Welcome to the Flame Furnace Blog

I’ll be honest.  Sometimes, not all the times, but sometimes it is a tad bit difficult to find inspiring topics to write a heating/cooling blog about.  Some bloggers just write about their life, but that may be boring for you which is why I decided to do some research today.  I searched on the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration NEWS and looked at their blogs.  I found one that I liked so much, I decided to re-post it on the Flame Furnace Blog:

When The NEWS hopped onto Facebook over a year ago, we set the goal to get more “fans” on the social media site than Alan Thicke. And with the help of our loyal readers we were able to take down that pompous, Canadian has been/never was.

Now that we have been on Twitter for awhile (twitter.com/achrnews), we decided it was time to revisit the sitcoms from the 1980s and capture yet another impressive victory. So we set our goals high — the highly respected father Heathcliff Huxtable. Yes, The NEWS was planning on beating Bill Cosby like a drum.

Then a funny thing happened. We got online and found out that Cosby has over 1 million visitors. Not going to lie to you, we were a bit shocked. Time to reframe the goal. Let’s go after Rudy! Sure she was cute in the 80s, but we were almost positive that she had gone down the road of Todd Bridges, Corey Feldman, and Danny Bonaduce and was probably a huge mess. Well, it turns out Rudy is a very well-adjusted adult. She graduated from college and still gets work in the industry and is rolling with close to 10,000 Twitter followers. We just can’t catch a break.

We then set our sights on Theo, a.k.a., Malcolm Jamal Warner. Surely two of the Cosby kids could not have turned out to be well-adjusted adults. And Warner uses three names so the odds that his life has gone off the tracks seemed fairly high. But foiled again, we found out that he has kept his nose out of trouble and is a contributing member of society. And Warner also has more than 9,000 followers. Dang the luck.

But we keep looking. And we have our target: Phylicia “Claire Huxtable” Rashad and her 669 followers. There is no reason to dislike her, but we have manufactured reasons since she is in shouting distance of our 355 followers. Here are the reasons we shall destroy her in a Twitter war:

1. She rode Bill Cosby’s coattails farther than Tom Arnold did Roseanne’s.

2. She accepted Ahmad Rashad’s wedding proposal on national TV only to divorce him and keep his last name. Not sure why, but that bugs us.

3. She has one of those diacritical marks over the last “a” in her last name. How annoying is that? And we can’t even put it in this blog because we can’t figure out how to type that in Microsoft Word.

Time for her to be taken off her high horse. Just go to twitter.com/achrnews and follow The NEWS. In addition to getting great links to breaking industry news, you also have the satisfaction of propelling the HVAC industry to a victory over a 1980s sitcom icon. Who’s with me? Let’s Go!

Kyle Gargaro
Managing Editor. E-mail him at kylegargaro@achrnews.com.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and that it was more entertaining to you than tales of what I ate this morning for breakfast (a bowl of cereal: Fiber One and Special K Vanilla Almond mixed together)

Remember, if you have any questions on heating, cooling, and electrical services…you can always Contact Flame!

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AARRRGHHHH!  (Is that what you sounded like when your dog ran across your nice hardwood floor for the millionth time and scratched it up again?)  Due to pets, age etc… you may be planning to re-do your hardwood floor.  Other than simply moving out furniture, there are other things to think about such as…

Indoor Air Quality

First thing is first, you want to make sure that your furnace or air conditioner is shut off during this hardwood process.  Why?  Because re-doing hardwood floors is a very dusty activity and furnaces/air conditioners tend to suck in this dust and re-circulate it throughout your home, in rooms you didn’t even make a mess in!  This could be especially inconvenient for those with allergies.

Finishing or staining products such as Glitsa can produce odors and vapors that could cause headaches or nausea.  And therefore ventilation is incredibly important.  Unfortunately your furnace and air conditioner will not be very effective at venting these smells and fumes, and so it is best to do it the old fashioned way-with fans and open windows!  The goal is to change the indoor air with the outdoor air.  Though your heating and cooling unit may “suck up” the bad air, it may just as easily “spit it back out” in another area of your home.

A factor to think about with ventilation is the age of your home.  Older homes are less energy efficient and so they have natural cracks and leaks where the fumes can slip out and so they may not need as much work with ventilation as the newer tightly sealed homes do!

