Seeing the Nest thermostat on the wall, and its glowing eye and the fact that it is making system control decisions on it’s own, I can’t help but think of Hal, the computer from Arthur C. Clarke’s science fiction 2001 – A Space Odyssey.

When accessing it from the iPhone I keep wondering when it plans to lock me out of the house.

Chill Hal, chill. I’m coming home early and just wanted to adjust the temperature for when I get home. If that’s OK with you.

Like this Nest/Hal reference? Feel free to use the image in your own blog posts. Please link back to the source though (this page or our home page).

Mike Stom

1941-2012

Clear the Air has lost a leader and a wonderful spark of energy, and the world has lost a amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Mike have lost a dear friend and inspiring mentor. Mike leaves behind a company that has been built around his tenacious drive to serve others. His spirit will forever be the foundation of Clear the Air.

Mike was born in 1941 and was raised in Buna (a little town in east Texas). He went on to serve in the United States Navy and came back home to work for one of the most respected Government Agencies, NASA. He was part of the Gemini, Apollo and the Shuttle program. A few of his proudest moments were helping get a man to the moon and the Apollo 13 mission when they helped return the crew back to earth safely.

Retiring from the space program in 1990 Mike went on to start up a service company continuing his desire to help others and serve the community. His sons and late daughter all worked in the business with him. Mike retired in 2006 from all work and his son Jason has continued on with his vision and is the President of Clear the Air.

Mike was a warm and gentle person. He was well known for just walking up and talking to any stranger and learning their life story. He was a great listener. Anyone who might have meet him would also have commented on what a wonderful sense of humor he had. He was always looking to make someone smile and laugh.

When someone at the office asked about a customer or mentioned the location of a customer, Mike would be able to instantly go back in his mind and tell us what he had done at there previously to fix their problem, what good people they were and what kind of equipment they had. He was able to go all the way back to 1991 and pull this out of his head. We all went to him for customer history instead of pulling it up in our computer database.

With all his achievements in his career and business, family was his greatest enjoyment in life. Married to his wife Sandra, they recently celebrated their 47th anniversary together. A proud dad of 3 children and 7 grand children. There was never a day he didn’t ask how his children were doing.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please fill out the form below or email remeberingmike@comfort.pro

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”
― Thomas Campbell

I love you dad.  I will miss you!

Group deals are an interesting concept but they carry a fair bit of risk for the merchant. Not only must we very heavily discount our offer in the hopes that some of those new customers become repeat customers, the remainder left over is then shared with the group deal provider, usually to the tune of half. That leaves us with only 25% which becomes a pretty heavy loss while fingers are crossed it works out in the long term.

We’ve read some of the horror stories, as well as some of the successes by merchants that have tried group deals. We’ve been tempted but, boy oh boy, some of those risks are just too risky.

How then could we make a group offer while controlling some of that risk? *light bulb, eureka moment* Let’s just run it ourselves on our own website! Cut out the middle man as it were. So that’s what we did! You can see our group deal offer here;

50% Off Furnace Check Up Service – Houston Metro
Our Group Deal – Just in Time for Heating Season

Admittedly we do not have the built in reach that Groupon or Living Social have with their massive user base and email list, but we can build our own reach, and maybe just enough to make the offer a success. Between social networking through Twitter and Facebook, pay-per-click advertising on Google and Facebook, this blog post, existing search engine traffic to our website, etc… we hope to get just enough reach to pull it off.

So, if you’re in the Houston Metro area and need your gas furnace serviced to ensure it’s running safely and at peak efficiency for this winter, you should take us up on our offer. If you’re interested in how we make out with rolling out our own group deal, make sure to check back as we’ll write another post in our blog about how it went.

This season, try to avoid making hasty purchasing decisions and buying a large quantity of merchandise that has been mass produced overseas. Instead, take the time to look at what products and services are available in your local community and show concern for the well-being of your hardworking business neighbors.

Following are some ideas for Out of the Box Giving:

Does your intended have a favorite eatery? This holiday season focus on locally-owned restaurants. Owners of these establishments rely on the success of their business to provide for their families. Gift your intended a certificate or two to the restaurant or take her or him there for a holiday meal. Don’t forget the servers; tip generously.

