SUMMARY KEYWORDS
check, filter, system, people, air, refrigerant, diy, heat, condensate, maintenance, replace, hvac system, cooling, fins, maintain, furnace, coil, higher, literally, season
00:02
Before you start your next do it yourself project listen to this. You Got This! is on the air. You Got This! is hosted by ABT plumbing electric heat and air owner Andrew Twidwell and Rosalie Brown, with a helpful hand. Here are Andrew and Rosalie
00:18
I’m Andrew Twidwell, owner of ABT plumbing, electric heat and air, here once again with the show, You Got This!, a show of DIY do’s and don’ts. And Rosalie Brown is my co host. And we’re zooming in together because you know, it’s COVID Right? We were just talking off air about all the stuff that’s going on in the world and in our own lives. And oh my goodness, it’s it’s an interesting time to be alive, isn’t it?
00:45
It is and we’re glad to have you back because last week, I was in the driver’s seat and as much as I like to tell people what to do. And we did have a great guest DeeDee Vierra. It’s just nice to see you back. Yeah, she’s she’s a good interviewer. She’s a good
01:03
co worker, the person to have around and yeah, we had a great time we actually we did our little. We rented the air b&b in Pacific Grove, right on the water, found a little itty bitty, itty bitty, like two bedroom house. And we have two kids. So that was kind of interesting to adult children. So one of them got to sleep on the couch. But it was lovely. We really lucked out. The weather was nice. And we’d lucked out with minus tides. It was a minus two tide, which was fantastic. So tide pooling was It was incredibly good. And I’m born and raised in California and born and raised on the coasts. And so I really love tide pools love to
01:45
Oh, and I love I was I was jealous because I saw your pictures and I’m like, oh my god, like ever since I was a kid. And it might have been because when you grew up in the Bay Area, one of the field trips, that is kind of required, usually sleepaway camp, but you go to the coast and usually go to places where you get to tide pool, and things like that. And so from the time I was little, like even to now like if we go to a beach, I’m always like, where’s the rocks? Like? I yeah, I love that stuff. It’s
02:13
fun. I mean, it was it was so low minus to me, I got we’re down probably about six or seven feet. So at sea urchins were around you’re gonna see sea urchins and tide pools, but they were exposed in the rocks and stuff. So that was really cool.
02:30
gave us some great pictures. Great pictures. Yeah. So you know, we we held on the fart while you’re gone, but it’s good.
02:37
Yeah. Well, no. And people and you know, and watching looking at Facebook can people still didn’t have power and no friends, literally, one friend just got their power back yesterday, you know, cascade short, 16 days without power. It’s been an interesting, very interesting time between COVID and Snowmageddon and Christmas and New Years and wow, it’s just been
03:00
super wild. Yeah, super weird. I am, I have some connections that are in Alta Sierra. And, you know, depending on what pictures you saw, of, you know, different streets or whatever. I checked on her a few times. And I was like, you know, it just looks like you’re living in a warzone. I mean, you just downed trees and downed power lines. And, and a good friend of mine way down and Penn Valley just got power back. I think it was yesterday. And I was like, you know, I don’t know if people really if you’re not from there. You know, you see pictures when you think like, oh, Tahoe gets snow and sometimes a Sierra Nevada gets no, I don’t think you understand that. The weirdness the isolation, the frustration that it’s not just like, you know, being cold and being without power and all these things. There’s just a real kind of
03:49
without water for some people. Yeah, I mean, it’s crazy. And, and it was wild, because speaking of VT she lives near limekiln and that area so Lower, lower Alta Sierra, they got like a dusting, and very few limbs down and then you just go up the hill, maybe 50 feet 25 to 50 feet and elevation change. And it was just a warzone. As most of you all that are listening it’s song on Facebook and heard on the news and stuff. I mean, and then you go down the hill, just to Auburn, like our shop and Auburn. Like the people that that work for us that live and work in that area have completely clueless like, wait, what?
04:26
Yeah, it’s hard to imagine the hill. Yeah, so close. Yeah, yeah.
04:30
1520 minute drive, and all of a sudden, you’re in a completely different world. Completely different existence. So
04:35
yeah. Interesting.
