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By Karen, on August 27th, 2010
 Tighten your belt on energy spending. If you want to cut costs – and in this economy, who doesn’t – you have to know what your costs are, right? Did you know that energy accounts for almost one-third of a typical building’s operating costs? Because energy savings go straight to the bottom line and can be realized almost immediately, energy should be one of the first places you look to cut costs.
That’s where an Energy Benchmark comes in. A Benchmark can tell you how your building stacks up against other buildings in your market. If you’re paying way more or less than the next guy for energy in your building, shouldn’t you know?
And if you’re paying less than your peer buildings, you have an opportunity to market yourself to potential tenants or buyers, or just give yourself a pat on the back for your fantastic building management.
If you’re paying too much, there are many ways to reduce your energy costs WITHOUT spending a lot. Studies from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) have shown that you can save from 5 – 30% on your energy bills with LOW or NO cost changes. We’re not talking unit replacements or major overhauls, but minor tweaks and upgrades that can help save major bucks.
Right now you have the option of going directly to the Energy Star website and conducting your own Benchmark. You can manually enter data about your energy bills and building space and type and you will get an Energy Star rating like one above. Your other option, which I highly recommend, is calling Advance Air to do one FOR you, for FREE.
Get more info about FREE Energy Benchmarks and other money-saving Energy Services at our website: http://www.advanceair.net/energy.htm
By Karen, on August 26th, 2010
One of the legendary foes of the HVAC technician is the seagull. Normally not a lovable creature by any standard, the awkward-looking, screeching gull becomes a vicious dive-bombing menace to the unsuspecting rooftop-unit-repairing technician.
 Are you talking to me? One clever technician dreamed up a scheme, inspired by his childhood gull-feeding beach adventures, to thwart his flying nemesis. Figuring that no self-respecting gull can resist the snack foods of his youth, the technician brought a gigantic bag of buttered popcorn to the roof with him in the hopes that it would provide sufficient distraction to let him repair in peace. When a generous sprinkling of popcorn at the far corner of the roof immediately drew the gulls attention, our ingenious technician declared, “Victory!” and proceeded to attend to the rooftop unit.
Within minutes the gulls realized that their benefactor had slipped away to what must have been their nesting area. Angered by the deception, the gulls quickly plotted their revenge, flanked the technician, and proceeded to drive him off of their roof in a flurry of flapping wings and stabbing beaks.
Seagulls 1, Technicians 0
And a total waste of perfectly good popcorn.
By Karen, on August 3rd, 2010
Normally I’m not much of a germophobe, but there’s something about the idea of slimy ice that gives me the willies.
I think the assumption most people make is that since ice is frozen, it’s automatically clean. Once you’ve seen the insides of a few neglected ice machines, you might change your tune.
Did you know that the industry-recommended standard for ice machine maintenance is once per month? Although for some ice-users, monthly sanitation may seem a bit obsessive-compulsive, it is a good idea to put your ice machine on a regular maintenance schedule. Depending upon water quality, environment, and usage, twice yearly or quarterly maintenance is a good bet.
Ice machines have two main enemies: mineral build-up and contamination by bacteria or other contaminates. Preventative maintenance helps keep these issues under control and your ice clean and healthy.
Mineral Build-up (Scale): Ice machines use potable water, which is clean and safe for drinking, but it contains minerals that constantly leach out during the ice making process. These minerals build up on the mechanisms of the ice machine, slowing the ice-making process. This means your machine has to work longer to make the same amount of ice. This wastes electricity and causes more wear and tear on your machine. Eventually, the build-up will cause the machine to stop producing ice altogether. Twice per year maintenance is recommended to keep mineral build-up down to a manageable level.
Bacterial or Other Contamination: The other – and even more icky – ice machine enemy is contamination by bacteria, airborne particulates like dust or pollen, and general human contact. These contaminants can cause an unsanitary environment in your ice machine, sometimes causing slime or other unpleasant ice conditions.
When the ice clinks in your frosty glass, you don’t want to think about hordes of bacterium swimming for their lives in your beverage. So, for the sake of all who partake of your ice, please clean and disinfect your ice machine regularly. And if you don’t, can you let me know who you are, so I can avoid ice from your establishment?
