Your heating boiler running up high fuel bills this winter? Adding an after-market boiler reset control will save you plenty. Traditional boilers maintain a constant water temperature (typically 180 degrees F) throughout the heating season. With a boiler reset control, water temperature is reset according to the prevailing outdoor temperature. During the coldest days, the 180 degree temperatature is maintained, but on milder winter days, the temperature is lowered to a preset level. This enables your system to maintain comfort while significantly reducing fuel consumption. 

Call us at 866-PERKOSKI (866-737-5675) for more information.

An Import Service Alert from Stan Perkoski

After every polar blast, our phones ring with requests from our Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland customers to fix frozen pipes. Here are some tips to help you avoid such expensive repairs and the damage to walls and furnishings that often accompanies frozen pipes.

Preventing Frozen Pipes:

1. Keep your home temperature 68 degrees or higher even if you plan to be away for extended periods.
2. Open cabinet doors below sinks to allow for air circulation.
3. If supply lines run through your garage walls, be sure to keep the doors shut.
4. If supply lines run through cold areas, insulate them or install heat tape (available from home centers and hardware stores).
5. If for any reason you lose heat, run a slow drip from faucets. The cost of wasted water will be far less than repairs to pipes, walls and furnishings should your pipes freeze.

Thawing a Frozen Pipe:

1. If only a trickle comes out when you open a faucet, suspect a frozen pipe.
2. Locate the frozen section. Likely places include where your water service enters your home, where pipes run along exterior walls or through non-insulated areas of your home. 
3. Carefully check the pipe for damage. Copper and plastic lines are particularly likely to split if frozen.
4. If you have any difficulty locating the frozen area, if it is in an inaccessible area, or if you are NOT ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that there is no damage to the pipe, call your Stan Perkoski's professionals at 866-PERKOSKI / 866-737-5675.
5. If you decide to thaw the pipe, keep the faucet open. As you treat the frozen pipe, water will begin to flow through the frozen area. This flow will help melt ice in the pipe.
6. Apply heat to the section of pipe using a space heater or electric hair drier. DO NOT USE A BLOWTORCH OR ANY OPEN-FLAME METHOD.
7. Keep applying heat until full water pressure is restored.
8. Check the water pressure in all other faucets in your home. If one pipe freezes, others may freeze too.

One of the most frequent winter heating complaints we hear is of room temperature swings. One minute a room feels too cold; the next it's too hot. This often results in "thermostat juggling" which while NEVER solving the problem ALWAYS WASTES ENERGY.

Here are two steps you can take to improve your family's comfort and your home's energy efficiency:

1. During the colder months, set your ceiling fans to run counter clockwise. Then run them on the slowest speed when you're in that room. This will keep warm air from pooling on the ceiling and keep it circulating.
2. If yours is a high-efficiency system with a variable speed blower, set the fan to run continuously. This will improve circulation and keep temperatures stable. Unlike standard speed blowers, these run slowly and ramp up gradually as needed. Their DC motors consume a small fraction of the energy consumed by standard blower motors. The result: less noise, more consistent heat and more energy savings because you're less likely to fiddle with that thermostat.

Don't have a system with variable speed but interested in learning what higher efficiency can mean to your family's comfort and budget? Schedule a no-cost no-pressure no-obligation consultation today.

Our bodies are self-regulating systems. More critical to your comfort than room temperature is how your body regulates its own temperature. That's why your summer comfort depends on "conditioned air" -- air that is not only cooled but more importantly de-humidified. The drier the air, the higher the rate of moisture's evaporation from your skin and thus the more your body cools.

For comfort in winter, relative humidity is just as important. The heat produced by your furnace or heat pump is extremely dry. By adding humidity, you slow the body's cooling process thus increasing comfort.

With proper humidity, you'll feel comfortable at lower thermostat settings. And for every degree you lower the thermostat, you will consume about 5% less energy. With proper humidification, most homeowners can save 20% to 30% on heating costs during the coldest days and nights of winter.

Other benefits of whole-home humidification include:

• Elimination of annoying static electricity,
• Longer life for fine furniture, fabrics and artwork, and
• A healthier family less susceptible to winter colds and flu.

Today's humidifiers no longer rely on the standing water that caused mold and mildew problems in the past. Learn more now. Schedule a no-cost no-pressure no-obligation consultation today.

SPECIAL SAVINGS ON WHOLE HOME HUMIDIFIERS THIS MONTH!