04:37
Interesting new year.
04:39
I know. I mean, I hope it’s not an indicator of things to come. Maybe like I came in with a bang and it’s gonna go out like in a much better way. Yeah, I mean, it’s just yeah, that was one thing. So last week, we were talking a little bit about generator maintenance because one that was one thing that you know, DD is pretty familiar with and and you Though he’s got kind of some smart solutions, and she mentioned things like, don’t forget the rodents and things like that, you know, things I love to talk about. Oh, God, but but also, you know, it was kind of like there was there was so much so many people that were really either using their generators or wishing that they had one. And so we kind of talked about generator, and then I just thought maybe as we rolled into this episode, it would be a good idea to kind of go over some, you know, things about your H fac system that are kind of seasonal? Like, are there are there things? Yeah, you, right, we talked about generators. So let’s talk about your your heating system, your cooling system, the seasonality of it, some things we can kind of do to kind of, you know, on your own to make sure that you’re doing all the right things. But also, if you were to have a pro come in, the kind of things you could expect them to be looking at, or, you know, what are they doing, because I just have to say this real quick. I know, it feels like, you know, you’re always being sold on something like, you know, invite my, my company, and and we’ll fix your problems and this and that. And I know people feel like they’re being sold all the time. But sometimes when you peel back the curtain and explain what it is, and why people get a better idea of like, oh, okay, that’s why they keep talking about these safety inspections, or these, like, you know, I don’t even know what we call them anymore. They’re not always safety inspections. It’s more like maintenance, you know, checks, right? It’s been
06:22
it’s, and it’s and it’s similar, like, Yeah, I mean, you don’t have to change the oil on your car. It’s a good idea. But you know, you don’t have to maintain your HVAC system. But it’s a really good idea. You don’t have to pump your septic tank, but you probably should. So yeah, it’s the same sort of thing. We’re not trying to sell you on something. But if you own these things, if you’re if you are lucky enough to have a forced air system, or a mini split or something, whether the nature of actually being able to turn a switch on and have heat and cooling. Yeah, you got to maintain this stuff, you got to take care of it. You know, we’re fortunate enough in this country that we have these things and like other countries or other other places in the world that you may not actually have that you may only have a wood burning stove, or fireplace or a stove or you know, a fire in the middle of your hut or whatever. But in any way, I’m going too far with that. I digress. But yeah, this is great stuff. So you found this info gram, which, which I think is great. And I think we should we should borrow this.
07:22
I’ve been saying that. I’ve been saying that. That’s okay, whatever it takes. You heard it here, folks. He’s gonna let me use this infographic. I just want to point out the very first statistic that jumped out at me before we go into age back. Yeah. I cackled when I saw 87% of US households have an air conditioning system in their home. Yeah. And I literally read that and laughed so hard. And I thought, Why was I in that 13% that, like so much of my adult life, I was in that 13% that had no AC system. And so I mean, now I do, and I will never go back. I will never look back. But I just thought it was interesting. I can’t go back. I can’t go back. But I just thought 87% Wow, like I really wasn’t the minority without having a see. But like you said, you know, so many parts of the country like you really have to have it because the extreme heats and things like that. But anyway, I
08:21
insert parts of your Nevada County like you know why we you lived on Bear Mountain, you didn’t have air conditioning, I lived up up inner mountain air conditioning. Unfortunately, with climate change, we needed air conditioning more and more often. But yeah, I didn’t have AC end up putting a window unit in and slept downstairs for a week, you know, because that’s about how long it lasted. But it’s lasting longer now apparently. Right? Things are changing. Things are changing. But in any event, yeah, this infographic Yeah, so 87% of people have AC so yeah, if you got it fantastic. If you don’t, yeah, you’re part of the the 12% 13% Yes. Anyway, so here are some seasonality things. So this is great. So winter, what should you should, what should you be looking at for proper maintenance for your HVAC system. I know we harp on this all the time, but check your filter monthly and keep it in top shape and cleaning at least every 90 days. Which reminds me I have to do mine. I haven’t changed my name in about 90 days. It can save you money. It can save you anywhere from five to 15% on your on your heating bills. So you know, let’s be honest, during the wintertime up here, you could be spending 100 bucks a month on hearing if you can save 15 bucks by replacing a $4 filter or a $2 filter, not a bad return on your investment. Some of the other things by replacing your filter that will help but some of the other things that will help you by replacing your filter is a dusty dirty filter collects dust, dirt and grime. dirty filters can breed microbiological growth reducing air indoor air quality and creep. Create unpleasant odors as well. So like, I’m sure everybody’s, you know, have had that experience, especially if you own dogs or something like we do, where maybe you haven’t used your HVAC