Dryer Vents

Just another thing for home owners to think about. Dryer fires are something we should keep in
mind. Check with your insurance agent because I know here in BC Canada if a fire is traced back
to your dryer and you are still using a plastic flex hose for exhaust your insurance will not cover your loses. The code now is an aluminum flex hose which runs under $20 and can be picked up at any hardware store. With the plastic flex hose the condensation was building up inside them,
trapping the lint and causing build ups inside the hose. This would cause the dryers to over heat resulting in dryer fires or element burn outs. When you are choosing a new aluminum flex hose please make sure that the one you choose is the bendable type. You do not want the rigid types because there is no give at all in them. If you try to bend them too much they will break.
Do not use duct tape to attach the hoses. We are dealing with heat, which will dry the glue on the
duct tape.Make sure you use a foil tape which is made for heat.
You should look at having your dryer vent cleaned every other year if it is less then 25 feet in
length, any thing longer should be cleaned every year and you might want to look at having this
re-plumbed to a shorter distance. Typically a dryer vent starts to clog up at the furthest point
away from the dryer. The last 4 - 6 feet is usually the problem but in longer systems the dryers
just don't have the power to blow the lint to the end so it starts building up way before the end
of the system. I have seen vents so long that dryer lint wasn't the problem. Water was! Because
it was so long the dryer couldn't even get rid of the condensation inside the pipe and it just kept
building up. If you’re dryer vent is this long (more then 40 feet) then seriously think of
re-plumbing it. Your Power-Vac company can take care of this chore for you.
An absolute no-no with dryer vents is to not put a screen on the vent outside your home. It
takes no time at all for these screens to clog up and then you've got problems with drying.
Another issue is birds. They love to nest inside dryer vents. Make sure you have a flap on yours
at the very least. Pest guards are available at any hardware store and this is what I would
suggest using. No blockage and peace of mind knowing no birds can get into your vent.
How will you know you need to clean out your dryer vent? If you are constantly replacing
heating elements, if a load of wash is taking more then one drying cycle to dry or if you see a lot
of lint on your roof or sidewalk underneath your vent then you should start thinking about
having it cleaned out.

FILTERS

Filters - DRIVE ME CRAZY! One of the most important elements of any H.V.A.C system is the filter. Service people and the manufacturers want us to run poor quality filters in our systems for one reason. So our furnaces BREAK DOWN before their time.Dirt, dust and allergens will kill blowers and blower motors in our systems. They are like computers. Huge dust magnets. Customers have been told to run poor quality filters in their systems so that air flow doesn’t get interrupted. Installers are directed to tell customers to run poor quality filters in their furnaces. A poor quality filter benefits the furnace manufacturers, the furnace installers, the service people and of course the duct cleaners. They do not benefit the most important person: YOU the CUSTOMER. I’m here to tell you NOT to run these filters in your system. As a home owner there’s not much we can really do to our furnaces, however the one thing we can do is run a good quality filter in the furnace to better protect our investment.

Flat paneled filters are generally the filters installed by the manufacturers and backed up by the service/cleaning specialists. There are a few more out there you'll have to watch for. Any flat faced filter that when you hold it up to the light and can clearly see through is not a filter that will protect your furnace very well. They are disposable and should be changed every 3 months although they won't look very dirty after this time period. They cost the manufacturers pennies and as far as protecting your furnace, they don't. They remove between 6% - 12 % of the dust and allergens in your heating system.You will hear all sorts of reasons as to why you should run these filters. The final word is yours but I hope I can convince you NOT to run these types of filters. They are not in your best interest at all.

