So you (or your kids) have worn the “cool” overpriced costumes that don’t have the ability to keep you warm. This year it’s time to trick-or-treat the warm way! We got creative and have figured out some ways that are sure to keep you warm this Halloween.

1. Get a cool onesie! Walmart has some really unique ones for about $20. 
2. Take it back to the year 2000 and be a SIM! All you have to do is paint some cardboard green, make it into the shape of a diamond, stick a balloon inside, attach to your hat and put on some warm clothes! 
3. Be an Eskimo!
4. You could be almost any animal! Maybe not a Sphynx but just about everything else should work from a bear to a cat! 
5.  You could be a Burning Man goer! They love fur and you can add lights to help guide your way through the Halloween night.

The new Quadra-Fire vented gas fireplaces are incredibly efficient. When you have a fire in a traditional fireplace, a lot of the heat is coming out of your chimney. Usually you’ll notice that the rooms farthest from the fireplace are the coldest, regardless of if you’re running your heating system or not. With the Quadra-Fire, the combustion air to fuel the fire is coming from outside, which eliminates the cold rooms that you’d typically get with a traditional fireplace.

Additionally, these fireplaces have a safety feature which turns the gas off in the event that the pilot light goes out. The Quadra-Fire uses less gas than a traditional fireplace which will save you money if you’ve been using a traditional fireplace! And if you didn’t think it could get any better…..the air quality in your home isn’t affected by these systems. With a traditional fireplace, when you burn logs, you don’t know what you’re burning. The logs could have absorbed anything including chemicals before they made their way to your home. These fireplaces vent through the chimney but that won’t completely eliminate your clean air mixing with the toxic air. If you do intend on using a traditional fireplace this season, we highly recommend having an air cleaner installed.

My favorite benefit of all, you get to keep ALL the heat that this amazing fireplace provides. If vented correctly, you can have the heat distribute to all of your rooms (or some of your rooms) via a zone system. After seeing all the positives to this system, I’m ready for my own Quadra-Fire vented fireplace. Take my money!

It’s getting about that time when we’re turning on our heaters for the first time this season and some of us are finding out that ours aren’t working. Before you panic and call an HVAC contractor, there are a few things you can check for.

First, is the display showing anything at your thermostat? If not, it may just be the batteries! Pull it off the wall gently, remove old batteries and replace with new ones. The display should be showing up now. If not, your thermostat may need to be replaced. If the display is working, is it set on “heat”? Is it set at least 3 degrees above room temperature?

Next, make sure that the power is set to “on” at the furnace. Some people accidentally turn this off because it looks exactly like a light switch. Have you changed your air filter recently? The service panel may not be on properly which would cause the emergency shut off switch to cut the system off. Is there water in the pan under the unit? If so, you’ll need an HVAC technician out to clear your drain line. Once water reaches a certain point in the drain pan, an emergency switch cuts the system off.

Have the breakers tripped? Although you can flip the breaker back, you may still want to call a certified HVAC contractor to inspect the system. It didn’t trip for no reason and chances are, it will do it again.

What fuels your furnace? If your answer is propane, is the tank empty? If it’s gas, it’s possible that the gas isn’t getting to the system. It’s best to let a certified HVAC technician handle that.

If you’ve moved through our troubleshooting guide and still find that your system isn’t operable, give us a call at 770-672-6963. We’ll be happy to come out and get your system working again, quickly.