Good luck with your project and maybe a dog gate will help keep man’s best friend off of the new beautiful wood floors (though if you’re like me, your home is your dog’s playground).

Information gleaned from these articles and the Glitsa website…check them out for more info, “Breathing Easy” and “Ventilation”

Also, remember you can Contact Flame! for further information on air duct preservation and cleaning services.

Image found at: “How to Care for Hardwood Floors” by Maurie Backman

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You may have read about E3’s on this blog before:  Energy Efficiency Evaluation.  You may have thought well that sounds neat, but I don’t really feel like spending the money right now….good news for you!  For the month of June only, an E3 inspection is only $49.  This is an enormous discount.

If you’ve never heard of an E3 before–here is a brief introduction.  They are whole house energy efficiency exams that inspect your home to find leaks and places where your home may be losing energy or is not properly heated or cooled.  It begins with a discussion between you and a trained consultant.  That way you can tell the consultant your opinion on what rooms feel warmer, cooler, dryer etc… and give him/her some things to look out for.

This leads to an equipment inspection and an inspection of the insulation (because insulation is imperative to making sure that warm or cool air stay inside or outside your home, depending on the season).  After that the consultant will perform the Infiltrometer Blower Door Test to test for leaks, an air flow diagnosis to check for blockages and finally the Electronic Air Flow Capture Hood Test that tests out how much cool or hot air is actually making it to your rooms.

Infiltrometer Blower Door Test

After all of these tests (it almosts seems like your taking the SAT again?  Don’t worry–not nearly as painful!), the consultant will sit down with you and design an improvement plan.  The plan simply contains suggestions to help increase the energy efficiency of your home and you are not obligated to follow through with any of them.  These suggestions could range from things you could do on your own, such as adding more insulation up to much larger changes involving heating and cooling units.

The E3 exam is great not only  because its results could help you find ways to save energy and lower your bills, but also because it is very interesting to be able to see where there are energy leaks and problems in your home.  E3’s provide you with valuable information, and now is the time to get it.  As you are starting to use that air conditioner, you want to make sure that your precious cool air is not being wasted this summer.

Contact Flame for More Info or to Schedule an Appointment!

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When I visited Italy, I looked at ancient Roman baths that used to hold thousands of people.  They had incredibly tall ceilings and I thought in the winter these buildings must have become pretty chilly.  Though here in the United States in the 21st century we do not have large bathing houses filled with ornate sculptures that we have to heat but we do face that same heating problem with warehouses, indoor tennis courts, garages etc….

A typical furnace heats the air and as you know, heat rises.  Therefore in these large buildings with high ceilings, a furnace needs to heat a lot of air before it begins to make the area where humans are a comfortable temperature.  There is another option and that is infrared gas-fired radiant heating.  This uses either radiant tube heaters or spot radiant heaters that heat objects as opposed to air.  By doing this, these heaters give people instant warmth when they stand underneath one.  People are not the only objects heated, other articles are warmed up as well and they in turn radiate heat into the air.

What are the advantages of this type of heating?

• More economical than a traditional furnace, because the whole big space does not have to be heated, and therefore less fuel and energy is consumed.
• People are able to be warmed up quick!  Even though these radiant heaters may be still working on warming up the area, when a person stands under one, they are warm right away-they do not need to wait for the whole building to get warm.

The forms these heaters come in are either tubes or spot.  Like its name suggests, the tube heater is a long tube-like device that can range from 30 feet long up to 100 feet plus!  Spot heaters are small and rectangular.  They are used to heat up more specific, smaller areas-for example: just one person working a singular machine or work station.

I am not sure how the Romans solved their heating problems in big open spaces, but you can Contact Flame to find out how to solve yours with the infrared gas-fired heating equipment.

Also- Click Here for more Info!

Image found:  http://www.wyomingathletics.com/facilities/wyo-facilities.html

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Registers are important in your home in order to make sure that warm and or cool air can get into your rooms.  However, they can sometimes be an eye sore.  Whether you are re-decorating a room, buying a new house, or  simply just sick of looking at your brown registers against white carpet…think about picking registers that match your decor.  This can be done numerous ways:

Greystone Floor Register from Ace Hardware

• Purchase registers that will match, from stores like Ace Hardware they are on average around $12-$15 though they can cost less or more.
• Spray paint registers the color you want
• Or try taking them to an Auto Shop where they have experience painting metal and can make your registers look shiny and new!

