The EPA has to legislate these allocations. They have tried to reduce these allocations to not only comply with the law, but also to anticipate the market and demand. That being said, as of the 1st of January 2012, the EPA had not released their allocations for this year. So as of January 1st, the manufacturers of R-22 did not have the authority to produce or import and R-22 – production totally stopped.

If you remember from your high school economics courses, when supply goes down or stops and demand remains relatively constant, the price goes through the roof. As contractors, we saw an increase of almost 3x between December 2011 and January 2012. We also saw rationing – one of our suppliers will only sell 5 drums of R-22 per contractor per week.

On January 20th, the EPA set a letter to producers and importers of R-22 allowing them to resume the production and importing of R-22. But, they have not set final allocation numbers for this year. so, the market is still unsettled.

Over the last month, pricing has settled down a bit, but it is still 2-2 1/2 times the price in December. No one knows exactly where this will go moving forward and how much R-22 will be available for use this year.

The reason that we wanted to post this and give you the details is because a large majority of residential and commercial cooling systems still use R-22. And, while R-22 is not a consumable in the system, as your systems become older, they can begin to leak slowly which will require R-22 to be added.

Hopefully, this information will help you be able to make a good decision about whether to repair or replace a leaking system. Obviously, as R-22 wholesale pricing is up 2-3x, retail will be the same. We saw retail pricing of R-22 in the $80-$90 per pound range. And since a residential air conditioning unit may contain 5 pounds or more, it can get quite expensive to repair an R-22 system.

Next time, I will focus on more of the practical issues facing consumers and contractors this year. I will also discuss “dry-charge” R-22 units that have become available on the market – should you buy one or not?

As always, please feel free to call us at any time to discuss this or any other issues relating to your heating and cooling systems.

The one that we want to pay particular attention to is refrigerant 22 or R-22. This is the refrigerant that home air conditioners have used since they began to be mass producted in the mid-1900s.

In the 1980s, there was reseach that concluded that a hole was developing in the ozone layer of the Earth. Left unattended, the hole could potentially grow worse and in time allow harmful radiation to enter the atmosphere causing changes in weather patters, etc. Some of this was eventually labeled “Global Warming”.

No matter where your politics or theories lie, in 1989, a multinational treaty called the Montreal Protocol was put into law. Part of the treaty discussed the phase out of certain chemicals that could potentially damage the ozone layer. Refrigerants as a family were top on the list. The treaty set a schedule for the elimination of refrigerants. R-22 is on the list, but not at the top. R-12, which was used in cars and appliances was top on the list and has been completely eliminated for some time now.

This set the air conditioning manufacturers on a journey to find a replacement. After a number of years, R-410a was established as a suitable replacement for R-22. While R-410a is still a refrigerant, it is inert with respect to the ozone. Along with this refrigerant change, our industry as a whole has changed how we handle refrigerant. To explain that is a bit more than the scope of this blog.

The bottom line though is that by 2020, all R-22 production will stop and only recycled material will be available after that. From 2004 until 2020, the EPA regulates the production capacity of R-22. It is set to decline each year. Please note the graph on this page. For a detailed article directly from the EPA, please click here.

Next time we will look at the shake-up that occured early this year and what it may mean for 2012.

The system has now been in for over a week. Dana let us know at the end of last week that the system is working very well.

“How wonderful! I am so glad you were able to document the process and get pictures. What an incredible difference the renovation has made. We can’t say thank you enough!! Everyone has been so amazing!”
-Dana Duggan

I can’t wait to see the hard numbers over the next year. As the data is published, we will post the results on our website.

Thanks to Jorge, Brandt and Mike for 2 days of very hard work!

Duct leakage is one of the most under-emphasized components when looking at the energy usage in a house. This is especially the case when your house is heating and cooling relatively well. But the truth is that you could be sending stacks of dollar bills to your utility provider every month that you don’t need to.

When I arrived at the jobsite, I found our installation crew working on the new ductwork and Mike was busy cleaning Dana’s air conditioning coil. Now, coil cleanliness is not part of duct leakage, but it is also an area that increases your monthly bills and puts a strain on your AC unit, causing potential service issues and possibly premature failure. Dana’s coil was full of dirt and pet hair. We decided that this coil was far beyond our ability to clean and Lennox came to the rescue and provided a new coil for her.

