Hello Friends!

Did you hear this story? Not long ago, an online shopping site in New Zealand had a glitch in its e-commerce system.  Delightfully surprised customers started snapping up expensive televisions, iPods and other popular electronics merely for the cost of  shipping and handling.

So, if the original price had been $1,500 and you got it for $4.95, you’d say that was a good deal, right? Absolutely! The mistake , however, was soon corrected.

As more and more people took advantage of the glitch, they spread the word to more and more people on, where else, Twitter.  That’s actually where the company itself heard about it – and pulled the site for maintenance.

People love a good deal. They love to tell their friends. But when when something sounds too good to be true…it usually is.

Turns out, the orders didn’t actually go through.  Not surprisingly, the customers were given the option to purchase at the correct price or cancel the order.

The truth is, we may not be able to tell you where you can get a plasma TV for less than the price of a cup of coffee, but we can tell you this:

Whenever you’ve got an issue with your heating and cooling, we’ll give you the best service at the best value and treat you like our best customer.  If you’ll tell your friends about us, we’ll make the same pledge to them. You have my word.

Sincerely

Marty Sheehan
Buffalo Heating Expert

How Can I Save on My Heating Bills?

Simply put, the biggest savings you can get is from replacing your old equipment with new, more energy efficient equipment and here’s why.

Depending on the type of equipment you choose, heating and air conditioning equipment is two to three times more efficient than a couple of decades ago. What does that mean? Simply by upgrading your equipment, you reduce the cost of heating and cooling your home and at the same time, make you home more comfortable, too.

So What’s this Going to Cost Me?

Upgrading your equipment does require an investment, but it’s less than you might think. The energy savings will offset most of the monthly payments.  Depending upon the age and condition of your existing equipment, you could easily end up with more money in your pocket at the end of the month by upgrading.

You can either pay the utility or you can invest in an upgrade. We all know, the utility company will continue to want more and more money, with nothing tangible to show for it.  By upgrading your equipment, you will improve your home’s comfort and continue saving long after the equipment is paid off.

Other Than New Equipment, What Else Can I Do?

There are four basic steps to help keep your heating costs down. The main points include:

• Air filtration
• Annual Maintenance
• Humidification, and
• Upgraded equipment

If you want to find out how much you can save, call Emerald Heating and Cooling at 716-681-0100.  We will set up an appointment at your convenience and provide a complimentary analysis of your home’s comfort system.

We know its not winter yet, but you don’t want to be caught off guard.

Your home does not have to be cool and drafty this winter, no matter how cold it gets in Buffalo. Heating your home efficiently should be a priority. There are a number of steps you can take to keep your home more comfortable.

1. Start with a full-system inspection. Ask us to examine your entire heating system. We will check for furnace repair, heat pump plus ductwork, registers and insulation.

2. Use your fireplace carefully. When you’re not using the fireplace, keep the chimney damper tightly closed. Leaving the damper open is like leaving a small window open. It lets your precious heated air slip quietly up the chimney.

3. Plant more pine trees. Plant pine trees, cedar trees and other evergreens on the north and west sides of your house. Since they do not have leaves to lose in the autumn, evergreens help block cold winds all winter  long.

4. Plug those plugs. Electrical outlets on outside walls can allow cold winter air into your house. Seal them off with easy-to-install insulating kits available at most hardware and home-supply stores. Also, seal and insulate around attic doors, vents, water pipes and other openings.

5. Close the door. Keep your outside doors closed, or at least try to minimize the times the doors are opened and closed. Each time you open a door, warm air rushes out and cold air rushes in.

6. Step up to a two-stage gas furnace.  Most furnaces have one speed – full blast, even on mild days when you need just a little heat.  However, some newer furnaces use a two-state ignition system that provides just the right amount of heating output to achieve maximum comfort. They operate on a lower heating output setting most of the time, then power up to fully capacity when the weather turns really cold. The result is smoother, more even heating throughout your home.

