How to Shine a Little Light on a Dark Night

Spring storms aren’t always predictable. You don’t exactly know when you’ll lose power and not be able to cook, keep your refrigerator working, stay comfortable or find your way in the dark. That’s why a lot of homeowners create a backup plan. They make the fairly small investment in a home generator to save themselves a lot of trouble later on.

Have you wondered about getting a generator for your home? If so, how do you decide which one is right for you? And how do you safely operate a generator? These are big questions, and we can help you get started on the answers.

If you’d like to learn more about selecting and operating home generators, take a look at our free report: “Power Outages to Come?”

Better Breathing

There’s something about spring… it’s sort of a “best of times, worst of times” season of the year. The crisp cool air can be quite nice after wintry mixes are done, and you feel that need to spend more time outdoors.

And yet, that nice, fresh air is also picking up a few particles from the lawn and garden that can make breathing a chore.

Inside, you’re not exactly safe either if the quality of your indoor air is affected by contaminants. High humidity, for example, can create a breeding ground for mold and dust mites that produce an unhealthy breathing ground for you and your family.

If you’d like to learn more about these issues, take a look at our free report, “Is the Air in Your Home Making Spring Allergies Worse?”

Environmental TLC

It’s not hard to see the value in being sensitive to the environment. Take air pollution in particular. The smog-like substances that spread out into our communities can find their way into our lungs, affecting our health.

Some of this air pollution comes from the fossil fuels that are burned to generate the electricity that runs our homes. So whatever we do to reduce our use of these fossil fuels is better for the air around us.

Environmentally-conscious habits among homeowners can begin with steps as simple as turning off the light when you leave the room. Going further, energy-efficient appliances will help because they require less energy to operate.

If you’d like to learn more, take a look at our free report, available on our Facebook Page for a limited time: Energy Use in Your Home Affects the World Around You.

Is Your Home Trying to Tell You Something?

Sometimes you can hear little noises that tell you your home has a concern to address. You know, something like the drip, drip, drip of a faucet that says "fix me." Or the sound of wind that's coming through a crack that should be patched.

Spring is a good time to walk through your home just to "look and listen" to the maintenance issues that cropped up over the winter months. That way you’ll know what needs tending to.

Along those same lines, be sure to add your home comfort system to your maintenance list. Routine maintenance is one of the most practical ways you can preserve the life of your system and preserve your pocketbook at the same time. Maintained systems run more efficiently, which saves you money.

What else should your maintenance tour include? For ideas, take a look at our free report, "Give Your Home a Spring Checkup,"

Know the Signs of a Home Improvement Scam

I know how it is. Sometimes homeowners are concerned about calling a contractor to their home for a problem. They know they want a tune-up or repair, but they’re expecting the contractor to try to talk them into getting more than they need. It’s such a common concern that I want to reassure you that we do things differently here.

Our tech will come out for a thorough evaluation of the problem you’ve been experiencing. We’ll present a solution that we recommend. We’ll fully explain the reasoning behind this recommendation, and we’ll put the estimate and guarantees in writing so that you won’t have any surprises. Not only that, you always have the choice to say “no” or “not now.” There’s no pressure at all. And, should you have any additional concerns, we stand behind our work.

We used advanced technology to make sure you get the best evaluation and repair. And we keep your comfort and safety foremost in our mind. So call us whenever you need us.

In the meantime, if you want to get a better sense about people working in your home, take a look at this video that could help you know what to watch for when approached by a home improvement contractor. 

To Replace or Not Replace

With temperatures in low digits like they are now, our heaters and furnaces begin to seem like one of the best inventions ever. Truly, the development of home comfort systems was more than just a good idea. They’re actually life-savers during the harshest weather days.

We always tell friends that maintaining your system year after year does two important things: it helps lengthen the life of the system itself, and it helps improve its energy-efficiency. After all, the quality of your system is directly related to the quantity of energy dollars you spend. And, for wintertime especially, system maintenance alerts you to lurking dangers, such as the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty equipment.

Even so, no matter how well you maintain your equipment, at some point, replacement time comes. If you think that’s true for your home, we’ve got two important things we want you to know. 

Carbon Monoxide: A Hidden, Silent Killer

Carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the greatest dangers that can affect the quality of the air in your home as well as put your family’s life at risk. The seriousness of carbon monoxide poisoning has partly to do with the difficulty of its detection: CO is an odorless, colorless gas. According to the EPA, because you can’t see it, taste it or feel its toxic fumes, CO can kill you before you are aware that it’s in your home.

Additionally, the symptoms of CO poisoning are much like those of many other illnesses – headaches, dizziness, disorientation, nausea and fatigue. So you might mistake it for a bout of the flu and make the very wrong assumption that staying home will be good for you.

How CO poisoning affects you and your family members will depend on various factors, including age, overall health and the concentration and length of exposure. Low concentrations of CO could produce fatigue in healthy people but chest pain in people with heart disease. Higher concentrations could produce impaired vision and coordination; headaches; dizziness; confusion; nausea. CO is fatal at very high concentrations.

What Causes CO Poisoning?

Exposure to carbon monoxide could come from variety of sources, including: unvented kerosene and gas space heaters; leaking chimneys and furnaces; back-drafting from furnaces, gas water heaters, wood stoves, and fireplaces; gas stoves; generators and other gasoline powered equipment; automobile exhaust from attached garages; and tobacco smoke. In particular, worn or poorly maintained combustion devices – like boilers and furnaces – can be significant sources, or if the flue is improperly sized, blocked, disconnected, or leaking.

What Should You Do?

First, install carbon monoxide detectors on each level of your home, especially near bedrooms and one near the main gathering area. And also follow this guidance from the EPA:

·                Keep gas appliances properly adjusted.

·                Consider purchasing a vented space heater when replacing an unvented one.

·                Use proper fuel in kerosene space heaters.

·                Install and use an exhaust fan vented to outdoors over gas stoves.

·                Open flues when fireplaces are in use.

·                Have a trained professional inspect, clean, and tune-up central heating system (furnaces, flues, and chimneys) annually. Repair any leaks promptly.

·                Do not idle the car inside garage.

Have you had a tune-up and safety inspection on your heating system? Call us to schedule one at (512) 252-4700.