It’s been a long, hot summer already, and it’s only the early July. Wow. Kind of makes you remember that cold, snowy winter we had six months back. Many of you have done something about this; you’ve added air conditioning to your home. Well last month, I bit the bullet and took the plunge in to cool air as well. Now I’m really glad that I did.

I’m actually not a fan of air conditioning at all. Why? Consider what the by-product of air-conditioned, cool air is: heat. Ever go outside to you a/c unit and feel the heat coming off of it? That means that you’re just heating the air outside more by running a/c, which means you have to run a/c more which creates more heat, which… Get the point? Of course it’s the same with a refrigerator. The cooler they are, the more heat they put out right around them. Why they’ve never developed an outside vent for a refrigerator’s hot air is beyond me, but I digress.

I have a house that is 42 years old, with the original furnace. Wow, pretty good life out of it. I knew it needed to be updated and I really wanted a more efficient furnace. Well, no sense in not putting a/c in at the same time, especially since my wife REALLY wanted a/c. (Yes sometimes, we all have to give in to pressure) so I started getting bids. Not an easy job, as I had much ducting to re-rout and getting the big old monster furnace out to modernize the system would be a chore. I got four bids. Two were ridiculous and I won’t even mention the names, because I’ve already forgot them. One was from Gibson Heating & A/C, in Loveland. A good, honest fair bid, but I had to check one more. The last and winning bid came from Tri-City Heating & A/C. Tri-City is a new company, but is run by Darin Ochsner, someone who has been in the business for many years. I must say that his solutions to my problems were very good. He thought outside the box, gave me many choices, and gave me a very fair bid. I was very pleased with the quality of the work, the timeliness, and the finished product. I now have a very cool and comfortable house, and a happy wife!

I did learn to valuable things in this, for all of you who already have a/c. Go outside and check you unit. Make certain that there is clear air flow all around it. The more air that is pulled up and in to the unit, the more heat is exchanged and the cooler and more efficient you’re a/c will run. Look for cotton from the trees, or cobwebs that have clogged the fins, and gently wash them out. Also look at the incoming line of coolant. It will be a copper flexible pipe that is likely covered in insulation. Covered, that is, if the sun and time have not rotted your insulation off, and your incoming cool line is exposed to the hot summer sun. That will also loose you some cooling efficiency, so get some pipe insulation back on it, if it’s missing.

If you have any other problems I would highly recommend calling Tri-City. Darin would be glad to help you solve your hot summer day’s misery.