Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning Blog: Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Is It Ever Too Late for a Furnace Tune-Up?

Monday, March 21st, 2022
basic-wall-clock

Is it ever too late for a furnace tune-up? The simple answer to this question is “no.” However, we’d say that it’s too late when your furnace breaks down and it’s time to buy a new one. But you won’t let it get to that point, right?

As most experts recommend (including us!), it’s best practice to have someone come out and perform preventive maintenance well before the cold season arrives. However, sometimes we forget but that doesn’t mean a late-season tune-up isn’t beneficial too. 

In this article, we’ll lay out the top 4 advantages of getting a furnace tune any time of year, every year.

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Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning Letter to Our Customers

Tuesday, March 17th, 2020

Dear Loyal Client,

All of us at Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning are very grateful for every opportunity to work with you. The health and safety of you, our valued client, as well as our tremendous staff (and 2nd family), is of great concern to us. As the situation surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve, we’re monitoring and following official guidance from sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to do our part in limiting the spread of COVID-19.

We will continue to provide HVAC services to protect our clients’ investment in their homes and businesses as long as we safely can, and are allowed to by local authorities. For added safety, we’ve incorporated the following steps into our regular procedures.

  1. We have developed an A/C Precision Tune-Up that does not require us to enter your home if you prefer (we’ll need a little help from you).
    a. Technicians will sanitize iPads/tablets in front of you prior to you approving a service ticket with a signature.
    b. Technicians will sanitize temperature probes in front of you to allow you to take indoor temperatures
    c. For any issues requiring us to work on equipment inside your home, we will sanitize equipment before and after we work on it. Alternatively, we can document non-urgent issues and return at a future date.
    d. If you feel more comfortable to not meet in person at time of service, we can send you videos and pictures while we are onsite to ensure your areas of concern are properly addressed.
  2. Anyone exhibiting any symptoms, or with family members at home who are exhibiting symptoms, are instructed to stay home.
  3. All employees are being educated on prevention including emphasizing frequent and proper hand washing.
  4. Disinfectant and spray bottles have been provided to all field staff to frequently clean high contact points in the office and vehicles.
  5. High contact points in the office are being cleaned at an increased frequency (several times daily).
  6. Nitrile gloves and masks have been provided.
  7. Any additional precautionary measures our clients request during visits will be honored as well as avoiding hand shaking.
  8. Over-the-phone sales consultations are available for anyone who would still like to take advantage of any spring promotions and sales. You will be asked to take and send several pictures of your HVAC equipment so dust off those photography skills!

As a business that was started by my great grandfather in 1904, we’ve been through many crises and emergencies and will everything we can to help you get through this one. For over 100 years, your health, safety, and comfort have been our priority… and never more so than now during these uncertain times.

There are situations in which our technician will strongly recommend entry into your home to look at the indoor heating/cooling equipment in order to prevent damage to your equipment or home, diagnose other issues, or help improve the safety or indoor air quality of your home.  Here is a list of some of those scenarios. 

  • When the indoor unit is in or above a conditioned space
  • When diagnostic readings indicated issues with the indoor equipment (i.e. insufficient airflows or blower problems)
  • When clients have difficulty changing their filter
  • When the system has a history of water leaks
  • If the outdoor unit has no power
  • When a air purifier is recommended for health concerns 

When we enter their home, we must wear a face mask, gloves, and use our sanitizer when we are finished on the equipment we come into contact with.

For more information on indoor air quality, check out this video


(p.s. – be warned, we’re better at HVAC than making videos!)

Take care and stay safe,

Bronson Shavitz

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Is Your Heater Hurting Your Indoor Air Quality?

Monday, November 19th, 2018

Rear view of a young woman opening the curtains in the morningThis is what many homeowners think—that running their heater actually dries out their air and makes the indoor air quality bad as a result. This isn’t quite the case though, and we wouldn’t want you to start using your heater less as winter gets closer and closer. Dry air is certainly a nuisance, but resisting use of your heater will not help the situation!

Modern construction has made our homes tightly sealed up against the elements, which can impact indoor air quality issues like dust infiltration. But dry air is a whole different beast. Why is it such a problem though? And how can you prevent problems with dry air from happening in your living space? Well, with the installation of a whole-house humidifier! If you’ve ever been through even just one of our summers, you might be wondering why you would want to add moisture to your home, but bear with us.

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Tips to Boost Your Furnace’s Efficiency

Monday, October 23rd, 2017

furnace venting outdoorsWinter will be here soon enough, and chances are that it will hit hard once it’s here. But that’s just part of living in the Chicagoland area, right? This may be the case, and we might be “used” to cold temperatures and snowfall, but it doesn’t hurt to have a great heating system on your side. Having a great heating system is about more than reliability and effectiveness, though: you want a heater that’s going to work as efficiently as possible. Our winter season is too long and too cold to be overpaying for your comfort.