This could have been prevented with routine maintenance. A coil should be checked and cleaned if necessary at least once a year. A good filter that is changed regularly will prevent this from happening. If you have a high efficiency media filter like an Aprilaire or a Honeywell medial filter, your coil will stay “like new” clean for many years. Please don’t neglect this very important home maintenance.

As I walked into the house and began to see the existing system, I noticed that the old furnace didn’t have a return air plenum. It had been set on the floor and 2 holes cut into the floor for return. No sealing and a completely improper way to install a duct system. Dana’s new system will have a return plenum and be mastic sealed at all joints.

Next, a quick look at her supply ductwork revealed the same issues. The ductwork was never properly sealed, not properly insulated and was falling apart. This was costing her hundreds of dollars each year. Her new duct system will be sealed at every joint and insulated properly from one end to the other.

If you think that you may have a leaky duct system, it’s fairly easy to find out. A visual test can reveal many problems, like we found for our Decatur homeowner. We can also do a duct blaster test where we can tell exactly how much air is leaking in your system. More on this at another time. As always, please don’t hesitate to call to discuss your particular system.

Next time, I will show you the finished product!

UPDATE:

This is an update to a previous post. The Federal Tax Credit program has ended effective December 31st. There are a few exceptions to this, but for the most part, it is over.

However, there are a number of other rebates and credits that you may be eligible for. We will keep you updated throughout the year as these become available.

If you have specific questions, please call us to discuss them.

#1 Closing the vent saves energy

This is a very common practice that I run across all the time. We don’t use that spare bedroom or back den, so let’s close the vent to that room. This actually can cause the system to work harder. Closing vents will disrupt the airflow in the system and potentially make the fan work harder and wear out sooner.

You can add a zoning system to your unit if you want to control different part of your house separately. These systems won’t harm your unit.

#2 Setting the thermostat higher heats my home faster

Your furnace (or air conditioning unit in the summer time) only has a fixed capacity. When it needs to heat up, it can only provide this fixed heating capacity. If you turn it up too high, you risk over heating which will cost you extra money. Set the unit on the temperature you want; relax and let it do it’s thing.

Some of our new furnace are multi stage or modulating (variable). These furnaces vary their capacity based on the work you ask them to do. These furnaces not only increase efficiency, but comfort as well.

#3 Using an electric space heater saves money

Electric resistance heat, which is what space heater use, is the most expensive way to heat a house. Running two or three electric heaters may end up costing you the equivalent of heating an entire house with a natural gas furnace.

These are just a few of the myths that are related directly to heating and cooling. Please click here for the full article which also includes links to other tips.
As always, if you have any questions on energy efficiency or heating, please give us a call.

1. Open your curtains

Open your curtains on south facing windows to take advantage of the sun’s light and heat.

2. Cover drafty windows

Cover any draft windows with clear plastic or tight-fitting shades or drapes.

3. Set the heat back.

If you are gone during the day, set your thermostat back 10 degrees or so. A programmable thermostat will do this for you automatically and pay for itself in no time.

4. Seal leaks.

Seal any leaks in the house that felt drafty last winter. Often times, inexpensive caulk or weatherstripping will do the trick.

5. Have your heating system serviced.

Get your furnace or heat pump checkout – this keeps it operating efficiently.

6. Seal leaky fireplaces.

Keep your fireplace damper closed when not in use. One of the leakiest places in your house is your fireplace.

Find more and get the full article at energysavers.gov.

Next time, I will give you some energy saving myths – they may surprise you.

Early fall is the time of year here at ACS where the hot weather is gone and there is a shift in focus…..for me, the focus becomes the anticipation of being a part of the Susan G Komen 3Day Breast Cancer Walk for the Cure.

Approximately 3,000 women and men walk 60 miles through Atlanta after having raised over 6.5 million dollars for research. Nearly every walker has been personally touched by this disease. Many have been diagnosed and survived the disease or often they have lost loved ones to it. My role in this event is working on Pit Stop 3, supplying food, water and medical attention to these walkers.

