Dallas, TX (PRWEB) January 06, 2015

Gas Monkey Garage, owned and operated by Richard Rawlings and home to the Discovery Channels top rated international series Fast N Loud, has gone since conception without air conditioning. For over a decade, the Gas Monkey Garage crew known as The Monkeys, led by motor master Richard Rawlings and mechanic master Aaron Kaufman, has worked in the heat restoring hot rods and classic rides in the now world-famous garage. The garage is located in Dallas, which is home to the infamous scorching Texas heat. The Discovery Channels production crew, Pilgrim Productions, started filming at Gas Monkey Garage over three years ago and have also been dealing with the heat ever since. As of August 2014, A#1 Air changed all of that.

Rawlings contacted James and Sherry Green, owners and operators of A#1 Air because of their long-standing reputation as Dallas most trusted HVAC provider. Rawlings requested air conditioning for Gas Monkey Garage, believing it to be a simple job. It turned out to be much more.

The first step was engineering a retrofit and adding various structural enhancements onto Gas Monkey Garages 15,000 square foot facility. Before putting a total of eight Daikin air conditioning units on the rooftop, a team of engineers and welders were brought in to install I-Beam Suspension. This allowed the units to be secured and supported on the roof, enabling A#1 Air to produce 80 tons of cooling capacity.

Once the support structure was in place, the use of cranes and many experienced A#1 Air HVAC technicians were needed to properly place and secure the air conditioning units on the rooftop and begin installation. In addition to traditional ductwork, A#1 Air also installed DuctSox, a fabric material attached to the supply air plenum to help evenly distribute air throughout the garage.

A#1 Air also had to create solutions for the buildings electrical supply. The facility was operating on a 240/120-volt electrical system that was simply not powerful enough to handle the new, incoming air conditioning load. A#1 Air Electric had to fully engineer a conversion in order to increase power to 480-volts and enhance utility efficiencies for all electrical systems being utilized in the garage and offices.

A new main distribution panel had to be designed and installed, as well as new feeder conduits to each of the eight air conditioning units, along with a step down transformer. The transformer was needed to redistribute the existing 240-volt panel that was supporting existing lights and plugs, saving Gas Monkey Garage and its offices from having to be completely rewired.

Another issue that had to be solved was where condensation from the units would drain. The solution, provided by A#1 Air Plumbing, involved soldering copper tubing to connect to every air conditioning unit in order to divert condensation from the units to a sanitary location. These connections required cutting into the concrete flooring in Gas Monkey Garage in order to remove a section and gain access to the sewer line underneath the floor. The copper tubing connected to the rooftop units were met with more copper tubing that was then installed along the top of the roof and penetrated down into the building. The tubing terminates at the floor where a code required hub drain was added in order to comply with city and state regulations.

Once everything was in place, start up and testing of the air conditioning units took place. The Monkeys and the film crew began to cool off. Gas Monkey Garage started sharing images on their social channels of the before and after temperatures in the garage while Rawlings joked about having to keep The Monkeys working because they were so cool and comfortable. He advised them they still better sweat from labor!

Unfortunately, another issue arose of a serious matter. Just a couple of short weeks after the units were installed and the cool was being enjoyed, Rawlings communicated to The Greens that thieves were trying to steal copper and other materials off the rooftop units. He requested A#1 Air Security put theft proof cages around them.

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A#1 Air Engineers Air Conditioning, Electrical Upgrades, Structural Plumbing, and New State-of-the-Art Security ...

By Daniella WhiteJan. 7, 2015, 5:30 a.m.

Youngs Food Hall capped off its inaugural year of operation with a significant injection into its coffers.

CHEQUE PRESENTATION: Back, left to right: Laurel Merrin, Member for Burrinjuck Katrina Hodgkinson, Eliza Boyle, Murdoch Macdonald, Marlene Johnson, Debbie Longhurst and Ashleigh Perrett. Front: Donna Davis, Helen Wright.

THANK YOU: Ahug for Member for Burrinjuck Katrona Hodgkinson from Laurel Merrin as the cheque is presented.

TEARS: An emotional moment after the cheque is presented.

Youngs Food Hall capped off its inaugural year of operation with a significant injection into its coffers.

Emotions ran high as Member for Burrinjuck Katrina Hodgkinson presented volunteers with a cheque for $13,000.

Food Hall coordinator Laurel Merrin said the grant would allow them to install heating and cooling.

Its absolutely amazing, she said.

I just think what affected me more than anything was the support of the community for the Food Hall - its been beyond amazing.

Read more here:
Emotional thanks to Katrina for Food Hall funds

Upon its completion in late spring, the system will provide heat and cooling across four new poultry sheds

Upon completion in late spring, the system will provide heat and cooling across four new poultry sheds, making it the largest GSHP installation in the UK poultry sector.