Now I would like to talk about the disposable Pleated filter (MY FAVE).These filters remove 70% - 99% of dust and allergens. These filters again should be changed every 3 months and they will be dirty. No worries at all about restricting air flow in the system (using the low end pleated filters) although servicemen will try to tell you different. As homeowners these types of filters are our best defense against dust and allergens. Pleated filters come in an array of choices from charcoal backing to wire mesh backings. The secret to Pleated filters to stay at the low end of the price scale. The 70-80% Pleated filters will cost around $14 - $20 and you can sometimes find a 2 for 1 sale. As far as brand names go. Filtrette and 3M are amongst the best. Where we must be careful with filters is when we start to run the high end filters. The filters that remove 90% and more of dust and allergens. Here we have to be aware of the fact that these types of filters MAY restrict air flow to our furnaces. If you want to run these types of filters there are a couple of inexpensive changes you must make. In these circumstances the best thing to do is to E-mail me and I can direct individual cases appropriately. If you have been running a poor quality filter until now and you are going to up grade to a pleated style filter please remember this. When, in three months, you go to change the pleated filter it is more then likely going to be extremely dirty. If you had your furnace and ducts cleaned before the installation of the filter this doesn’t mean that the cleaners didn’t do a good job. The filter is removing 70% - 80% of the dust and allergens in the air now. It is recycling the air in the home and this is why it will be so dirty. After the second filter you should notice fewer allergies in the home and cleaner filters come change time.

HEPA filters are regarded as the best form of air filtration devices available today. HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Arrestance. According to U.S. Military Standard MIL-STD-282, HEPA filters are defined as air-cleaning devices that have a proven minimum removal efficiency of 99.97% of particles in the air equal to 0.3 um (microns) in diameter with higher efficiency for both larger and smaller particle sizes. The reason 0.3 microns is used in the definition is because it’s the particle size in which all mechanical filters are LEAST efficient in capturing and removing from the air. A micron is a measure of length: 1 micron equals 1 millionth of a meter. A particle size of 10 microns or less is not visible to the naked eye.

Undesirable contaminants that the HEPA filter will help block include; smoke, mold, hair, dust, dirt, pet dander, bacteria, viruses and fungi. Please note that “HEPA-Type” filters may look like a certified HEPA filter however their performance may not match that of a true HEPA filter. No filter, including a true HEPA filter, can trap 100% of all contaminants. However, in terms of efficiency and performance, HEPA filters are the highest performing air filtration devices currently available. Two additional features of HEPA filters that add to their value is that unless the air entering the filter is humidified, bacteria and viruses that are trapped in the filter will dry out and die. The second feature is that the filter becomes more efficient over time because as the filter gets filled with trapped particles, it becomes more difficult for matter to pass through the filter. Depending on use and level of contaminate exposure, HEPA filters, like a regular filter need to be changed based on the manufacturer’s recommendation.

Now that we have discussed disposable filters let us turn our attention to the permanent filter. These types of filters are appealing because they can be cleaned and then put right back into the furnace. They should be cleaned every 3 months and again they will be dirty. My advice on permanent filters; if a permanent filter is what you really want, then don’t go cheap. In my experience the old adage, you get what you pay for applies here. I have seen customers fork out $150 for a permanent filter that only removes 50% of dust and allergens from their system. Why pay that much when for less then $20 you can pick up a disposable that will remove 80%. When looking into permanent filters you should be ready and willing to pay $250 or more for a filter. Most filters at this price will come with a life time warranty (the furnaces life time not yours) meaning it will be the last filter you buy for your furnace and will remove 90% and more of the dust and allergens. On average these filters should pay for themselves in about 2 - 3 years. If you are going to run a permanent filter I suggest having a pleated filter to replace it during cleaning and drying time (never put a wet filter back into your system).

Understanding MERV Ratings

MERV ratings are used to rate the ability of a furnace filter to remove dust from the air as it passes through the filter. MERV is a standard used to measure the overall efficiency of a filter. Higher MERV ratings mean fewer dust particles and other airborne contaminants pass through the filter.

MERV ratings range from 1 - 16 and measurements are in microns. Some of the common particles related to MERV ratings are pet dander, insecticide dust, smog, dust, viruses, wood, tobacco smoke, spores, bacteria and pollen.

Some of the most common filters found in residential use only have a Merv rating of 1 to 4. These are typically disposable panel type filters and do not do a good job of filtering the air because they will not stop particles smaller than 10 microns.

Merv 5 to 8 rated filters are a better choice and are more commonly found in commercial applications. These filters will collect particles as small as 3 microns and are a good choice for home owners also.

