The Best HEPA Air Purifiers

For a lot of people COVID is a really awful thing.

Ignoring the whole, you could die, COVID really restricts people.

Some of my friends complain that they can’t go into the office. They can’t go to bars, restaurants or shop in the mall like normal. Lots of movie theaters, concerts and wine tastings are closed due to COVID. For a homebody like me, COVID has been nothing but amazing. It is like certain things are being tailored to be more convenient for me. First, my grocery store decided to offer delivery to make things safe. I don’t have to dress, walk around and waste time in the store. I am like a king telling some peasant to fetch me ale. Second, I can do virtual pet appointments. My cat Bandit hated being stuffed in a carrier, sitting in the waiting room and then getting prodded. Now I just point my laptop at my comfortably sleeping cat and make sure everything is okay. Finally, I save a lot of money but not buy anything unnecessary. It used to be anytime the HVAC wouldn’t turn on, made a loud noise or whatever, I would call my local contractor. Now they don’t come to my home unless it is necessary. In a virtual appointment I show them the HVAC and let them hear the signs. I usually get loose instruction on how to keep it going and I only pay a little fee for it. I haven’t needed to have a real contractor in my home yet!

 

 

Ductless heat pump

It makes no sense that the biggest purchases you make in life can’t be tested out.

If you want a pair of shoes or a new bathing suit, you can try it on.

You can read reviews, look at pictures online and even return the product for a full refund if you don’t like it. A new vehicle you can drive it around the block and that is it. How about a house? You walk through a house in around 10 minutes and then need to decide if you essentially would like to die in there. There is no refund, return or trying it out. You really should get to test a house out. I wanted to try living in my house for a week. I want to know the noises that are around the neighborhood. Is the water pressure good in the shower? I wanted to use the kitchen appliances. I also wanted to test the HVAC device. Nope, instead I just had to buy the house that seemed okay and hope for the best. Quickly into living in the house I realized I needed a new HVAC device. Can I test out the different HVAC machines? Nope, you need to pay tons of money and get whatever is installed in your home. You get one guy with a little schooling ripping into your home. I just had to hope that I picked out the heating and cooling system that was right for me. I researched and consulted different homeowners. However, that is not the same as living with the HVAC day in and day out.

 

a/c care

Now, we have been here ten years, and the a/c and heater are working just fine.

When you are a homeowner, there seems to be no end of decisions that need to be made. Should we purchase a generator for hurricane season, and if so, should we go into debt to get the good one that is connected to the house’s electrical system or just go the cheaper way but have to go through so much more to get it working? Should we put in a pool or update the kitchen? No one cooks but the pool would be fun. HOwever, an updated kitchen means a higher market value for the home. Should we get new flooring or leave it outdated but save the money? Then, of course, there is the big question about the heating and cooling system. In our case, the HVAC system was already pretty old when we bought the place. The inspector said we could be expecting to replace the furnace and a/c within five years. Now, we have been here ten years, and the a/c and heater are working just fine. Yet, we know that HVAC technology has improved since the days when the previous homeowners got the simple central heating and cooling installed. At the time, it was probably close to the top of the line, but now, it’s just not. We know we could improve the a/c system with smart thermostats, HVAC with zone control for more adaptable temperatures, and maybe even a/c vent sensors and a whole house humidifier for momore pleasant winter months. Yet, do we spend that kind of money when the old system is still heating and cooling the space? How much would it improve the value of our house? Should we wait as long as possible or go ahead and do it now to save on utilities?
Further information on AC

If you know me, you are probably aware that the biggest reason I hate going into the office is because of the problematic heating and cooling system in our office suite.

For almost two years now, we have been complaining about the HVAC. The biggest problem has been that my boss’s office never has enough cooling to make it a comfortable temperature in there. The first problem with that is the HVAC with zone control. I share my HVAC unit with another company across the hall, and I could turn my a/c system completely off, and it would still be running and pouring cold air down my neck. It wasn’t working right, and the heating and cooling service technician explained that the reason is a broken damper that needs to be replaced. The second problem is that the ductwork to this absolutely massive 8-ton HVAC unit does not go at all into my boss’s office. Instead, he has a tiny little a/c that is not nearly big enough to cool his space. The 8-ton HVAC is big enough to cool my office, his office, and the reception area in between, but the ducts don’t go there! The tiny unit is not sufficient to do anything much at all. Now, all of a sudden, there is this crazy loud noise that screeches every time the air conditioning turns on. The unit is in his office, but it cools my office! The a/c noise is so loud that he jumps every time it happens! The a/c guru says it means that the motor needs to be tightened and the a/c belt needs to be replaced.

 

Home owner solutions

One of my favorite Disney tunes was Whistle While You Work, and I still find it useful today.

If I am feeling down at the office, I find that if I hum or whistle a happy tune, I can change my mood and turn my frown upside down.

NOw if I could just teach that skill to my crazy boss, the whole office experience could be a better one. Unfortunately, though, I can’t get him to be in the game. The reason is mostly that he’s always miserable because the HVAC in our office is unreliable and a pierce of junk. We have been complaining to the property manager practically since the day we moved in almost two years ago. In the summer, no matter where my boss sets his thermostat, the a/c can get it to be cool enough in his office. The HVAC guys were in the office for over a week replacing an entire heating and cooling unit that is housed above the ceiling. All that ended up doing is freezing me out, but the thermostat still reads 73 when he sets it for 69. The a/c service tech finally explained to me what is happening with the air conditioning in our office suite and why it is so problematic. First, I share an HVAC unit with the suite across the hall. The HVAC with zone control is supposed to make it so that we can each use our own thermostat and have it work in our respective areas. However, the damper is broken, so the cooling dumps a ton of frigid air on me. That’s just problem 1.

a/c corporation

My wife is getting a little overzealous about keeping us on budget this year.