Follow the meal with an evening of entertainment. Find a community theater in your town, or a venue that regularly hosts local music or talent. This is a great way to support up and coming artists. Support your local community theater with a pair of season passes.

Instead of forking over a ton of cash for cheap plastic lights and other decorations, consider a more impactful use for your money. Attend a local craft fair to purchase ornaments and other decorations. This will give your gifts a more personal touch. Holiday craft fairs are often run by religious organizations or nonprofits who provide local charitable services.

Tip a hardworking service provider, such as a package delivery man or garbage man, or leave a house cleaner or baby sitter a large tip. Do you have gardeners, doormen, personal trainers, or others who regularly serve you? You may want to consider tipping them as well.

Most people get their hair cut frequently. Does your intended have a favorite local beautician, barber, or hair stylist? Ask them for gift certificates. Also, consider tipping your barber or stylist extra for the holidays.

Has your intended expressed an interest in car detail or repair? Would he or she like vehicle modifications? Any locally owned shop would be happy to supply certificates for these services. And don’t forget about oil changes. Most people need them every few months. Also, consider a book of coupons for a local car wash. Everyone’s car gets dirty from time to time.

Does mom need a break? Hire a local cleaning person to come before or after a large get-together at your home. Perhaps a local carpet cleaning service would also be appropriate after a family event.

Computer or other technology problems? Move away from the big box stores and find a local repairman to tackle the problem. They would appreciate the extra cash.

What about lawn or property care plans? Would your significant other enjoy having a break from mowing the lawn or shoveling snow? Does your driveway need to be repaired, or your deck resurfaced? Could the exterior of your home use a little power washing?

Have you been putting off home repairs? Use Your Company to finally fix that minor inconvenience you have been dealing with and improve the comfort and safety of your home for your entire family. If you want something to wrap, we offer gift certificates. Or, Your Company can replace a major component or appliance for your intended and you can surprise them by decorating it with a large bow.

Have you been considering adding upgrades to your home? Your Company could install an air cleaner to help your family breathe easier year round. Or, perhaps a programmable thermostat could help bring down that electric bill a little.

This holiday season; leave the trinkets, novelties, and commercial items out of the picture. Start a new tradition of supporting your neighbors, your community, and all who have positively affected your life with their local goods and services.

And remember, Clear the Air is here this holiday season for all of your Cooling & Heating needs.

What do You Need to Submit to Get Your Energy Tax Credit?

You’ll need a copy of IRS Form 5695 – Residential Energy Credits. You can download and print a copy of that form here (PDF Document).

After calculating your tax credit on form 5695 enter that number onto line 52 of your form 1040. Submit the 5695 along with your 1040.

Remember to save your receipts and the equipment manufacturer’s certification statement. If you get audited you’ll need to have these.

Tax Credit Deadlines

HVAC equipment that qualifies for the tax credit must be installed by December 31, 2011. Sales receipts used to claim the credit must be from on or before that date.

You must submit IRS From 5695 with your 2011 taxes by April 15th, 2012.

Should Your AC Unit be Bigger? No!

Central air conditioning systems are designed to suite the size of your home and the amount of air it needs to cool or heat. The size of the specific AC unit, the condenser, is chosen to be efficient for 98% of the typical high temperatures in your area (climate). So for that 2% extreme, like we are having this summer, your AC system may actually be undersized. But this is by design. Otherwise, if you went with a larger system that had no troubles pumping the volumes of cool air needed during these extremely hot days, your system would be quite inefficient 98% of the time. And that’s really almost all the time – not a good thing.

The larger system costs more to install and it consumes more energy to run, all costing you more money. Because it pumps more air volume it cools the house much faster. You might think this was a good thing but instead it means the system is running through off and on cycles at a much higher rate. The shorter cooling cycles means it is not quite running long enough to be pulling humidity out of your home. Removing humidity is part of how an air conditioner works. The condensing coil condenses water out of the air and the heat exchange process during that activity is what creates the cooler air. Warmer air and moisture is then exited from your home. Dryer air, even when warmer, is more comfortable for the human body as it allows our internal air conditioning, evaporation of sweat, to be more efficient. Not removing sufficient humidity from your home could also lead to mold problems.