Sure, you could contact us for Glenview, IL furnace service, such as heater replacement, but this might not be necessary—especially if your furnace is less than a decade old. The truth is, there are other things you can do besides servicing or replacing the furnace itself that could help boost your home’s heating efficiency.

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Air Conditioning Maintenance Procedures

Monday, August 24th, 2015

Air conditioning maintenance is a vital part of keeping your system as healthy as possible. While prompt repairs are a good idea for mitigating damage to your system, it isn’t nearly as beneficial because it relies on waiting for a problem to develop before addressing it. Air conditioning maintenance is a proactive way to keep your air conditioner healthy, by isolating and fixing issues before they develop. In order to understand why air conditioning maintenance is so beneficial, have a look at some of the steps taken during a maintenance appointment.

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Valentine’s Day: Pagan Revelry, Clandestine Marriage, and 14th Century Poetry

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

What do you think of when you think of Valentine’s Day? Perhaps rushing off to the stationary store after work to choose the perfect card with which to express your feelings towards a loved one? Dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant? Roses, dark chocolates, and other gifts and confections? Whatever Valentine’s Day may look like to you, chances are that it is a far cry from the history surrounding this holiday – or at least we hope so. Here are a few interesting facts about this most romantic of holidays, from your friends here at Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning.

The fact of the matter is that there is no definitive history as to how Valentine’s Day came to be. There are a few different saints with variations of the name Valentine, for example. One of the most prevalent legends, and one certainly in keeping with the romantic nature of the holiday as we know it today, pertains to a priest serving during the 3rd century in Rome. Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II, who believed that young men made for better soldiers if unfettered by marriage, it was illegal for young men to marry. A true believer in love, Valentine would marry young couples in secret. Until, at least, he was found out, and met a very unpleasant end for his crimes.

Like many of our modern holidays, Valentine’s Day can also be traced back to pagan ritual. Lupercalia, as the pagan festival is known, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, a god of agriculture. As is often the case with Roman celebrations, the details of this celebration are unfit to detail here. Suffice to say that, while there is certainly a touch of the amorous in the proceedings, the festival was a far cry from what we associate with Valentine’s Day today.

How, then, did our modern version of Valentine’s Day come to be? The answer may lie in, of all places, 14th century poetry; particularly, in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer. Famed for his Canterbury Tales, Chaucer may well be the very first writer to associate Valentine’s Day with romantic love, in the manner of which we are familiar with it today. His The Parliament of Fowls details the dream-vision of a narrator consumed with the idea of romantic love and the natural order of finding a mate. Valentine’s Day is mentioned by name a number of times, as the narrator witnesses a parliament of eagles vying for the hand – or, perhaps more aptly, the wing – of a mate.

Whatever you may think of the holiday’s sordid and convoluted history, we here at Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day with the special someone in your life.

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Happy Memorial Day!

Monday, May 27th, 2013

Memorial Day, which is observed on the final Monday of May every year, is an opportunity to honor and commemorate those military personnel who have fallen while serving their country. The day began in the aftermath of the American Civil War, when the country was damaged and in need of remembrance. Originally called Decoration Day, owing to the flowers that would decorate gravesites, its principal purpose has been to mourn those who have died during service; but it’s also a time to come together as a country and take stock of the way that our soldiers have shaped this country.

There is a national moment of silence and various events throughout the day. You may see volunteers putting flags up at your local cemetery or flowers decorating war memorials. It’s also a reprieve from our work schedule that should be enjoyed in tandem with remembrance. We wish you all the best this Memorial Day.

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Check Out Our Blog for the Latest in HVAC Technology

Monday, March 25th, 2013

Be sure to bookmark the Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning blog for updates on the latest advances in HVAC technology.

We’ll feature money saving promotions here as well.

Call Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning for all your Air Conditioning, Heating, Indoor Air Quality, Commercial HVAC, and Carbon Monoxide Safety Testing needs.

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Welcome to Our New Website

Monday, March 25th, 2013

iMarket Solutions has launched Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning’s new custom website. To learn more about how iMarket Solutions can expand your presence on the web visit: www.imarketsolutions.com

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Heating, Air Conditioning, and Animal Rescue?

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

This morning, Tom, one of our installers, made a quick stop on his way to his first job to get some coffee.  He hopped back in his truck and drove off to his job only to notice something moving in his cab.  All of a sudden a kitten popped out – someone had tossed a kitten into his cab while he was getting coffee!  Juliet came to pick up the kitten and help find a home for it and took it to the Arlington Heights cat clinic.  As she was holding the kitty and while the receptionist was calling the shelter, the woman sitting next to Juliet says “I’ll taker her, I’ve been looking for a new cat”.  Happily ever after!  A new home for a boiler and a kitten all in one day?  Nice work Tom and Juliet!

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