GSHPs use pipes buried underground to extract natural energy stored in the earth, banishing the need for fossil fuels and therefore lowering CO2 emissions.

The poultry farm project will use 11km of vertical boreholes to deliver highly controlled temperature loads of 33C and drop to 20C over the agricultural cycle and during warmer weather, the fan coils will help reduce humidity and heat levels.

As well as environmental benefits, there are financial advantages to heat pump technology. According to the Energy Saving Trust, the cost of heating the highly insulated poultry units using LPG would be 5.4p per kWh, whereas heat delivered using heat pump technology is 3p per kWh.

Additional benefits

TGE heat director Matthew Evans said: "Heat pumps have many benefits over biomass boilers for new poultry units. They eliminate the need for regular fuel deliveries on top of the other delivery activities involved on site, which can have an impact on planning.

"Service and maintenance requirements are higher with biomass, plus heat pumps offer the additional benefits of cooling and de-humidification.The initial, higher capital cost is soon recouped by the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), payable for ever unit of heat generated, making payback times similar to biomass.

"For this project, the payback period is just over four years, with 4m in savings and income over the 20-year RHI term. The system should also be eligible for tax relief from the 100% enhanced capital allowance."

Lois Vallely

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Shropshire farm welcomes poultry sector's largest heat pump

An elderly Bell Township man is still without a permanent heating system because of a dispute with a furnace contractor.

William Galo, 81, bought a used furnace from a newspaper ad for $450 and had it delivered Nov. 25. The men who delivered the furnace offered to install it for an additional $500. Galo said the men said they would have to pick up some extra duct work and would come back to do the installation.

I paid him like a fool, Galo said.

Galo said he repeatedly called the contractor, Fredrick George of Uniontown, but never heard back.

George, who state police were planning to charge with theft by deception, came to Galo's Waukena Road home Friday afternoon.

George said the whole matter is a misunderstanding. George said his truck broke down, he lost his cellphone and his health was bad. He said he is a disabled Air Force veteran.

He wasn't getting ripped off, George said. I was planning to come the first of the year.

When George arrived Friday, he said he was ready to do the installation. Galo said he wanted nothing to do with George and wanted his $500 installation fee returned.

If that's what he wants, I can refund the $500, George said, adding he wouldn't have the money until Feb. 1 when he receives his disabled veteran check. He said this month's check was already spent on rent and he will forgo his rent next month in order to provide the refund.

George said he is considering filing for bankruptcy because of his financial trouble.

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Contractor claims dispute with Bell Township man is a misunderstanding

State police in Kiski Valley are looking for an A1 Heating and Cooling employee who they say sold an elderly man in Bell a used oil furnace but allegedly failed to install it.

According to a police report, the associate sold and delivered the furnace, which was advertised in a newspaper for $450, to a Waukena Road resident Nov. 25. The associate offered to install it for $500, police said, so the buyer gave the man $950 to finish the job.

As of Thursday, the installation has not been completed, police said, and the victim has been relying on a kerosene heater to keep his home warm.

Numerous attempts to contact the associate have failed, police said.

Police listed the location of the company as Hopwood or Uniontown. The phone number for the company under Uniontown on the Better Business Bureau's website is the cellphone number for a Newell resident, Timothy Novak.

Theresa Puchalski said Novak, her fiance, was contacted by state police regarding the incident, but she said they have nothing to do with A1 Heating and Cooling. She said they were never contacted by a man purchasing a furnace, nor do they know the victim.

Puchalski said Novak has brain damage from a near-fatal motorcycle accident, so he would be unable to operate such a company.

Attempts by the Tribune-Review to contact the company using a phone number listed under a Hopwood location on the Better Business Bureau's website were unsuccessful, and the listing states the company is believed to be out of business.

Police said the associate will be charged with theft by deception unless he is located and completes the installation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact state police at 724-727-3434.

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Furnace seller allegedly dupes elderly man in Bell Township

Winter heating bills can cost you a small fortune if youre not careful, so we thought wed share a few low-cost ways to prep your house for cold weather. We left out the obvious stuff like turning down your thermostat, drinking hot cider, and wearing six layers of Snuggies everywhere you go the stuff in this list is a bit more creative than that. Enjoy!

Even if youve got double-paned glass, youre still likely losing heat through your windows. The problem is that glass just isnt a very good insulator but theres an easy way to fix that: bubble wrap. The little pockets of air act like tiny little buffer zones that keep heat from escaping through the glass. Its relatively cheap, too. You can get a gigantic roll of the stuff for around $10-20 bucks.

