Gym needs better HVAC system for our clients

About 10 years ago I got into business with my brother.

I never thought that I would be running a fitness gym, but it turns out that my life was destined for becoming a bit of a workout fiend.

I started lifting weights and running a few years ago and everything changed in my life. From that day forward, my health and fitness became a bit of an obsession. When my brother told me that he wanted to open a new business I was extremely enthusiastic to take his investment money and create a new neighborhood gym. I absolutely love running this little fitness haven for all of my friends and neighbors. However, I never realized that human beings were so disgusting. It seems like I’m always having to call some kind of cleaning service or HVAC maintenance shop. For whatever reason, my clients cannot keep the bathroom free of mildew and mold. They are always adding so much humidity to the restroom that we have nasty airborne contaminants popping up around the walls and through the extensive ductwork. I can’t tell you how many professional air duct work cleaning I have arranged in the past 10 years. Besides that, my clients are so incredibly sweaty that we require additional ventilation and air quality control equipment just to keep the indoor air breathable. There’s nothing like walking into the gym in the morning and being bowled over by a wall of humid, stinky air. At this point, I’m ready to invest in some air purification units and additional dehumidification systems. If I don’t get the air quality under control, I think this gym is destined to sink.
furnace filter

College Dorms Renovated to Join the 21st Century

Because of these beautiful residences, the university has had to face some realities

I live in a city that is known as a “college town.” No matter where you look in our little city, you will see stuff that is designed to attract to college students. We have two universities in our city, and we have a pretty good community college, as well. We even have a technical school that has a good reputation. Over the past five years or so, there has been a huge burst in student housing construction – and I am talking pretty luxurious living is to be had in these places. The housing communities have swimming pools with heaters, weight rooms, free computers, all kinds of food arrangements, and even services where they will send home cards for residents’ families birthdays, mother’s day, and the like. The best thing I think they have, though, is modern and efficient heating and cooling. Parents have to pay for utilities, and everyone knows that a/c and heating is what makes those electric bills skyrocket. Because of these beautiful residences, the university has had to face some realities. No one wants to live in their musty old dorms. There are a few dorm buildings that don’t even have air conditioning! That is hard to believe, I know, and some smart guy at the school finally decided it is time to update the dorm buildings and put in not only great flooring and furnishings, but also efficient and top-notch heating and cooling options. The days of the mythical starving student are over; most students live better than I do, and they are demanding that HVAC technology keep up with their active and luxurious lifestyles.

 

 

HVAC equipment

Mini Split Might be the Better Option

When you are building your house or looking to purchase a new house, one of the things that we all have to pay attention to is the HVAC system. Flooring, general layout, and the roof are right up there in importance, too, but what most concerns me is the heating and cooling. If you have a good, strong heating and cooling system, you will be comfortable for years to come. If the HVAC system is less than stellar, you are going to be sorry for years to come. Flooring trends change, and countertops go from sleek and artificial to tile, but one thing remains the same: everyone wants the thermostat set at a comfortable temperature and wants the A/C to be able to maintain that thermostat setting. Well, HVAC technology is improving and changing every day, just like technology in all kinds of other fields. That means it is in your best interest to bring in an HVAC consultant who can take measure of your home, take note of the layout, and make suggestions on what the best heating and cooling options would be for your family and your home. I had my heart set on getting a mini-split a/c in my house. I don’t live there right now; it is going to be where I live when I retire, and I am seeking low cost everything for those years because my income will be limited to social security. I have known other people who have the mini-split in their homes, and I love them. They are simple to install, inexpensive to operate, and budget-friendly to purchase. BUt I found out my little house is not a good candidate based on the fact that I have many rooms and walls.

 

heating business

Adding Onto House Means Mini Split

A few years ago, my friend decided to put an addition onto her house.

  • She and her husband really did not need the extra room, but you know how it is, people love to spend money when they don’t need to.

Anyway, they got a software program and designed it themselves. I thought that was so brave and kind of stupid, but they did it anyway. Everything was going along fine, and they hired a contractor to do the construction. It wasn’t until the addition was nearly complete that people finally realized there was no plan put in place for heating and cooling for the big room they were adding onto the back of the house. My two friends had no idea they would have to account for what to do about HVAC in this great big room! That is when they had to call in an HVAC contractor to determine what their options were. It turned out that the room was so large that if they wanted to connect it to the central HVAC, they would need to get a bigger unit. In addition, there were no plans for ductwork, so accommodations would have to be made for that. Then, the HVAC guy suggested they might want to try a mini-split a/c unit. At the time, min-split a/c units were still fairly unknown in this area, so they were hesitant. In the end, though, there really weren’t a lot of reasonable options, so they decided to take a leap of faith and get the mini-split a/c installed above the doorway. It is fabulous! Just goes to show you God takes care of fools.

a/c care program

Mini-Split Air Conditioner is the Bomb

Quite a number of years ago, I was working in a church.

  • The church was quite small and had a very small budget to match.

When the HVAC system began going on the fritz on a regular basis, it was time for the pastor to start thinking about discontinuing HVAC repairs and begin to think about getting an HVAC replacement or upgrade. The a/c guy that came to do all the repairs suggested that the church get a mini-split air conditioner. That was the first time I had ever heard of that kind of air conditioner. I had to go look it up online to see what it was. It was intriguing, but at that time, there was only one manufacturer that was selling them. Because it seemed to be new HVAC technology, and had a high price tag to go with it, the pastor was not convinced it was a good idea. He called on parishioners who were in the trades to give their opinions, and most of them liked the idea of the mini-split a/c but did not have any experience with them. Therefore, they did not know if they worked as well as claims suggested. They ended up going with a more traditional HVAC unit and got it installed on the roof. Nowadays, there are numerous brands of mini-split air conditioners, and I think they have been proven to be quite an awesome cooling method. Recently, I found out that mini-split a/c units were being sold in other countries for many years before they were being sold in this country. Apparently, a lot of the HVAC companies did not think the profit margin was great enough.

ductwork

The old portable cooling

I was thinking the other day about portable HVAC products.

