Geothermal to Natural Gas Furnace Conversion
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Design for 2-Stage Furnace Installation
Clogged Venting… Means No Hot Water!
Electricity Prices in Ontario Are Going Up Again
It’s no surprise that electricity prices in Ontario are going up again. Electricity prices have been consistently increasing by an average of 10% over the past 12 years… Before that an average of 8% per year in prices increases. The Ontario Government announced last fall that over the next 3 years, electricity prices in Ontario will be going up 30%… 30% over three years is 10% per year… So what else is new?
You know what that means don’t you? It’s going cost even more to run your household this year! Yeah… It’s going to cost more to do the laundry… more to use the oven… it’s going to cost more every time you turn on the TV… or when one of the kids leaves the light on in their bedroom after they leave for school.
And… it’s going to really hurt when it get’s hot out and you want to turn on your air conditioner.
Heating and cooling your house… and heating you hot water account for over 50% of the cost of electricity in a typical house. That’s a big deal as electricity prices in Ontario soar. So what can you do about it?
The reality is that I don’t see electricity prices in Ontario going down anytime soon… do you?
An inefficient air conditioner, such as a ten year old 10 SEER model will draw twice as much electricity as a more efficient 20 SEER model. TWICE AS MUCH! This could mean the ability to cool your house on those really hot spells in July and August… or sweating in your living room because it simply costs way too much to run that old air conditioner.
A couple years ago, I put some numbers down on paper. Given that electricity prices in Ontario have consistently gone up an average of 10% a year for over a decade… and that we’ve been guaranteed that those same electricity prices will increase 30% over the next three years, I simply created a spreadsheet using those same metrics. Because there are differing rates of electricity for different regions within Ontario… and given that some of us have flat rates, where others are on time-of-use rates, I had to come up with an average cost… for comparison sake.
Just like you, I also pay delivery fees, debt retirement fees, taxes, etc… etc… on top of my already high electricity rate. So, to make things easy, I simply take my total bill (the entire amount that I have to pay and that Hydro wants from me) and I divide it by the total KwH’s that I use. I consistently come up with $0.18/KwH as my average cost for electricity.
Now… when I use $0.18/KwH as my current rate of electricity, then add 10% a year (I’m not inflating things here) I come up with a rate of $0.41/KwH… 10 Years from now… and an electricity rate of $0.82/KwH… 20 Years from now.
At a 10% annual increase in electricity rates (just as rates have increased 10% a year for the past 12 years) we will be paying over 4 times what we pay now in 20 Years.
So if you’re running your old builder grade air conditioner that was installed with the past five to ten years, then you’re likely still going using it in the next ten years… and it’s going to start costing you a lot of money to run.
If you’re looking at a new air conditioner this summer, or in the next few years, then do yourself a favor and spend that extra dollar and get something super high efficient. Yes… it may be considerably more now, but will save you a pile of money down the road when electricity prices in Ontario are ridiculous!
Difference Between 1″ Air Filter and 5″ Air Filter
A 1″ Furnace filter will clean the air for your furnace, but a 5″ Air Filter will clean the air for us. We all want to breathe clean filtered air, just as we all prefer to drink clean filtered water. On top of clean air for us, dust particles that are filtered from the air before they come in contact with your furnace and/or air conditioner’s evaporator coil will contribute to a long life, reliable and efficient heating and cooling system.
How to Use Your Builder Grade HRV Controller More Effectively
What is R12 Insulation?
That may be one of the most common questions when it comes to energy efficiency. Through one source or another, most people have heard of R12… or R20… maybe R50. But what does it all mean? What is the right amount of insulation to have?
What is R12 Insulation? Simply put R12 is a type of insulation… or rather a level of insulation.
