10 Ways to Keep Your Cool!

The recent issue of Money Magazine had a list of 10 ways to cut your cooling costs. Although it is not a complete list it contained some very good information. We have added additional thoughts that the article did not consider but will add to your comfort.

1. Clean The Condenser Make sure shrubs, plants and ground cover are at least a foot away from the unit outside. Wash down the unit with a hose but be sure not to force debris between the coil fins.
2. Replace Filters Replace the filter in your furnace at least twice a year. If you have pets or a lot of activity in your home it may be necessary to replace it much more often
3. Plant a Tree If you plant a larger tree on the West or South side of your home, the shade can reduce cooling costs.
4. Tighten Ductwork If your basement is considerably cooler that the rest of your house, it could be the ductwork in the basement is leaking the cool air into the basement and not allowing it to flow into the main areas of the home.
5. Install Ceiling Fans Air movement helps us to feel cooler. Installation of ceiling fans can help circulate air in your home and provide more comfort. Just be sure to turn off fans in rooms you are not using and save energy.
6. Use the Shades Closing window treatments on the South and West side of your home on sunny days can reduce solar heat gain. It can also reduce fading of carpeting and furnishings.
7. Keep the Air Flowing Leave doors between rooms open to allow air flow. Also be sure vents are open and not covered with furniture or other stuff.
8. Open Windows On cool nights or cool days it may make sense to open windows in your home. There are some risks here for home security and allow airborne allergens into your home.
9. Upgrade If your unit is 10 years old or more replacing it with a new high efficiency unit can save you bucks this year.
10. Get a Checkup Having a semi-annual checkup of your system by a qualified Technician can assure your unit is operating at the maximum efficiency for your unit.

 

If you need service on your system or are thinking about a replacement, call us today!

It’s a good time of year to have our trained experienced air conditioning Technicians solve your cooling problems whether you live on Grosse Ilse, in Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Melvindale, or Oak Park.

Contact us for more information or visit our website at www.HomeServiceCorp.com.

Home Service Corporation serving our Michigan customers Heating & Air Conditioning , Plumbing and Electrical needs since 1980.

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Hug Your Plumber Day continued……

If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.” — Albert Einstein, The Reporter, 18 November 1954 April 25^th, 2014 is “Hug Your Plumber Day”. Hopefully you have read part 1 of this article. If you haven’t, please read it. As science advanced and scientists, doctors and other health officials recognized that polluted water and human waste was a major cause of many of the epidemic diseases of the dark ages, they pushed for solutions to protect people. With the growth of cities, the outhouse had to go since there was not enough space to have them and have the tight living conditions of cities. The Romans brought the idea of piping water to their cities and towns in huge quantities through gravity from mountain streams where the water was cleaner and safer. Within the cities at the end of the eighteen century and the beginning of the nineteenth century piped water systems were again used. But this time they pumped water from lakes and rivers and had little dependence on gravity. Plumbers installed this piping and the piping within homes to provide clean water to homes and businesses. It was a learning time and advances in devices and installations that further protected the water supply each of us use today. These advances came through trial and error and many were the direct result of the ingenuity of your plumber. These include air gaps between a faucet outlet and the rim of a sink, valve design inside a toilet that prevents the waste water being sucked up into the drinking water system, faucets that reduce the possibility of scalding from extremely hot water, relief valves on water heaters to prevent explosions along with dozens of others. All skillfully installed and calibrated by your plumber. On the drain side of the system, your plumber has installed the piping to carry away waste water and human waste. He has sized the piping to be sure the waste is safely and efficiently carried away. He installs vents so the system will work properly. He installs the piping which connects to the plants that process the waste and safely returns the water back into our ecology. Your plumber installs traps and systems so smells from the waste are not found in today’s homes and businesses. Rarely do we even notice how effective these systems operate. Countries with modern plumbing systems are free from those diseases born of polluted water or human waste. Today’s plumber has spent at least three years as an apprentice and often has an associate’s degree from a local college. Your plumber is a highly trained, highly educated craftsman. Remember to give him or her a hug (or at least a handshake) next time you see your plumber. It’s a good time of year to have our trained experienced plumbers solve your plumbing problems whether you live on Grosse Ilse, in Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Melvindale, or Oak Park. Contact us for more information or visit our website at www.HomeServiceCorp.com. Home Service Corporation serving our Michigan customers Heating & Air Conditioning , Plumbing and Electrical needs since 1980. Related Posts 21 Things to ask a contractor! Myth or Fact? 11 Summer Dollar Savers

Hug Your Plumber Day, part 1 :)

If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.”
— Albert Einstein, The Reporter, 18 November 1954

 

April 25th, 2014 is “Hug Your Plumber Day”. Some history to better understand the contribution plumbers make to our lives today.
During the middle Ages, in castles the toilet was called a garderobe and it was simply a vertical shaft with a stone seat at the top. A hole in the bottom let everything just drop into a pit or the moat. Obviously there was smell and diseases from the mess. You had to be careful you weren’t walking underneath it when someone was on the “toilet” and take care not to fall into the moat. In the summer time the smell would have been terrible. Some Monks built stone or wooden lavatories over rivers. At Portchester Castle in the 12th century monks built stone chutes leading to the sea. When the tide went in and out it would flush away the sewage. During this period, wealthy people might use rags to wipe their behinds. Ordinary people often used a plant called common mullein or woolly mullein. In fact, people used to store clothes in the garderobes as the smells kept moths away that might otherwise eat holes in them. This is where the word wardrobe comes from.

The typical peasant family of the aptly-named Dark Ages lived in a one-room, dirt-floor hovel, with a hole in the thatched roof to let out the smoke of the central fire not a castle. The floor was strewn with hay or rushes, easy havens for lice and vermin. Garbage accumulated within. If they were lucky, the family had a chamber pot, though more likely they relieved themselves in the corner of the hovel or in the mire and muck outside. Water was too precious to use for anything except drinking and cooking, so people rarely bathed. Heck, they barely changed clothes from one season to another, wearing the same set every day, perhaps piling on more rags for warmth.

These are the conditions which spawned the infamous Black Plague, killing an estimated one third of the European population. Although poor plumbing was not the only cause, the plague serves as the most striking example of misery caused by poor sanitation in general.

The first of several waves hit England in 1348, caused by flea bites spread by insects that Lived on host black rats. They, in turn, fed on the garbage and excrement of the masses. London became largely deserted. The King and Queen and other rich people fled to the countryside leaving the poor suffering in the cities.
Panic, death and despair followed the abandonment of farms and towns. William of Dene, a monk of Rochester in Kent, England wrote, “Men and women carried their own children on their shoulders to the church and threw them into a common pit. From these pits such an appalling stench was given off that scarcely anyone dared to walk beside the cemeteries, so marked a deficiency of labors and workmen that more than a third of the land in the whole realm was left to.” So bad was the “Black Death,” the Great Fire of London in 1666 can be viewed as a blessing in disguise. Though it killed thousands of people, the holocaust also consumed garbage, muck and black rats, effectively ending the plague.
We’ll continue part 2 in our next post. In the meantime, it’s a good time of year to have our trained experienced plumbers solve your plumbing problems whether you live on Grosse Ilse, in Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Melvindale, or Oak Park.

Contact us for more information or visit our website at www.HomeServiceCorp.com.

Home Service Corporation serving our Michigan customers Heating & Air Conditioning , Plumbing and Electrical needs since 1980.

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