These are some of the reasons an over-sized AC system is just an all around bad idea. But you can still make the system you have work for you in these 100+ degree conditions.

Juicing More Efficiency out of Your AC System

To make it easier for your AC system to reliably pump out cool air when it’s over 100 degrees outside you need to give it some help. We previously wrote a huge list of tips for energy savings in relation to ac usage. Apply as many of those as you can to help your cooling system cope in this heat.

In a nutshell it comes down to reducing heat gains in the home. Some of the basics are;

• turn the thermostat up a couple degrees and be happy with 76 to 78 degree temperatures indoors
• close off unused rooms – close doors and vents – don’t cool what you don’t use
• shade your windows on the sunny side of the house
• cook outdoors – enjoy the summer BBQ
• don’t use dry cycle on dishwasher – leave door open and let them air dry
• don’t run clothes dryer during the heat of the day
• read more tips here

Anything you can do to keep the house cooler, even a little bit, means the AC does not need to be running as long for each cooling cycle.

AC Maintenance is KEY!

Your central air system should be getting a maintenance check up at least once a year. Ideally the AC unit should be checked before peak demand in the summer heat, to ensure it’s running at it best when you need it most. It will be running long and hard through these multiple 100+ degrees days and may even need a check up later on after all that heavy use.

If you’ve not had your system serviced yet this year, call your ac contractor (in Houston and area, that’s us) and get it done. But you might need to wait a while, we get very very busy in times like this (does everyone wait till the last minute? Seems they do).

At the very least, go check your filters. Fresh clean filters allow more cool air to flow unobstructed. If the filters are only a little bit dirty, put fresh ones in now for this extreme heat period. You can still reuse those slightly dirty filters if you wish later once the summer begins to die down.

Space Center Houston

1601 NASA Road One
Houston, TX 77058
(281) 244-2100
http://www.spacecenter.org

Houston, we have a problem. It’s hot, kids need something to do for the day, and did we mention it’s very very hot. Space Center to the rescue!

Lots to see, lots to do. Impressive visuals of launches and views from space on the 5-story tall screen in the theater. Tram tours through NASA facilities. View the large collection of spacesuits in the Astronaut Gallery. A presentation on how astronauts live in a space environment in the Feel of Space Exhibit. See rockets, spacecraft, modules, landers, rovers and more in the Starship Gallery. Let the kids play in the large space themed playground – Kids Space Place. There are day camps for kids, education programs for school groups, and much much more.

Houston Museum of Natural Science

5555 Hermann Park Drive
Houston Texas 77030
713.639.4629
http://www.hmns.org/

Sugar Land Location

Includes the Space Observatory and Dinosaur exhibits, Earth Science exhibits and more.
13016 University Blvd
Sugar Land, TX 77479

Dinosaur bones, Ancient Egypt gallery, Gems & Minerals, Texas Wildlife, Energy Exhibits, the Butterfly Center, IMAX Theater, Planetarium, Space Observatory. Wow, so much to see and do, and so much cool stuff to learn about. The kids will absolutely love this.

Houston Galleria

5085 Westheimer Rd., Suite 4850
Houston, TX 77056
(713) 966-3500
http://www.galleriahouston.com

It’s a shopping mall and like most others it’s air conditioned. Most the shops are higher end brands, perhaps out of reach for many families budgets, but here’s the kicker – it has a skating rink! Spend an afternoon gliding over ice while it’s 100 degrees outside. How’s that for a cool Houston summer activity.

Houston Tunnels

The downtown core has a large underground tunnel system connecting many of the office tower buildings. Primarily used for business people to get around it is also full of small shops, cafe’s and restaurants. It’s underground and air conditioned so it’s cool and comfortable. Access to the Tunnel System is normally on weekdays, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Maps of the city with buildings, streets and tunnels can be found online here.

Downtown Observation Towers

Near the tops of the The J.P. Morgan Chase Tower and the Wells Fargo Tower, both accessible via the tunnels, are observation floors. Ride the elevator up and look out over the entire city. It’s free.