To fully understand R-values, you must first accept one fact: Heat Does Not Rise…
Heat does not rise… hot air rises. There is a difference. Hot air is moving air whereby heat is… simply put… heat. Here’s a way to separate the two that may help to understand. If you have a forced air furnace in your house, when the furnace comes on, it starts to blow hot air throughout the house. That hot air will rise. When the furnace eventually stops, that hot air will stop moving and the only thing that will now be happening is that heat will be moving to cold.
Heat Moves To Cold
So as heat moves to cold in the winter time (or our heating season) we lose heat and our house 
gets cold. We have to put insulation into our walls to keep the heat in… or in other words, we have to put resistance between hot and cold so that we slow the progress of the heat. The more resistance we put between hot and cold, the slower the heat will move to the colder area.
“R” stands for “Resistance” The higher the R Value, the slower heat will move to cold.
R12 is good, R20 is better, and R50 is fantastic!
Have fun… and remember one thing: It is always cheaper to insulate than it is to heat!
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John Chapin
Skilled Labor is not Cheap & Cheap Labor is not Skilled
Today’s post is a bit of a rant…
I take pride in what I do and I am a professional… just as much as any physician, executive, CEO, or any other person we hold in high regards. I do two to three site visits every day. I look at scenarios and problems… and propose solutions.
The other day, I was at a sales call. My contact at the site visit was a nice enough guy…. but he kept asking me to make the price cheap… I hadn’t even come up with a plan yet… I only had an idea, but had not chosen any equipment, any particular size, and didn’t quite know how I was going to be installing it yet… but he kept saying… “Make the price cheap… please. make it cheap”.
Well this started to bug me (as you may be able to tell from my demeanor as I write this!) You see people like that don’t value what I bring to the table. They don’t value good work, a pristine finished product, and they would rather save $10 than to have a completed installation that they can be proud of.
Between you and I, every time I heard “Make the price cheap”…. the price went up! There’s one thing that I have come to realize after all these years of selling… the people that value me as a professional, value my time, and will re-arrange their schedules to meet me during business hours are the people that are always the happiest when we’re all said and done. These are the homeowners that take pride in their homes, and think long-term. They’re also the same people that refer us to their friends, family and neighbors.
The cheapskates… those “Make it cheap” people… these are the ones that are never happy. Been there done that… and I will never do it again. These are also the same people that will not take time out of their day to meet during normal business hours. I had one of these clients just the other day…
This client called the office about three weeks ago… and talked to someone at the office who booked the client into my shcedule at the end of the day… to start an appointment at 6pm. (I had instructed this person to not book anything past a 3:30pm start time… but with a weak mind, and no backbone, she caved). You may guess… I’m not a fan of this person.
Now some of you may be thinking… “That jerk. Why won’t he do evening appointments?” Because I am professional, and I choose not to. I start my day at 7am every day… so come 5pm, I’ve put in a 10 hour day…. and after that, is my time… my family’s time… and to tell you the truth, I’m still often working at paperwork until 9 or 10pm.
So this guy insisted that I come and visit him at 6pm… and since our office person had already committed me to that time, I was stuck. So I rearranged my schedule, missed my Jijitsu class that night so that I could go and do his quote at 6pm… in my 12th hour of the day. I spent some time with this fellow, came up with a solution and went through the scope with the client. At the time he asked me for a ballpark quote of what the installation would cost. I hate it when I’m put on the spot…. and in the past I’ve simply told people that I would reserve the pricing until after I’ve been able to go through the entire scope… so that I could do things right… but against my better judgment, I indicated that this particular installation would range between $2,000 and $2,300 before taxes.
The next day I emailed him the proposal. Later that day I received an email back form him… he was telling me that the price was too high… asking me to discount the price because it was much higher than I had indicated at my site visit… FYI… the price that I quoted him was $2,320… now look at those numbers above… you may see that when all was said and done, after I had calculated all the gas piping, line voltage, equipment cost, controls, etc. that I was a mere $20 more than my “ballpark” pricing after being put on the spot… and he wanted a discount!