Debbie (middle back) and Her Crew

In October I spend 3 days with such incredible people and one common goal – to find a cure. As the great basketball coach John Wooden said “You cannot live a perfect day without being able to do something for someone who will never be able to repay you”. In my case, every October I get to do this for 3 days.

This statistic shocked me. There are so many rebates and incentives for making energy saving improvements to your home. Don’t be a statistic. If you have questions about energy saving rebates and credits, please give us a call. It doesn’t have to just be about heating and air conditioning.

For a comprehensive review of all the rebates and credits available to you, click over to the DsireUSA.org website or find it here on a previous blog.

For the full LA Times article, click here.

Fall is here and many of you are turning on your heating systems for the first time (or soon will be). Here’s how to save money on your utility bills:

1. Don’t let heat escape unnecessarily.

Keep your doors and windows shut when the heat is on. If your home has a fireplace that you aren’t using, be sure the flue is closed and glass doors are in place to minimize heat loss.

2. Cooking and showering create heat.

You generate heat when you cook a meal or take a shower. Keep the bathroom door open when showering and don’t turn on the fan. The warmth will stay in the rooms rather than be sucked out of the room by the ventilator fan. Open the oven door after cooking. The heat will make its way into the rooms.

3. Install carbon monoxide detectors.

Carbon monoxide can be produced from places you might not think of – your fireplace and your running car in your garage as well as your heating system. Call us, and we can recommend a carbon monoxide detector for your home.

4. Have your heating system maintained by a professional company like ACS Heating and Air Conditioning.

Manufacturers recommend that you get your system checked and maintained once per year to save money on your gas and electric bills. Better yet, join our exclusive planned maintenance program for hassle-free maintenance and great benefits. Call us to schedule your maintenance check.

Our September Energy Savings Tips are complements of Ruth King. Ruth is a nationally know and respected consultant to the HVAC industry. Ruth can be found at HVACChannel.tv.

The hottest summer in over 70 years is finally behind us.  This is a great time of the year when the days are warm and the evenings are cool.  Windows are opening and fresh air is flowing through our house for the first time in months.  I really love this time of the year.

Within the next few weeks the leaves will be changing and we will be digging our sweatshirts and jackets out of the closet.

This is also the one of the times of the year when we start thinking about getting ready for the colder weather ahead.  If your furnace is old, now is a great time to replace it.  The manufacturers are offering Fall rebates and there are many incentives to make it a good time to buy.  See our Fall Installation Specials.  If it doesn’t need to be replaced, give us a call to have it serviced and checked-out.

But its not just time to get your furnace ready for the winter.  It may be a good time to look at your whole house.  Seal those cracks and leaks that allow the blustery winter winds to roll through your house.  Duct sealing can also help keep the heat in the house instead of the attic or crawlspace. 

Here is a great article in the AJC – Ready your nest for Fall.  It’s a good and quick read. 

Enjoy this great time of the year!

But how do we know what credits are available?  Even being in the business of energy efficiency, it would be almost a full time job to keep up with all of this.  Now there is a website that does all of this hard work for us.  When you are planning to do any type of energy efficiency project, start with the box below or spend a few minutes at Dsireusa.org.  This site is sponsored by the US Department of Energy.

If you are looking for a local group to support and/or work with, please consider Ground Zero Grace. For more information about them, find them at groundzerograce.com

We were able to help out with some air conditioning needs last month. Read their recent newsletter here.

Now we are moving into the areas that are totally the responsibility of the homeowner. I don’t mean it is the homeowner’s responsibly to know all the details and make ail the decisions, but ultimately the homeowner will make this choice based on their needs and budget (which we will talk about in out next blog).

My job as a contractor is to thoroughly and completely lay out all of the options for efficiency so that a homeowner can make the best and most informed decision.

When we begin to talk about efficiency, we need to define a couple of terms first. Both air conditioners and furnaces are rated with standard efficiency terms. Air conditioner are rated in terms of SEER for residential units and furnaces in terms of AFUE.

