The other day I did a second system seal. Again we started by checking vents in the house to see how high we could feel the forced air above each vent. This was a much smaller house then the previous one we did,around 1800 sq ft. The air flow wasn’t too bad somewhere around 10-12 inches above each vent.Their issue was their back bedroom furthest from the furnace. Their system was running for about 15 minutes to heat the house prior to the seal.Once again following the seal we discovered the forced air was now 3- 3 1/2 ft above each vent including the back bedroom. The heat time  went from 15 minutes down to around 7 minutes at the same temperature.

Both of these cases were using natural gas to heat their respective homes so I have to assume that the changes to their heating bills will be overwhelming.The cost to these two customers to seal up their systems : the large 5300 sq ft home was $1300 while the 1800 sq ft home came in at $300. In my opinion had either of them  gone to a furnace company to inquire about cold rooms in their homes they would have been advised to replace their existing furnaces at a cost of thousands.I hope this helps out everyone who comes across it and again if you have any heat related questions or concerns please email them to me so i can help you as i was able to help out these to individuals.

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.

Today I would like to talk a little bit more about the Companies that clean heating systems. It was brought to my attention yesterday that there are companies offering Cleaning services that also sell, install and repair heating systems. In my opinion this is not good practice. When choosing a company to come into your home and clean your system make sure that that’s all that company does. They will be the EXPERTS! A company that also sells, installs and repairs heating systems only clean them because they are trying to corner the market. Their expertise will lie on the installation side of it not the cleaning side of it. Imagine, if you will, two companies: the first is a power-vac cleaning company, they notice your system is losing heat into your crawl space. All they do is clean, no installs, no sales, when they tell you this news it’s to your benefit not theirs. They are not trying to sell you anything. Now the second company notices the same problem but they are into sales. Dollars to doughnuts they’re going to tell you that you need a new furnace or at the very least new ducting, either way not in your best interest.They will try to sell you something their company offers.

My sister manages a restoration company in Lethbridge, Alberta. After they completed a clean up following a house fire she hired a company that sold, repaired, installed and cleaned residential heating systems. After this certain company completed the job of cleaning the soot and ash from the system, the system was fired up. Her restoration company then had to go back through the entire house and re-clean ducts it because of soot and ash being blown all throughout the house. I did a follow up on the company she hired and found out that the employees that did the clean up were given one whole day training on how to run a power-vac system. Cleaning was not their forte.

Companies that offer too many services cannot be experts at all they offer.

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.