Very efficient air conditioning

I recently moved up North and it has been quite the change! My sister and I decided to pack up everything and head somewhere completely different after our parents both unexpectedly passed away.

It’s been a really sad time in my life, but I’m happy to have her by my side.

The house we bought has a lot of really cool features like automatic blinds, but my favorite feature so far definitely has to be our heated floors. Growing up in the South, I had never even heard of the idea for heated floors. The house we bought already had the heated floors installed because the previous owner was old and got cold very easily. I’m really thankful for that because we’ve cut our usage of the central heater in half just by heating up the floors instead. Of course the heated floors are pretty expensive to install, but maintaining them once they’re installed is a piece of cake. Our heating costs are definitely lower than I would have expected them to be with living in such a cold area. We’re lucky that the previous owner built this house themselves and installed the heated floors, because adding them retroactively and replacing them with regular flooring can upwards triple the costs of what it’s really worth. The best part is that she was just trying to get rid of the house so she didn’t even include the costs of the heated floor in the asking price.We were so lucky to stumble upon this woman, as she has given us such a beautiful gift.

 

Air vent

My husband and I escape to our beach house very often.

We both work very demanding jobs, as he is a doctor and I am a lawyer. Whenever we find an empty weekend, we schedule a drive over to our favorite place on the coast. Last year we made some updates to the house, so it feels just like home now. Our biggest upgrade was our air conditioning system. As you can imagine, we use the air conditioner quite often to help relieve us from the hot beach sun. Our old air conditioner broke, so we ended up extending our trip to find a replacement and have it installed. The contractor we worked with was so great and really did a thorough job when he came by for an inspection. He noticed that the zone control wasn’t great due to the way the vents were set up, so he made that a priority when he installed the new air conditioner. Now I feel like the air conditioning is equally distributed throughout the entire house with no hot spots! That is such a dream because I remember having lots of hot and cold spots in my parents house growing up where the zone control was terrible. Now that we have made those upgrades and can feel completely comfortable at the beach, we try to go there as often as possible. Our plan is to move there when we both retire in about ten years. I can already picture us waking up every single day and seeing the beach as we open our eyes.

 

hvac zone control

My dad has always inspired me to own my own business.

He is a plumber and has run his own business for the past twenty-three years.

I pretty much grew up watching his entrepreneurial spirit and witnessed how much freedom that has provided him with. I’m definitely not a plumber, but I have gotten quite handy with air conditioners. It began when my friend needed some help installing an air conditioner that his parents bought because they didn’t want to pay labor costs. I guess all of my knowledge from my dad’s work somehow helped me navigate the installation even though plumbing and air conditioning are completely different. After doing some research, I found that air conditioning companies are actually quite profitable. They are even more profitable in warmer climates where people tend to use air conditioning most of the year. I decided to open my own HVAC business three years ago and business has never slowed down for us. I’m really thankful to have so many mentors and resources to help me learn more about modern advances for air conditioners, heaters, boilers, and anything else that helps the house feel comfortable. I’m hoping that in a few years we can expand to a commercial audience, as that is where real air conditioning money can be made. I think if we stay consistent with what we are doing now, we will definitely make it there. I am grateful to my dad for showing me the business ropes as I think it has helped me be successful today. He is truly the greatest.

 

 

cooling technology

My boyfriend and I recently moved into a new house and we have been enjoying every step of the process.

Some days are harder than others as we learn how to navigate new challenges, but we’ve been a really good team so far.

We’ve had to make a few renovations and upgrade some of the things the last owners left. The biggest learning curve was when we had to replace our HVAC. We were on a bit of a time crunch to find a new HVAC because summer heat was right around the corner. Our new neighbors were kind enough to show us their HVACs and recommend some of the local companies that they used and trusted to install their air conditioning and heating systems. We spoke with a few different technicians and they offered to come out and do a free consultation in order to give us a proper quote. One of our neighbors had a SMART HVAC, so we asked the technicians about that. We work a crazy amount of hours throughout the week, so it would be nice to have an HVAC that we could control from our phones as we go in and out of the house all day long. We ended up scoring an amazing deal on a SMART air conditioner, and I was obsessed with being able to control it from an app. The technician was incredibly kind and helped us through the whole process. We’re definitely lucky to have great people in our corner as we take this brand new step in our lives.

Cooling system

My grandmother has always loved her antiques.

She loves to collect vintage items and curates a lot of beautiful collections throughout her home. She loves older things! She’s always complaining about modern advances and how they don’t do as well as the things she grew up using. The other day she kept going on and on about thermostats. I never thought I could see someone get so worked up over a thermostat. She strongly believes that dial thermostats are much more accurate than digital thermostats. This all came up because when she was at my house, my digital thermostat glitched and the reading was ten degrees off from what the actual temperature was in the house. This caused mayhem because everyone was overheating and couldn’t understand why since the thermostat was reading seventy-two degrees. This led my grandmother to sharing why I should get a dial thermostat because you will never experience a glitch like that. I’m personally hesitant about dial thermostats because I think you could accidentally brush up against the thermostat while walking and change the dial without realizing it. I also think I am much clumsier than my grandmother, so I don’t think she has ever accidentally changed her thermostat. Nonetheless, I don’t think I will be making the switch to a dial thermostat. I’ll keep my digital one for a while, but I know my grandmother won’t be happy about it. She’s the vintage and antique expert, so I’ll leave the old stuff to her. I really respect and honor her, even though she likes to put up a fight.

