Ways to Heat Up your Valentine's Day

Love should be spread to every corner of your world on Valentine’s Day. That includes your house. You should use the holiday to remind you to give your home some TLC. Follow these three tips to give your home some love this Valentine’s Day.

Show Your Unit Some TLC

Valentine’s Day is a great time to perform some routine maintenance on your furnace. Give your furnace a once over or better yet hire a professional to give it a thorough inspection. At the minimum, you should change the filter and install a high-quality HEPA filter replacement to improve the air quality inside your home.

You should also think about getting your ducts cleaned as part of your annual furnace maintenance routine. The air ducts will build up lots of dust over time that negatively impacts your health if it is not removed.

Give Your Furnace a Break

Although spring will soon be upon us and we will get to go outdoors, you can get a jump on the fun by bringing outdoor-style heating to your living space.

Get your chimney inspected so that you can enjoy beautiful gatherings around your family hearth. Annual
chimney cleanings are essential to prevent the buildup of creosote, which can start a deadly fire in a heartbeat.

You should think about taking the party outside with outdoor heating options. A bonfire is guaranteed to make for a fun-filled night with friends and family.

You can always go less primal by using a fire pit or an outdoor heater as well. The point is that you can always take the party to the great outdoors if you are willing to harness the power of outdoor heating.

Love Is in the Air

It doesn’t matter how great your heating and cooling system is if your home is not properly insulated. Use this time to take a look at the insulation in your home. Check to see if there are areas where additional insulation would lower your heating and cooling costs.

You also need to use this time to think about everyday ways you can lower your energy use. For example, you need to be careful to keep doors and windows in your home fully closed in order not to waste climate-controlled air.

You also need to think about the temperature settings you have set up on your HVAC system. Think about whether you can stand it a few degrees warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter in order to shrink your home’s carbon footprint and lower your energy bills.

If you want professional help getting your home’s heating and cooling needs squared away this Valentine’s Day, turn to Atlantic Heating & Air Conditioning in Brookline, MA. When you contact Atlantic Heating & Air Conditioning at 617-566-6990, we will make sure to take care and give your home the love it deserves. We will work with you to create a mixture of indoor and outdoor heating solutions to make your home a paradise.

Winter in this country typically means short days, long nights, and several chilly months to look forward to. But just because winter is here doesn’t mean you and your family have to spend the season shivering and wrapped in blankets.

If you're looking for ways to make your home more energy-efficient, budget-friendly, and warm, then you’ve come to the right place!

1. Get a Heating Tune Up

Do you know if your furnace needs cleaning, repairs, or other maintenance? If not, you should schedule an annual furnace inspection with a professional to ensure that your heating system will continue functioning all winter long. Along with checking for damage, corrosion, and safety issues, a proper tune up will also guarantee optimal efficiency from your furnace with a checklist that includes:

• Cleaning and dusting
• Checking for and removing blockages
• Lubricating moving parts
• Addressing leaks, cracks, and rust

2. Put in a Humidifier

Humidifiers aren't just great for getting rid of winter dryness, and they're also perfect for making the air in your house feel warmer.

By installing a humidifier and keeping the moisture level in your house between 30 and 50 percent, you can make the temperature feel up to 10 F higher.

Not only will your house feel warmer, but you'll also be able to turn down the thermostat and save money.

3. Make a Winterizing Plan

One of the biggest ways you lose both heat and money in the winter is through cracks, leaks, and drafts in your house. Along with warm air escaping from your house through these pathways, cold air can also find its way in, and this means a colder house and a furnace that must work harder. To winterize your house, seal leaks and drafts in vents, ducts, windows, doors, and walls with tools and supplies like:

• Weather stripping and draft guards
• Insulation
• Storm windows and doors
• Window film
• Chimney balloons

Winterizing your house, preparing your furnace, and being more conscious about your furnace and energy use can lower your heating bills and make your home more comfortable.

4. Splurge on a New Thermostat

The trick here is to maximize the efficiency of your furnace while also minimizing your energy costs. A programmable thermostat can help because it allows you to regulate the temperature in your house depending on the time of day, whose home, and what's going on inside.

At night when everybody is sleeping and during the day when everybody is out of the house, set the temperature to 60 F. In the morning and evening when everyone is home and awake, set the thermostat to increase the temperature to a more comfortable 68 F.

Money savings: A programmable thermostat set to these temperatures could save you up to 20 percent on your energy bills.

If you want help with the winterizing process, have HVAC needs you want to address this winter, or want to schedule a furnace tune-up, call 617-566-6990 today to book an appointment with the specialists at Atlantic Heating & Air Conditioning.

Home Cleaning Checklist for the New Year

The New Year is an opportunity for a fresh start, and what better way to get a fresh start than to establish a quick but efficient way to clean your house.

Sticking to a schedule for things that you do on a daily, weekly or monthly basis can help motivate you to keep your house looking like you spent hours cleaning it when it really only took a small fraction of your day. Use this basic cleaning schedule as a guideline to get and keep your home in order.

What to Clean Daily

Spend about 30 minutes a day doing the chores that need to be done around your home. These basic tasks might seem simple, but make a world of difference in how your home looks and feels.