It’s easy to take out your registers and to put in new ones (or put re-painted ones back in), simply use your hands!  Contact Flame with any questions!

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Adding an addition to your home?  Great!  Two things to think about (besides carpet, paint, counters etc…)

1. Electricity- Electrical outlets are very important (as you will find out if you do not have any).  Flame has certified electricians that can wire and put in electrical outlets in your home.  Make sure to think carefully about where you want these (for example in terms of a TV, phone, lamps etc…)
2. Radiant Heat-sometimes it is not necessarily very cost effective to add central heating to your addition…another solution is to use radiant heating, which heats under your floors or in your walls and does not need duct work! (also-if you are putting in a new bathroom, heated floors in the bathroom are great!)

In the midst of deciding between tile or wood, cream or eggshell paint, or drapes or blinds….remember these other decisions and that Flame can help you out!  Contact Flame Heating, Cooling and Electrical.

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Carbon Monoxide is colorless, odorless and tasteless.  Unfortunately, it is also very dangerous.  This substance can poison your body until the point of death.  There are certain things that can cause too much carbon monoxide in the air, they are:

• Faulty Furnaces
• House Fires
• Wood burning stoves
• Heaters
• Electric Generators
• and more…

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can range from mild to severe-

It is very wise to have carbon monoxide detectors installed in your home in order to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.  It is recommended that a detector be placed on each floor of the house, especially those where people sleep and where there are gas burning appliances such as water heaters and furnaces.  Flame technicians can install these for you.  They can also help to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning by giving you annual furnace inspections and therefore seeing if there is a problem or potential problem with your unit that could cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

Contact Flame if you have any questions about Carbon Monoxide, detectors or furnace inspections!

Check out this Video about Carbon Monoxide Poisoning!

*Table and info from Wikipedia:  The Free Encyclopedia, Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

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This weekend at MGM Grand Detroit, WWJ Radio Station will be hosting a radiothon to support THAW (The Heat and Warmth Fund).  THAW helps to provide emergency heat/utility assistance to families who cannot afford it.  This is the 7th time that WWJ has held this “Winter Survival Radiothon” and it will be from 5 a.m. February 5, until 12 p.m. on February 6.

Flame Heating, Cooling and Electrical is proud to be a sponsor of this wonderful cause.  Many of us take heat for granted, especially in the Winter and so it is important to remember those who do not always have it.  If you can, I strongly encourage you to donate to this fund, but prayers and support for those in need are also equally important.  Check out the WWJ Website for more information about the Radiothon.

TO DONATE DURING THE RADIOTHON CALL:   1-888-579-4950

If you are interested in Flame’s participation in this Radiothon and its work with THAW (or if you are interested in anything else dealing with heating and cooling) Contact Flame

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Pipes bursting can be a major problem!  It can cause lots of damage to your home and it can also be very expensive to clean up.  One of the reasons that pipes burst is due to cold temperatures since when the water freezes, it expands.  One way that you can prevent having this happen is by keeping the temperatures around 50 degrees or above and to maintain this you can have a sensor that’s connected to your alarm that will immediately call Flame if the temperature drops below a danger point presumably due to a broken furnace.  This will help to keep your house warm and dry even when you are away!

Contact Flame for more information!

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My family blows a fuse in our home every time more than one person is blow drying their hair at the same time.  This can become incredibly frustrating (especially on days we are all trying to get ready for something!)  Thankfully our electric panel is very easy to use.

Flame Heating, Cooling and Electrical can perform a Service Change on your home that will change the whole electrical panel so that it uses breakers instead of fuses.  Breakers are much easier to use because you just need to flip a switch instead of changing a fuse.  They are also safer.  This come quite in handy when you are often flipping breaker switches due to hair drying incidents.  The Service Change will also put a surge suppressor on your system that is helpful in the case of power outages or sporadic electric spikes so that your electronics do not become fried.

from http://www.sylviaelectrical.com

Next time the lights in your bedroom turn off and you have to go replace a fuse, think about how easy life would be if you could just flip a switch. Contact Flame if you have any questions and good luck with your electricity endeavors.

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