How things have changed so much over the years with them. Much like regular heating and air conditioning technology, the advancement of portable heating and air conditioning technology is quite amazing to say the least. Take portable air conditioning systems for instance. Back when we did not have portable air conditioning systems. And the equal of that would have been a swamp cooler. Swamp coolers worked in areas and climates that were not ridiculously hot. But in places like Arizona, swamp coolers were pretty much useless. They could not combat the super bad heat. However, when portable air conditioning systems came into play that was a whole different story. Portable air conditioning systems could combat the heat in places like this. The swamp cooler did its thing though in milder climates. It was just enough to take to heat out of the indoor air quality if your fan or window air conditioning system unit was not working right. I do not miss the days of the swamp cooler by any means. These were primitive times that I am very glad are long behind us all now. I am so glad we have the heating and air conditioning technology now to have portable air conditioning systems as well as portable space heaters that can be small as ever and heat a room up as if you were using central heating. The same goes for portable air conditioning systems. They are just so powerful no matter what the size is!

Heating dealership

Summers in the south

But because of the close friends I have as well as the great paying job I will be staying in the south for a quite a long time yet.

Living in the south is both nice and horrible all at the same time. The people are nice, but the weather and the air quality are horrible most of the time. Especially in the summer more than anything. You have to crank your central air conditioning system like there’s no tomorrow or you will die. That is how bad the heat is. I can not even begin to explain how high the electric bills are in the summer months of the year in the south. Not to mention, the summer months and the hot weather last until almost the end of November! So when the rest of the world is no longer having to use their central air conditioning system, you will still have another 3 months of it in the south. If it was not for the kind and wonderful people I have come to know and be friends with here I would leave this place and never look back. But because of the close friends I have as well as the great paying job I will be staying in the south for a quite a long time yet. I will just have to deal with the high electric bills from cranking the central air conditioning system. I also will be looking into getting a whole home air purification system to help fight the horrible air quality as well. With a whole home air purification system I will be able to clean the indoor air quality of the horrible air quality that comes in from outside. This is something I will be able to do shortly after the next year.

a/c installation

I can not believe i fixed it

Sometimes in life we just get pretty lucky with things.

This was the case when my electric fireplace broke a few months back.

I was sure that the electric fireplace had seen its day and that I was going to have to invest in a brand new electric fireplace. However before I threw in the towel and did that I wanted to see if I could troubleshoot the issues with my electric fireplace. The problem was it was not heating up. I checked the heating element inside of it and it appeared to be ok. There was nothing wrong there so I assumed that the electric fireplace had failed somewhere inside with the technical electronics of it all. But that was not the case either. It turned out that it was just as simple as a fuse being blown! I had no idea that electric fireplaces even had fuses. I found this out when I was speaking with a friend who also has an electric fireplace and while I was telling him my problem he asked if I checked the fuse! I was very confused when he said that. He then explained to me where it was. And lo and behold that was the issue! I was able to pick up a new fuse specifically for the electric fireplace for under 10 bucks and have my electric fireplace fully working once again by the end of the day for almost no cost at all! That was great that I did not have to invest a thousand bucks in a new electric fireplace!

 

a/c care plan

The high school locker room

All of us boys did

I totally hated having to be in the locker room when I was playing sports in high school. It wasn’t for the reason you may think though. It totally had nothing to do with the other kids or anything like that. It was the fact that the gosh darn locker room had the worst indoor air quality anyone could imagine! The indoor air quality of the locker room was so horrible that a whole home air purification system probably would not have even been able to fix it. Even when they ran the central heating and air conditioning system it did not improve the air quality in that stuffy and very awful smelling locker room. To be honest it made me sick to my stomach a lot of the time, so this is why I never went in there much. I would just change into my sports clothing in the mens room instead of the locker room. At least in there the air quality wasn’t as bad! That is saying something when a public toilet had better air quality than the locker room that the high school provided! I don’t know why they never did anything about that awful air quality. I was not the only one who complained. All of us boys did. I always wondered if the girls had the same problem with their high school locker room? Guess i’ll never know. But I am just glad my high school sports days are over and I don’t have to think about that horrible locker room and it’s junky air quality!

HVAC worker

I have gotten myself into too much debt with credit cards

I would say that probably one of the worst decisions I made was running up my debt on credit cards. I feel like credit cards are nothing but a trap because people are going to use them and then it becomes difficult to pay back the debt on the cards. In my case, I ended up making minimal monthly payments which basically just covers the interest. My debt has been growing steadily over the years and now I find myself in a terrible situation. I have considered declaring bankruptcy because of my situation, but I don’t really know what to do. It’s hard to cover all of my bills and keep on top of these credit card payments. The thing I am worried about most is the fact that my HVAC system is getting old and I will need to replace it soon. With the amount of debt that I have, I am unable to save the funds I will need. I really wish I never got myself into such a situation with crushing debt. I feel like I won’t be able to afford to purchase a new HVAC system by the time my HVAC is dead, and that will leave me in a severely dangerous situation. How will I make it through the winter season without a heating system? This is why I am seriously considering the bankruptcy situation, so I’m going to be reaching out to get a lawyer soon enough to see what is my best option. I just want to take care of this situation and never use credit cards again if I can help it.

indoor air quality