Filters with a Merv rating of 9 to 12 are used in commercial and industrial applications and will stop particles in the 1 to 3 micron range. These filters are a great choice for home owners who want the best dust control possible. When using filters with Merv 9 ratings and above it is important to clean or replace them when recommended by the manufacturer because they will have a negative effect on air flow when they become dirty. This can lead to performance problems and decreased operating efficiency.

The most efficient filters have Merv ratings of 13 to 16 and will stop particles as small as .3 microns. These filters are used in hospitals and other super clean environments.

The type of filter you decide to run in your system will depend on a few factors. If there are people in the house suffering allergy symptoms, if your system has continually been breaking down, if it seems you have to dust every other day. There are so many different types of filters to choose from. It will be hard for me to give individual advice on your specific wants and needs but I will try to help you out in here the best I can. If I don't answer your questions I hope you will take the time to email me any questions you may have about your heating system.

We Have Rats!

This is one of the reasons we get called out to homes. People thinking that rats have gotten into their heating duct system. I have,over the last few years, literally, been out on at least 100 calls for rats in a system. Out of these 100 calls I’ve yet to find rats inside a heating duct system. When i get to the home in question the answer is always the same; the smell is in this end of the house. If a rat were to die inside a duct system the smell would go through the entire house when the system ran. Considering the smell is only out of one or ducts points me to the conclusion that the rat has died on top of the duct and not inside it, and after some inspection this is what we have found to be true. There are disinfectants used by Power-Vac companies but unless rat droppings are found inside the ducts it’s money we don’t need to spend. You have to remember that in a forced air system there is warm air being blown through the ducts. I f a rat were to ever enter a duct system it would most definately go into a return air duct where there is no forced air. The only thing my customers with rats can do (if we were unable to find the carcass) is to wait until it has decomposed and the smell goes away. A couple little pointers on rats; they don’t like steel wool so if you can figure where they are coming in stuff the hole with steel wool and that will keep them out. Many customers tell me they lay traps but never catch any rats. Rats aren’t stupid but either are we. What you need to is to firstly lay out unarmed traps. Use peanut butter they love it. Do not arm the trap. Let them get used to the traps for about 4-5 days, then arm them and get them outta your homes forever.

word of mouth

I really can’t stress enough how important it is that when choosing a Power-Vac Company to clean out your heating system you get referals. I have been into too many homes where a company before me has not done what they were hired to do. Holes in the duct work are a must. Anyone can clean a vent/register out into the main duct work but what then. If there are no visible holes in the duct work it means that everything that company just blew into the main duct is just sitting there. It’s tough ,I know, especially if you have never had it done before or if you have used the same company over and over. That’s the way it’s supposed to be done, I thought, is what I hear all time. Especially be aware if your home is on a crawl space. Companies prey on crawls because they don’t expect the customer to crawl under their house to inspect what they have done. I hate having to tell my customers that they have been taken advantage of. Two things to look out for after the fact are; 1)holes in the duct work. Make sure they exist and that they are at the bottom of the system. If the holes are at the top again this states that the company hasn’t cleaned it properly. Sucking from the bottom of a system guarantees that most or all of the dirt and allergens were removed. 2) make sure the company leaves their sticker on your furnace. It shows responsibility on their part. If they don’t leave a sticker behind with the date and what they have cleaned it most likely means it’s because they don’t want to be responsible for what they have just billed you for. So, before hiring a Power-Vac Company, phone around, talk to friends who have it done before, talk to the better business bureau, talk to contractors and talk to the heating- a/c installers. The cleaning of a heating system is a very important part of assurring us adequate Indoor Air Quality and we all work hard for our money. Make sure that the company you hire is using your money in your best interest. Word Of Mouth is the only way to go.