HVAC home services

My family and I love going on vacations every summer.

• We don’t typically go on really long trips.

We usually love a trip that’s between four and seven days at a time. This summer we’ve already taken three different vacations. I’m happy that our jobs are so flexible to have this quality family time. I’m also glad that we never have to worry about our home since we have great features, such as our programmable thermostat. Since we have a lot of windows in our home that catches natural sunlight, it’s important that our air conditioner helps to stabilize the temperature of the house throughout the day. I heard about programmable thermostats from a girlfriend who installed one a few years back. What I love about these thermostats is that you can program them for the entire week. I’m able to look at the weather for the week before we go on vacation and decide what the thermostat temperature should stay at. Another great thing about it is that you can sync it to an app on your phone so you can monitor and make any changes to your thermostat while you are away. This isn’t a feature you might use often, but I once checked the thermostat after we were away for a few days to find the home temperature had a six degree difference. Having technology like that really helps me feel at ease while I’m creating memories with my family. I’m so thankful my friend recommended this to me! I tell everyone I know to get one for their own home now.

 

ductless heat pump

I own a marketing consulting firm and manage multiple clients from various professions.

• Through this work, I have learned so much about different industries and I love being able to share my findings on their website.

My clients help me with the content, and I use my marketing skills that I paid lots of money for to put it into a pretty post! One of my clients is a local HVAC company. They have been around the area for almost thirty- three years, and the technicians are the original owners. I keep telling those guys they should slow down and think about retiring, but they say they will stop doing it when people stop caring about air conditioning. I recently made a blog post for them all about indoor air quality. The timing of this post was great because a lot of people struggle with air quality during allergy season in the South. They provided some tips on managing indoor air quality, and one of the best tips they offered was to keep up with a regular maintenance schedule. I don’t think people realize how much our home air filters work overtime when pollen is working its way through the walls all day long. Making sure air filters are regularly being replaced and cleaned is a very important step in improving indoor air quality. The blog post includes lots of other tips and handy techniques that the average homeowner could do to keep their home safe and comfortable. I’m so happy to work with clients that truly care about their customers and consumers. It makes my job so much easier, and fun!

 

 

heat and ac products

Summer is fully underway down here in the South, and I seriously feel like it gets hotter here every single year. Some people might say it’s global warming or climate change. Regardless, I am getting really tired of making beach trips to help me stay cool. It’s a lot of work to get out there! And our air conditioner in our home is working completely overtime to help keep it cool there. We honestly don’t have the best zone control, and I blame my husband for that. When the HVAC technician was installing our new system a few years ago, I wasn’t there to make sure that the zoning was equally distributed. So every summer I am bouncing around to different areas of the house to figure out which room gets the best air conditioning at various times of the day. An even bigger battle we recently endured was our air conditioner completely breaking down on us. It has been a while since we’ve had a complete HVAC inspection, and truthfully, we should have done that before the temperatures got too high. We found that we had an intense leak in the air conditioner due to the ductwork not being sealed properly. Another issue that my husband could have monitored when the HVAC was installed years ago. I shouldn’t blame him for all the things that went wrong because the man who installed the system should have been more on top of it. We paid them good money for things to not even be working properly. We are currently shopping for a new referral.

 

portable space heater

My smart thermostat knows when I am home or when I am at work.

Since I am a teacher, I am home for the summer.

I have been spending alot of time indoors because it has been so hot and humid outside. Typically, our smart thermostat will keep the air conditioning set to 77 degrees when we are both at work. Since the smart thermostat knows I am home during the day, it is on an automatic setting and it has been cooling the house to 72 degrees during the hottest points of the day. I typically change the settings because I do not want to run my electric bill up too high. I do not mind the smart thermostat cooling the house to 72 at night, because I need it to be nice and cold to sleep well. However, during the day it feels so cold that I need a blanket sometimes. I usually change the smart thermostat settings to keep the temperature around 75 degrees in the house when I am home. This may help decrease our electric bill slightly. I know the smart thermostat is just doing its job by cooling the house, however I do not want it to be too cold. Other than this issue, I absolutely love the comfort the smart thermostat brings to my husband and I . I also enjoy the ease of being able to control the temperature from my phone, watch, and smart assistant. Another cool thing about my smart thermostat is it also functions as a speaker, so I can listen to music on it.

 

 

air filter

I used to despise getting my photo taken professionally.

I do not like being told how to smile or which way to look. I am an awkward person and I feel like getting photos taken just made me feel more awkward. All of this changed when I got married, and met my amazing photographer. She photographed my husband and I for our engagement photos, wedding photos, and a random couple’s photoshoot. She made us feel comfortable and the photos always come out beautiful and natural. Today my husband and I are getting photos taken by the same photographer. It happens to be a very hot and humid day. I went to get my makeup professionally done in an air conditioned studio. The makeup artist told me to stay out of the heat and humidity as much as possible so I do not ruin my makeup. I will also be getting my hair done in an air conditioned salon. It is essential that salons are air conditioned because the heat of the hot tools such as blow dryers and curling irons increase the temperature. When we go to get the photos done, that will be at the hottest time of the day. Luckily, my photographer has her own studio that is air conditioned. If the photoshoot was during the winter or even the spring, I would not have to worry as much but since it is in the summer I have to be very conscious about the heat. Luckily the only time I will be out of the air conditioning is in between running errands and going in and out of my air conditioned car.

cooling equipment