Our offices are moving this weekend. Please forgive any phone outages and preoccupation on our part. If you need immediate assistance, email angie [at] aaaheatingac.com. My Blackberry will let me know when you have a challenge we can solve and I will call you right back. Enjoy your weekend!
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We have finally hit summer! Has anyone else been jonesing for some sun like I have? I stepped outside a little bit earlier today and could feel my Vitamin D stores replenishing. However, with the glorious heat also comes a lot of danger if you aren’t careful. We consulted the Regional Public Information Network (www.rpin.org) for some safety tips from the Red Cross to keep you and your loved ones safe in the next week. If you don’t have air conditioning or a heat pump, you will especially want to pay attention to the following list.
How to Prevent Heat-Related Illness
Coming up later this week… Air Conditioning and whether it is right for you.
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See all of that cardboard? Just yesterday that was at one of our customers’ houses. Our technician Ron told me that he had a customer who had a lot of cardboard in their garage but they didn’t know what to do with it. As a courtesy, he offered to take it and recycle it for them. Twenty minutes later his van was full and he was on his way back to our Service Center to drop it off.
Stories like that are what make me proud to work for AAA Heating & Air Conditioning. Our employees strive to provide customer service that is above and beyond our customers’ expectations. I have heard of technicians changing light bulbs, moving furniture, and even mowing the lawn! And it doesn’t stop there… the lovely people you talk to when you call in to our office have even been known to look up information for callers about other companies!
At AAA Heating & Air Conditioning, we strive to exceed your expectations in every way. We promise that you won’t be disappointed!
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When was the last time that you looked in your dryer vent? A lot of people don’t think to ever take a peek and unknowingly let the lint quietly build up until it becomes a safety hazard. One of our technicians was talking today about how he sees this problem a lot and wanted me to share with you the best ways of cleaning it out. I fully agree with him that this is such an important home safety issue that it needs to be talked about. You need to be checking your vent every few months to prevent fires from starting.
So here’s what you have to do:
Another thing to take a look at is how close the vent is to your heat pump or air conditioner. Often they are installed close together and lint from the dryer vent gets in the coils of your outdoor unit. You will want to examine the unit to see if there is any buildup. If you find any lint, have a reputable HVAC company do a professional tune up and cleaning on the system to ensure that there is no damage to the unit. They will also be able to talk with you about ways to prevent the lint from collecting on the coils (in fact, my technician said he recommends a solution involving pantyhose). If you want more information or to schedule a cleaning for your unit call me, Angie, at 253-630-9224.
If I haven’t convinced you yet to take a look at your dryer vent, check out this news story about a family in Kent who suffered a tragic fire because of a clogged dryer vent. Please don’t let this happen to you! http://www.kirotv.com/video/9914544/
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I just found a cool site still in Beta testing that lets you see what energy usage your home has. Microsoft’s new Hohm program allows you to see what you’re using, what people in your area are using, and what you can do to improve the amount of energy you use. They give some great tips on everything from weather stripping your home to reducing your heating and cooling bills to how much energy your hair dryer uses. I bet you’ve never actually stopped to think about that, have you? I know I haven’t.
Hohm is actually a pretty cool site. I went on and compared the houses of a couple of my friends and it was interesting to be able to report back to them who “won” the challenge. If nothing else, it’s fun to spy on your neighbors, right? It’s ok, we all do it. Check out Hohm at http://www.microsoft-hohm.com/
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Even though our weather is abysmal and dreary right now, we are about to head into the most glorious of seasons in Western Washington– the summer. Soon we will have some hot weather coming our way and you will want to be prepared. And I mean more than just rolling out the lemonade. I’m talking about air conditioning. We’ll discuss it more as the warm weather starts to arrive, but for the moment I wanted to pass on a fact I found interesting. So many people in our area have the perception that air conditioning is rare in homes, but the U.S. Energy Administration reports that in reality, the percentage of homes with central air-conditioning has more than doubled since 1980, with nearly 60% of homes having a central system. Some food for thought as you are pondering “To A.C. or not to A.C.” (I know, sometimes I make really lame jokes. Wait, you didn’t think it was funny? It was, I promise).