SEER stands for seasonal energy efficiency rating. I like to think of it in terms of miles per gallon for an air conditioning unit. The higher the number, the further it will go on a dollar of electricity. A 13 SEER unit and 20 SEER unit will cool a house equally, the only difference is what it will cost to do it. 13 SEER is the minimum required by the Department of Energy.

For furnaces, AFUE stands for annual fuel utilization efficiency. This term is used for appliances that burn gas. I like to think of it this way. If I buy a dollar of gas, I will get a certain amount of heat in my house and the rest goes up the chimney. An 80% furnace gives me $.80 in the house and $.20 up the chimney. Again, just like on the air conditioner side, a 75,000 btu furnace will heat your house the same whether it is 80% or 95%. 80% is a standard furnace, required by DOE. An upgrade will fall in the 92% and even now up to 98% with a few units.

When we had the large Federal Tax Credits the last couple of years, the thresholds to qualify were 16 SEER air conditioners and 95% AFUE furnaces. These are a nice level of efficiency that seem to balance the extra up front cost with the monthly savings over the life of the system.
As we move into the higher efficiency levels, we also start getting into some other features like 2 stage, variable speed motors, solar capable and many other options. But for now, our focus is strictly on efficiency.

Energy cost are not going down, so talk to your contractor and make sure they offer you several levels of efficiency. At ACS, we typically offer 4 levels. Consider how long you plan to stay in your home and go to the highest efficiency that works within your budget. You won’t regret it when the utility bills arrive.

As always, call or email us anytime with questions about any of your heating and cooling needs.

Joe

Courtesy of Ruud

As I said in the intro to this series, buying a new air conditioner is not as simple as it used to be.  There are a variety of factors that come into play.  The first that I will discuss here is sizing.  Sizing is how much cooling or heating ability a system has.  For air conditioning, we measure it in tons.  Sizing should be a non-negotiable decision point.

Courtesy of Lennox

Buying a new heating and air conditioning system is not a simple thing to do any more. Years ago, it w a simple as “give me a heater that will keep me warm and an air conditioner that will cool me off in the summer”. Today, we are overwhelmed with options, features and all the bells and whistles that you can imagine.
For most folks, this is a decision that we will make just a few times in our lives. We don’t do it often enough to become good at it, and the technology is moving so quickly that if we haven’t bought a new unit in the last three or four years, we likely don’t know what is available in today’s marketplace.
It is important in today’s increasingly complex market to find a reputable and, even more important, a trustworthy contractor to help guide you through this decision process. Your contractor doesn’t need to be someone that is only interested in making the sale, but is primarily interested in informing you and educating you so that YOU can make the best decision.
Over the next few day, I will go over 4 of the factors in helping you make an informed decision. These factors are:
1 Sizing of the system
2 Installation of the system
3 Efficiency of the system
4 Budget or cost of the system
As always, please let me know if you have any specific questions that I can address publicly or privately.
Joe

For the last 2 years, the Federal Government has allowed homeowners a tax credit of up to $1500.  This applied to a variety of energy improvements including insulation, windows and doors, and of course, heating and cooling equipment.  For heating and cooling equipment, this $1500 allowed homeowners to upgrade to a much more efficient system for a net cost of almost nothing.

The yes part of the answer is that this $1500 credit is indeed gone.  It expired on December 31st and was not renewed in the most recent tax package that was signed into law.

Now for the no part of the answer.  If you didn’t get to use the $1500, there is still an opportunity to take advantage of a tax credit.  Since 2006, we have had an energy saving tax credit in place.  Most people don’t know about it and the home improvement industry hasn’t promoted it.  However, this credit was extended through the end of 2011.

The maximum amount that a homeowner can receive with this credit is $500.  If you haven’t used this $500 credit or the expired $1500 credit, you are eligible.  It will apply to many, if not all, of the energy saving improvements as before.

For heating and cooling systems, it breaks down as follows:

For a 95% efficient furnace – $150

For a 16 SEER AC system or 15 SEER heat pump system – $300

Any furnace or air handling unit with an advanced circulating fan – $50

So don’t miss out.  If you have needed to add insulation, replace windows or doors, or upgrade your heating and cooling system, now is a great time to do it!