outside of an air vent. Inside the ductwork was completely coated with years worth of dust and dander. Although the air filter had been changed recently, it seemed that no one had ever cleaned out the air ducts since the house was first built. There might have even been some small animals living in the ductwork.

New air conditioning information

“Do what you love and you never work a day in your life.” This is a lie.

• I do what I love all the time, and I still have to work to pay the bills! What I love to do is write horror stories and record them for my podcast.

A Scary Home Companion. I spend untold hours working on this show, and it truly makes me happy. Of course, it doesn’t pay me a dime! All this time and effort comes from passion, and I am addicted to it. That said, I still need to work at least 45 hours a week for the HVAC contractor, or else I can’t afford to chase my passion. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, because the HVAC contractor I work for pays me very well, and also offers a generous benefits package. Of any of the local HVAC contractors, this one is easily the best because he takes care of his people. But if I had my druthers, I would work for any HVAC contractor I would hole up in my office and spend my nights writing and recording. As far as day jobs go, being an HVAC tech is a great way to make a living. When I clock out at the end of the day I can forget about heating and cooling systems and focus 100% on the show, because I never have to take my work home with me. One day I hope to save up enough money from this HVAC job to retire early, and then my whole life can be about my show.

Air quality systems

My wife and I had sort of halfway planned this addition to our house.

When we bought this house, we both thought it would have been the perfect place had there been a really sweet master suite.

But it didn’t. However, this place was right on our budget, had new HVAC equipment and where we wanted to raise our family. Still, we knew that if we had three kids, we’d definitely have to add onto this house. The kid total did hit three and our girls shared a room until the oldest one was set to go into 7th grade. That’s when we decided to add value, space and additional heating and cooling equipment to our home. The addition we put on was something we had considered and designed over and over through the years. We ended up just nailing it though. The master suite came with it’s own balcony and small deck that opened up through beautiful french doors. There was also a ductless heat pump in our master suite. This was because we didn’t really want to replace heating and cooling equipment that had another 15 years left in it. The ductless heat pump is amazing and suits the space just perfectly. Plus, we’re able to customize our heating and cooling according to our specific HVAC needs. And we didn’t stop there. The master suite also has a phenomenal master bath with a giant garden tub and two vanities for the pair of us. Plus, there’s a space heater built in for the master bath that keeps it extra toasty warm.

a/c worker

Living, working and essentially not leaving my house for a year during the pandemic was an eye opener in more ways than one.

I guess all of those years of being at the office all the time sort of gave me a stilted perspective of my homelife.

My work demands a lot of hours inside the zone controlled HVAC of our office. That’s the way it is when you are responsible for an entire company. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. But leaving that zone controlled HVAC comfort to try and work from home was a big wake up call. All of us inside the house was an interesting situation. My boys are both highschool age and good kids. The woman I’m lucky to call my partner is lovely and exactly the right person for me. But I’d never experienced this much time inside with all of them and the dogs and cats before. It became pretty clear that I needed a place where it was quiet to work and to think. Unfortunately, that was a tough order to fill since there just wasn’t much room. I could take over the basement but that was a rec room really and I wasn’t messing that up. So I called the HVAC company to have them add a ductless heat pump to the attic. Our attic is finished and all it needed was some residential HVAC to be a serviceable space. Well that ductless heat pump made this space more than serviceable. Even though I’m back in the zone controlled HVAC of the office, I still use my attic space to be alone or just to be quiet.

furnace

The idea that I had to replace the HVAC unit sort of eluded me.

But that tends to happen with regard to stuff that I sort of totally take for granted. The heating and cooling in my house is sort of a foregone conclusion in my head. The thermostat is there and is adjusted for more heating or more cooling depending on the season. And it’s always there and the HVAC equipment is always working unless there’s a power outage. It’s been this way for more than 20 years. This HVAC equipment, we sort of inherited as the previous owner had it installed just a year before he sold the house to us. But we signed up for the HVAC service plan right off the bat. And man, did the HVAC professionals ever take good care of us when it came to maintaining our quality heating and air. Perhaps that’s why I just sort of put the heating and cooling at home out of my mind. Other than changing the HVAC air filter once a month and confirming the HVAC maintenance appointment on line, I didn’t worry about the HVAC. So when the HVAC technician told me it was time to get a new heat pump, I was honestly a bit surprised. And I sort of dithered about a while really. But ultimately, I met with the HVAC contractor and we selected the new HVAC technology that would meet our heating and cooling needs. Finally making the decision and getting that thing installed has made such a big difference. The latest in residential HVAC really is something.

More information on air conditioning

There is no doubt that homeownership was everything I thought it could be and more.

• I’ve loved every bit of getting my little house fixed up and it’s great to be finally building some equity.

Just being out of the bad HVAC of apartment life was a step forward. But the sense of both freedom and earned responsibility are really awesome now that I own my own place. If the heating and cooling isn’t right, I am the one who can actually call a licensed and certified HVAC technician to take care of it. That never happened in all the apartments I lived in. I never once saw an actual HVAC professional looking to the HVAC equipment in my apartment complex. It was always a handyman simply trying to make the HVAC unit run again. Not the ideal situation for sure. But now that I’m in my own place, I have quality heating and air every, single day. One of the renovations that was done first was replacing the out dated HVAC unit. It was a very old central air conditioning unit and it was essentially useless. However, the ductwork was also kaput as well. That meant the entire thing had to be replaced. This posed a bit of quandary when it came to my renovation budget. But the HVAC contractor had an even better solution with ductless heat pumps. I have three of them placed strategically throughout my home. The ductless heat pump option came in under budget and was even better than replacing it with the traditional residential HVAC. I’m in love with homeownership and my quality heating and air is a big part of that.