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Do you know what’s exciting? Stumbling across the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s website filled with facts about the usage of energy in each individual state. Oh wait, it’s just me who is happy at the discovery? Admittedly, I am a bit of an information nerd, so sites filled with facts fill me with joy. Let me synthesize the info on Washington State for you so that you can find the same thrill that I have in my heart.
While I have provided you with some scintillating facts, I’m sure that you will want to read even more yourself. Head on over to the U.S. Energy Website for more thrills.
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Ever have your oven go out on you when you are having 15 people over for dinner? Has your clothes washer quit when you have that big job interview the next morning? What about the freezer that turned your strawberry ice cream into just strawberry cream? Well, we have the solution for you!
At the beginning of the year, The Appliance Repairman ventured out on their own from AAA Heating & Air Conditioning and became a separate company. You could say we are now sisters. Who love each other very much, as all siblings should.
The Appliance Repairman is your one-stop-shop for all of your broken appliances. That’s right, they can fix your dishwasher with one hand and check your microwave out with the other, and maybe find that necklace you didn’t know you accidentally cleaned with your dishes. All at the same time. Well, maybe their techs aren’t quite that dexterous, but still, they do an excellent job of finding the source of your problem quickly and then fixing it so that you would swear it was brand spanking new. Which is pretty darn new.
Call them today at 253-277-1026 and schedule an appointment for them to come out to your home and fix all of your appliance woes. Your appliances will thank you.
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Do you get just as thrilled as we do when it’s time for Spring Cleaning? Right, that’s what we thought. In case you couldn’t tell, we threw a little bit of sarcasm into that first question. Because really, who wants to have to become best friends with their Kleenex box after inhaling all of the dust and fumes from the cleaning products we use? Well friends, that’s what we’re here to help you with. We can’t do anything about the dust (except recommend putting in an electronic air cleaner), but we can do something about those chemical cleaners you use. Toss them all in the trash, because we have some easy homemade suggestions for you that will not only help you avoid those pesky cleaning headaches, but will also make you feel good because you will be helping save the earth. One scrub at a time.
Recipes for a clean house
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Glen J., AAA Heating & Air Conditioning Senior Technician
I am going to be remodeling our house soon and thinking about adding a filtration system of some sort to the furnace. I have heard that there are things that I can do to cut down on allergies but am not entirely certain what those are. Do you have any ideas? -Frank B., Kent
Well, the answer is twofold here– the short term solutions for cutting down on allergens while you are remodeling and the long term solution for your Indoor Air Quality to keep allergies at bay once the remodeling is finished. Let’s start with the long term.
There are a lot of different types of products on the market that claim to cut down on allergens but in reality are more hype than substance. An example would be the single room air cleaners that claim to purify the air. Unfortunately, their effectiveness has proven to be minimal at best (just read the evaluation in Consumer Reports of the Ionic Breeze and you will see what I mean) and they really aren’t worth the money you will spend on them. The most effective way of reducing the amount of allergens in your home is to install an Electronic Air Cleaner on your furnace. A licensed heating and cooling contractor will be able to take a look at your existing system, tell you how the Electronic Air Cleaner (EAC) would fit into it and then give you a price for the EAC, including installation. They really do work well to relieve the suffering that people with allergies have to go through. In fact, one of the women who works in our office just had an EAC installed for her parents. Her mom has chronic asthma and terrible allergies but has experienced a huge increase in the quality of life she has been able to have because of the number of allergens her Electronic Air Cleaner has taken out of the air in their home.
Now on to the short term. Most people don’t think about their allergies as they are remodeling, but there are many things you can do to prevent them from flaring up while you are working on your house. The Allergy Consumer Review (www.allergyconsumerreview.com) gives some of the following suggestions:
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