By Karen, on July 29th, 2010
As I write my very first blog I can’t help but think of the movie Julie & Julia. Though I can’t imagine a blog about heating and air conditioning to be quite so humorous as Julie’s blog, I hope to make it informative and perhaps even mildly enjoyable.
If I may digress for those who haven’t seen Julie & Julia, the movie tells the story of twenty-nine year old Julie, who survives the trauma of turning thirty by cooking her way through Julia Child’s French Cookbook and writing a blog about the experience. Those who have seen the movie will understand why I never, ever want to attempt to cook or eat an aspic. Why anyone would invent a Jello made of meat, I will never understand. But mostly, those who have seen the movie will understand how I am afraid that no one besides my mother will ever read this blog.
If you ARE reading this blog, I would love to know what you, my millions of avid readers, are interested in learning about in the field of HVAC and Energy Management. I encourage you to use the comments section to tell me what you’d like to know more about.
My goal is to bring information about heating and cooling technologies and trends to this blog as well as some personal stories to help make it a little more fun for those who find their way here. I hope you all enjoy this adventure as much as I plan to!
By Karen, on July 29th, 2010
Our technicians have all had “creature” experiences of one type or another as they wiggle through crawl spaces or peek into outside condensers. I always have such fun picturing these big tough men running screaming from a flock of seagulls, or shrieking like pigtailed little girls at the sight of a mouse in the machines. So, at the risk of embarrassing said “tough men” it gives me joy to share these stories with you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
After climbing a ladder to access a ceiling-hung heating unit in a warehouse, our technician – we’ll call him Joe – found he was still unable to see the very top of the unit very well. Determined to find the cause of the problem, Joe forged on and felt around blindly to see if he could discover what had caused the fan to stop spinning. Joe quickly discovered the culprit – a sizeable clump of dust and debris had wedged beneath the fan causing it to seize and the heater to short out. Feeling rather good about himself, Joe grabbed the clump and freed the fan.
Upon closer inspection, what he’d thought was dust was actually the carcass of a very unfortunate rodent. Though a normally level-headed bloke, the unexpected sight of a petrified critter in his bare hand was too much for poor Joe, who shrieked like a girl and flung the little mouse across the room. The airborne mouse fortunately missed the several startled employees who happened to be nearby – making the odd display the highlight of their previously dull workday. Anything to entertain our fans…
 Now Joe always wears gloves.
By Karen, on July 29th, 2010
Advance Air & Heat is now a Certified Vykon Systems Integrator (VSI), so we can now help translate.
Advance Air technician Frank Tavares recently passed the rigorous training requirements to become certified as a Vykon Systems Integrator, allowing Advance Air to service, install and support all Tridium Niagara Building Automation Controls and Technologies.
 Advance Air is now a Certified Vykon Systems Integrator (VSI) What makes Tridium’s line of products so great is their ability to successfully integrate multiple types and brands of controls systems to make them work seamlessly together right from your desktop computer. There have been several products that have attempted what Tridium has finally been able to do, but none have accomplished it as successfully. We are excited to bring their product to our customers.
Building Automation Systems, also known as Energy Management Systems or Direct Digital Controls, allow for control and monitoring of many different building-wide systems such as lighting, HVAC, security, etc. From your desktop computer, you can easily view and change settings system-wide, or for specific areas, receive service alarms for malfunctioning equipment, monitor energy consumption by unit/area and more. As these systems have evolved and new equipment is added and upgraded, it is not uncommon to find multiple software versions or even different brand names of software in the same building. Without a product like Tridium’s to integrate these incompatible systems, you lose the ability to centrally program your building – which is the main purpose of Building Automation.
Technology is ever-changing, much of it for the better. But if your technology upgrades have gotten out of hand and begun to work against each other, it may be a good time to check out Tridium. With Tridium’s help, we can make all of your systems get along.
If your Building Management System has incompatible software brands or versions, Vykon Systems Integration might be just the solution for you.
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