We just launched a mobile version of our website to make it more compatible for those using smartphones. No more zooming into a portion of our full-sized site.

We’re not a giant company, but we have a small mobile website

We have mobile specific pages just for those users. And because mobile phone screen sizes are small, and users are looking for quick information, we made the mobile site very small too.

It’s only a handful of the essential pages. Each page only has the bare bones info for quick loading and quick reading.

We’ve got a home page, and an air conditioning page, an AC repairs page, indoor air quality and commercial hvac pages. We’ve also got a contact page, a service area page with a little map and some pages about our guarantees and upfront pricing policy.

If you are browsing from a full sized desktop or laptop you can view the mobile pages from those links above, but to get an idea of what it would look like on a phone shrink the size of your browser window till its about as wide as an iPhone.

Oh, and see those links on the phone number… on a smartphone with touch screens, they are “click to call” buttons. Tap on it and it calls us.

So Houston, next time you have a problem (of the air conditioning sort) just head on over to our website via your smartphone.

Here are a few things you can check:

Do they have heat in the home?
Do they have hot water?
Are all their appliances working properly?
Are their pipes, sprinkler system and faucets protected against freezing?
Is their phone operational?
Do they have the phone number of someone they can call for minor emergencies? Yours?

Please don’t wait until something tragic happens. Take a few minutes to help a neighbor. It’s well worth your time.

(For more information on how higher efficiency equipment can save you more money, please see our previous post here.)

Houston Metro Residents should contact us about applying this tax credit to new HVAC equipment. Outside Houston contact your local HVAC contractors.

Residential Tax Credit Details

For qualified improvements, homeowners may be able to claim tax credits equal to 30% of the installed costs (up to $1,500).

• Furnace to qualify 95% AFUE
• Boiler to qualify 90% AFUE
• A/C to qualify 16 SEER + 13 EER
• Heat Pump same as A/C plus HSPF 9
• Water Heater energy factor .8 (tankless)

Please ask your comfort adviser for details on qualifying equipment.

• The new tax credits are retroactive to January 1, 2009, and expire on December 31, 2010. The $1,500 limit is for all improvements made during the two year term, not $1500 each year.

• Per-Appliance Caps Removed – Homeowners may use the entire $1,500 tax credit limit on a single qualifying improvement. The previous per-appliance caps that limited the homeowner to just $150 for a high efficiency furnace or $300 for a high efficiency central air conditioner or heat pump have been removed.

• Lifetime Limit Removed – Homeowners that previously claimed tax credits in 2006 or 2007 are eligible for the full $1,500 limit.

• Expanded Geothermal Tax Credits – Homeowners who install geothermal heat pump systems may be able to claim up to 30% of the installed costs in tax credits in the year the system is placed into service. The $2,000 tax credit limit has been removed. The geothermal tax credit has a longer term, from January 1, 2009 and expires December 31, 2016.

• Consumers should be aware that the $1,500 limit applies to many types of energy efficient home improvements, including windows and doors, roofing shingles, and insulation. You can use the $1500 on just HVAC improvements or on a combination of above home improvements.

Frequently Asked Questions About the New Tax Credits

Can a homeowner claim $1500 in tax credits for improvements made in 2009 and again for improvements made in 2010?
No. Taxpayers may only be eligible for a total of $1500 in tax credits for improvements made in the combined two year period of 2009 and 2010.

Can a homeowner use the entire $1500 limit as a credit toward the installation of one appliance?
Yes. A homeowner may use the entire $1500 in tax credits for installing a single appliance, such as a qualified furnace, air conditioner, heat pump, or hot water heater.

What happens if the 30% of the installed costs is less than $1500?
The homeowner can “bank” the the remaining available tax credit for other qualified improvements. Any single installation that costs more than $5000 will instantly reach the $1500 limit.

Does the tax credit apply to the cost of the equipment or equipment plus labor?
The tax credit applies to the installed costs of the qualified equipment, which includes labor.

How will a taxpayer claim the credit and receive their money?
In the past, the IRS has directed taxpayers to use Form 5695, Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit. Taxpayers are not required to file anything more than the form, but are instructed to keep records of their installation.

What’s the difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction?
As a tax credit applies against the taxpayers’ liability. A tax deduction applies against a taxpayer’s income, lowering the adjusted gross income and possibly moving the taxpayer to a lower tax bracket. Tax credits have a greater benefit to a taxpayer.
With a tax credit, if the taxpayer owes $2000, in taxes, their liability is reduced to $500. If they owe nothing, they can expect a $1500 refund.

