Air Mechanical, Inc. Blog

For more than a hundred years, people in countries around the world have marked the 14th day of February as a time for lovers to give each other gifts and for children to write cards to each other and eat heart-shaped candy. But Valentine’s Day isn’t the only important event to occur on February 14th. There are many other anniversaries to mark on this day. Here are a few...

If you are balancing your options for heating your home, you may come down to a choice between two popular—but very different—systems: the heat pump and the furnace. Furnaces are common and have kept homes warm for centuries. Heat pumps are more recent innovations (comparatively, at least) and offer the benefit of air conditioning as well. How best to decide between these two?

The boiler is one of the two great workhorses of the home heating world. (The other one is the furnace.) They have stayed around for so long because… well, they have the ability to stay around for a long time. Boilers have a longevity that few heating systems can match, and they need fewer repairs than furnaces or heat pumps do because they have fewer mechanical parts. With proper maintenance done annually, a boiler can last over 20 years.

You may have heard the important piece of kitchen maintenance advice: “don’t pour oil, fat, or grease down your drains.” It’s good advice, and will prevent clogging and water pressure increases. However, there is no way to stop all grease...

Do you know how well-sealed your home is from the outside air? If you live in a house built within the last three decades, it is likely a closed environment designed to trap heat indoors during the winter and outdoors during the summer. This is helpful in keeping your energy bills in check, but it also leads to another concern: dust and dirt contained inside your home with no easy outlet.

Winter has arrived, and if the time has come to update your home heating system, you’ll want the most effective and efficient heater possible. This is a basic fact of life in Minnesota; we can’t settle for second best when it comes to keeping warm during the heavy cold season. We’d like to suggest that you consider a boiler for your heating this winter—and many winters to come.

2014 is almost upon us, and with the coming of the New Year, we thought we’d take a brief look at some of the more popular traditions associated with this holiday. It’s been around for at least 4,000 years: as long as we’ve figured out how long it takes for the seasons to come and go. Here’s a quick discussion about some of our more modern traditions and where they started.

It’s the holiday season once again, and everyone at Air Mechanical, Inc. wishes the very best for you, your family, and your friends. We hope that whatever brings you joy fills these last days of the year. We’d like to thank all of our customers for giving us the opportunity to provide you with services that improve your lives and help you better enjoy this time with your loved ones. You are the reason that we exist as a company, and that’s something we always keep that in mind. We are eager to work with you in the coming year.

Furnaces come in a variety of types that use different energy sources. The earliest furnaces used wood and coal, and later propane and oil became popular. You can still find propane and oil furnaces warming homes today, but it’s likely that if you’re looking into getting a furnace, your choice will come down to either a natural gas or electric furnace.

For your boiler to operate correctly, it needs to maintain steady pressure in its hot water tank and throughout its pipes. Water pressure will increase as the water in the system heats up, so the boiler comes with a number of methods to keep the pressure from reaching levels where it can cause damage. One of the ways a boiler maintains a safe pressure level is with an expansion tank. We will explain how this crucial component of a boiler operates—and why it’s important to keep it maintained and repaired.

Thanksgiving began in 1621, but didn’t become a national tradition until 1863, when Abraham Lincoln declared it as such in hopes of bringing a divided nation together. We have many Thanksgiving traditions in this country, from turkey as the meal to the annual Cowboys and Lions games on television. But one of the most beloved is the annual Presidential turkey pardon, in which the U.S. President “pardons” a turkey, allowing them to live the remainder of their live freely roaming on farmland.

One of the reasons you should always seek advice from professionals when selecting a new heating system for your home is that you need expertise not only to select the proper type of heater that will satisfy your home’s needs, but also to select the proper size of heater. Why should size matter so much? It seems logical to simply go with the largest model available within your budget. Isn’t it better to err on the side of a heater that’s too large rather than one that’s too small? Read on to learn more.