Scott's Comfort Cooline

Today I am working our booth at the 67th Annual Home & Garden Show. This year it is being held at the Great Lakes Exposition Center located at 1200 Babittt Rd. (Corner of St. Clair).
We have our WaterFurnace geothermal units and our Trane gas furnace and A/C on display.
Good attendance all week. Tomorrow is the last day. Today’s hours are 10 AM until 9 PM. Sunday 10AM until 6 PM. Tickets at the door are $12 but you can get $3 off at Drug Mart. Free parking.

Congratulations to Don Millard of Bel-Red Heating and Air http://www.belred.com/, for being elected to a 3-year term as a director of Air Conditioning Contractors of America http://www.acca.org/ .

Don is an active member of our ACCA Mix Group. Don’s contribution to helping the industry and HVAC consumers everywhere is greatly appreciated. For more on Don’s election as a director – http://www.belred.com/blog/post.cfm/don-millard-elected-to-board-of-air-conditioner-contractors-of-america#commentForm

Congratulations to Johansen and Anserson, Inc. of Joliet Illinois,  having been awarded the Retailer of the Year award by the Joliet Chamber of Commerce.

Founded in 1946, J&A has been serving the heating and air conditioning needs of the Joliet area for over 50 years. NATE certified technicians and 24 hour emergency service are two great reasons to keep J&A in mind when you have a heating or cooling problem.

To learn more about Johansen and Anderson, Inc. visit their website. http://www.jnaonline.com/

Buildings in Ohio are frequently in need of added moisture during the winter heating months. Some folks erroneously think that their home heating system “dries out” the air in the home, but that is not the case.

Dry indoor air is caused by the air leaking into and out of our homes – known as infiltration and exfiltration. Every home is different but most homes have an “air exchange rate” of between one air change every 3 hours to as much as 2 air changes per hour or more. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has established 8 air change per day – one air change every 3 hours – as the ideal balance between health and economy. Fewer than 8 air changes per day can result in unwanted buildup of indoor air pollutants. More than 8 air changes per day causes more energy use to heat or cool the incoming air.

In Ohio the air in the winter becomes very dry. It has always been a fact that cooler air can hold less moisture. When this dry winter air leaks into our homes, it warms and expands causing its “relative humidity” to become even drier. Relative humidity is the amount of water vapor in air as a percentage of the maximum amount of water vapor it can hold. So when you hear that the relative humidity (RH) in a home is 50% – that means the air currently has 50% of the total amount of evaporated water in in it that it could potentially hold.

Homes in Ohio can get down as low as 10 or 15% RH in the winter – as dry as a desert. Dry air is bad for our homes and bad for us and our family members. Dry air causes the wood in our homes, including furniture, picture frames, cabinets, molding and structural wood to shrink. This can cause cracking of the wood. Our bodies can suffer from dryness too – with dry skin, nose, eyes and mucous membranes in our nose and throat. Our mucous membranes are a first line defense against invading germs – the germs get caught in the mucous membrane and get dragged down to the stomach where they are destroyed by our stomach acids. When our throats dry out, they can crack and create an opening into the body for germs. Some feel this is a major cause of winter colds.

People have been adding moisture for to the indoor air for centuries. In early times this was often accomplished with a pan of water on the stove. The addition of automatic humidifiers added to ducted heating systems was a significant advance. About 10 years ago humidifier controls were improved to include automatically adjusting humidifiers – controls that adjust the setting to match the outdoor weather.

There have been many designs of automatic humidifiers over the years – felt pads that wicked moisture up into the air stream, sponges on rotating wheels, and evaporative pads for the water to trickle down as air passed through the pad. There have always been a few issues with humidifiers – how to evaporate enough water to meet the need, and how to deal with the minerals left behind when water evaporates.

The amount of minerals left behind depends on two variables – the mineral content of the water (water hardness) and the volume of water evaporated. It is important to make humidifier maintenance effective and easy or problems develop.

Another related issue is water use. One design of automatic humidifiers is to use excess water to wash the minerals down the drain. This is a very simple and effective method of dealing with the minerals and allows for easy, effective maintenance – annual replacement of the evaporator pad is sufficient in most cases. However this design requires 80 to 90% of water used to go down the drain, with only 10 to 20% of the water being evaporated and  used to add humidity to the home.

Steam humidifiers have always been efficient in water use, with over 90% of water consumed being added to the air in the home. Older designs however were sometimes a maintenance headache. The accumulated minerals did not always get effectively flushed out, leading to breakdowns and premature failure of the heating element.

