Selling Your House? Invest In Your HVAC

How can you improve the chances of selling your home? Take a good look at your heating and cooling equipment. If your home currently has an oil-fired heating plant, consider converting it to natural gas. The lower cost of operating natural gas furnaces and boilers is overwhelmingly attractive right now. But buyers are looking at more than out-of-pocket costs to operate the equipment.

Natural gas and heating oil are about equal from an operational perspective, but oil-fired heating equipment carries an inherent risk of spilling. The seemingly ever-increasing cost of heating oil, onsite storage and the cost of extra insurance for oil-spill related accidents could be a showstopper for potential buyers. If you have the cash available, convert. You’ll also get extra points for being able to say your home has a brand new furnace or boiler.

Old air conditioning or no air conditioning provide two more reasons for buyers to look past your home. New, high-efficiency air conditioners can be very economical to operate and can also be more environmentally friendly than older models. Older model air conditioners use older refrigerants, which – depending upon what you need – could be in short supply. Buyers who are looking ahead may see high replacement costs in their future.

One economical alternative for old systems or homes that have no air conditioning may be a mini-split AC system. These systems are highly cost-effective, provide zone cooling and install quickly. They can also solve other problems like those posed by ductwork – or lack of it! Some homes – especially those with hot-water or steam heat – may not have ductwork to begin with. Other homes may have ductwork that’s been compromised by asbestos or other hazards. The mini-split alternative provides excellent cooling with none of the retrofit hassle of a whole-house air conditioning system.

If you’re thinking about selling your home and you’d like an assessment of your home’s heating and cooling equipment, please give us a call at Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating at (617) 288-2911. We’ll be happy to evaluate your current heating and cooling equipment or consult with you on an oil-to-gas conversion.

Photo Credit: Beth Kanter, via Flickr

Heating Season Can Bring Added Hazards

CO is a colorless, odorless gas. It can be a natural by-product of combustion and it will kill you, your family or anyone else it comes in contact with. CO is usually vented out of homes through the chimney or other direct-vent system. You’ll encounter it wherever you burn natural gas or other fuels (like wood, charcoal, kerosene or oil) for heat.

In the winter, some people attempt to use their gas stoves as an alternative, supplemental or even a primary heat source, especially during power outages. They rationalize that it should be safe, since the gas that flows from the burner is “completely” consumed, doesn’t require additional venting and shouldn’t pose a hazard to humans.

Nothing is farther from the truth. Gas stoves used as heat sources can certainly cause carbon monoxide build-ups in the home and should never be used for anything other than cooking. Your kitchen should also be equipped with ventilation equipment to prevent CO buildup from cooking. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has determined that CO in concentrations as little as 100 parts per million is hazardous to human health. In other words, it doesn’t take much CO to put you and your family at risk.

New building codes now require CO sensors to operate in close proximity to unvented gas-burning appliances (like stoves), but these rules don’t apply to existing structures and existing gas-burning equipment.

A common misconception about CO poisoning is that it happens over a long period of time. Actually, CO poisoning can happen in a matter of minutes. Long-term exposure to CO can cause permanent heart and neurological problems. The very young and very old are also at increased risk of experiencing permanent physical damage from CO exposure.

You should recognize the symptoms of CO poisoning and make sure your home has working CO detectors at all times. The most common symptoms of CO poisoning are dizziness and nausea, shortness of breath, mild headaches, light-headedness, chest pain, confusion, agitation, visual changes, hallucinations and impaired judgment.

If you begin to experience any of these symptoms, or encounter someone else who is, it’s important to get that person outside immediately. If the symptoms improve with exposure to fresh air, do not return to the building. Instead, call 911 for medical assistance and have the affected person(s) medically evaluated at a hospital. Your local fire department will vent the affected space and attempt to locate the source of the CO leak.

If you have experienced a CO leak, have all of your fuel-burning appliances checked by a heating and cooling professional before returning them to service.

CO leaks in appliances can happen without warning, or they can be the result of deferred maintenance over a long period of time. The heating and cooling professionals at Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating can help you maintain your heating and cooling equipment and avoid CO mishaps. Contact us at (617) 288-2911 to schedule an inspection of your heating and cooling equipment today.

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Boston Standard Plumbing Certified Nest Installer

Nest thermostats work on just about all types of residential heating and cooling equipment, so most homeowners can take advantage of the benefits the Nest thermostat has to offer. Once installed, the Nest begins to learn about your “home and away” habits. After about a week, the Nest will have learned your basic routine. You can still make temporary changes to the Nest without throwing the programming off.

Better still, the Nest can help you save money. Using a smartphone or even your home network, you can contact the Nest to make changes to your thermostat settings, either while you’re at home or away. According to the maker, the Nest can help you reduce your home heating and cooling bills by an average of $175 per year.

The programmable thermostat differs from most typical thermostats because you can get very precise control over your utility usage. While most programmable thermostats allow you to control a couple of large time blocks on weekdays and weekends, the Nest allows you to make as many changes as needed during each day of the week.