Indoor Air Quality Awareness

I want to take a minute to let everyone know who visits my Blog exactly what I'm doing. Honestly, the first thing I am doing is promoting my E-Book, How to Save Money on your Heating Bill. But more importantly I'm trying to raise awareness on the importance of Indoor Air Quality. IAQ is a very real, very big problem in our lives today. IAQ levels in our homes and in our places of employment are sometimes as much as 10 X worse then the outdoor air quality. Take a moment to think about this. 10 X worse. You can see what we are breathing outside but inside is a different story. Next time the sun is shining through your home go over and rub the carpet or pat the arm of your favourite recliner and you'll see what I'm talking about. It seems to me that the only people that really care about IAQ are the people that are trying to sell you the mega buck purifiers, the mega buck Hepa filters, the mega buck humidifiers and on and on...I work for the largest Power-Vac Company in BC Canada and I take this issue to heart. I have helped out thousands on people on Vancouver Island, both residential and commercial solve these problems effectively with very little cost. I'm here to help you too. My E-Book deals with these problems and allows individual home owners to easily fix the problems themselves. It covers Heat Loss, Filters, Maintenance, Service and a few other ideas on how to improve IAQ with very little cost.

Are you mad enough yet?

I just can't seem to get over what we, as home owners are expected to put up with. It appears that everybody just wants us to spend, spend and spend like we have a friggin money tree in our back yard.I'm here to tell you that we don't need to fork out bags of money to improve the IAQ in our homes or to make sure that our heating systems are working efficiently. A little is a must but we have to be careful. I know it's tough. Who do I trust? I walk into 40+ different homes a week and expect total strangers to trust me. I am very passionate about what I do and people pick up on this when we talk.You should be able to get that same feeling from whomever it is giving you the same advice. Trust your instincts. Trust your gut. Do a little research. Call around and ask about the company you are looking at hiring to clean , maintain or service your heating system. Word of mouth advertising is the way to go.For cleaning, I strongly suggest that the you make sure the company you are using is using a Truck Mount System and not just a shop vac or a carpet/ upholstery system. They are night and day.When it comes down to filters again do your research.Filters are your only defense against dust and allergens.Cold rooms in your home DOESN'T mean that you need a new furnace, DOESN'T mean the rooms are too big, DOESN'T mean that the room is the farthest away from the furnace and DOESN'T mean that that room gets no sun. It means that you are EXPERIENCING HEAT LOSS due to the improper sealing of your heating system.I wish I could personally visit everyone's home to help them with these common problems. Unfortunately I cannot.What I can do is to keep writing in my blog an hopefully help people to understand the importance of what I'm trying to get across to the masses.IAQ and Heat Loss are real problems we face as home owners but they are problems that we can cost effectively fix ourselves. I go into full detail in me E-Book on how to fix all these problems.

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Many thanks to Teli Adlam

Prisoners to our Environments

Have you ever noticed that prices from contractors or tradesmen seem to be higher after they see the homes we live in. That after they see the size of the house they try to push more expensive repairs or upgrades onto the home owner. In my experience it seems that the nicer and the bigger the home the more the price of a job goes up. If we live a modest home it doesn't seem to change all that much.
Case in point,yesterday I was out on a call. A very nice home, retired couple, trying to deal with an allergic reaction problem in their home ( IAQ ).The contractor of the sub division they live in has gone to all lengths to help resolve their problem. The couple had nothing bad to say about him.
Their home is a ranch style on a crawl space. The heating system was 95% properly sealed. Their complaint is allergens in their system. First thing I noticed entering their crawl space was the amount of dust in it. It had never been cleaned. They had brought in heating specialists who are trying to convince that what they need is a HEPA-FILTER (top notch filtration system) and a HRV (heat recovery ventilation system). I have no problem with either of these two solutions however in my opinion that's not where they should start. They are talking thousands of dollars to install these two items into their system when i fully believe that they should 1st look at spending a couple hundred dollars on my ideas to see if they rectify the problem. Retired couple,nice home, they gotta have lots of money.RIGHT???
They already run a very effecient filter in their furnace. The problem is the amounts of dust in their crawl space. Spend a couple hundred dollars to get it cleaned out, finish sealing the 5% of the system that wasn't sealed 1st hand and BOBS YOUR UNCLE!
If I'm wrong and I don't think I am then they can go ahead and spend the thousands to up grade the system.

