Blue is best
We are half way through the heating season, and it’s been a busy one. We are hoping to catch our breath soon and get ready for the spring servicing season.

Sometimes we get questions at this time about how the flame should look in your equipment. If you are adventurous enough to take a peek inside your furnace, hot water tank or (an easier one) your gas fire place….look for blue! A blue flame is what you want to see, it will burn the cleanest and produce the most heat. If you see a lot of orange in the flame (more than 10-15%) the equipment should be checked (by a qualified tech) to ensure everything is clean and functioning well.

Stay warm out there!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

Happy New Year!

Have you made your resolutions yet? Loose the weight, start exercising, stop smoking, cut back on caffeine, etc….all the things that are good for you. Well, here’s one for you to add to the list that’s good for your pocket. Resolve to have all your equipment serviced at some point this year; it could end up saving you thousands!

A complete solution to all your ENERGY MANAGEMENT, HVAC and ELECTRICAL needs, Caledonia is making energy management simple and affordable for everyone.  We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a  message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e-  mail us too!

No tips for you this month – just a wish for you all to have a very happy festive season. Stay safe, stay warm and we’ll see you all in the New Year.

Happy Holidays!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

 

Turn the thermostat down!

It’s that time of year again when nothing beats watching TV with the fire on and a big mug of hot chocolate. It’s all about staying warm and cosy, but energy costs can sneak up on you and you would be amazed at the savings that can be made by simply putting on a sweater (or cuddling up to your special someone under a blanket) and turning the heating down just a few degrees. Cool at night is naturally better for the human body. We sleep better when the room is cooler….your sleep will be deeper and the kids will get up less.

The best way to do all of this is a programmable thermostat, which will automatically warm your house just before you wake, and then turn the temperature down when everyone is out during the day. It can then be programmed to ensure you always come home to a warm house, and cool again for sleep time! Programmable thermostats are reasonably inexpensive and will pay for themselves very quickly in the middle of winter.

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

It’s that time of year again when thoughts turn to heating and keeping warm! Here are some tips to help you get everything up and running to keep you cosy through the winter…

First and most important. If you turn your equipment on for the first time, after it has been off all summer, it sometimes doesn’t go as smoothly as you’d like! If you smell gas, get out of your building as quickly as possible. The gas smell could be caused by many things…but you need to call an expert as it is always dangerous. DON’T take chances with gas.

If you have electric there may be a smell of burning when you first switch on your equipment. This will just be dust on the coil, which should disappear fairly quickly. Don’t worry about this, unless the smell persists.

For those who are lucky enough to have a heat pump, you have enjoyed a/c all summer and now the unit will switch to heating. There should be no problems with this switch over, just check that the outside coil is clean and free of leaves.

For all your equipment, check your filters and have them cleaned or replaced as needed, and enjoy the wonderful Fall colours from your warm and toasty office or home!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

House Hunters

It’s that time of the year again….the kids are going back to school, vacations are becoming cherished memories, the leaves are starting to don their fall colours. Of course, it’s also the start of the major house hunting season!

If you’re looking for a new home, here are a couple of quick tips. It’s one of the biggest investments you’ll ever make so ensure that you employ a good home inspector to look after your interests. Remember that your HVAC provider would be happy to help you too, if you want some added reassurance that furnaces, a/c equipment etc are all up to scratch (or to let you know if costly changes will be needed).

Good luck in your search – we’re sure your perfect home will find you very soon!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

Why is my Fridge dripping?

We recently posted a blog about fridges not cooling in the summer, which proved very popular, so we thought we’d also cover the second most common fridge complaint….a water leak.

We get lots of calls in the summer about water sitting in the fridge and sometimes on the floor (which is yet another good reason not to have hardwood floors in the kitchen!). Where is all that water coming from? Well, in the freezer there is a coil which is responsible for keeping everything cold. When the humidity is high in the summer, and you open the fridge door, all the moisture ends up on the coil. Of course it freezes once it’s there so over time ice builds up. Your fridge is equipped to deal with this though, using a heater. When the ice melts it drains down the back of the fridge and is evaporated by the heat of the compressor.

There are two reasons this water can become a problem. One is that the drain gets plugged; by dust, dirt or bits of food. The other reason could be that the heater is burnt out, which means the unit cannot defrost itself. More and more ice will build up and some will melt on the off cycle. This is an easy problem to avoid, just keep your fridge clean and well maintained…..and we hope this helps you through a hot summer!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

My refrigerator is not keeping cool…what’s wrong with it?

It’s that time of year again, when we hear this a lot. Well, first the good news! 9 times out of 10, there’s nothing wrong with it. We need to go back to basics to explain this one….bear with us.

There are two coils in your fridge. One gets cold, one gets hot. The inside coil gets cold and the refrigerant (gas) moves the heat to the outside coil, on the bottom of the fridge. A small fan blows air across the coil and gets rid of the heat. The problem with this design is that all the dust and dirt on the floor under your fridge will be pulled onto the bottom coil and, over time, this will block its ability to eject the heat. In summer, this problem is exasperated because room temperatures go up. So, a room that is normally 18° C is now 22 or 24°C, making your fridge work harder to cool inside. This is why these issues always show up in the summer.

So, to save money and help your fridge last longer, clean the coil at the bottom of your fridge. It’s as easy as vacuuming it. (some manufacturers put them at the top just to make it a little more confusing for you!)

Now you can enjoy a cold beer, with a clear conscience!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

 

This is the time of year when everything starts warming up (hopefully!) and your equipment will need to run at 100%

In the HVAC industry the first few hot days of the year are a very busy time for us. Everyone switches on their equipment, after leaving it off all winter, so everyone discovers their problems at exactly the same time. So, test your equipment NOW to be ahead of the game. If the cooling seems a bit weaker than last year, if it sounds different or there is a new noise or vibration, call in your HVAC provider and get it serviced as soon as possible.

A lot of people put this off, and find out the hard way that in the heat of mid summer it is A. the worst time possible to be without air conditioning and B. almost impossible to find an HVAC guy who can get to you any time soon (and, of course, people in high demand can also charge whatever they like). Get any little service repairs completed now and you’ll find that it will be done almost instantly and all parts for repairs or replacements will be in stock. This will not be true in another month or so!

Enjoy your summer!

Welcome Spring!

Well, we saw the sun today, and since it was for more than 10 minutes we figure it must be spring!

Spring comes with decisions to make about your air conditioning and HVAC equipment – and how to get it ready for another hot summer (we hope!). Along with the general maintenance and filter changes on your equipment, we also recommend an inspection of your condensing coils. What’s that? Basically, the most common types of air conditioners use an ‘air to air’ system which involves pulling outside air over a coil to a fan, and that cools the unit. Over time dirt and dust build up on the coil, reducing efficiency and costing you money.

We get asked a lot how often a coil should be cleaned, and should it be done every year? The short answer is that it very much depends on how much the equipment is used, and how much dirt is in the air where you are located. Most equipment running on a normal work week, without any major pollutants around will probably be okay for two or even three years. Of course, the best judge of this will be your HVAC provider who will be able to let you know how dirty the coil is, and whether it needs cleaned.

One last tip for this month – with spring comes cottonwood! Depending on your location, some days it can even look as though it’s snowing. These are the cottonwood seeds, and they are a menace to all your equipment! If you are in an area with a lot of cottonwood it’s best to wait until after the worst of it is over to clean your coils, otherwise you’ll just end up having to clean it twice.

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and  Electrical  company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a  message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e-  mail us too!