To stick it to your windows, just cut out strips to match the size of each pane, and use a spray bottle to apply a light mist on the window. The water should create a seal that effectively holds the bubble wrap against your window. If it falls off, just give it another light spray and reapply.

For those of you who want to insulate your windows without ruining the view, check out this window insulation kit from 3M.

Fireplaces are wonderfully cozy to sit around in the colder parts of the year, but theyre really not that great for heating your home. The problem with most fireplaces is that theyre designed in such a way that a significant amount of heat gets pulled straight up the chimney and only a small amount radiates into you home. Furthermore, they can also create updrafts that suck heated air from the room. So, to overcome these problems and boost the efficiency of your fireplace, here are a few things you can do:

First of all, check to make sure your damper is in good working order. If youve got an older fireplace and the damper hasnt been replaced in a few years, theres a good chance that years of heating and cooling have caused it to warp, thereby exacerbating the problem of updrafts.

Second, install a fireback. These are generally just sheets of reflective material placed against the rear wall of your fireplace in order to radiate heat back into your house. People typically use sheets of stainless steel to make this happen, but you can get the same effect for a fraction of the price by coating the rear wall with heat-resistant metallic silver spray paint, or even just tacking up some aluminum foil. That being said, the aluminum foil method will only work for deep fireplaces with sufficient room between the fire and foil to keep the foil from getting damaged/blackened.

Lastly, if you dont already have one, we highly recommend you get your hands on a glass fireplace door. Theyre a bit on the spendy side, but they allow heat from the fire to pass through into your house while also preventing heat loss due to updrafts.

Were going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume youre already aware of the importance of weather stripping your doors and windows to reduce drafts but what you may not realize is that your outlets and switches might be causing just as much heat loss. Sure, the drafts escaping through any one outlet arent that significant, but with all the outlets in your house combined, those little drafts add up toa pretty substantial leak.

If your outlets arent already equipped with foam insulation pads, installing some is a great way to fight the draft. You can pick them up from your local hardware store for just a few bucks, and they can easily be installed in an hour or two using nothing more than a screwdriver. If you want to take things a step further,wed also recommendcaulkingthe perimeter of the outlet boxes to the surrounding drywall.

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Cut down your winter heating bill with these low-tech home hacks

AMES, Iowa For an Ames woman 2015 is a lot warmer than 2014.

For the past two months, Sheli Dougherty was warming her house with an oven and space heater after her old furnace quit working.

I was like oh Im okay. I was like the oven is doing great. I`ll put on another sweatshirt. Everything is fine,Dougherty said.

Dougherty was able to buy a furnace on E-bay but couldnt afford to have it installed.

But leave it up to social media to lend a hand. Word got around on Facebook and within hours heating and cooling technician, Brett Linder, offered his services for free.

If we can make someones holiday a little brighter and they dont have to use their oven to heat their house anymore, that`s the bottom line, Linder said.

Linders company, Ames Heating and Cooling has donated furnaces in the past but it was especially nice to finish the year with a random act of kindness.

The cost to install a furnace would cost close to $1,000.

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Woman Without Heat Posts To Facebook, Receives Random Act of Kindness

Amanda Hansen would have been 22 today, a graduate of the University of North Carolina working as a Spanish teacher, said her father Ken Hansen of West Seneca.

She wanted to be a Tar Heel, Hansen said, referring to the nickname for University of North Carolina students.

But the 16-year-old high school student died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective boiler during a sleepover at the home of a friend in 2009. The swimmer with a sunny smile also wanted to help others, former classmates said.

Thats why Amanda would have been tickled by the furnace drive her parents mounted to help homeowners who cannot afford to replace their faulty furnaces.

In the past year, with the assistance of friends and heating companies, the Amanda Hansen Foundation has collected 17 furnaces to be donated to area families.

The first furnace was installed last January in the home of Candee Camillo, a Town of Tonawanda single mother of two.

Thomas Tarnowski, a single father of three, received a furnace after a flood swept through his Lackawanna home and ruined a 40-year-old furnace he could not afford to replace.

Ken and Kim Hansen established the foundation in 2010, one year after their daughters death. They started by donating carbon monoxide detectors. The nonprofit organization has worked to raise awareness and funds to prevent deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning.

From 1999 to 2004, an average of 439 people died annually from unintentional, non-fire-related carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States, according to the National Center for Environmental Health. In New York State, approximately 200 people are hospitalized each year because of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

From 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, the foundation will kick off carbon dioxide awareness month at Amandas high school, West Seneca West, on 3330 Seneca St., by giving away its 17,000th detector. As a rule, Hansen said, carbon monoxide detectors are good for five years.