The manufacturer has not yet started releasing this product directly to residential customers, but initial demand for the Nest has been high. As a certified installer, Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating can acquire and install a Nest thermostat in your home. If you’re interested in having a Nest thermostat installed, or would like more information about the Nest or other programmable thermostat options for your home, contact us at Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating at (617) 288-2911 to set up an appointment.

Photo Credit: Nest

Best Toilet Brand? Consider This!

At Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating, we recommend the Toto brand toilets above other manufacturers, in part because Toto is the largest manufacturer of toilet fixtures in world today. Toto offers operational innovations that distinguish their fixtures from standard toilets and use less water per flush. Toto also offers a wide range of artistic fixture designs and colors that will enhance the visual appeal of a bathroom.

Toto offers a series of toilet fixtures that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). An ADA-compliant fixture can allow older persons to stay in their homes more comfortably and safely for a longer period of time. The design of the fixture can assist people with sitting down and standing back up, two activities that can be notoriously difficult for the elderly and disabled.

One excellent reason consumers should be considering Toto brand is the issue of replacement parts. Toto fixtures in the GMax series use common replacement parts, while fixtures from other manufacturers like Kohler and American Standard use parts that are unique to each model of toilet. The use of common parts ensures that replacement parts are easily acquired and will be available for a long time, even if the particular model a consumer has installed is no longer manufactured.

Toto fixtures are priced comparably to toilets from other manufacturers, so you won’t spend a lot of extra cash to get a high-performance fixture that meets your needs, works well in your bathroom and is easily maintainable over time. Toto toilets also score well on Maximum Performance (MaP) testing. MaP performance testing was developed in 2003 to gauge the actual water efficiency of toilet fixtures using realistic testing media. MaP testing information is available for nearly 2,000 models of toilets and provides standard performance comparison measures. The results demonstrate how well a particular toilet design clears the bowl using a given amount of water and test flush material – an important consideration when toilet shopping!

If you’d like more information about Toto toilets, toilet selection or toilet installation, contact us at Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating at (617) 288-2911 anytime. We recommend Toto fixtures and can help you select the toilet that will work best for you.

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Photo Credit: Charles & Hudson, via Flickr

Boston Standard Plumbing Seals Up 2011 Angie's List Super Service Award!

Making Angie’s List is special because the service ratings are all customer-driven and completely unsolicited. Angie’s List is a member-driven organization whose mission is to provide unbiased rating information to homeowners and business owners nationwide. Unlike other ratings services, the reviews are not anonymous to the reader, so you can rely on the information you receive.

We work hard at Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating to ensure that our customers get prompt, fast and accurate service, and that we meet their plumbing, heating and cooling needs. We’re delighted to have been selected by our customers as being one of the most value- and service-oriented plumbing, heating and cooling firms in the Boston area, and we’re motivated to deliver the superior service we’ve become known for in the Boston area in 2012!

We offer a wide range of services to help keep the plumbing, heating and cooling systems in Boston homes in good working order. We realize that many plumbing, heating and cooling jobs are unplanned, and are the result of an unexpected event. That’s why we offer true 24-hour on-call service for our customers.

In a plumbing or heating emergency, most local firms will route your call to an answering service. As licensed plumbing, heating and cooling professionals, we realize that time is often of the essence. That’s why you speak with a member of the Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating staff when you call us after hours for help. We keep our trucks stocked with a wide range of common (and uncommon) parts so we can usually respond to the problem immediately.

Offering genuine 24-hour emergency response services is just one of the many reasons our customers recommend us. Whether you need assistance with regular heating, cooling and plumbing maintenance, or you need a professional emergency response, you can rely on Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating. Call us anytime at (617) 288-2911 and let us show you why we’re one among the best in Boston.

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New Thermostat Learns Your Heating and Cooling Preferences

This “learning” thermostat can program itself based on your habits and boasts a design that will do Apple proud. Technically, the new Nest could be considered a distant cousin of the Cupertino clan, since it was designed by Apple’s former Chief Architect Tony Fadell. As such, you can be sure that it will work with your iPhone to help keep the temperature in your nest just the way you like it, even if that means moving the temperature several times each day to suit your preferences.

The new Nest claims to be able to save you something on the order of $175 per year, but you won’t see any savings until you get past the cool $249 price tag. And just like the iPhone, you’ll need to wait a bit to get your hands on a Nest – the company is sold out until at least February 2012 and perhaps longer. Nonetheless, the Nest video is worth a look because it gives you an idea of where energy-saving technologies are headed.

The maker, Nest Labs, promises that installing the thermostat is no more complicated than the installing a light fixture, so on the surface, it seems like a reasonable DIY project. Once installed, the thermostat programs itself over the course of a week by taking note of when you increase and decrease the temperature in your home. Once the thermostat is programmed, you can make spot changes that won’t affect the device’s understanding of your general climate control preferences, but it can also spot patterns. For example, if you’re always home on Sundays and Wednesdays, the Nest will turn your thermostat up on the days you’re home and down on the days you’re not without you having to program the thermostat.