Before the heating season got underway, we were already getting reports of carbon monoxide poisoning.  This winter, people will die from CO poisoning. Tragically, these will be preventable deaths.

The symptoms of CO poisoning are similar to those of stomach flu.  They include nausea, diffculty catching your breath, headaches and light-headedness.

Our Buffalo heating company can inspect your home today.

Unlike the stomach flu, CO symptoms will disappear when you leave the source. If you have flue like symptoms that appear only when you are at home or work, this may be carbon monoxide. Further evidence is provided when more than one person shares these symptoms.

If you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning, get fresh air immediately. Open doors, turn off appliances, and leave the building.

Remember, infants, children and the elderly are at greater risk and affected by lower levels of exposure.

Pregnant women should be especially alert since a fetus is more sensitive to carbon monoxide than the mother. If you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning, get to a hospital or clinic and describe your concern. A simple blood test can confirm carbon monoxide poisoning. Don’t risk it.

Backdrafting

Backdrafting occurs when the pressure inside the house is less than the pressure outside the house and the exhaust from natural drafting gas appliances is sucked back into the house.

Backdrafting is more of an issue today than the past due to tighter construction standards.  A bathroom fan may be enough to create negative pressure in a tightly sealed house.

Backdrafting can also result from leaking return air duct work, wood burning fireplaces (a fire can pull several hundred cubic feet of air out of the house each minute, causing appliances to backdraft), high wind conditions that result in high pressure on the windward side of the house and low pressure on the downward side, and so on.

Our Buffalo heating experts are available 24/7

You can minimize the potential for backdrafting by installing modern, energy efficient gas furnaces, wood stoves and water heaters that feature sealed combustion systems.  Sealed combustion appliances draw outside air for combustion and exhaust combustion by-products outdoors.  Since indoor air is not used for combustion, backdrafting is not a concern.

Another option is power vented furnaces or water heaters. These products use indoor air for combustion, but use a fan to exhaust combustion by-products outside.

Energy Tip – Keep your furnace clean, lubricated and property adjusted with annual maintenance.  If your furnace is working at peak efficiency, it will use less energy and cost less to operate.

To start, background levvels of carbon monoxide are always present in the atmosphere.  Some occurs naturally from volcanic activity and forest fires. Automobile and industrial emissions also contribute to background levels.

Home Dangers

In the home, carbon monoxide can come from tobacco smoke, unvented gas space heaters and appliances, as well as  automobile, lawn mower, generator and other small engine exhaust that enters the home.  You can minimize these risks by avoiding the indoor use of unvented appliances, by leaving your garage open when your car is running (and by not leaving the engine on while the car is in the garage), by starting and stopping small gas engines outside of the garage, and by locating gas generators outside away from doors, windows, or vents. Carbon monoxide can also occur in the home when a gas appliance’s flue is improperly sized, becomes disconnected, or the flue becomes partially restricted.  A bird nest in the wrong place, for example, may become deadly.  Flues should be checked at the start of each heating season!

Our Buffalo heating experts are available 24/7

Another potential source of carbon monoxide is your home’s furnace.  Heat sections should be checked each fall to ensure the heat exchanger is leak free.  Additionally, properly adjusted burners not only mean more efficient operation, but less risk of carbon monoxide resulting from incomplete combustion.

Energy Tip – Insulate Your Water Heater – Hot water accounts for 13% of the typical utility bill, so improving the efficiency of your heater can go a long way toward saving energy and cutting down on carbon emissions.  Consider wrapping your old heater in a layer of insulation.  For the nominal cost of about $15, an insulation jacket can reduce heat lost through the walls of the tank by 25-40%

Our final post relating to Buffalo heating and cooling tips is about upgrading your equipment.

The biggest savings comes from replacing old equipment with new, more energy efficient equipment. Heating and air conditioning equipment is two to three times more efficient than a couple of decades ago, depending on the type of equipment.  This means that you can dramatically reduce the cost of heating and cooling your home, simply by upgrading equipment.  You can probably make your home more comfortable, too.