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Foundation to give away furnaces in fight against carbon monoxide poisoning

Manassas, Va (PRWEB) December 31, 2014

AC systems damage can sometimes be a pain in the neck. Thats aside from the impending discomfort that a homeowner will experience a lot later. But with HVAC services offered by Local HVAC Experts in Manassas, all the worries could be gone in the blink of an eye. Whether it is a home or a company building, theres no way they wont be able to fix, maintain and install air conditioning and heating units. Get more information about this now! Just dial 703-348-9740 for more details about this HVAC service provider.

With their team of experts from Manassas, Virginia, a homeowner in need wont have more things to worry about since they are good at repairing heating and air conditioning units. With work experience for more than 25 years, these guys totally are knowledgeable at what they do. Their technical staff are being administered additional training so their knowledge regarding HVAC technology is surely up to date.

Some of the task that they perform would be AC installation as well as AC repair. This company also would recommend the best air and heating companies that would fit in ones financial status but will not deny the customer with the highest quality. Other air conditioner installation companies might over sell their services and this is what distinguishes Local HVAC Experts from the rest of the HVAC service providers out there in Manassas.

With the 24 emergency air conditioning repair service from Manassas' heating and air conditioning Local HVAC Experts, one will surely get what services are needed in the fastest possible time. Emergency occurs in heating or cooling system and this is definitely unavoidable. With these experts from Manassas heating and air conditioning, one does not have to suffer from the extreme weathers. May it be the chilling cold air of winter or the blazing heat from summer, Local HVAC Experts will definitely help a customer in need become comfortable.

Local HVAC Experts is fully licensed, bonded and Insured. Their technicians are certified and they provide warranties as well as 24/7 repair services. Call them now at 703-348-9740 and to inquire on how they could be able to provide heating and air conditioning repair or maintenance services to ones office or home.

For more information please visit url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe268DD9xds

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Heating and Air Conditioning Repair Manassas VA: New Video Release by LocalHVACExperts.info

San Antonio, Texas (PRWEB) December 31, 2014

Homeowners are always looking for ways to save, and the experts at Jon Wayne Air urge San Antonio residents to consider these changes as part of their New Years resolutions to have a more energy efficient and cost-effective year:

System Size When its time to upgrade to a new heating and cooling system, the size of the system is essential for maximum efficiency. A system that is too large will not cycle properly, and a system that is too small will not heat and cool effectively, costing more to run.

Schedule HVAC Services with Certified Professionals Jon Wayne Airs technicians are NATE certified, ensuring customers receive the highest service quality. The cost of poor services can be great when the wrong system is recommended or improperly installed, the result could be more than 20 years of excessive utility and repair bills, as well as poor comfort. Get into the habit of only working with certified contractors for all of your home maintenance needs.

Regular System Maintenance The number 1 reason for HVAC system failure is dirt. This is something many HVAC companies dont want to disclose, because it could mean the loss of a sale of a new system. Homeowners should invest in a maintenance program to prevent system failure and to save big all year.

Central High Efficiency Air Filtration System Typical disposable furnace filters do not adequately protect heating and cooling equipment or protect those living in the home from invisible particles. The best practice is to install a new high efficiency filter on the equipment. Filters need to be changed seasonally, or according to the manufactures specifications.

Air Duct System Check Possibly the biggest waste of energy in San Antonio homes thats often overlooked by most contractors is the ductwork. In San Antonio, most ductwork runs through unconditioned attics. The largest issue is typically that ducts leak large amounts of air. Even a perfect heating and cooling system wont be able to manage comfortable indoor air if there are hidden ductwork problems. Dont neglect ductwork and schedule an inspection along with HVAC system maintenance.

Air Purification The inside of air conditioning systems and ductwork are dark, cool areas that are the perfect breeding ground for mold, bacteria, and dust mites, if left unattended. When this happens and the system turns on, the unclean air will be circulated throughout the home. By installing an in-duct whole house air purifier, the heating and cooling system can be turned into a whole house air treatment system.

System Controller There are now advanced system controls available that not only solve humidity concerns, but also have features such as touch screens and WiFi, enabling control of the system from a phone or tablet. The right system controller or thermostat will allow the temperature to be set to reflect when the home is occupied versus empty (when everyone is away at work or school), so an empty home isnt being heated or cooled for no reason. This will result in savings on monthly energy costs.

Thermal Envelope According to the US Department of Energy, 50-70% of homeowners energy bills go towards heating and cooling. Residents of San Antonio are at the top of that range. Any heating and cooling system is only as good as the homes ability to retain the indoor temperature. To avoid the loss of cool indoor air in the summer and warm indoor air in the winter, proper insulation is essential. Without proper insulation, energy and dollars will be wasted, and the indoor air will be less comfortable. Consider speaking to a Jon Wayne technician about recommended insulation.

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San Antonio HVAC Service Company Offers Energy Savings for the New Year