Do you have questions about your AC System?
Are you still arguing with your spouse about whether to turn the thermostat up or off when you leave the house? Check out this impromptu video we shot with Stephanie Fortune of Fortune Business Consulting or give us call at (561) 861-3345 with your specific questions.
Video Transcript:
Mike: Hello Everybody, my name is Mike Macdonald, I’m with M&S Air Conditioning & Appliance Service and today we have the luxury of having Stephanie Fortune from Fortune Marketing & Business Solutions with us and we just wanted to ask her a couple questions about her AC system.
Hello, Stephanie.
Stephanie: Hi. How are you?
Mike: Doing good.
Stephanie: Happy to be here.
Mike: So, what is it that you don’t like about your air conditioning system
Stephanie: So, I have a 3-story home. I have a garage on the first floor, a bedroom on the third floor, and then the living space, more or less, on the second floor, and my office. I find that sometimes it’s way colder in my office or in the bedroom and not so much in the living room so how could I manage the temperature in the different rooms?
Mike: Okay, so the newer technology thermostats, they actually have what we call a remote sensor so you can actually have a remote sensor in that room and you can set the thermostat for a certain temperature, but until that remote sensor reaches the temperature you desire the air conditioner would shut off at the point where the remote sensor reached the temperature so say you’re comfortable at 74 degrees.
Stephanie: Right.
Mike: You set the remote sensor for 74 degrees and then the unit will turn off as soon as that remote sensor is satisfied.
Stephanie: Okay. So that would be perfect because I have an office and I literally have to wear a jacket in my own home so that will definitely help there. Okay. So, I like that. I like that. What about knowing when to change my AC filter?
Mike: The industry standard is about 45 days. 45 to 60 days, give or take, it just depends. If you live in an area where there’s a lot of dust like construction, or maybe on a road, you might want to change it every 30 days, but they can go up to about 45, a month and a half, sometimes 90 days. It just depends.
Stephanie: I have a husky, she has a lot of fur, so I would say more so closer to the 30-day mark?
Mike: Yeah. A lot of fur, yeah, you definitely, definitely, 30-day mark.
Stephanie: Okay. Alright. Let me see here. The noise. So, I definitely know when the air conditioning system is on vs. when it’s off. Is there any way that I can combat that?
Mike: There’s some things that you have to kind of go to the house and look at. Most of the time, it’s ductwork related, static pressure, maybe like a restricted filter, dirty filter, dirty coil causing the motor to ramp up and produce more velocity, so every application is different from that standard. So, anything else?
Stephanie: Let me see here.
Mike: What about, what kind of thermostat do you have in your house?
Stephanie: I have no idea.
Mike: Okay.
Stephanie: I have no idea.
Mike: That’s usual.
Stephanie: (Laughs) But we only have one so I know it’s tough sometimes when I do want to change the temperature in one room or I want to adjust it in one place and I just can’t get to it. So, I know that’s usually a challenge too. And, again, I just don’t know.
Mike: Okay. What about when you are home vs. when you’re away, what do you keep your thermostat at?
Stephanie: So, traditionally, when I’m out of the house, I like to keep it at maybe at seventy… well, really, 78ish and then when I’m home closer to maybe 75 and when I sleep I like to be cold and cozy so maybe around like 73.
Mike: Okay. What we recommend is whenever you’re away from the house to keep it at say 78 then, when you’re at home, if you like it at 76, keep it within 2 degrees. The reason being is you don’t want the unit to run for more than like 30 minutes at a time because the longer that it runs, the hotter the compressor gets and it sometimes causes more breakdowns so we want to keep the thermostat within 2 degrees so that the unit is not running as much.
Stephanie: Okay. So, what about at nighttime?
Mike: So at night time, once the sun goes down, the real issue is just the humidity so if it’s 76 that you like to keep it at when the sun’s up and then you want to bring it down to 74, it will reach that temperature in an easy manner, but a lot of times, it’s when the sun is up is when the heat load is on the house and it keeps the thermostat running and running and running and the more it runs the more money is out of your pocket.
Stephanie: Maybe that’s my problem, I’m changing it all throughout the day. Okay, I can see it.
Mike: Yeah, you’ve got to keep it at least 2 degrees when you leave the house so like a lot of times it’s 78 and 76 when we’re home, sometimes it’s 77 and 75, it all depends, but the less that you go up, the less it will run when you come home.
Stephanie: Okay and this could help with my electrical bills, right?
Mike: Yes. Yes.
Stephanie: So, I’m newer to the AC world, right, so I’m just learning things. What other tips would you have for me or anybody out there that might have questions? Where to go? How could they find you if they do have questions specific for your company? How would they get in contact with you?
Mike: Our website is ac-florida.com. We have a list of maintenance plans, what’s included. The most important thing about a maintenance plan is that it keeps the unit running at operation standards and especially in South Florida a lot of leaf blowers out here and they blow all the dirt into the condenser coils outside and it restricts the amount of air going into the unit.
Stephanie: Gotcha.
Mike: And that can definitely make the unit malfunction prematurely so you definitely want to have maintenance done on your unit at least twice a year because of those issues because basically an air conditioner in South Florida is like running your car at 90 miles per hour in second gear, basically.
Stephanie: Gotcha.
Mike: It’s just nonstop, 100 miles an hour.
Stephanie: So, if you guys are getting your car checked out then you have maintenance on your vehicles you definitely want to get your maintenance on your AC units.
Mike: Yes. Definitely.
Stephanie: Okay. Awesome. I see some numbers here. Which one is yours? How can they call you if they have questions? Can they text?
Mike: Okay. This is our Broward number and this is our Palm Beach number, this is our license number, we’re licensed and insured. We’ve been in business for 30 years. Our Website.
Stephanie: We like dogs.
Mike: We’re a Rheem Top Contractor so we get the best pricing from Rheem which is good because it goes back to you guys when you’re able to use a quality contractor and not have to pay a fortune to have it installed. And this is, that is not my dog. I do like bulldogs, but that is not my dog. Yes. He is very comfortable, so we hope that one day we have the luxury of coming to your house and making you as comfortable as he is.
Stephanie: Great so pretty awesome. Well we wanted to get on camera just again we were having a conversation and I had some questions for him, he had some questions for me, and I figured what better opportunity than to share with the world. Do you have anything more to add? I’ll step back here.
Mike: Please leave comments. You know, this might be my calling in life so have a good one everybody.