I didn’t know I could do that….

“I didn’t know I could do that” – the most common response we get  when explaining energy management systems to new customers!  Energy Management is simple…from turning off a light switch to full,  integrated systems; it’s all intended to make your life easier and save  energy.

In the bad old days energy management systems needed a dedicated  computer, lots of expensive software, and tied you into a contract  with  one company who held all your information. These days all you  need is  a box that plugs into your router. This is combined with easy  to use  graphics, which can be customized just for your building or  business.  And, because it’s web based, replacement parts are easy to  come by  and can be serviced by any company. Of course, all of this  makes the  costs much less, which opens up an opportunity for  smaller businesses  and buildings to use this system. With  programmable thermostats,  motion sensors for lights, and entire  building control systems – your  options today are much greater, and  more affordable, that ever before.

Let us show you something you ‘didn’t know’!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and  Electrical  company, serving Vancouver and BC area. Our focus is Energy   Management –  saving you money whilst saving the environment.

Just a gentle reminder that a lot of companies close  down at Christmas/New Year or work with minimum  staffing levels. You can easily pay more than double for  a call out during the festive season, so make sure you  schedule all required electrical or HVAC work as soon as  possible….or be prepared to leave it until next year!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and  Electrical company serving Vancouver and the BC area. Always putting  customer needs first, we constantly look for ways for you to save energy  and money.

Sometimes the simple solutions are the best ones.

A small company were spending a fortune on heating and cooling, so they  came to us for advice. As they had the older style mercury thermostats on  their equipment, we advised that they update the equipment to  programmable stats. All that was required for the changeover was some  additional wire for the rooftop units so, after a little wire pulling, the new  system was installed.

Well, they were stunned with the difference this simple solution made to  their bills. The fans were not running all night, and the heating and  cooling came on only when it was needed. And, with the savings they  made on their energy bills, the new equipment was paid off in just a few  short months.

Sometimes small alterations equal big savings!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and  Electrical company serving Vancouver and the BC area. Always putting  customer needs first, we constantly look for ways for you to save energy  and money.

Where’s the Breaker?

Sometimes we receive service calls where we turn up and just have  to turn the breaker on to get everything working again. This is hard on  the home owner or business owner, to pay a call out fee when it was  so easy to fix, but there are many reasons why this happens. Maybe  they couldn’t find the breaker panel, or the breaker looked switched  on, or they just didn’t think about the breaker. Of course, the  opposite can happen too, where we need to work on a circuit or  equipment and we just can’t find the breaker to switch the power off  to make it safe to work on.

There are a few ways you can save yourself money in this regard.  Make sure YOU know where your breaker is so that you can check it  before calling someone out, or you can direct someone to it if you do  need a professional (remember, most call out jobs charge by the  hour!). There is also a simple tool you can buy at any of the big DIY  stores. It’s called a circuit tracer – you can plug it into a 120v socket (or  jumper leads), hook it to the equipment and, with the power still on,  you go to the panel box with the other half of the tool. It will bleep  when you get to the appropriate breaker. Simple!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and  Electrical  company serving Vancouver and BC area. “There is no knowledge  that is not  power”  – giving power to our customers.

We hate to be the ones to point it out….but the temperatures are starting to drop, and fall is just around the corner. Get ahead of the crowds  – get your furnace serviced now, so that when it’s time to turn the heating on you can do so straight away….knowing that it is safe and in perfect working order!

Super busy this month….trying to keep everyone cool!

Take care in sun, have a great summer and we’ll be back with more tips next month!

Why is there water on my ceiling?

HVAC technicians probably aren’t your first choice when this happens! Usually when someone sees water leaking from their ceiling they will call a roofer, assuming that rain is coming in somewhere (especially living in Vancouver!) or a plumber for a leaking pipe. It can be expensive to call out a professional, only to have him tell you that there’s nothing he can do and you need to call someone else. So, if you have an air conditioning unit here are some things to be aware of so that you can make an educated decision on who to call if this happens to you.

Think of your air conditioner like a glass of iced water, where water beads collect on the outside of the glass. In the same way,  your air conditioner unit will pull water out of the air and cause it to condense. Over time, if the unit is not well maintained, the drain on the unit will plug with dirt, leaving the water with nowhere to go. It will overflow and cause a water leak.

So, make sure you have your machine regularly cleaned and checked to ensure this never happens to you.

***

Photo by: reditall

The warm weather is finally upon us so here are a couple of ideas to make sure your air conditioning is energy efficient…

•  Keep all doors and windows closed if you are running air conditioning. You don’t want to try to cool the entire city!
•  Don’t try to program your settings too low. If you put the temperature lower than around 68 °F the machine will ice up, stop working, and cost you HVAC call out fees.
•  Program your a/c to come on a couple of hours earlier, just for the warm spell. That way staff will be coming into cooler temperatures and are less likely to mess around with the thermostat (see above!)
•  Make sure your filters and coils are clean for optimum efficiency. All that cotton wood last month will play havoc with your equipment if you haven’t had it serviced.

Stay safe in the sun – and have a wonderful July.

Can you smell gas?

A friend of mine gave me the shocking answer to this question the other day. There were some workmen in her apartment, completing a small 15 minute job. Although she could smell gas she assumed it was something they were doing and ignored it. After they left she could still smell it so she opened her balcony door and all the windows, and also switched on a fan. She then sat in the apartment (she works from home) for 4 hours until her husband came home and was met with a very strong smell of gas. The gas stove had been knocked slightly at some point during the morning and had been leaking gas for the rest of the day! And, here’s the thing, my friend had sat in it for so long that she could no longer smell it.

Luckily this story has a happy ending….they left the apartment as quickly as possible to air it, and took the opportunity to have a coffee date! However, things don’t always turn out so well so, if you DO smell gas take the following steps:

Leave as quickly as possible.
Do not use anything that could cause a spark ie a cell phone, light switch etc. Absolutely DO NOT SMOKE!
Once outside call the gas company.
Even if you have stopped the leak (stove burner on or similar) still get out of the building until it has had time to disperse.

Well the sun has started to shine and the temperatures have started to rise….and now is the perfect time to think about getting your air conditioning installed or serviced.