Museum of Fine Arts

1001 Bissonnet Street
Houston, TX 77005
713-639-7300
http://mfah.org/

Home to the largest art collection in the Southwest United States! Even if you’re not a huge art fan you cannot be not impressed with with some of the amazing pieces in the collection. Summer Fun programs for kids too.

The Menil Collection

1515 Sul Ross Street
Houston, TX 77006
713-525-9400
http://menil.org

As stated on their website: A Museum & A Neighborhood of Art. Free of charge, always.

One of the greatest private art collections in the U.S. featuring such surrealist works as those by Salvador Dali and Max Ernst, and others. Spend a contemplative day of quietly viewing inspiring pieces of art.

The Weather Museum

5104 Caroline Street
Houston, TX 77004
(713) 529-3076
http://www.wxresearch.org/wpmuseum/

Summers are hot and humid in Houston, go learn exactly why. See how high the storm surge would be on the upper Texas coast during Category 5 hurricane. Help make your own Tornado. Play Weather Facts and Fun. Summer camps or birthday party groups for the kids.

More to Do, while staying cool

There are the public libraries, restaurants (many have ac), other museums, shopping centers, swimming pools, and more.

Suggest your favorite places to go AND keeping comfortable in the summer heat in the comments below.

Thermostat Control

A house that is slightly cooler than the outside feels far more comfortable than you might think. Relative temperatures can go a long way. So when it’s 100 degrees outside there is no need to try to create a 60 degree environment inside. 77 or 78 degrees Fahrenheit is only slightly above ideal room temperature and can be plenty comfortable when it’s far hotter outside. Your AC system will not need to work as hard to maintain that kind of temperature.

• Use Digital Thermostats – they are more accurate and can be programmable to set different temperatures for certain times of the day.
• Dial down your thermometer a couple degrees at night – cooler evening temps make for a better sleeping environment and it easier for your system to bring temperatures down a bit more in the cool night air.
• Dial it up a few more degrees for times of the day when there is usually nobody home. A cold house does not keep you cool if you’re not there.
• Don’t position heat-producing appliances, such as televisions or lamps, near the thermostat. The added heat can fool your thermostat, causing the unit to run longer than necessary.

Cranking your Thermostat Way Down DOES NOT Speed Up How Fast your House Cools Down!!

Don’t do this. It does not work. AC units only have two settings – off and on. When your thermostat detects your house has warmed too far past your setting the AC unit kicks in and will run until the thermostat detects the house has cooled enough. Cranking it farther than usual means it just runs the same but probably for longer since you’ll have a tendency to forget to turn it back up, meaning you’ve let it run too long and consumed more energy than you needed too.

Central Air Conditioning Maintenance

The central AC unit is the largest energy draw. Old and poorly maintained equipment draws far more energy.

• Replace old air conditioners with a modern high efficiency Energy Star unit – they use a lot less energy (up to 40%)
• Choose the right size air conditioner – too small a unit will struggle to keep up and run constantly, too large a unit will cool your home too fast and frequently be turning off and on while not doing enough to reduce humidity.
• Check the air filters on your AC system – replace them on schedule. Dirty and clogged filters cause the system to work harder, using more energy.
• Schedule a yearly maintenance with your HVAC contractor to ensure your units are running at peak efficiency.
• Keep your air conditioner out of the sun – install on shady side of house or at least have it protected by shrubs or a partial wall or fence

Reduce Solar Heat Inputs

The sun will heat any object it shines upon and that includes the inside of your home. These tips will help reduce solar heating as well as save your flooring and furniture from fading.

• Close curtains on windows facing the sun
• Install thermal liners on your curtains – they reflect more of the heat back out the window
• Install window tinting on sun facing windows – residential tint film is designed to cut UV rays substantially
• Plant trees and shrubs around your house – their shade will help keep the house cooler
• Paint your house a lighter color – darker colors absorb solar energy, lighter colors reflect it away
• Make sure your attic is properly ventilated, your roof absorbs a lot of heat. Vents in the eaves allows hot air to escape. Consider adding a ridge vent or attic fan.

