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.