Now we have the TrueSteam humidifier from Honeywell. This steam humidifier has and improved design to effectively purge minerals from the humidifier. This humidifier has the ability to put the maximum amount of moisture into the home with the minimum maintenance. And because it is a steam humidifier it does not use the heat from the furnace or the water heater to evaporate the water.  One additional benefit of this design as compared to by-pass humidifiers is it does not “rob” air from the airflow being used to carry comfort to the home.

For more information call Apple Heating & Cooling at 877-356-3144 (NE Ohio only). We also currently have a coupon for $100 off Honeywell TrueSteam humidifiers on our website – http://www.appleheating.com/

Well it all started for me  in 1981 when I got let go from my job as a salesmen at a local concrete and building supplies company. There was a recession and I was expendable. Needing a job  I went that fall to a monthly meeting of the Ashtabula County Builder’s Association to network with business people from the construction industry, many of who I knew.

One in attendance at that meeting was Brad Wight from Wight Supply, a wholesale distributor of heating and cooling products. In 1981 there was a big market for wood burning stoves and accessories, brought on by the second oil embargo in 1977. Brad had added distribution of wood stoves and related products to his traditional heating lines and also opened up a retail store to sell same. His wood stove store manager had quit and he offered me the job. That was in November of 1981.

Brad had a relationship with a good stove installer that Brad had worked with when they both were employed at MFG – Molded Fiber Glass in Ashtabula. That installer was Dave Pinelli, who is now my  partner and half owner of Apple Heating & Cooling. The name of the store was The Alternative as Brad had a vision of a store that not only catered to the needs of the wood-burning public, but also a store that would sell and install alternative energy products like solar and wind powered systems.

After a couple of months it became apparent that my compensation – 100% commission – was not going to be enough to live on. I told Brad we needed a change so he offered to make me a 50% partner and keep the pay the same. I accepted.

In 1982 we moved the store to Bridge Street in Ashtabula Harbor. We sold a couple of solar systems and at Brad’s suggestion we bid and won work installing heating systems in new homes with a local builder. This led to installations of “conventional” heating and cooling systems including gas furnaces, boilers, duct systems and all the rest. We also did plumbing with Dave being our plumber. Dave became 1/3 owner in 1983 (lucky guy).

Despite growing the business to about $350,000 in annual sales with at times 5 employees, the business was not profitable. There were many reasons. In January of 1985 in a push to cut costs we moved the operation to 4807 Park Ave., where we rented the space from my father and aunt. Our main creditor was Wight Supply and by April of 1985, Brad was in a situation where he could no longer continue to support us financially. He closed the business and liquidated the assets.

Dave and I were sitting in an empty building with nothing but two chairs, the light bulbs and some toilet paper. With zero capital we decided to start a new company that would be a traditional heating and cooling contractor – HVAC as well as plumbing. We had one customer – Tim Wing Construction – and some bills to pay. Dave and I went to the local Arby’s for lunch and discussed what to name the company. We knew we wanted the name to start with A to get in the beginning of the listings in the yellow pages. We also wanted a name that could be the foundation for graphics for a logo to identify us. The name Apple came up and we thought well, people like apples. So Apple Heating it was. We paid a lawyer to draw up articles of incorporation and filed with the State of Ohio. We were off.

Congratulations to Oregon Heating heating   http://www.oregonheating.com/ has been awarded the prestigious “Super Service Award for 2009″ by Angie’s List. This award is earned by less than 5% of all heating and air conditioning companies.

Anyone in the Beaverton or McMinville Oregon area that needs a heating and air conditioning contractor with a proven record of outstanding service need look no further than Oregon Heating.

If you or someone you know lives in or around the Route 495 / 128 area in  Massachusetts, you should know about Andy Rodenhiser Plumbing and Heating.

Rodenhiser Plumbing and Heating has been serving customers successfully since 1928, so you know they will be ready to “answer the call” when you have a heating or cooling emergency.

Written warranties and upfront pricing will give you confidence that Rodenhiser will treat you right. Visit their website for money-saving coupons.    http://www.rodenhiser.com/

Everyone needs a good heating contractor. Especially when temperatures drop to -9 F. For folks who live around Minneapolis – St. Paul there is Air Mechanical, Inc. in Ham Lake.   http://www.airmechanicalinc.com/

If you want professional service and NATE certified technicians call Air Mechanical Inc.