Archive for the ‘Heating’ Category
01.19.2016
7 Winter Comfort Tips for Your Family
With the temperatures dipping into the lowest portion of the season, here are 7 key tips to help your whole family stay warm and comfortable no matter how cold it gets. 1) Increase Humidity. Adding humidity and moisture to your home’s dry winter air will increase your overall comfort level. Boil pasta or other dishes with the lid off! 2) Turn off the Bathroom Fan. Your bathroom fan is near the ceiling, where heat and humidity tend to rise. Turn the fan off and leave the bathroom door open, sending all that precious moisture throughout your home! 3) Change your HVAC Filter. Your system is much more likely to perform perfectly and prevent freeze-ups if it can get proper circulation. A clean filter costs very little, but the impact on your comfort and your energy bills will be huge. 4) Protect your Pipes. On incredibly cold nights, open the kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing, especially in basements. 5) Don’t Forget your Furry Friends. Bring pets indoors. If they can’t come inside, make sure they have enough shelter to keep them warm and that they can get to unfrozen water. 6) Get a System Tune-Up. Your HVAC […]
11.05.2015
Listen to Your Home: 3 Ways to Improve Heating Efficiency
Your home continually provides clues to the critical issues that need to be addressed as we head into the fall and winter seasons. These are the three most important areas that can be easily addressed, resulting in great comfort and lower energy bills. 1) Reduce Drafts If there’s one major thing you can do to increase your home’s energy efficiency this winter, it’s reducing the infiltration of cold air. Many people immediately think their worn or torn weather-stripping as the primary cause for their air leakage. While it very well may be a leakage point, it is actually only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to drafts. For the real culprits of air leakage, look up! Those recessed lights, pull down stairs and attic duct systems, they are your real problem. For every cubic foot of air that leaks out the top of your home (remember, heat rises), a cubic foot of air has to return near the bottom. So remember, if you want to reduce drafts, seal your house from the top down. In addition to these spots, here are the other sneaky areas that could cause unnecessary drafts, according to energy.gov: Electrical outlets Switch plates Electrical and gas service […]
10.05.2015
3 Reasons Why NOW is the Time for Your Furnace Tune-up
Just like changing the oil in your car, your HVAC system can only function at maximum efficiency if it receives twice annual maintenance. With winter just around the corner, you might consider waiting to see how your furnace performs and roll the dice. Bad idea! The last thing you need for your family is your furnace playing dirty tricks during freezing temperatures, especially if you have children or elderly family members. Smart homeowners know that NOW is the time to treat themselves to a furnace tune-up by licensed professionals like Matthew and his crew. At our special rate of just $68, it’s one of the best investments you can make in your home. The 3 important reasons for scheduling a tune-up today: 1) Peace of Mind. When our highly trained HVAC experts visit your home, they’ll walk through a 21-point checklist to make sure your entire heating system is functioning at its very best. You won’t find a more thorough tune-up service from any competitor, and we even test for cracks in your furnace that could allow harmful carbon monoxide into your home. Competitors typically skip this safety step! Enjoy the comfort of knowing your system is in tip-top shape and ready for winter. 2) Beat the Rush. Once the first […]
09.01.2015
5 Benefits of Ductless Mini Split Air Conditioners
Do you have an odd room in your house that’s always a different temperature than the rest of your home? From sunrooms to basements, perhaps your existing air conditioner or furnace isn’t providing a consistent level of comfort. Fortunately, we have a simple solution for your frustration: ductless, wall-mounted air conditioning units, also known as “mini splits.” These slim profile indoor units attach to an outdoor unit through a small 3″ hole for power and refrigerant lines. Just one outdoor unit can power up to 8 individual indoor units throughout your home or office. While they might be small in size, they pack a very powerful punch when it comes to additional comfort and energy savings. Watch this video to learn more: Here are 5 benefits of adding a ductless mini split to your home: 1) Instant Comfort in Odd Rooms You can finally enjoy spending time in your home office, sunroom, addition or any room that has typically been difficult to heat or cool. These systems can also be used to offset heat generated from computers, printers and other electronics. Perfect for a home office! 2) Incredibly Quiet Performance You won’t believe how whisper quiet these mini splits are […]
11.18.2014
3 Tips for Keeping Your Family Warm