• Wash dishes at least once a day. If you can’t find the time to wash them all, at least make an effort to scrape excess food off and rinse them so the food doesn’t stick. Alternatively, throw a load in the dishwasher once a day.
• Tidy up. Tidying up helps control clutter. Walk through your house one room at a time and put things that are out of place back where they belong. Do a room or two and then take a break.
• Wipe off countertops to clean crumbs and spills

What to Clean Weekly

Some tasks do not necessarily need to be done every single day. Instead pick a day of the week where you will tackle these tasks. Which include: 

• Empty the trash in bedrooms, bathrooms, and the kitchen
• Dust furniture and wiping down cobwebs
• Clean mirrors and windows
• Wipe down appliances in the kitchen, cleaning out the microwave and empty the crumb tray in your toaster
• Mop the floor
• Spray down and scrub the toilet, sink, and tub in the bathroom

What to Clean the First of Each Month

Monthly tasks are important and easy to forget. Don’t fall behind. Try to do these tasks at least once a month for optimal cleanliness.

• Move furniture and vacuum or sweep under it
• Clean outside windows
• Disinfect and deodorize garbage cans
• Run vinegar through your appliances to clean them
• Dust your blinds, shades and lighting fixtures

Keeping your home clean is a great start to the year. Contact Atlantic Heating & Air Conditioning, located in Brookline, MA at 617-566-6990 for assistance with getting your home in order.

With the year dwindling to a close, many people are engaging in self-reflection. They are thinking about all of the things they have accomplished and what more they could have done.

Many will reflect on issues relating to self-control, such as weight loss or kicking an old habit, like smoking. However, New Year's resolutions could extend even beyond struggles such as this. For example, they could even extend to saving money by finding solutions to your high bill payments.

These 5 tips will help with setting your New Year's resolutions, now all you have to do is stick to it!

Make a List of Goals You Want to Achieve in 2017

Reflect for a moment on the changes you would like to occur in your everyday life. A high bill payment is not usually on the list of New Year's resolutions. But high bills will impact your overall stress and happiness.

As you are creating your list, think of electricity and water usage and how they could be reduced through making conscious decisions in your home. There is power in making a list. It will make your resolutions real.
Once you have an idea of the changes you would like to occur, make a list of goals.

Categorize Them by Time and Importance

Once you have your list, categorize your goals by time and importance. Some of your goals may not be pressing, but that does not mean that you should push them aside. Rank them by the amount of time they will take to achieve and when it would be appropriate to begin each one.

Set REALISTIC Goals that are not too Easy to Achieve

By tackling harder tasks first, it will give you the confidence you need to tackle smaller tasks. Set realistic goals, but be sure they are challenging, so everything after is a cinch!
An unrealistic resolution will leave you with a feeling of futility. But a goal that is too easy might yield the same result. Strike a proper balance.

Keep the list where you will see it daily.

Ensure that you have a constant reminder of your goals. Perhaps you could hang a whiteboard in your living room or on the refrigerator. It will help remind you of your commitment to yourself and encourage you to stick to the list.

Refer to the List Weekly to Check Off Goals

Have you reduced your energy consumption? Exercised more frequently? Deposited more into your savings account? Check it off the list. If you make a habit of referring to the list, you will not forget about it. Remember to revisit the list weekly, to find out if you've been naughty or nice.

For help sticking to your household money saving goals, contact Atlantic Heating & Air Conditioning in Boston, MA, at (617) 566-6990 for more information about our maintenance plans and energy efficient products.

Want to get a handle on the high cost of heating? No matter what your fuel source, those heating costs skyrocket during the fall and winter months. As a homeowner, you can take control of these costs by following a few simple steps.

Start with an energy audit. Go around your home and look for any potential weaknesses or vulnerabilities for heat loss. It’s time to get your home in top energy-efficient shape.

Here is how you start.

Why You Need a Furnace Tune-Up

Your furnace is the engine of your home’s heat. It only stands to reason that you need this system to be operating as efficiently as possible to save you the most money- right at the source.

During a tune-up, you’ll get your filter changed, your pilot light re-lit and the parts cleaned and inspected for damage.

This will save you money by reducing the amount of fuel that your furnace needs and will also identify any problems that can be fixed now, instead of as costly emergency repairs. The best time to do a furnace inspection is in the fall, right when you turn it on.

Reverse the Ceiling Fan

Keeping your ceiling fan on in the fall and winter is a low energy way to circulate the warm air. All you have to do is switch the fan to reverse (clockwise) to push warm air the best. On the other hand, don’t leave kitchen and bathroom fans on. They actually suck warm air from the room.

Is your damper closed?

You may not be aware, but that warm and glowing fireplace is a major source of heat loss if your damper is open when the fireplace isn’t being used.

Heat, time and use can cause it to warp, so make sure that it closes tightly. For extra protection, insert a chimney balloon, which inflates to block the exchange of warm air for cold air from outside.

Raise the Threshold

If you see daylight when you close the door, you’ve got to close those gaps in your home. Install adjustable threshold, which will raise the level of the threshold so that it is flush with the door. No more drafts.

Sunshine= Free Heat

Leave your curtains open during the day and get a heating boost for free from those glorious rays of sunshine. Even though it is colder outside, the sun still burns hot enough to raise the temperature in a sun-facing room during the day.

Window Film

As windows age, they become less air tight. Replacing them all is expensive, but you can improve them by sealing them with clear window film. You attach the film with double sided tape to the window frame and then mold in place with a hair dryer.

When is the last time you had a furnace tune-up in Boston, MA? Schedule your appointment today by contacting Atlantic Heating & Air Conditioning at (617) 566-6990.