These are condensed versions of the Radio Program

02/02/05

This last round of high heating bills has once again brought out the requests for tips on saving. So here are a few ways to save while you’re heating, and you can call us at 635-3452 for more. Enjoy! Turn the thermostat down! By far, the easiest tip. 68 degrees is a good place to start. Every degree you lower the thermostat, you save about 5% in heating costs. Turn it down a lot when the house is empty during the day and overnight when everyone’s in bed. Keep your socks on and wrap up in a cozy blanket while you’re watching TV.  You can turn it back up when people are home. A new programmable thermostat can pay for itself pretty quickly while accomplishing this for you. Insulate. Insulate. Insulate.

Attic insulation is the most important. That’s where we lose heat in the winter AND where it gets in during the summer. I don’t know of too many occasions when there was too much insulation. Is your ductwork sealed and connected properly? There can also easily be insulation issues in ductwork if it’s kind of old. Have somebody (Us, please) inspect your ducts and be sure you’re not throwing away 30% or more of your warming dollar.

Seal the leaks in your home! All homes have them. If you can see daylight around a doorframe, you are dumping you money out of that hole.

Change your filters! Yep! If your equipment cannot breathe properly-it cannot work properly. If it doesn’t work properly, you’re wasting money. Another great tip: Proper maintenance! Our Quality Service Maintenance Program will make sure your equipment is operating at its most efficient. Call us; you’ll be surprised how little it costs when it saves so much! 635-3452.

02/09/05

We love to answer questions about filters! Here they are:

What types of filters are available to homeowners?

There are three main types. The most common is a standard filter. It’s the kind that has a cardboard frame and blue fiberglass for filtration. They’re very inexpensive and mostly protect the equipment. They do have to be changed regularly (monthly) to remain effective. Even if it looks clean after 30 days-it is not.

Some people flip them over to try and save money, but they only end up letting whatever the filter has stopped get sucked right into the unit. A media filter is made of paper and comes in various widths from 1 inch to 5. Many people with breathing issues use these. These are paper filters and do a much better job of real filtration. With a better job of filtration comes the risk of

Restricting too much of the airflow. That can cause your unit to perform poorly and cause damage. You have to be certain that your equipment can handle the denser filter. You may also need special installation for some of these. Permanent filters are the third type. These aren’t designed to be changed, but cleaned periodically. They range from a “hog’s hair” filter the electrostatic and electromagnetic on the upper end. The upper end filters have to be installed by a professional, and are the best filtration available for home use. Those with serious allergy and mold problems are helped with these. When combined with UV lighting they can make the air inside a home near hospital quality clean. These systems must be designed carefully and with great attention to make sure they match up with existing air and heat equipment.

Call us with your question at 635-3452, or visit our website at www.qualityserviceinc.com. Thanks.

02/16/05

We’ve recently been discussing filtration for our home comfort systems and that always leads to how to improve the indoor air quality. You can make the air in your house pretty much as clean as you want. It just depends on your needs and how much you want to spend to do it. Although the standard blue filters are enough for a lot of people, people with allergies or any type of breathing disease or difficulty need more than that. Some need a lot more than that. There are many ways to better filter the air. Electrostatic filters capture more particles and allergens than either standard or media (paper) filters. They are electrically charged and work like a magnet to attract the particles to them. If the allergies, asthma, or bronchitis are even more serious, you may need to consider the Electronic air cleaner and maybe even couple it with UV lighting. Doing this can make your indoor air quality on par with that of a hospital. The electronic air cleaner runs on a small amount of electricity and works somewhat the same way as a bug zapper does. It attracts the particle and fries it when it hits one of the plates. The UV lighting will render the live things in the air, (Mold, mildew, viruses, bacteria, etc.) sterile and harmless. The combination makes for very clean air. A lot of people use something like this combination to prevent possible breathing difficulties.

Farmers and others that work with chemicals and toxic materials are often advised to vastly improve their home indoor air quality to offset the hazards they face each day at work. If you’d like to explore the improvement of the air quality in your home, call us. We’ll be glad to answer questions and help. 635-3452.

02/23/05

We love to talk about today’s question topic.

Do you offer financing? Yes, absolutely, we offer financing. We have financing available from several sources. Are you like one of those “We Tote The Note” car places? No we are not. We do not offer the financing through our company, but we offer some great financing opportunities. Financing is available from programs set up with our manufacturers. Within those programs, there are several options. We can offer “Same as Cash” for up to 12 months. Up to 60 months terms are available. Rates on these loans can go as low as 9.9%. What kind of financing do most of your customers choose? Mostly, people use the TVA program or its mirror program through Ripley Power and Light. That program is available through your electric service provider. These are very reasonable loans with ten-year terms, and the payment can be added to your monthly utility bill. That’s one of the main attractions for the TVA-type loan. How much are the payments? That’s a general question, thus we’ll provide a general answer. If we figure the average cost of a decent 3-ton brand name packaged unit change out, (Where we simply replace the equipment and attach it to the current ductwork) the payments would be only a bit over $80 per month for a 36 month term, and just $52.99 for 60 months. That’s less than $1.77 per day, less than two soft drinks, coffees, or a pack of cigarettes. What types of equipment will these loans finance? The TVA and Ripley P&L loans are for heat pumps only. They want you to use electricity, but not quite so much. The manufacturer programs will finance whatever they make.

Call us if you’re interested in the financing. 635-3452

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