system in a little while and you didn’t replace the filter, and you turn it on and there, you get that dog smell throughout the house, right? That happens to us pretty much every season. So change those filters, and you can avoid those kinds of odors, you can avoid things growing on there. Fortunately, we live in a fairly dry environment. So stuff doesn’t necessarily grow too much on our air filters in our HVAC system, unlike some other parts of the country in the south and things where humidity is really bad, or even an Earth where you have high humidity during the summer times. But changing those filters will help with indoor air quality. To take care of that. Some of the other things that can happen from poor indoor air quality is a sore throat. Unfortunately, I have that right now. itchy, watery eyes seem to have that right now. tightness of the chest kind of had that coughing, everyone’s headache, bronchitis don’t have that long lasting, long lasting colds. And we were kind of joking. He’s like, Yeah, I constantly feel like I have COVID right now. And my indoor air quality is pretty good. I’ve got a really good filtration system. On my house with UV the whole bit, we’ve installed, I had a very HP System installed recently replaced by my guys, and we went to the nines and put in all the indoor air quality stuff I couldn’t think of which helps a lot, you know, high HEPA filter UV, which kills, which reduces UV light, which reduces pathogens and any kind of living organisms that kind of makes them explode. In any event. If you are feeling some of these symptoms, yeah, you know, change the filter, they can help or think about putting a higher efficiency filters filtration system in installed into your system. So that kind of hits it for winter, because there’s not a whole lot of other things that you’re going to be doing in terms of maintenance, at least DIY maintenance. Because usually you’re kind of in the season right now. So we’re typically wanting to see people’s systems on the shoulder seasons in the in the fall in the spring, so when they’re not being used as much. So whenever you haven’t had these things checked out, definitely haven’t checked out or check them out yourself, at least at the very least change that filter. Moving up to this ring now, right? Yep, springtime. Now this is where you want to be. These are our shoulder seasons. These are the times when especially in our area where we typically have holidays in the mid 60s and nights in the in the high 50s low 60s. And we’re not using our air conditioning, we’re not really using our heater that much. Those times you really want to have your system maintained then check it out thoroughly. So again, ideal time to change that filter, you know. You also want to have the HVAC the condenser checked, you’ll have things
13:08
the condenser which is the the piece of equipment that’s outside, which actually takes the heat from outside and cools your home. There are these little fins kind of like on a radiator on a on a car. And that’s used to dissipate heat. Those fins can get bent if people knock into them or dogs knock into him and stuff. You want to get those things straightened out and that you can buy a comb at most at most hardware stores that actually straighten them out their little plastic or metal combs that will go through and straightness fins out and that can really help with airflow and help with keeping the system running properly. So that’s something to do that’s a definitely DIY kind of thing. Here they say you know with a comb, your HVAC professional can make straighten bent fins. I think it’s a it can be a DIY thing. Just be careful don’t force anything because the spins are attached to a tube that has refrigerant in it has Freon in it for lack of a better word. So if you’re not careful, you obviously don’t want to pierce that thing. You don’t want to pierce those tubes because that’ll cost you a bunch of money because that’s pretty much destroys your system. On spring checkup check thermostat make sure that settings are correct. Tighten electrical correct connections lubricate moving parts check the condensate drain is clear. The condensate drain is actually the thing that takes in most all HVAC systems. When you cool air, you have condensate if you have a higher efficiency furnace system, condensate drops out of the heating system. So we have to have a drain that takes us water away. It gets clogged. So you want to make sure it’s working. And it’s clear check systems cycling starting cycles. So you know turning on and making sure it actually does what is supposed to be doing. Just blower that’s really more of a professional type of thing. You’re not going to really want to adjust the motor speed on your nervous system unless you really know what you’re doing clean evaporative coils condensing coils and blower components, high end. Higher Level DIY, you can clean your own coils and evaporative coils, that’s something that we take care of highly recommend, especially if it hasn’t been done a long time because again, you could be spending 10 to 30% more your energy with with dirty coils, we’ve seen him the coil or what’s a coil, the coil is a thing that’s literally in the path of the air. And it’s in the path of the air, whether you’re heating or cooling. And it’s what takes the heat out of the out of the house and dissipates it outside. But it’s like two radiators from your house put up into an a frame. It’s restricts airflow and can catch debris. And I’ve seen them where they literally look like a bathroom mat. I mean, they’re just so full of hair and dust and stuff that barely any air is going through it. And those systems, you can kill your furnace that way. So we definitely want to have those cleaned also just basic energy efficiency. Yeah.
