Russell & Abbott

Olive’s Big Fall Recommendation: Have Us Maintain Your Heating System!

September 20th, 2021

Ah, it’s here: one of my favorite blog subjects of the year! It’s the Get Your Heating System Maintained blog post!

Why do I love writing this post so much? Here are a few reasons:

Maintenance is the most important service we offer, and the wonders it can do for our customers are immense.
I love writing about all the benefits customers enjoy because it reminds me why I’m in this business in the first place—to help people.
It means it’s almost fall and I can soon run and jump into piles of leaves.

I consider this post my annual fight for you to enjoy better heating! I hope I’ll get you super-enthused by the end of this post so you’ll call our team to sign up for the Comfort Club and get on the schedule for heating maintenance in Vonore, TN, or wherever you are in our service area. Fall is the best time to get this job done: take advantage of the slower season and the milder weather.

Olive’s Annual End-of-Summer “Analyze Your AC’s Performance” Review

September 6th, 2021

Welcome to my most popular regular topic of the year! (Well, I’m only guessing. I like it a lot!) This is the post where I ask you, loyal readers, to do your own reviews of the air conditioning systems that have kept you super-cool through summer. This is a “performance review” or a “report card” about how your AC has worked over the last season. You can use this information to help make important decisions about the future of your air conditioning in Vonore, TN, such as:

Should you replace the AC with a new one before next summer?
Does the AC have a malfunction you haven’t paid much attention to?
Do you need to change the way you use the air conditioner to improve its performance and save energy?
Seriously, should you replace the AC with a new one?

I put the last one on the list twice, because it’s the most important question to ask about your AC once you’ve had it for several years. You want to make the choice about when to replace the air conditioner—you don’t want the air conditioner to make the choice by breaking down!

Hedges, Debris, Mulch, Lawn Mowing: Tips to Protect Your Outside AC Cabinet

August 23rd, 2021

“Olive, what does any of that in the title have to do with my AC?” Yes, I know you may not connect basic gardening with keeping your house cool, but taking proper care of your central air conditioner isn’t all about fretting over technical terms like R-22, R-410A, and THX-1138. (One of those isn’t an AC term at all, can you guess which?*) But activities you may not connect with the air conditioning system can have a big impact on it.

So … let’s get into protecting that outdoor condenser cabinet with good lawn and garden care. We don’t want you to need a new AC installation in Knoxville, TN just because of gardening mishaps!

Olive Breaks Apart Myths Other People May Have Told You About Your AC

August 9th, 2021

This is one of my favorite topics: Olive, Shatterer of Myths! It feels epic when I get to take on misconceptions. Yeah, maybe that sounds a bit grandiose, but I love helping people. Not many dogs get a chance to reach as many people as I do.

Anyway, today the myths I’m smashing apart are the sort you may have heard people tell you about air conditioning. These myths have a way of spreading fast even with nothing to back them up. They just sort of “seem” true, even though they aren’t.

Cheap AC Repair Offers? You’ll Get Cheap Quality as Well!

July 26th, 2021

Have you ever heard this saying before? “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten.” That was written by none other than Benjamin Franklin, quite a wise man. He listed “an old dog” as one of the most faithful of friends, so I’m bound to trust his word on most things. And when he’s talking about poor quality from poor price, I understand exactly what he means—because everyone here at Russell & Abbott knows how much a cheap HVAC service can end up costing someone. It’s not just about feeling bitter. It’s about feeling too hot or too cold because you got low-quality AC service.

Olive, Can I Install My Own Air Conditioning System?

July 12th, 2021

No, you cannot.

I almost feel like ending my post there, because that simple answer can save you time, money, and general headaches. But I have a special obligation as an HVAC blogger dog to provide more information—I’m an “explainer,” so when I give an answer, I back it up with the best info. All around me are professionals who handle great air conditioning installation in Knoxville, TN, so when I need to know why it takes professionals to put in a new air conditioner, I have people I can turn to.

And all of them agree: you should only allow professionals to put in that new central air conditioner! Here are some of the reasons why:

Olive’s Tips on Helping Beating the Worst of the Heat

June 28th, 2021

In May I wrote a blog about the limits of your air conditioning’s cooling power and how you can avoid placing too much strain on the AC. A quick recap for those just joining: your air conditioner can lower the temperature by a maximum of 20°F compared to the outside. Since I recommend (as does the US Department of Energy) a setting of 78°F, you shouldn’t have any problem dealing with the heat on most summer days.