What if the homeowners already claimed $500 in tax credits in 2006 or 2007?
The “lifetime caps” that used to be in place have been removed. Any previous claims do not count against the current $1500 tax credit limit.

Can a homeowner claim the credit for improvements to a second home?
No. The tax credit is only available for improvement to the taxpayer’s primary residence.

Can a small business that operates out of a townhouse and installs residential equipment in a commercial setting claim the credit?
No. The tax credit may only be claimed by taxpayers on their personal income taxes for improvements to their primary residence.

What other types of energy efficiency improvements qualify for the tax credits?
Homeowners may be able to qualify for the tax credits if they make qualified improvements to: windows and doors including skylights, storm windows and storm doors; roofing including metal and asphalt roofs; and insulation. All of these improvements qualify, but homeowner may only claim $1500 in total for any improvements.

Will every homeowner definitely qualify for the tax credit?
No. Each taxpayer’s situation is different. Please consult with a tax professional if you have questions regarding your tax situation in regards to these new credits.

It’s hard to find good news for your wallet these days, but these new tax credit changes can help you keep your cool in terms of both comfort and savings!

But the Financial DOOM & GLOOM in the News Got You Down?

LET US BAIL YOU OUT!

Save 12.5% on a New Air Conditioning System, RIGHT NOW!

That’s right! We’re easing the strain on your wallet by offering a significant discount on all new central air conditioner installations. Same goes for heat pumps, air handlers, even gas furnaces.

**UPDATE!** Take advantage of this offer before it ends, and we’ll also include a new digital thermostat with your system at no extra charge!

Don’t Wait! This Sale Ends in 2 Weeks

Contact Us Today and tell us you need a bailout package.

Energy Savings Too!

The technology in today’s heating and cooling equipment makes for highly efficient energy use. The Trane units we sell are the industry leaders in efficiency. You will enjoy added savings on your monthly utility bills. The average savings are 30% and can go as high as 60%. That adds up to a lot of money, every year.

What Credit Crisis?

We have two financing providers should you need to make a purchase on credit. Both are still actively taking finance applications and approval rates are normal.

Weathering the Financial Storm

At Clear the Air we are well positioned to ride out the credit crunch and any oncoming recession. As a leading central A/C dealer and contractor in the Metro Houston market we have excellent purchase agreements with our suppliers and can ensure our products will continue going out.

We will always be the company that is here to service your home comfort system and continue to service manufacturer warranties, as well as back our installation guarantees.

Take advantage of this Bailout Sale now. By the time the dust settles in the stock markets this sale will be over.

Give us a call at (281) 992-7866 or click to our contact page and send an email.

Full Time Employee’s

We are seeking a highly motivated team player for an HVAC service technician position in the residential & light commercial market. Excellent pay and benefits, company truck, cellphone. We are a high tech, progressive HVAC company that services the Clear Lake, Friendswood, Pearland, South Houston areas. We provide you with 80+ hours of paid training per year.

Qualified person will have 3+ years experience troubleshooting HVAC systems. You must be able to work in our service area and work overtime when necessary. You also must be EPA certified w/ valid drivers license and a clean driving record.

Pay is dependent on experience level. $2000 sign on bonus. We pay by the hour with bonus incentives based on performance.

Potential employee’s can check out our employment opportunities page and send us a job application.

After You’ve Spoken to Your Insurance Company About A/C Damage, Contact Us

Continuing with our posting about the cleanup after Hurricane Ike here in Houston we dug up lots of great info about home insurance. Our previous post was about cleaning and repairing your air conditioner after the storm.

Note: The information on this page was obtained from various sources on the internet and is of a very general nature. Your individual insurance policy should be consulted to see exactly what you are and are not covered for. This information is provided to help you get on the right track and to be able to be asking good questions when dealing with your insurance company, government officials and repair agencies and companies.

Homeowners Insurance and Flood Insurance

Homeowners insurance will cover wind related damage. Flood damage is not covered by your house insurance. You’ll need to have purchased flood insurance separately.

Advice to Texas property owners affected by Hurricane Ike – The Insurance Information Institute

FloodSmart.gov is a resource site from the National Flood Insurance program. Here they offer tips on what to do to prepare and recover after a flood.