He was unwilling to compromise on his appointment time and he wants to argue about $20. There’s one more thing that I’ve come to realize… and that is that there will always be someone out there with a cheaper price than me.We can’t do the kind of work that we want to by being the cheapest price on the market. To be the cheaper price means that we would have to cut corners and be very fast at what we do… and hack through the work. If things don;t go as planned (which happens from time to time), then we would have to hack through the work, and leave a crappy looking finished product.
So if you take pride in your home, and you value good workmanship and doing the job right, the first time around, then give us a call… It keeps holding true… Skilled labor is not cheap… Cheap labor is not skilled. I’ve seen it first hand!
Find us on the web at http://reliablehome.ca/
John Chapin
It is No Secret… Energy Prices Are Rising… But we can pay less if we want to
It’s one of those facts in life… death… taxes… and Energy Prices are Rising… every day, every month, every year we’re told about how our electricity rates, our gas rates, and our even our water bills are going up again… and we’re stuck paying those high rates whether we want to or not. That’s our reality.
So we’re stuck paying high rates for energy. But we do have a choice in how much we are going to pay… What exactly do I mean?
Well as many of you regular readers are aware, I am in the business of delivery cooling comfort, among other things…. air conditioners, heat pumps, cooling equipment. It’s May in Ottawa and every day now I am out doing quotes for people for new air conditioners. This happens all the time, so I thought I would share my thoughts on why it is important to install as high efficient an air conditioner as possible.
Air conditioners use electricity to run, and electricity among other energies has one of the fastest increasing price of all the energies. Here in Ontario Canada, electricity rates have been consistently rising over the past 13 years by an average of 10% per year. Prior to 2002, electricity rates increased at an average rate of 8% per year. What this means, is that with an average increase of 10% per year, electricity rates will effectively double every 10 years.
In Ontario in 2015, we have Time-Of-Use electricity rates. And so not to get into the nitty-gritty of it all… we have an average rate of 18 cents/KwH. (That is what we pay out of pocket, including taxes, delivery, debt retirement, etc). Given the fact that Ontario electricity rates have been increasing at an average of 10% per year for the past 13 years… and given the fact that the Ontario Government has told us that electricity rates will be going up 30% over the next 3 years (again 10%/year)… and because Hydro One (the Ontario Electricity Company) has been so poorly managed for so long and clearly is not getting any better, one can only assume that we will continue to trend at an average of a 10% increase in electricity rates every year from now on… and then some… but for argument sake let’s just assume 10%.
Air conditioners efficiency is rated by a SEER rating. The SEER rating, coupled to the size (example: 3 Ton, 36,000 btuh) will give us hoe much power the given piece of equipment actually draws.
Here in Ontario Canada, electricity rates have been consistently rising over the past 13 years by an average of 10% per year.
A 3 ton 13 SEER air conditioner draws 2.77 KwH. What this means is that at an average electricity rate of $0.18/KwH, you will spend $0.50/hour to run this air conditioner. That doesn’t seem like much does it…. but do the math… $0.50/hour… running on warm days an average of 12 hours/day (super hot days will be more)… okay so that’s only $6/day… but wait that’s $180/month…. or $720 for the cooling season.
A 3 ton 26 SEER air conditioner draws 1.38 KwH. What this means is that at an average electricity rate of $0.18/KwH, you will spend $0.25/hour to run this air conditioner… or $360/cooling season.
So what about when electricity rates double in 10 years. And don’t fool yourself. The air conditioner that you install today will still be running in 10 years, 15 years, and almost certainly 20 years from now.
So… 10 years from now… Take that same 3 Ton air conditioner… When electricity rates are $0.42/KwH… that 13 SEER will cost you $1675 over the cooling season… and the 26 SEER will cost just $837/year.
How about 20 years from now when electricity rates are $0.85/KwH… That 3 Ton system will run you… yes… $3390/year to run… or simply add $847 to your monthly electricity bill.