But what about the occasional heat wave? August is our hottest month, with an average high of 88°F. We have humidity to worry about as well, although with the right sized air conditioning system this won’t be as much of a problem in your house. Yet there will be times when it can get so hot that you’ll have to nudge up the thermostat to keep it from constantly running and wearing down.

We don’t want you to suffer from busted AC in the middle of the summer heat, and we have the air conditioning repair in Farragut, TN to see you’re taken care of. I have tips for what you can do to help keep cool in the worst of the heat so you can raise the thermostat enough to ward off problems.

How You (Humans) Can Get Extra Cool in the Heat

Not all of this applies to me personally: dogs cool off in different ways than people (panting). But please be mindful of your pets during heat waves! Give them lots of water (even put some ice in it) and keep them indoors in the shade. Anyway, on to advice for humans…

Pull down the shades! The sun is sneaky and it will let plenty of heat in through the windows. Close shades and shutters to stop that extra radiant heat.
Don’t add heat with lights and electronics! Use electrical devices as little as possible and turn off any lights you don’t absolutely need. Oh, now is not the time to do laundry or cook a meal!
Hydrate! I mentioned how pets need plenty of water. You need liquids as well—but avoid sugary drinks.
Close off that super-hot room! You probably have a room in your house that gets hotter than the others, probably because of exterior exposure or low insulation. Close the door to that room, because otherwise the heat will stroll right out of it and into the rest of the house.
Use fans! You probably already thought of this one, but a reminder that fans can help you feel cooler by 8°F. Just be careful you don’t plug in a zillion fans at once and overload a circuit breaker—this can be a problem during heat waves.
Olive’s handmade insta-evaporative cooler: Yeah, this one’s kinda neat. Take ice cubes from the freezer and put them in a bowl. Put that bowl in front of one of the fans. The fan will then blow cooled air at you. It’s temporary, but during a heat wave it feels so good.

And keep in mind: if you can’t get your house cool enough even when the heat starts to subside, give us a call to look into your AC and see if it needs to be fixed or even replaced.

Stay cool (please!),

Olive

Russell & Abbott serves Maryville, Knoxville, and the surrounding areas. Just whistle and we’ll come running!

Olive, Why Do I Hear Water in My AC?

June 1st, 2021

I am always glad to help out my readers when they have questions about air conditioning. Air conditioners are a part of everyday life (at least in summer), but people who aren’t HVAC experts often don’t know much about how they run.

And that’s fine! Most people drive cars but don’t know how combustion engines work or anything like that. You can say the same thing about pets: you might have a dog, but you won’t be an expert on veterinary medicine. That’s why you take your dog to a good vet! Believe me, we dogs appreciate having good vets, even if we kind of shiver and shake when we wait in the vet’s office.

Anyway, today I’m going to answer a question I often get about how air conditioning systems run: “Why do I hear water dripping in my AC?” People want to know if this is normal, why there’s water in the AC at all, and where that water goes. Let’s get into it!

Olive Explains Your AC’s Cooling Limits

May 17th, 2021

Greetings everyone! I’ve gotten some questions about just how cool I can be!

Okay, maybe it wasn’t phrased exactly that way. People want to know just how cool an air conditioning system can make their house. It’s a good question: air conditioners do have limits, the same way that your car can’t do 300 mph no matter how well-built it is. And although we dogs can get super-fast—did you know that Greyhounds can run as fast as 45 mph?—none of us are going to outpace a Bullet Train no matter how healthy we are. Not meant as a criticism! Just basic facts about how things work.

So, what’s your air conditioning system’s “top speed”? I’ll get into that below. Please hang around, this can be helpful with setting your thermostat during summer.

Olive’s Summer Starter Tips for Your AC

May 3rd, 2021

“But Olive, it isn’t summer yet!” That’s true, but I’m here to help you get started for summer, which is not too far away. We can start getting full summer temperatures in May. This is why I encourage all my loyal readers to have any big jobs they need to be done for their HVAC system scheduled now. For example, if you think you need a new AC installation in Knoxville, TN, now is the time to talk to us about it.

If you don’t have any major HVAC service need, there are still some “summer starter” jobs you can do to help your air conditioning system work its best. Here are a few of my top tips.

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