We’re already having freezing temperatures, and meteorologists are predicting a brutal winter. Fortunately, your friends at Holtkamp Heating & Air are here to provide quick tips to keep you cozy and help you get the most out of your heating system. Comfort Tip #1: Humidity is your friend. In colder months, humidity is really what makes your home feel comfortable. Shower with the door open and don’t use the bathroom fan. Use your stovetop for cooking more than the oven or microwave and don’t turn on your vent fan. The steam rising from your pots and pans contributes to indoor comfort! Rather than using your dishwasher’s drying cycle, open the door to air dry the dishes and let that precious steam escape! Consider a whole home humidifier which automatically regulates humidity for maximum comfort. Comfort Tip #2: Change your filters. If your filter is clogged with dust, hair and debris, your system simply can’t perform properly. Change your filter at least every 3 months, if not every month. It’s the easiest and least expensive way to impact your system’s performance. Grab a Sharpie and label your filter with the date you changed it, and you’ll always know how long it’s […]
03.28.2014
Holtkamp HVAC’s Smart Thermostats are a Smart Choice for Aurora Theatre
We love it when we get to help our customers become even more energy efficient! As the official HVAC company of the Aurora Theatre (and proud supporters), we recently installed 17 new programmable thermostats. In the past, the theater had a hodgepodge of programmable thermostats and none of them worked together. We noticed many areas throughout the building, which, despite only being occupied during a performance, were still being heated and cooled 24/7. We changed out every thermostat, replacing them with the Trane XL624 programmable control. Each thermostat can now be accessed online, allowing users to program the heating and air schedule, setting times and temperatures, and then download the schedule into each thermostat. The system offers the ability to register multiple cell phones, along with customized levels of authority and access. For instance, if someone wanted to control the thermostat in their office, the system administrator could grant them access to only that thermostat or allow them to control multiple thermostats. In fact, Anthony Rodriguez, producing artistic director, can access the entire system from his smart phone. We also love that the new thermostats prevent “thermostat tampering”. Every thermostat is locked: someone could touch it, try to re-set it, […]
10.29.2013
5 Home Heating Tips from Holtkamp HVAC
Want to get the most out of your home heating sytem? Here are five great home heating tips from Matthew Holtkamp to keep the heat inside your home, where it belongs! 5 Home Heating Tips from Holtkamp HVAC 1. Check for drafts and insulation. Keep your heated air and humidity inside, and keep the cold air outside! A drafty home is almost impossible to keep at a comfortable temperature, since it’s leaking warm air. 2. Consider an indoor humidifier. Not the kind you get at the drugstore, but a true, full-home humidifier as an addition to your system. In the wintertime, humidity is really what makes your home feel comfortable. 3. Embrace humidity. Shower with the door open, don’t use the bathroom fan and cook on your stovetop instead of the oven or microwave. Steam and humidity are your friends in the wintertime, so steam things up this time of year! 4. Drop your thermostat lower. Crank it down when nobody is there, and turn it up later. Unlike cooling a hot house down in summer, it’s actually very easy to warm up your house quickly in the wintertime because modern-day furnaces are so efficient. 5. Better yet, program your thermostat. Rather than […]
11.29.2012
Beginning of Cooler Season Brings Family Fun for Holtkamp HVAC
What happens when Holtkamp HVAC phones slow down and customers are comfortably resting in their well-maintained homes? Well, the Holtkamp crew goes golfing… well, sort of. It’s our version of golf anyhow. The kind of golf that appeals to 4 year olds as well as grumpy old men. (I won’t elaborate.) The kind of golf that involves pirates and neon green balls and all sorts of water to fling about. Yes! Yes! I am talking the ultimate sport, PUTT PUTT. Here are just a few photos of the crew. I won’t say who won and who lost but I will just tell you there were a few tears; I told Matthew it was embarrassing to eat dinner listening to his sniffling.
11.27.2012
Welcome Humidity as Temps Cool
As I sit on the couch last night listening to the length of my daughter’s shower (yes, we have two teenagers in the house now; how did THAT happen?) all I could mumble was, “At least she’s filling the house with moisture.” Ha! How’s that for finding the silver lining! This is just your friendly-almost-winter-now reminder to turn off the shower and cooking exhaust fans (unless you plan on cooking something really odorous!). As metro-Atlantans we have been trained to think that all humidity is bad because of our never-ending battle in the sweltering months. The reverse is true during the winter season. Higher humidity helps you to feel warmer and more comfortable at a lower temperature not to mention relieves static electricity, dry mucous membranes and shrinking doors and molding. This means lower utility bills and higher comfort. The optimal indoor humidity is around 45%. So let that shower steam waft out into the hallway and let that boiling pot of soup spread its happiness throughout the house. And the next time your teenager takes a long shower, thank her for being so concerned about your dry nose. The next blog posting? Maybe I will give you the good news about […]
01.25.2012
Discount Tickets for the North Atlanta Home Show
It’s almost time again for the Home Show at the Gwinnett Center. Holtkamp Heating & Air will be there with bells on, talking HVAC and giving out all kinds of goodies. Use the discount ticket below and save $2 on admission. Not only that, but the Gwinnett CAN Challenge will receive $1 for every discount ticket redeemed at the Gwinnett Civic Center. The Home Show runs Feb. 10-12, 2012. Time to start thinking spring!