You can also make spot adjustments to the temperature using a smart phone from just about anywhere. This is great if you’re coming home early or late and want to manage the temperature of your house accordingly. The Nest also tracks when your seasonal switchover from heating to cooling occurs and keeps the temperature in the house comfy year-round.

Better yet, the Nest will tell you when your thermostat settings are energy-saving or energy-hogging, so you can learn how best to maximize the comfort of your home and save money at the same time. The Nest can also help you determine when the temperature in your home is set too low to keep your plumbing protected.

I encourage you to watch the video that’s available on the Nest website, and if you’re interested in purchasing the Nest, visit the online store and leave your contact information. The company is not currently taking orders for additional products, but will notify you when they’re ready to take more orders.

If you purchase a Nest or would like selection and installation assistance with other energy-saving thermostats, contact us at Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating at (617) 288-2911. We’ll be happy to make recommendations regarding programmable thermostats and show you how they can save you money on energy bills year-round.

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Photo Credit: Nest Labs

What's In Your Water Glass?

The cows were watered from a source known as Bubbly Creek, so named because the water bubbled from the methane and hydrogen sulfide in the water. The creek was also polluted from meat waste from the slaughterhouses. Even though the water was filtered, the cows – which arrived in Chicago from all over the Midwest – couldn’t gain weight. At the time, the City of Chicago wasn’t willing to supply the stockyards with municipal water, so the stockyard operators had to do something.

The stockyards contracted a New York firm to test the water in Bubbly Creek. Although the freshly filtered water was of acceptable quality and was treated with copper to inhibit the growth of algae, the firm noted that the bacteria count in the samples exploded within a short time of being drawn. The firm began experimenting with sanitizers to reduce the bacteria count in the Bubbly Creek water. After testing with a powdered chlorine compound known as “chloride of lime,” the Bubbly Creek water cleared to such quality that it was actually cleaner than the Chicago municipal water supply!

Other major cities, including Boston, began to chlorinate their municipal water supplies in an effort to fight typhoid fever and other water-borne illnesses. The sanitization of municipal water was so successful at fighting certain diseases that chlorination has become a standard mechanism to treat both municipal water and water where organic or biological contamination is suspected.

Pathogens still account for notable contamination in 25%-50% of rivers, streams, creeks and costal areas, but thanks to simple water treatments, most otherwise harmful contaminants are neutralized before they hit our taps. If you don’t like the chlorine taste in municipal water, you can buy inexpensive water filtration systems that attach to your tap and will successfully remove the chlorine and other chemicals prior to drinking.

If you would like more information on chlorine filtration systems for your kitchen tap, whole house water filtration systems or reverse osmosis water filters, please contact us at Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating at (617) 288-2911 anytime. Don’t forget to friend Boston Standard Plumbing on Facebook!

Photo Credit: Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden, via Flickr

Get Ready For Holiday Plumbing Emergencies

Drains: If you plan to have a large holiday gathering at your home, make sure your drains are running clearly before your guests arrive. Clogged drains can lead to sink overflows and unpleasant odors at a time when you need your plumbing to be in tip-top shape. Most drain clogs are made from organic matter – either food particles in kitchen drains or hair and soap buildup in the bathroom drains. Drain cleaners you buy in the stores contain lye and other harsh chemicals that can burn skin on contact. We recommend using a drain cleaning product called Bio-Clean. Bio-Clean is an enzymatic drain cleaner that doesn’t contain harsh chemicals, but can clear organic matter in your drains. Add Bio-Clean to your drains the night before your guests arrive and your drains will run clear during your big event. We carry Bio-Clean. Please contact us for more information on this product.

Toilets: Toilet clogs usually don’t happen for the same reason that drain clogs do. Toilet clogs are usually the result of too much paper and material in the bowl. Inefficient siphoning can also result in clogs. You can’t really control what your guest do, but you can make sure that your toilet is in good working order before your company arrives. Check the operation of the flapper valve in your toilet and make sure your tank fills completely when you flush it. If you’re concerned about the volume of toilet paper in your bowl, or if your toilet typically doesn’t manage a lot of toilet paper well, consider replacing your premium toilet paper with paper that isn’t as thick to help ensure a proper flush.

Faucets: Faucets can start leaking, and leaks can get worse with increased use. If you have a leaking faucet, address it before your guests arrive. Some leaks can be fixed simply by tightening the connections or sealing joints with Teflon tape, but overtightening connections can actually break the fixture. If your fixture is leaking because it’s broken or cracked, replace it.

In the interest of prevention, check the local shut-off valves for each fixture. If the shutoff doesn’t work, or can’t be turned easily, replace it. Also check your dishwasher connections, including the drain hose to be sure water can enter and exit the appliance freely. As a final precaution, you should know how to shut off the main water valve in your home, and keep the number of your local plumber handy, just in case! In Boston, Boston Standard Plumbing offers 24-hour emergency service, including holiday service. Contact us at (617) 288-2911 anytime, and have a happy holiday season. Friend us on Facebook!
Photo Credit: Genista