Upgrading your equipment does require an investment, but it’s less than you might think. The energy savings will offset most or all of the monthly payments.  Depending upon the age and condition of your existing equipment, you could easily end up with more money in your pocket at the end of the month by upgrading.

Learn how Emerald can help with your Buffalo heating needs.

You can either pay the utility or you can invest in an upgrade. The utility will keep wanting more and more with nothing tangible to show.  Buy upgraded equipment and you will improve your home’s comfort and continue saving long after the equipment is paid off.

In summary, the main points on how to hold down the high cost of heating and cooling include:

• Air filtration
• Annual Maintenance
• Humidification, and
• Upgraded equipment

If you want to find out how much you can save, call us at 716-681-0100.  We will set an appointment at your convenience and provide a complimentary analysis of your home’s comfort system.

Another way you can hold down the high cost of heating and cooling is by using humidification.

By introducing supplemental moisture to the air, humidity is raised and comfort increases despite a lower winter thermostat setting. Proper humidity saves energy because people feel comfortable with a lower thermostat setting.

While tabletop humidifiers abound, the best solution is an automatic whole-house duct mounted central humidifier.  These products sense the humidity in the home and add moisture directly to the air stream as needed.  You can set it and forget it.

Learn how Emerald can help with your Buffalo heating needs.

Benefits of installing a whole-house duct humidifier:

• Can reduce the chance of upper respiratory problems.
• Helps alleviate dry, itchy skin and dry nose and throat symptoms.
• Protect hardwood floors, valuable furniture, artwork and electronics from damage and potential cracking
• Allows you to feel warmer at lower thermostat settings, saving up to 4% on your heating bill for every degree you lower your thermostat, according to the EPA.

Hold Down the High Cost of Heating and Cooling

The high cost of comfort is like a hidden tax on home ownership in Buffalo. Heating is like a tax that keeps going up and up.  It’s rising faster than your paycheck.  But what can you do?   We all know you have to heat your home when it’s cold and cool it when it’s hot.

Actually, there are things you can do.  Some are inexpensive.  Others require investments in your home, but pay off almost immediately.  Here are a few ways to cut the cost of comfort.

Air Infiltration

One of the simplest ways to reduce utilities is by reducing air infiltration into your home.  In other words, don’t pay to heat and cool the great outdoors.

Infiltration is a bigger problem with older homes than new ones.  New homes are usually built tight.  There is not a lot of leakage from inside to out.  With our older homes in Buffalo, heating bills can be very high.  These homes were built to different standards when energy usage was less of a concern.

Visually inspect weather stripping, looking for cracks.  Use an incense stick to check for drafts and air leaks around windows, doors, recessed lighting fixtures, and attic hatches.  Replace old weather stripping and seal the leaks.

Annual Maintenance

Research shows that giving your home comfort system a professional tune-up will save more than it costs in a few months of operation, prevent breakdowns, restore lost heating and cooling capacity, and extend equipment life.  A home comfort system is a robust collection of mechanical equipment.  It operates as many hours in the course of a year as your car does in three or four years.

Just like your car’s performance would degrade after three or four years of operation without any maintenance, your comfort system’s performance degrades after a year of operation.  You need annual maintenance.  Moreover, it saves more utility expenses that it costs.  And, it will make your home more comfortable.

Check back for Part 2 on How to Hold Down the High Cost of Heating and Cooling.

Emerald Heating and Cooling would like to remind you that the Federal Energy Tax Credit ends on December 31, 2010.

Under the Federal tax credit program, homeowners can receive Federal income tax credit up to 30 percent of the cost of materials up to $1,500 per appliance installed in your home. New construction and rental property do not qualify.

According to the EnergyStar website, your energy efficient appliance must be purchased and installed before the end of 2010. Please note, when filing your taxes in April, you will need to complete IRS Form 5695.  Be sure to include the manufacturer’s certification statement as well.

If you are unsure if your product qualifies for this tax credit, we encourage you to contact our Buffalo heating experts.