Neese-Jones Blog

Carbon Monoxide:  The Silent Killer      If you use gas-fueled appliances in your home, have an attached garage, or use a fireplace, you need a C.O. detector.  Carbon Monoxide cannot be seen, tasted, or smelled, so basically you never know that it’s present without a detector.  Even at low levels of exposure it can cause serious health risk. Long term, low level exposure is just as much a health risk as sudden high level exposure.  Symptoms of C.O. poisoning are often similar to the flu.      What most people don’t know:  All C.O detectors are not the same.  Most monitor only high levels, while some let you know when levels are low.  I recently went to the local big box retailer to examine their detectors for sale.  Here is what I found concerning when the alarm will go off: At 70 (ppm)  Parts per million, the unit must alarm within 60-240...

    Power Attic Ventilators (PAV) waste money.  We often get calls from customers that want to know if we will replace the motor on their attic ventilator.  Instead of replacing the motor, the best thing you can do is turn off the power to the attic ventilator.  In the old days we were told that these ventilators would reduce our cooling bills by up to 25%.  WRONG!  The fact is, the ventilators actually suck the air from your home into your attic through leaks in the attic floor.  This causes your air conditioner to run more, not less. We have actually measured the amount of air being pulled from the home and it’s significant.  In fact, it’s now illegal to install a PAV in a home in Georgia.  Unfortunately, the picture you see here is a PAV that I installed at my home 16 years ago.  Thinking that one would be good,...