Her new thing is that she wants us to save money on our heating and cooling bills.

I don’t mind trying to do that. I mean, it’s going to be less comfortable in our house this summer if we try and keep the thermostat set at a higher temperature than normal, but hopefully my body will adjust and I’ll be able to deal with it. So it’s not really that part of her plan that is bothering me that much. No, the thing that I’m more concerned about is the fact that my wife is trying to get me to stop buying the high quality HEPA air filters that I like to get for our HVAC system. I have been buying these high quality HEPA air filters ever since we moved into this house almost twenty years ago and they are the best. I have done lots of research into different types of air filters, and by far, the HEPA ones that I purchase are the best. I credit them with the fact that we have excellent indoor air quality in our house nearly all the time. My wife says that these air filters are too expensive, no matter how great they are. She says that we could get air filters for a fraction of the cost and they would probably be just as good. Her logic is that we end up throwing the air filters away eventually anyway. I don’t know what to tell her, but I’m not happy with the way this new plan is heading!

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When I first moved to a house by myself, I thought I would be done for. I imagined hiring out a bunch of services because I am helpless. I have never done anything really on my own. I never made a meal, cleaned a bathroom, hung picture frames, snaked a drain or deduced a HVAC repair. Thankfully rather than just throw in the towel right away, I decided to try being a little more handy. I started out buying myself some basic tools that I kept on hand. I also watched a ton of videos of electric, plumbing and HVAC work. I always go into a project thinking I can do it and I usually succeed. I have replaced a window, tiled and grouted a floor, installed a new sink and even fixed my dishwasher. The one thing I still struggle with is HVAC repairs. My home HVAC unit is a little tricky. It constantly turns off and on. I usually can coax it back to life with an air filter change, sticking my hose up inside of it and mucking out the condensate drain. Other than that, I am kind of at a loss on what to do. If the HVAC still won’t turn on, I call the HVAC contractor. I basically hover over the guy’s shoulder like Abu with Aladdin so I will learn what to do. HVAC just doesn’t stick in my brain though. What the guy is doing makes no sense to me. I am hoping someday I can at least do small repairs.
a/c service

My parents do the snowbirds thing and they live down the street from me.

It is really convenient for them that I live nearby, not really for me. When my parents leave I suddenly have a lot of work to do. My mother is all over me to water her plants on a weekly basis. My father wants me to start their car and move it around the property almost everyday. They frequently mess up and send packages to the southern home or see something on the security camera that I need to check out. The worst is when they hire a service done and I need to babysit the contractor. My father loves to have a HVAC contractor come to the house when they are not there. I then need to take a day off of work to babysit the HVAC technician, pay him and then hound my parents to reimburse me. If there is a repair needed, it is such a mess. My father won’t directly talk to the HVAC professional. So I am the go between guy asking questions, hashing out prices and scheduling another appointment that I am invociennce. I usually just tell the HVAC contractor to make hte repair right then and there and I pay for it. It is worth a few hundred bucks not to have my father haggling over the phone with me translating. Someday they will live down south full time. That will be nice since I might make them house sit when I go on vacation. I will make sure to get a HVAC tune up during it.

 

 

Local business

My smart thermostat totally ignores what temperatures that I set it too.

It is supposed to learn a heating and cooling program off of my behaviors. I think I have a snotty smart thermostat. We must have gotten off on the wrong foot because neither of us like one another. I basically want my house to be 74 degrees no matter the season. If it means heating or cooling, I don’t care. The thermostat should learn that. Instead, I think it is messing with me. Around 5am, the thermostat will have the temperature set to 65 degrees at energy saving mode. The house is so freezing cold that I can hardly stand it. I wake up in the middle of the night, mess with my phone and turn on the heating equipment. It stays at my temperature until around 3pm. I then noticed my thermostat likes to have the house around 80 degrees and waste me money. I all of a sudden notice I am way too hot and don’t want heating anymore. I then realize my thermostat has snuck a bunch of heating in. Why does it do this? I am wondering if I by mistake set up a really dumb program like that. I am curious that perhaps the thermostat learned my HVAC behaviors when I wasn’t living at my house yet. Heating and cooling an empty house is a lot different than a person with wants and needs. I keep thinking I can fix the proram, but I am too dumb. I kind of miss my dial thermostat.

 

More info here

Heating your garage does not have to be expensive and can be accomplished cheaply.

First, you should inspect the walls and ceiling of the garage, looking for insulation.

The contractors who build your home should have installed thick insulation in the ceiling areas and in between the walls. Add insulation to these areas if you find your garage is lacking. Measure the size of your garage, or get a rough estimate of the square footage. You need to know the amount of space you have to heat in order to heat it effectively. To efficiently heat your garage, use sealed combustion space heaters. The heaters rely on natural gas or kerosene and work by taking air from surrounding areas and sending it back out as warm air. Check the packaging carefully to determine the amount of space each heater covers, and purchase enough heaters to heat the whole space effectively. With a single car garage, you will likely need only one heater. Turn the space heaters on at least 30 minutes before working in the garage to bring the temperature up to a comfortable level. You can also install electric radiant ceiling panels. The panels are installed on walls and ceilings and work by heating the objects in the nearby vicinity. The panels will quickly heat up the walls, blocking off the cold air and making it warmer. You could also place blankets or rugs on the floors and over any openings in the garage, including windows. Hammer the blankets or towels into place with nails, fastening securely to the walls. This helps block out any drafts or cold air, which may make the garage feel even colder and decrease effectiveness of heating devices.

 

Washable filter