Tom's Blog
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 01:36 PM
Saving Energy the Right Way
Everyone has suggestions on how to save energy these days, but do all of the ideas make financial sense? Should you buy an electric car? Should you replace all the windows in your home? Should you install a radiant barrier in your attic?
At Tom’s Mechanical we take a pretty simple approach to energy saving investments. The first question we always ask is, “How soon will my investment be repaid?” Our rule of thumb is that if our investment can be recouped in five years or less it is an investment worth making. Of course, there are additional considerations such as comfort, convenience and ongoing maintenance costs.
In our experience, the best returns for your energy investment dollar today are provided by attic insulation, light bulb replacement and weather-sealing your home. None of these improvements is expensive; each will pay for itself in less than 5 years and each will improve comfort in your home.
If your attic insulation is less than 18″ deep you should add more. Blown insulation is fairly inexpensive and, not only will you lower energy costs, hot and cold spots in your home may be immediately improved. Replacing existing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs is probably the easiest and best energy-saving investment you can make. Finally, your home should be professionally evaluated for air leakage. A qualified contractor using a blower door test can identify areas for corrective actions, most of which are fairly inexpensive.
What about other energy-saving ideas? Tread carefully and deal with a company you trust. And use the 5-year payback as a helpful guide. For additional details and recommendations contact Andrew Elmendorf at andrew.elmendorf@tomsmechanical.com.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 02:06 PM
What Ever Happened to “You’re Welcome?”
Many things in our world have gotten better in the past 20 years, but common courtesy isn’t one of them. “Please” and “thank you” must be in short supply because they certainly aren’t used much anymore. And it seems like “you’re welcome” has been permanently replaced by “no problem!”
At Tom’s Mechanical we teach our employees the basic rules of courtesy. Say “please” when you ask for something, say “thank you” when you receive it and say “you’re welcome” when someone says “thank you.” And when you use these words and phrases, use them with a smile.
The saddest thing is that when we first tell a new employee not to say “no problem” they usually look at us funny. They don’t understand that there is a difference between “no problem” and “you’re welcome.” But there is a difference and our customers appreciate it. I have received several comments from customers who appreciated our employees showing old fashioned courtesy.
I’m all for moving forward with technology and productivity but I don’t want to lose the importance of courtesy along the path to greater efficiency. Do these thoughts echo your own thoughts? You’re welcome!
Monday, June 27th, 2011 at 09:49 PM
Captain Comfort to the Rescue
For several months we have been working on a new service at Tom’s Mechanical. We call the program Captain Comfort and have a cool new logo for identification purposes. The program will provide complete home energy assessments for homeowners throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
What is a Home Energy Assessment? It begins with a thorough inspection of your home featuring Blower Door and Ductblaster tests. These tests are designed to measure air leakage to and from your living area and your ductwork. Using digital thermography and other methods we also determine where leaks are occurring. Attic insulation and ventilation are evaluated. Lighting is inspected for efficiency and heat generation. Windows and doors are evaluated for efficiency and integrity. The entire inspection takes between two and four hours, depending on the size and complexity of your home and on our findings.
Once the testing phase is completed we feed the data into a computer program to determine what improvements should be made and what energy savings you can expect from each one. These findings are then presented to the homeowner during an in-home appointment.
Sound like your kind of program? We certainly hope so! Our Captain Comfort program is on schedule to be rolled out in mid-August, 2011. If you have questions in the meantime, please contact andrew.elmendorf@tomsmechanical.com or call 972/254-7888.