Reduce Other Internal Heat Gains

Besides the sun there are many things and activities around the home that produce heat.

• Turn off pilot lights on gas furnaces and fire places – you don’t need them during the summer
• Cook outside – It’s summer, enjoy the BBQ as much as possible on hot days
• Install compact florescent bulbs, they produce a lot less heat than incandescent bulbs
• Turn off appliances – even unplug them. Many TV’s, CD players, satellite TV receivers, stereos, cell phone chargers and other electronic devices draw power and give off heat even when turned off.
• Keep your fridge and freezer full – more food in your fridge and freezer means it won’t warm up as fast when the door is open. Also all that thermal mass stays cooler longer and the fridge does not have to work as hard to keep it cool. When the cooling system is running on your fridge it is producing warm air in your home.
• Take shorter showers and vent off the warm moist air – open a window while showering.
• Reduce clothing dryer use – hang clothing outside if you can. Don’t use the dryer during peak daytime temperatures, instead use it early morning or in the evening. And keep that lint trap clean!
• Don’t use the dryer setting on your dishwasher. Instead open the door and let them air dry.

Divide your House into Zones

Large buildings employ zoning to more efficiently manage cooling and heating. You can do the same in your home. Most modern central air systems will employ automated zone control systems. Some home systems may employ two or three different central ac units each cooling a single floor of the house. If your system does not have these sorts of zone controls built in you can try these tips.

• Have your HVAC contractor install zone dampers into your air duct system.
• Close off empty and unused rooms – close doors, windows, curtains and vents. There is no need to cool this space as much as the rest of your home.
• If your central AC uses separate thermostats for different floors (or zones) of your house, adjust temperatures according to usage patterns in those parts of your house.
• Use small room AC units in your more lived in areas (living room, bedroom). You can let the rest of the house remain a few degrees warmer, reducing central a/c use which can offset the costs of the extra unit.

Keep the Air Flowing

• Use fans – they circulate the air around and moving air help your bodies natural air conditioning (evapo-transpiration) work better.
• Turn fans off when you’re not in the room. Moving air cools your skin, moving air with no skin nearby cools nothing, it just eats electricity, and the fans’ motor is producing a little bit of heat.
• Re-Arrange your furniture – make sure chairs and sofa’s are not blocking air flow from your HVAC vents.

Reduce Humidity in your Home

Ridding your house of excess humidity will help make your family feel more comfortable. You may even be able to set your air conditioner above 78 degrees when using a dehumidifier combined with fans. Your body can stand a couple extra degrees if the air is drier and moving around.

• Use a dehumidifier to take water out of the air- turn it on when the temperature rises.
• As mentioned above (reduce internal heat gains), minimize showers, baths and boiling water while cooking to reduce humidity inputs into your home.

Insulate and Plug Air Leaks Around your Home

Trap cold air inside as much as possible. Letting it leak outdoors mean you have to cool more of it to replace those cold air losses.

• Weather-strip, seal, and caulk leaky doors and windows and install foam gaskets behind outlet covers.
• Seal air ducts – leaky ducts mean you push less cool air to where you need it. Have your AC contractor test and seal your duct work.
• Increase attic insulation – insulate your attic to at least R-30.
• Use kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans sparingly – you’re pumping out your cool air.

Watch Out for the “Rebound Effect”

If you follow many of the tips in this article you will certainly reduce your energy consumption and save money. Depending on where you live and the size of your home those savings could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year. A nice chunk of change for most anybody. Be careful though not to simply use the money you save to buy more energy consuming devices or turn your AC down a few degrees thinking you can now be cooler while spending the same as you did before. In energy and conservation economics this is known as the rebound effect.

Got any more energy saving tips related to air conditioner usage? Leave them in the comments below.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to knock a particular home warranty company or person within. This was written as a glimpse of what goes on with home warranties and how it effects the home owner. Our experience of home warranty companies might not reflect what happens in other areas of the country.

As contractors, when we first start out learning the trade, it is drilled into us to never talk bad about other contractors or anyone else in the industry. However, it is very difficult for us as air conditioning professionals to be in the business of serving people while experiencing all the negative that surrounds home warranties and stay completely silent about it.