INDOOR AIR Quality ( IAQ )

Indoor Air Quality?Is this something you should be worried about?IAQ is for real.Do you or a family member suffer from itchy eyes,running noses or ahems in the throat?These are all IAQ related.In the late 90's a hotel in Philadelphia,PA was contaminated with Legionaires Desease which was directly linked to the heating duct work(IAQ)killing over 100 people.This was an extreme case but it happened all the same.It's known as Sick Building Syndrome.The biggest problem with IAQ is Sensitivity.

What Is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is the name given by some to a condition in which various symptoms reportedly appear after a person has been exposed to any of a wide range of chemicals. The exposure may occur as a major event, such as a chemical spill, or from long-term contact with low-levels of chemicals, such as in an office with poor ventilation. As a result of exposure, people with MCS develop sensitivity and have reactions to the chemicals even at levels most people can tolerate.

MCS is rampant in our children and our elderly from over exposure to poor ventilation in our homes,poor IAQ.My EBook deals with the solutions to this.

I was at an IAQ seminar in Vancouver BC and the fellow running it talked about how his son,who was an all around athlete,is now on a puffer.This ,he said was a direct result of poor IAQ in his home and his son was now sensitive to dust and allergens.He went to say how much he wished that he had known what he knows today years ago.You now have the opportunity to learn this before it's too late for the children in your lives.

Clean air is essential for good health, and this is especially true when it comes to indoor air.

As Canadians, we spend close to 90% of our time inside; at home, at work and in recreational environments. Most people, however, are unaware of the effects that poor indoor air quality can have on their health.

All of us have the ability to control the quality of our own indoor air.

Are you ready to start saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your heating bill.I've written an E-BOOK on just that premise.As a home owner myself I realize how expensive heating bills can get especially if you are using oil.I don't want to give anything away but I would like to help as many people as I can save in today's harsh economy.
I am a 47 yr old HVAC cleaner from Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada.I have been in this trade for 6+yrs and have learned tons of valuable information over these yrs.I have helped thousands of customers here at home save the same type of money I am now trying to save you.My book deals with everything from Cleaning to Servicing to Maintaining residential furnace and ducts.
http://www.JJSDREAMPRODUCTS.synthasite.com is my web site.Have a looksee when you get a chance and let me know what you think.

I was on a call for a furnace and duct cleaning in Nanaimo BC.It was a split level house,married couple with 2 kids.When the customer answered the door i introduced myself and my swamper.I then ran thru how we go about cleaning his system.When i finished he led me to his crawl space which was in a closet inside the house and said to call him if we needed anything.I jumped into the crawl,knealt down as soon as I turned on my light all i could see was duct tape hanging down off of all the duct work.I got out and called him over.What part of the house don't you have heat in,I asked.He called his wife.Say that again he said once she got there.What part of the house don't you have heat in I asked again.Their mouths dropped wide open.How the hell did you know that he asked.He went on to tell me that he had hired 6 different companies to come into his home and to tell him why he wasn't getting heat in certain areas and not one of them could help him.Your system was sealed with duct tape and the tape has long since dried up and is now falling off.It was never sealed properly.He hired me to properly seal his system for him.Took about 90 minutes start to finish.I checked back with them about 6 weeks later.He had another problem with his system.Now he was getting too much heat.The system was no longer suffering heat loss with the joints properly sealed.He had never had the system running properly as they bought the house some yrs after it was built.

I was out on a call yesterday 03/30/09. A beautiful house overlooking a golf course.Had to be worth somewhere around $1.5-$1.75 million.The cost was important to me because they had the same problems with their heating system as the rest of us do.Doesn't matter if you live in a 1300 sq ft house or 5000 sq ft house.Doesn't matter if your house is 60 yrs old or 6 yrs old.They had never had their ducts cleaned,no one had ever told them it could done.I pulled out 6 yrs of dust bunnies,food and debris from outdoors not to mention the construction materials that had been dumped into the duct system when the house was finished 6 yrs ago.They both suffered allergies while at home.It seemed to improve when they weren't home.That was an easy fix.They had NO filter in the furnace.And their system was never sealed properly.Most of their heat was heating their crawl space.Cold rooms all over the house.They thought it was because the rooms were so big but I showed them what the problem was and how easy it was to fix it.That was one of my biggest tips to date.