I like my house cool in the summer and warm and cozy in the winter. I'm getting older and I think living in 72 degree weather indoors all year round is ideal. And yes, I'm of an age where 72 comes to mind before 20 degrees Celsius does.
But this year, during the fall switch over to heating and the shutting off of the air-conditioning, I was bothered by two things: I didn't feel the warmth in the air from heating vents and I didn't get that once-a-year burnt dust smell that lingers during the first day or two. My furnace is 13 years old. Could it be on the fritz?
In this case, I didn't do a search on HomeStars for a cross-section of potential companies to deal with. I simply looked up Dr. HVac. It was easier that digging up the paperwork for the job they had done four years back getting my A/C up and running. That was an emergency rush job as I discovered the house was a sweltering 88 degrees when I came home from a brief stay in hospital. And baking was surely contra-indicated, as they say in the doctor industry. That afternoon, four hours after I'd called, my house was back down to 72 and I was appreciative of the speed and quality of the service.
So, it was back to Dr. HVac. And this time, I decided I would take on their maintenance plan, rolling this inspection visit into that plan, which involves checking out the furnace AND the A/C at the start and finish of their 'seasons'. The appointment booker rightfully pointed out that the day I had available to see their worker was voting day, something I'd overlooked. Moving the appointment to the next day was the right thing to do.
Mike from Dr. HVac arrived on time, at the beginning of the one-hour window. He was down in the basement three times and out to check the outflow results. I got a comprehensive report that showed my furnace was working at 88.3 percent efficiency, just a click or two below the 90 percent the furnace was working at during the install at the start of the century.
My frame of mind was mollified. The temperature on the thermostat was reflective of the actual temperature. It was simply a case of an old man with thinning blood not feeling the temperature fully. I clicked the thermostat up a notch to 73 and I was done with my fears.
Furthermore, Mike and I discussed the new Smart home thermostats, of which Nest is probably the most widely known about. He posited that a different product would be his choice, if I was to buy a smart product. But he recommended against ANY purchase. In a case where there were SEVERAL several devices, like the thermostat and the detectors for Carbon Monoxide and Smoke, then a smart system made sense. But not just so that I could have a pretty looking gadget to show off to visitors.
He saved me the cost of the maintenance contract with that advice alone. I'm a gadget guy and I had been itching to buy one.
Dr. HVac has proven itself again to be a company I trust to do the job and not over-sell me. In the home repair biz, finding people to trust is always the silver standard and they've already proven gold-standard abilities to fix things. The Brampton area branch of the company is highly recommended.