You get the point. We all have choices. Don’t just think about the bottom line now but think about the future and all the money you could be throwing away, or the money you could be putting back into your pocket… sending your kids through University, or taking an extra vacation. Over the course of 20 years the cheap air conditioner we install now may wind up costing us twice what the more expensive one costs to install.
Do yourself a favor and don’t go with the cheapest price, for the cheapest air conditioner.
What does a new air conditioner cost
These days it’s getting hot. It’s the middle of May on Ottawa, and we all know what’s coming in a few short weeks…. summer. And with summer comes hot and humid weather. Being in the heating and cooling business, our phone is ringing off the hook these days and almost everyone is asking:
What does a new air conditioner cost?
What sparked this article is a phone call that I received this past week. A fellow called me up to ask me a about a certain brand of air conditioner that I had never heard of before. I”m not saying that I know everything about everything, but I do tend to know what brands are in the marketplace.
Anyway, this guy told me what the system was, and he told what the price was that he saw online. I’m going to call this air conditioner BrandX… mostly because I con’t remember the actual brand name he quoted me… and this particular sized system that he quoted me was $614. He asked me if I could match it, and If I could then he would give me the business.
Well… first of all… $614 is not going to get you a full air conditioner up and running… not even close! It seems that with Google we are able to research everything. We can find a 13 SEER air conditioner on Ebay right? Maybe Kijiji has one too that is priced too good to be true! And how much is it going to cost you to ship it? Pay the duty?
2 stage air conditioner
What this guy was quoting me was an air conditioner condenser, the outdoor unit of the air conditioner…. the part we all know of as “the air conditioner”. The reality is that when installing a new A/C system, there is a heck of a lot more than just the outdoor unit.
On top of the outdoor unit, an air conditioner has and indoor unit, called an evaporator coil. Connecting the coil to the condenser is a lineset made up of insulated, copper refrigeration lines and an electrical circuit. There is also the refrigeration to consider and the electrical connection at the panel…. and everyone of these things has a cost to it. There are the incidentals too… the other things such as an electrical disconnect box, low voltage wiring… how about a new patio slab and crushed stone to place your new condenser at the side of your house…. maybe a new set of wall brackets?
Skilled Labor is not Cheap! Cheap Labor is not Skilled!
Then there’s the installation of your new system. Getting a good qualified technician to come and install a system that they did not have the opportunity to provide to you is tough. What I mean by the this is that the person you will likely find to install your “cheap system” is not someone reliable who does good work… because that highly skilled and qualified tech is working for a good firm and couldn’t be bothered to do a side job on a Saturday.
So what does a new air conditioner cost then? It is going to depend on the size of the house as naturally there are different sized air conditioners?
What does a new air conditioner cost? It will depend on the installation of the whole system. How long is and how will the lineset be run? Where is the condenser going to be located? What is the electrical situation?
What does a new air conditioner cost? There are many different efficiency air conditioners… ranging from 13 SEER to 26 SEER. A 26 SEER air conditioner is going to cost you more now, but will no doubt save you a pile of money later?
What does a new air conditioner cost? Do you want a single stage air conditioner, a two-stage, or a modulating system? What type of furnace do you have (single stage, 2-stage, or modulating) as this will dictate what type of air conditioner can be installed?
So… What does a new air conditioner cost? Call me and find out. Let me show you why we are so good at what we do. On my visit to your house, we will look at your furnace capabilities. We will discuss the options available to you, efficiency and what it really means, and I will do a load calculation. to determine the right sized system for your house. Just because a 2.5 ton system was installed in your house 15 years ago, for example, does not mean that a 2.5 ton is the right size now. We change our house, upgrade insulation and windows and alter our cooling loads.
Call me for a quote and site visit at 613-301-2112
John Chapin
By the way… want to find out how to keep your second floor of your house just as cool as the main floor… and then keep the basement from feeling like the inside of a deep freezer? Click on this link and see how you can cool the upstairs of your house.