16:04
And then if if you had a professional come out to then aside from kind of the higher level, they might actually also kind of check and adjust the refrigerant level. I mean, that would be like kind of that’s where the probe Yeah,
16:15
we definitely we definitely check the Freon levels and check for leaks. We do that on every every system, whether it’s whether we’re checking during the winter or checking it during the summertime, any kind of leaking refrigerant is going to lower your efficiency. Also, you know, we don’t need bigger ozone holes, right? Because we want to keep the refrigerant in contained. And we have some times we have ways to be able to fix it. Sometimes we just have to get rid of the system and replace components. But yeah, do we definitely check that again, that’s not something a DIY person is going to do cuz you’re not going to be you’re not going to have a digital gauge made sure read it.
16:49
Sure. Just another reason like why it’s good to have somebody come in when when you’re not using your system and do that once. Yeah.
16:55
Yeah, I mean, it’s one of those things, you definitely we recommend, every year manufacturers recommend at least once a year, have a professional come out and take a look at your system and maintain it. Highly recommend it.
17:06
And it says here that you can save 20% of the system’s operating cost by maintaining the proper refrigerant levels, right. So if you’re going to or more, I mean, that’s a
17:15
systems that are like almost flat and people are still using it’s still cooling a little bit, but it’s running constantly.
17:20
Right. Okay. So we definitely like Let’s prevent that. Because who, yeah,
17:25
you mean spending, that’s the thing you could be spending a ton of money on on energy costs that you could easily recoup by just maintaining the system. Yep, yeah, sure. One thing I did forget to talk about, and they mentioned this and the next slide is something in the wintertime. Replace your batteries and your common oxide detector and replace the batteries in your smoke detectors. If you have such you know, regular batteries. And those things. Most new ones have 10 year lifespan batteries. But if you’ve got an older system, now’s the time to do it, it’s a good time to do it every January just as just as a reminder, change out the batteries in your your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. So they’re working properly. Alright, summertime, again, check the filter, you want to check that filter at least quarterly, you should be checking it monthly and replacing it quarterly. Poor maintenance when your HVAC system is low on refrigerant, it won’t cool the home efficiently if or which if it’s overcharged, compressor damage can compressor damage can occur. So yeah, we that’s why we use we have it’s a fairly sophisticated way that we actually refill these things. I mean, we use scales and gauges, and all of our stuff is digital. And I mean, it’s a lot, they’re a lot more sensitive than they used to be. So we will use much more sensitive equipment, and you really got to know what you’re doing. So yeah, you can save a considerable amount of money if you’re maintaining it properly. Like they say here 20%. And like I’ve seen higher, I mean, I’ve seen some some bills that were just outrageous, you know, three 400 bucks for cooling costs 500 bucks for cooling your house, and we were able to get them down to below $200 by proper maintenance. Oh,
19:09
that’s significant. Wow. Okay.
19:11
Yeah. I mean, if you’ve got a impacted coil, and you’ve low refrigerant, they could just spend a ton of money. I think we’re running 24/7. Right. Yeah, we’re the system just never turns off. So you should be cycling. So that’s summer. And what
19:31
about last one? What Wait, let’s talk for just one second, if we could. The other the other problem could also come from like, having an issue with your duct. Right. So yeah, you can have air leaks at the furnace and the filter slot or like torn or disconnected doxxed and not even maybe know about them. Right?