Click 2 Houston has some information on what is typically covered by insurance after a hurricane.

Hiring Insurance Claims Adjusters

A licensed claims adjuster can help represent your best interests. As professionals well versed on the ins and outs of insurance policies they can help ensure you get the maximum entitled to you when filing a valid claim. Typically a public adjuster would be brought in if you feel your insurance company is not handling your case fairly. But they can be brought into the process at any time.

Take note that an adjuster will typically charge a 15% fixed rate to handle your claim. The premise of using an adjuster is that they can often help you get more money than if you had handled the claim on your own making the fee worthwhile.

What’s Covered by FEMA?

FEMA offers disaster assistance to individuals, families and businesses for losses not covered by insurance. Generally this means they will cover emergency expenses for immediate needs of shelter and temporary repairs so properties are functional and safe.

The Houston Chronicle has some good Questions & Answers regarding FEMA here.

Hurricane Ike Information from FEMA

APPLY FOR ASSISTANCE

WATCH OUT FOR SCAMS!

With the amount of damage caused by Hurricane Ike, cleanup crews, contractors, insurance companies are all going to be very very busy. Individuals in need of assistance from such groups will also be stressed and looking to get things back to normal as fast as possible. This unfortunately creates an environment ripe for exploitation, both intentional and inadvertent. Stay diligent.

The Insurance Information Institute has some info on avoiding scams

Info on how to file a claim and not get pushed over by the insurance company.

After You’ve Spoken to Your Insurance Company About A/C Damage, Contact Us

Now that we are all in the midst of recovering after Hurricane Ike, and the damage it left here in the Houston area, we thought it would be prudent to offer up information on how to take care of your central A/C unit. Being that the compressor unit is located outdoors yours may have sustained some damage from the storm. This blog post should help you to access the damage and take steps to minimize further problems after electricity service is restored.

We realize that it would be nice to have your A/C running to keep your home cool but before you do so you need to check it first before you cause more damage that could increase costs. Granted it may be your insurance company footing the repair bill, or part of it, you still want to avoid creating more problems that could increase the time frame before your A/C can be up and running again.

This from the Texas Insurance Department;

Q. Can I make repairs to my property immediately?

A. Generally, you should make temporary repairs if necessary to protect your property from further damage. Do not make permanent repairs until an adjuster has inspected the damage. Your policy covers the cost of necessary temporary repairs, so save your receipts for materials and labor. You may wish to take pictures of the damage before making temporary repairs.

Whether or not your A/C unit is covered by your insurance company will depend on your specific policy. Ask your insurance company.

We’ve posted more insurance information here.

Assessing Your A/C for Damage

Before restarting your central air conditioning system you want to check these things;

• Is there obvious damage from falling trees or other wind blown objects?
• Was the A/C unit submerged in flood water?
• Vents and cooling fan is clear of debris
• No burnt electrical smoke damage
• Refrigerant & electrical lines are intact

Obvious Damage Due to Flooding or Debris

To assess if your central air unit or heat pump had been submerged by flooding you may see obvious signs on the unit itself or along the side of your house. The high water mark will likely have left a dirt stain on your exterior walls. You can gauge the depth of water from that and determine if the unit was in water. The A/C unit itself may have a skim of mud over it as well.

If your unit was submerged you should have it inspected and cleaned by your HVAC service company before turning it back on. Internal systems coated in dirt may not work their best, the cooling coils will loose efficiency and the electronic systems inside may short out if turned on.

If the unit had been hit by falling trees or tree limbs or other large objects blown by the wind or carried by floodwaters then you should just call your service people before attempting to turn it on.

The Rest of Your Central Air System

If your home experienced flooding and flood water came inside then you may need to check on your furnace and/or air handler. If flooding had touched these pieces of equipment you should have them inspected by an HVAC contractor. Water may have shorted out electronics or be causing corrosion in crucial parts.

No Obvious Damage Visible

Now if your machine seems fine, is free of debris, and had not been struck by anything or in the path of direct flooding you might consider turning it on to test it. Cross your fingers though! And do a thorough check again once it’s on. Does the cooling fan sound right? Put you nose near the unit and try to smell for signs of electrical shorting or smoke. After it’s been running for a while check it again to be sure and continue to keep an eye on it.