Gas fireplace

My wife nodded and sort of narrowed her eyes at me before asking me if I had read the HVAC warranty

There is simply not a single doubt that I’d be fairly lost in life without my partner. For people like me, having a great partner sort of sets life on the right track and keeps it there. I’m certainly lucky to share the quality heating and air of a home with my wife. And if it hadn’t been for my wife, I might have been replacing that quality heating and air. It all came together in an unusual way. Normally, Fridays are really heavy days for both my wife and I when it comes to our work. Fridays usually come with extra hours spent inside the zone controlled HVAC of our respective offices. But that Friday, I got off earlier than planned so got home just before 5pm. As soon as I walked inside the house, I knew the air conditioning wasn’t working. But the HVAC equipment was on and the thermostat looked normal except for the temperature inside the house. I deduced in my little mind that we must need an HVAC refrigerant recharge. Being that I’m so not an HVAC professional, that made sense to me and I took off for the hardware. I came back with an HVAC recharge kit and was getting ready to get to it and save us an HVAC service charge. Just as I was getting ready to take the cover off the HVAC cabinet, my wife came home from her office. She sort of casually inquired about what I was doing to our air conditioner. My wife nodded and sort of narrowed her eyes at me before asking me if I had read the HVAC warranty. She had and it explicitly stated the warranty would void if I continued to do what I was planning to do.

furnace/heater service

The idea of moving to a new house was sort of out.

We were pretty committed to seeing the kids off to college from this place. And it’s not that we don’t like the house because we do. It’s just that our house is older and really needed some sprucing up. From the HVAC equipment to the kitchen, our house needed some help. But raising a family isn’t cheap so we sort of had to figure out how to make our money go toward the areas of the house that needed the most change. We settled on the kitchen and the indoor air quality. We weren’t in a position to replace the HVAC unit just yet. It had another solid decade at least left in it. And the heating and cooling equipment itself is pretty good stuff but just lacking a bit in HVAC technology. However, the indoor air quality was pathetic. Our house smelled horrible. But with the boys, the dogs and a cat, there was bound to be some odors. The problem was that we couldn’t effectively treat those odors so much. We tried all sorts of deodorizers but as soon as the HVAC unit kicked on, the odors were right back. So after we finished with the kitchen, we aimed our budget at the HVAC and the indoor air quality. The HVAC company came right through for us with a whole home air purification system. It works inside the HVAC equipment so I don’t have to move an air purifier around the house. This has helped our house simply transcend to a level of indoor air quality we’ve never experienced.

mini split air conditioner

It’s so easy for me to forget things.

And it’s a combination of an insane schedule to keep and a bit of just being a bit of an air head.

My mother used to always be on me that my head was in the clouds. Yea, but at least I haven’t left a kid inside the air conditioning of day care yet. So far, I’m still getting the main, super duper important stuff done. But with all the hours I spend inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office, my kids and my family, things get forgotten no doubt. I’m attempting to up my game a bit so that stuff like the HVAC equipment are also up there in the super duper category. And the HVAC unit should be at that same level. The heating and cooling equipment are only providing us with essential comfort right? So making time and sticking to it when it comes to the quality heating and air of the house is now a priority. We belong to an HVAC service plan that makes my HVAC responsibilities much easier. As a benefit of the HVAC service plan, the HVAC unit gets proper HVAC maintenance from an HVAC professional twice a year. That saves me because I’m not the one who has to schedule seasonal HVAC maintenance. The HVAC company takes care of that and I simply confirm the date. However, I have now set alarms and alerts across all the screens I come in contact through the day. They let me know when it’s time to change the air filter and make sure the air ducts are all open. I do this once a month as well as keep an eye on the HVAC cabinet outside.

Cooling equipment

I always thought I’d do whatever it took to make my business succeed.

• But the pandemic allowed me to so prove that thought.

For years, I spent countless hours inside the zone controlled HVAC of a corporate office. I was really good at my job but I was making other people rich, not me. That sort of was an epiphany really. It started the wheels in motion for me to do what I do but for me. Launching that business 6 years ago was a seminal moment in my life for sure. But the pandemic certainly challenged the wisdom of leaving that zone controlled HVAC and steady corporate paycheck to be my own boss. My team of about a dozen people had no trouble transitioning to working remotely. I mean no trouble at all with any of us working from our own air conditioning. However, I wasn’t flying so it was tough to get to my customers. I’m the one who does the deals and is hands on with the client most of the time. So I had to figure out how to get to those who needed us and it wasn’t happening from the air conditioning of my house. So I cranked up the HVAC cooling that summer and hit the road for what ended up being a few months the first time out. That wasn’t great with my girlfriend but she checked the thermostat setting in my house and I flew her to wherever I was every other weekend. But mostly, I was in the wonderful, quality heating and air of the hotels along the interstate. Hands down consistently the best heating and cooling I’ve ever experienced which was a wonderful surprise.

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