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.
- Power to us for our massive amount of renewable resources! (Get the pun?) Washington state is the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the nation. And get this– In November 2006, Washington adopted a renewable energy standard that requires all utilities serving at least 25,000 people to produce 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.
- If you’re thinking of leaving on a jet plane, you’re not the first. Washington is among the highest users of jet fuel, mostly due to the military bases in the area.
- Your South King County heat pump might just be run on power from the Columbia Generating System, which generates 1/10th of the state’s power. And you might also have a gas furnace like 1/3 of the state who uses gas as their primary source of home heating.
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.
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.
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
- For an all purpose cleaner that works on just about anything, mix ½ c. of vinegar, ¼ c. of baking soda, and a half gallon of water.
- Bathroom shower mold can be fought with one part hydrogen peroxide and 2 parts water put together in a spray bottle. Spray onto mold and wait an hour before wiping off.
- Normal tub and tile cleaning can be done by simply using a sponge to scrub in baking soda and rinsing with water.
- To polish your furniture, add a few drops of lemon oil into a 1/2 cup warm water. Mix well and spray onto a soft cotton cloth. Cloth should only be slightly damp. Wipe furniture with the cloth, and finish by wiping once more using a dry soft cotton cloth.
- Toilet bowls can be cleaned with ¼ c. baking soda and a cup of vinegar poured directly into the bowl of the toilet. Let sit for a minute, scrub, and flush.
- To clean your windows or mirrors, mix 2 tsp of white vinegar with 1 liter of warm water in a spray bottle. Spray onto windows and wipe off with newspaper.
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:
- Spend as much time out of the house as possible. This means schedule your remodeling for the summer months.
- The bedrooms are the most important rooms in the house. We spend 8 hours a day in there. If they are not being remodeled-have your contractors tape up the doors each day to prevent dust from entering.
- Close down the heating vents in your bedrooms during the day time to prevent dust from getting in the room.
- Use a high quality, completely sealed hepa vacuum on a daily basis to vacuum every inch of all bedrooms. Use a vacuum with on board tools to vacuum walls, crevices, furniture, floors.
- Try to remember to seal off your closets daily so your clothes remain dust free.
- Wear an allergy face mask walking around your house in the day time to avoid the dust.
- If your kitchen was remodeled, wash all your dishes afterward and throw out any “open boxed” foods.
- Doing the remodeling yourself? Wear a mask at all times and make sure your materials are toxic free. The mask is to help you not breathe in dust.
- Have your ducts cleaned after all the remodeling is finished to get rid of the dust and debris that has fallen into them.
Because AAA Heating & Air Conditioning cares about helping our customers save money and improve the environment, we wanted to help you make sense of the ENERGY STAR® program and what it means for your heating or cooling system. This is Part 7 of a 9 part series on the subject that is published every other Thursday. If you missed our previous posts, you can find them here: AAA Heating & Air Conditioning ENERGY STAR blog posts
Become one of the millions of people who are taking part in the ENERGY STAR pledge. They are pledging to reduce the amount of energy that they use both at work and home. Whether its your lightbulbs or your heating system, take a look at the ENERGY STAR Pledge website for more information about how you can save energy too.
At our Kent Heating Contractor office, we have never been accused of being stick-in-the-muds. In fact, we laugh a lot. All the time. People love coming to visit us because we’re so funny. At least that’s what we like to tell ourselves. Knowing that one of the owners was going to be on vacation for a week, we decided to give him a great welcome home surprise. Several hours, 2 rolls of scotch tape, and half a Costco sized roll of foil later, we had created our masterpiece. Yes friends, we foiled his desk. No picture frame or pen or bottle of water was left uncovered. Our owner loved it, as we knew he would. I think he even has some things still foiled even though its been several weeks since his return.
If you’re reading this undecided about our company, take this as our promise that no detail is too small or too large for us. We put our heart into our work, and we do a darn good job of it too. Oh, and when you call to talk to us, feel free to ask us how long this REALLY took.