If you’re weary of it then have it checked out by a professional. If all still seems fine but your just not sure you should probably turn it off at night while sleeping since you can’t be monitoring it. With massive power outages there is risk of fires after power comes back. Please be careful.

More Resources

This Home Inspector is giving some advice on repairs after Ike.

Center Point Energy posts a map of progress of electricity restoration efforts here.

The Houston Chronicle has a great page about cleaning up tree debris. They also have one about protecting your home from power surges when the electricity comes back on.

The Houstonist is posting info and links daily in their Morning Roundup about how things are shaping up during the hurricane recovery.

US Government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has info about cleaning up flood water after a hurricane.

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has lots of great info about dealing with damage and filing insurance claims. They’ve created a Hurricane Ike Consumer Resource Page with links to lots of information, agencies, safety tips, etc.

More info from TDI;

• What to do after a flood and staying safe
• Tree Trimming Safety Tips after a Hurricane
• Insurance Claim Information for Homeowners Impacted by Hurricane Ike
• Home Owners Bill of Rights and Insurance

Also we have lots of info about home owners insurance, flood insurance and FEMA over here.

Currently writing this from Austin, TX

Clear the Air shut down office operations mid-day Thursday to prep for BIG hurricane Ike!

We will be fully operational from our offices when power has been restored. However, we are still at your service for those who get electricity services restored early. Currently 2 million are without power in the Houston/Southeast Texas areas. Some news stations have reported it may be up to 4 weeks without power.

Early reports from employees who stayed behind told me our phone and power lines have received severe damage due to a fallen tree & power lines. Our offices & warehouse have received minor damage and can be fixed without much disruption to our facilities.

You can call our office numbers and will be forwarded to our on-call technicians cell phone. You can also try our pager service (call: 281-262-1287) if the cell phone option is not working due to the hurricane damage. You can also contact us by using our online contact form to submit a request for service. We receive internet requests immediately. We will respond as soon as we receive it.

Normally our answering service would handle all out of office call routing but they too were in the local Houston area and had to shut down.

Keep in mind it is very wise to have your HVAC system inspected before turning it back on when power is restored. It can end up being a very inexpensive way of keeping a very expensive mistake at bay. Water/tree/debree/insect issues can cause major damage when power is restored and turning it on for the first time.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family for your safety and we look forward to speedy recovery for everyone soon.

I wanted to watch it again online but took forever to find decent footage anywhere. Opening ceremonies videos are being pulled from YouTube. NBC.com, who is supposed to be the only one with the rights to broadcast Olympics coverage in the US, has an archived video of the opening ceremonies but it was hard to find and it’s only highlights. Here is the link to their video archive.

We did some Googling around and it was much easier to find a number of athletes from the Houston area that are competing in Beijing. Here is the list we compiled;

• Kyle Bennett of Conroe, TX To the north of Houston – Cycling
• Laura Wilkinson of Spring, TX – Diving
• Nancilea Underwood Foster of Conroe, TX – Diving
• Raj Bhavsar of Houston, TX – Gymnastics
• Jonathan Horton of Houston, TX – Gymnastics
• Walton (Glenn) Eller of Katy, TX to the West of Houston – Shooting
• Stuart Holden of Houston, TX – Soccer
• Catherine Osterman of Houston, TX – Softball
• Diana Lopez, Mark Lopez, & Steven Lopez (brothers and sisters) of Sugar Land, TX – Taekwondo
• Kerron Clement of La Porte, TX (lives in LA) – Track & Field

That’s what we could find, If you know of anymore from Houston Metro drop a note in the comments below. We wish them, and the entire TEAM USA the best of luck in China. Bring home some gold!

Update & Medal Count

We have some medals!

• Raj Bhavsar along with Jonathan Horton helped secure a bronze for men’s team gymnastics
• Jonathan Horton also won a silver medal on the high bar
• Spc. Walton Glenn Eller III wins gold in double trap shooting and sets 2 records
• The Lopez family all medaled in their Tae Kwon Do events. Diana Lopez captured bronze, Mark Lopez took silver, & Steven Lopez won a bronze medal.
• Catherine Osterman and the rest of the womens softball team won silver
• Kerron Clement earned silver in the 400m hurdles

Looks like our Houston area athletes really did well overall. A high percentage of them brought back medals. Congrats to all of them!

China certainly did put on a great Olympic Games. Again the closing ceremonies were a spectacular display.