Click on each of the following links to learn how to slash your winter energy bills:

1. Use Fans to Increase Comfort While Reducing Winter Energy Bills.
2. Add Humidity to Maintain Winter Comfort at Lower Thermostat Settings. 
   (SPECIAL SAVINGS THIS MONTH).
3. Add Efficiency to Your Fuel-grubbing Boiler with An After-marketing Reset Control.

Changing dirty air filters will:

• Prevent costly breakdowns.
• Maximize your family's comfort.
• Keep your utility bills under control.
• Minimize dust and & pollen that plague allergy sufferers.
• Protect your system from expensive damage and premature failure.

Inspect yours each month and change when dirty. This is especially important during those early spring and late summer months when pollen counts are high.

Of course, the best way to insure your comfort and your equipment's long life and efficiency is with Stan's annual precision maintenance service.

Schedule now, and we'll check that filter for you.

Serving New Castle County Delaware; Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania; Cecil, Kent and Queen Annes's Counties, Maryland

Because carbon monoxide (CO) is the leading cause of poisoning death in the U.S., we've added a precision air check to every visit we make. Whether we're in your home for a plumbing or heating/cooling service, we'll perform this life-saving test.

Even if you have CO detectors in your home, you should have a professional test with precision instruments performed at least once a year. Unfortunately, the standard detectors sold in hardware stores and home centers only detect lethal levels of CO. Our instruments are five times more sensitive. 

Such low level detections enable us to identify a problem before it becomes life-threatening. Even low level exposures have been linked to debilitating respiratory conditions. Older and younger family members are most vulnerable. Because symptoms are so similar to those of colds and flu, they are often misdiagnosed by medical professions.

If you have not yet scheduled annual maintenance for your heating system, call us at 866-PERKOSKI (866-737-5675) or schedule online.

“Is My Air Conditioner Causing Global Warming?”

You may well be wondering with the recent announcement of an international agreement to phase out HFCs*, the most common refrigerant used by the air conditioning industry (USA Today, Money, Oct. 15, 2017). HFCs previously replaced the ozone-depleting CFCs** as mandated by earlier international agreement, the 1989 Montreal Protocols. While not damaging the ozone layer, these newer refrigerants have since been found to trap thousands of times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Hence the new mandate.

*HFCs – hydro-fluorocarbons (R-410A refrigerant).
**CFCs – chlorofluorocarbons (R22 refrigerant).

Here’s the good news:

1. As reported by USA Today, your air conditioner (or heat pump)  WON’T release HVCs into the atmosphere if it is working properly. Likewise if your old unit is disposed of properly by an U.S. EPA certified technician, it will not release these harmful gases.
2. Unlike the fossil fuel industry which is dragging its feet on addressing climate change, our industry is hard at work perfecting systems using alternative refrigerants that do not harm the Earth’s atmosphere.

What you can do now:

1. The only way to insure that your AC or heat pump is operating working properly is to have it maintained annually by your Stan Perkoski’s professional.Annual maintenance not only assures that your unit is operating safely but also that it is operating at its maximum performance and energy-efficiency.

Additional benefits of Stan’s Perpetual Care Club membership include:

• Priority scheduling. If your AC or heating system breaks down, members go to the head of the line.
• 11.5% discount on all repairs (parts & labor).
• Stan’s exclusive LIFETIME WARRANTY on all parts and labor as long as your system continues to be covered by the plan.
• 100% money-back guarantee. If you’re heater or AC fails any time in the season following its maintenance service, we’ll refund 100% of the cost of that maintenance service or credit it toward the repair.
• Stan’s exclusive carbon monoxide safety checks (fuel-burning heaters and water heaters).
• Stan’s exclusive annual water heater anode rod inspection – for flood protecting and extended life. Timely replacements can as much as double the life of your water heater!
• A $250 gift card to be used toward any non-emergency heating/cooling replacement.
• A $100 gift card to be used toward any non-emergency water heater replacement.

2. When it comes time to replace your old system, be sure to have it done by your U.S. EPA certified Stan Perkoski’s Home Services professionals. 

Today, Memphis, Tennessee suffered the deadliest house fire since the 1920s. Nine family members, include six children, have lost their lives. Another child is fighting for it's life. The cause of the fire: a malfunction of an air conditioner's power cord. 

I can't emphasize enough the importance of annual maintenance of your heating and cooling equipment for your Delaware, Eastern Shore of Maryland or southeastern Pennsylvania home. It's not only critical to your comfort and efficient operation of your equipment, it can literally save lives. Poorly maintained equipment is not only a fire risk, but also a source of deadly carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Even low doses of carbon monoxide can make family members ill. Such symptoms are often mistaken for winter cold or flu symptoms.

Schedule your HVAC maintenance service today.