Orlando, Tampa, & Jacksonville Air Conditioning Educational Center

January 1, 2008 is a great time of the year to do a little AC maintenance of your own.  If you haven’t changed on cleaned your AC filter in the last month or so, why not start the year off by doing so between halves of a New Year’s Day Bowl Game?  It’s an easy date to remember going forward so you’ll know it should be checked on the first of every month if it is a standard 1” filter or the first of every quarter if it is a 4 or 5” high efficiency media filter. 

It’s also a good time to make sure your programmable Thermostat is properly programmed to for maximum comfort and energy savings.  For each degree under 78 in cooling mode and each degree over 68 in heating mode, you are costing yourself between 5-8% in heating and cooling costs.  If you are gone a good part of the day, and have a programmable thermostat, why not turn it down to 66 or so while you are gone if heating is required and up to 81-82 if cooling is required.  If your Thermostat is “intelligent” it can know when to start working the system to have it back to your comfortable temperature when you come through the door.  If it is a more basic programmable thermostat, just program it to take it back to your comfortable setting an hour or so before you are to arrive home from work.  That way it will have some lead time to get back there but you will have saved energy the majority of the time you are at work.

January 1, 2008 is also the beginning of Air Flow Designs’ 50th Anniversary year.  Be sure to call us at 321-397-2110 for any service needs on your Heat Pump or AC system or for a free estimate on replacing your system today. Be sure to ask about our special pricing and financing offers.  Today’s AC/Heat Pump systems are far more efficient than those that were being installed just 6-8 years ago on average and can even pay for themselves over time.

You’ve probably heard, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t!”  This especially holds true in the air conditioning and heating field of contracting services.  In today’s economy, do you really believe that reputable AC companies can do an effective tune-up of your system for $19.99 or even $29.99? Let’s look at the expense involved in a quality tune-up or service call:

• The Technician’s time, not only on the job but also for travel time to get to the home where the work is to be performed.
• A service department with the clerical support to effectively route and dispatch the technician.
• The expense of maintaining a parts inventory both on the truck and at the facility to offer a complete tune-up or completed service call on the first trip.
• The expense of operating the service vehicle-Gas, Maintenance / Repairs, Insurance, etc.
• The marketing expense associated with letting the homeowner know that the company is offering an incredibly low priced tune-up.
• Liability Insurance and Worker’s Comp Insurance to protect the homeowner should any accidents occur while the Technician is at the home.
• Ongoing training for the Technician to make certain he stays current on all new products as they are introduced.
• Being a member of the appropriate association to guarantee a level of professionalism and customer service:  Better Business Bureau, Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), NATE Certified Technicians
• Certification by the manufacturer of the equipment such as Carrier Factory Authorized Dealer or Trane Comfort Specialist Dealer
• A long term history of customer service and experience in the local marketplace

When considering all these expenses, it becomes obvious that no one can really offer a complete tune-up for these incredibly low prices.  Why then do companies do it?  Essentially, they hope to accomplish two things with tune-ups /service calls that they offer at this extremely low price:

1. Loss leader to get the technician in the home
2. Find additional parts which they can recommend changing for the system to run more efficiently or effectively at significant additional costs.

There are very few tune-ups ever run with a final cost of just $19.99 or $29.99.  If there were, even more air conditioning companies would go out of business quicker than they do today.

Be sure to visit Air Flow Designs to see what a complete tune-up should cover in the Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa areas of Florida. The specifics are listed on our products page under “Service Contracts” –“Air Flow Designs Protection Plan” You may even want to  investigate purchasing an Air Flow Designs Protection Plan which not only provides an annual tune-up to keep the system running well but it also covers all parts and labor should a repair be necessary for one low annual investment.  Call Air Flow Designs today at 321-397-2110 to see if your unit qualifies for this complete coverage.

Air Flow Designs-Celebrating 50 Years of Quality AC Service and Sales in 2008!

The single most important thing that you as a Homeowner can do to properly maintain your heating and air conditioning system is to clean or replace your filter monthly.  You may want to notate on that new 2008 Calendar you’ll be setting up shortly to clean or change that filter on the 1st of each month….or the second Saturday of each month….or the third Sunday of each month or the 4th Wednesday.  It really doesn’t matter when you do it,  so long as you “Just Do It” monthly (More often if you have several cats, dogs or other shedding pets).  It’s the best thing you can personally do to prolong the life of your equipment and keep it running near the efficiency it was designed to run.

If you’ve neglected your system for a while, call Air Flow Designs at 321-397-2110 to arrange a professional tune-up and cleaning.  We can bring it back to life and make energy saving recommendations to you.  If your system is 10 years old (average life expectancy of a system in Central Florida) or older we may also suggest your options as to replacement of your existing unit.   Also be sure to ask about Indoor Air Quality Options like improved filtration options and Ultra Violet Lights to control algae and mold in your system and extend the operational life of your system, too.