The cost of OIL

Just talked to a friend of mine who just purchased 250 gallons of heating oil for $3.19/gallon. WOW!!! That's more than a gallon of gasoline here in Richmond. Looks like our faithful friend the oil company is, well not a faithful friend anymore. Yes, oil is great source of heat--I've had oil heat for years. But is oil heat convienent? Think about it-you have to call or set up an account with an oil company to have oil delivered. It smells, it's dirty, sometimes the oil company forgets or mis calculates the amount of oil you need and you're out of heat for a day or so. Just ask the folks up the street who ran out on Christmas day....where was their faithful friend the oil company then? I had to get two 5 gallon cans of diesel to carry them through until they could get a fill up. Yes, oil will heat your house for $700/month and you get to smell diesel after they fill your tank and if the boiler or furnace isn't properly maintained you get to spend $500 to $1000 to have it cleaned every couple of years.

What's the alternative--you ask? Simple, it's gas or electric. Think about the simplicity of either of those, you don't have to call and get a refill or wonder if the oil company came or not. You get a monthly bill and you're done. Better yet, the prices of gas and electricity stay constant for a year unlike oil whose prices change daily.

To me the proof is in the numbers--a typical household that heats with oil will spend $1300/yr on heating oil. Now a yearly gas bill for a household with a 90% gas furnace is $600 or less. That's a $700.00 savings!!! Just by going with gas. Now you ask-how much does it cost to convert from oil to gas....we'll call 323-0189 to find out.

We do Drain Cleaning

Ross our plumber getting ready to clean a drain on a Libbie Ave home.
This drain cleaning machine will clear up to 6" drain lines.
Obstruction removed!!! This was a so called "flushable wipe".

What does it look like when we install a system?

This is a time lapse video of a 1 1/2 ton heat pump change out. This is a straight system replacement with little ductwork modifications, it will show you all the steps we take to install a system. We take care in preping our solder joints, pressure testing the system, sealing the ductwork and starting the system. This took 3 men 5 hrs to complete.

16 SEER Heat Pump

We've had a busy summer this year, the heat and humidity had us all jumping. Looking back at some jobs we did this summer I'd like to share some pictures of 16 SEER heat pump with an Accu Clean Air Filtration System we installed. The original system was 15 yrs old and used ductboard for the ductwork. We removed the old ductboard and installed new sealed and insulated metal ducwork. Take a look at the old ductboard, if you have ductwork that looks like this, consider giving us a call it may have some growth on the inside too.

Look at the growth on the inside of this ductboard.

This is what ductboard looks like installed

The old air handler.

Here is the new air handler. Note the insulated and sealed ductwork on the left. The Accu Clean Filtration system is on the right. See the yellow wire with the black switch, that's a safety switch in the emergency drain pan. This will shut down the unit in case the unit should leak water.

Fall Savings

Check out our fall special!!! American Standard has teamed up with Marshall Mechanical to offer the following Fall Special. Check back next week to see how much you can save from oil to either gas or a heat pump!

Dual Fuel System 16 SEER 90% Gas furnace

These are pictures of our most recent replacement HVAC system. This was a 4 year old home in Richmond, VA which had a ductboard air distribution system, a 10 SEER AC with 80% gas furnace system. The first floor system failed due to an incorrectly sized ductwork system. We removed all the ductboard ductwork and installed new insulated metal ductwork along with installing a new dual fuel system which consisted of a 16 SEER American Standard 2 stage heat pump, a 90% variable speed 2 stage gas furnace and a Honeywell IAQ thermostat.

New insulated metal ductwork in crawl space
Poor installation before removing fiberous ductboard in attic
Corrected Installation with insulated metal ductwork in attic

Undersized ductboard air distribution system in crawl space
New 90% 2 stage variable speed gas furnace American Standard

New 16 SEER American Standard Heat pump next to 10 SEER AC unit

How big is your Carbon Foot Print?

Carbon Foot Print-what is that you may ask? It is a representation of the effect human activities have on the climate in terms of the total amount of greenhouse gases produced (measured in units of carbon dioxide). In laymens terms--the amount of carbon dioxide a person or household produces by the use of electricity, fuel oil, natural gas, and gasoline. Some things that contribute to "your" carbon footprint are;

• Driving a vehicle
• Turning on lights
• Using any electrical appliance
• Cooling and heating your home

So, why does the size of your carbon footprint matter to you or anyone else? Well, greenhouse gases are contributing to the changes in our earths atmosphere. Did you notice how warm this past January was, perhaps your children notice there wasn't any snow at all this winter. Maybe you remember how hot last summer was or the increase number of hurricanes over the past couple of years. There are plenty of published scientific reports stating why the climate is changing and just as many saying the climate is not changing. There is a plethara of information on the subject of global warming that one can peruse. Since there has been so much published on global warming and climate change perhaps we should pay attention to our carbon footprint.

Think about it, what could it hurt if we paid attention to our carbon footprint? Nothing, we might actually save some money by not driving as much, keeping our lights turned off when we aren't in room being used, and keeping our thermostats a degree warmer in the summer and a degree cooler in the winter.

Come back for more tips on what you can do to reduce your carbon foot print.