19:52
Yeah. So I’ll go back a little bit. I’ve been doing this for a long time. When I first started doing HVAC work, we didn’t Do duct testing. So, and we basically, we literally use duct tape to seal ducting, it was just expected that we were going to have huge leaks. Now. We actually have somebody come and actually test the duct system to make sure it’s holding air. And it’s amazing how much air you can lose. I mean, I’ve seen I’ve worked in basements or crawl spaces that were conditioned. I mean, you go down into the basement and it was warm because the therm the furnace was on and there was so much heat coming out of the ductwork that you it was just heating the crawlspace with all the vents all the way around, it was still warm inside. So yeah, it’s huge. If you haven’t, if you live in a house where you have a crawlspace, and your ductwork runs underneath the house. Yeah, we want to have that inspected at least once a year, because animals can climb in there, things can fall apart, especially if it’s an older system. If it’s, you know, if the ductwork was installed 2030 years ago, like I said, we’re using duct tape, you know, there was, it was not put together really well, we’re doing a much better job. Now we’re used mastic and zip ties and things like that, where it’s much more positive connection. But in the old days, you know, back in the day, yeah, not so much. So you can be heating your crawlspace or your attic, when you don’t really need to, right, you don’t want to turn the space,
21:23
right. And then you could also have the poor ceiling at your registers and grills right because I lived in a house where like there was no ceiling around that. And so it was kind of like blowing, blowing massive amounts of air right. But there was no seal around the the what do you call it registered Roman, and it was like,
21:40
and you can actually see it like if you’ve got some black marking, on your see their ceiling once it’s really common to see that. That’s literally air being sucked from your attic space into your living space or from the crawlspace or from the the joy space. dirty air being pulled in. So yeah. And we’ll go in and take that and seal those guys up. Yeah. Good stuff.
22:06
Good to know. All right, you have time for fall, or what’s our timer.
22:11
I think we’ve got another two minutes. So let’s go through fall. Again, check thermostat settings, verify units operating, clean evaporative coil condensate drain, check blower, lubricate motors clean it’s not really lubricate motors anymore. Bearings used to clean inspect condensate fan, examine electrical connection, examine all parts for visible wear and proper operations and check return air filter. So again, check those filters monthly, replace them quarterly. You can save a bunch of money by doing this. A lot of that you can save a bunch of money by doing this yourself just properly maintain it. You know, like I was saying before, you don’t have to maintain things, but you’re gonna pay money, you’re gonna pay more money afterwards. If you don’t, you don’t have to change oil on your carpet, a season engines kind of a drag kind of cost you a bunch of money to pump your septic tank but having to replace a complete septics field in leach field can cost you 10s of 1000s of dollars to get these things taken care of. And maintaining your furnace cost you 10s of 1000s of dollars depending on the system. It’s not cheap. So maintenance maintenance, we push this like crazy. You can always reach us we can come out we typically have specials during the shoulder seasons when our guys aren’t as busy and will do. Very economical. We do it as a loss leader, but just to make sure people systems are working properly. And yeah, with that, if you do need service, if you do have any problems with your HVAC system, you can reach us at 530-230-9092. That number again 530-230-9092. You can find us on the web at easy as att.com Easy as abc.com. And you can find us on Facebook, where we have all kinds of fun stuff. And I guess we have enough time when is it? This will be airing.
24:02
It’ll be Friday. So you can go ahead and do the last push do the push the line and get your
24:08
vote. We want to get your vote of Nevada County on the union best of the season for the year. We’d really love your vote for electrical, plumbing and heating and air contractor. And then all the other wonderful other companies that are in our community vote for them that you wanted to like because everybody loves a good vote. And everybody loves to be loves to win that competition. And with that, we’ll catch you guys next week and thanks for listening.
24:31
Bye. Thanks, Andrew. Thanks, Rosalie. Now let’s get that project started. You got this. We’ll be back next Friday morning at nine o’clock on Cancio Newstalk 830