False Sense of Protection

Most consumers first get a taste of a home warranty because it was sold with their home when they moved into it. They then renew every year with the assumption of when something goes wrong with their home, it will be covered. Homeowners pay a service fee (deductible) the first time a service provider is dispatched by the warranty company to make a repair.

Every week we get many calls from uncomfortable homeowners who have a home warranty and they are in a panic. Most have been without air conditioning for 3+ days because the home warranty company and the approved contractor they recommend to come out can’t get to them for several days.

The devil is in the details.

Home warranty companies are not on the consumers side (nor the contractors side). They are NOT in business to spend money. They are simply an insurance company looking to protect their interests and reduce claims.

On the home warranty contract, there is some very fine print. Most of it states obvious reasons that a claim would not be approved. But a lot of people don’t see the deeper motives and issues surrounding their business model. Here are some helpful points you should consider before moving forward with signing a home warranty contract.

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• You are most likely going to pay a lot more than just your deductible. If you read the fine print on your home warranty contract, you will find out that it states you will sometimes have to pay for miscellaneous parts and labor that is not covered on some claims.
• Be prepared to spend long amounts of time on the phone. Many home buyers have to call in the same repair claim multiple times. This is typical with most home warranty companies. Remember, the home warranty company is a for profit company that will try and do the “least expensive” repair. Example, your 18 year old air conditioning unit stops working. The warranty company repairs the unit and everything seems to be working OK. Even though the system probably just needs to be replaced with a newer more efficient unit. Your A/C unit stops working again a week later. The warranty company authorizes another repair. A/C unit is working fine but then again a week later the unit fails. The other bad part is the warranty companies are overwhelmed with calls daily and you will have to talk with rude customer service reps who just want to get you off the phone.
• Lower level of skill & quality from service companies. There are very few contractors who will work with warranty companies. The ones who do work for them are not paid even close to a fair amount for the repairs and either have to cut corners on repairs or find other “non-covered items” to repair/replace just to make any money on the trip out there. The lower than normal pay from the warranty companies also creates a spiral effect forcing the contractor to hire less qualified technicians, do shoddy work, fail to do background checks on employees or more drastic, have to shut the business down. It is very common for contractors who do work for warranty companies to pay their technicians a percentage of invoice sales. This can create a very bad environment for unnecessary repairs and dishonesty. 95% of the time, you have to wait days to receive service to address your claim and it is likely you will have to deal with rude and unprofessional companies just out there turning em and burning em.
• Agent Bonuses/kickbacks. Most home buyers are not aware that some real estate brokers receive a small bonus for every sold home warranty policy. The question needs to be asked: who is really the main customer for the home warranty companies.
• Inspections & Pre-Existing Conditions. You need to make sure all of your mechanical equipment (furnace, A/C, electrical, etc) and appliances have been inspected. If any service professional or home inspector finds even a minor problem it should be addressed in a repair request to the Seller. If an item is not working satisfactorily prior to closing then it will not be covered under most home warranty plans. Lack of routine maintenance can also create another avenue for warrant denials. This is a understandable part as the warranty company should not have to pay money on equipment that is not properly maintained.

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If you keep in mind the true cost of the warranty (contract premiums, deductibles, time spent on the phone arguing, delays and lack of quick resolution, dealing with less than stellar service companies, the fine print, agent kickbacks), you might want to rethink how to spend your hard earned money.

Another reason that we are the preferred Houston air conditioning contractors is because we offer upfront pricing. We charge by the job whereas other companies charge by the hour. Paying by the job will save you money and we never sneak in additional charges. You will know upfront what the cost of our services will be. We can install a new air conditioning unit in your home or business for only a fraction of what you will pay with other companies. We offer quality Trane AC units as well as others and provide a 100 percent guarantee that your new unit will operate precisely as it should.

Air conditioning in Houston is a must during the summer months. If your AC unit is not working properly or you need to have a new unit installed, Clear the Air can help. Browse our website to learn more or contact us at Clear the Air, LLC today.