Episode 10 - Kellie Loudin of Rumer Loudin

Kellie returns just in time for spring, with some tips on what to loom out for as you get your AC ready for summer.

Episode Transcript

(00:12):
Well, hey, long time.Not long time, no talk, I
should say, but we know it'sbeen a while, but we are back
with another Experts on Demand episode herein conjunction with I Heart Media Wheeling Corey
Clue check him back in here andalso check them back in here with Kelly
from Rumor Loud and just pretty muchyou talking about some spring ac maintenance and
some things you got to look outfor as we transition into these warmer months

(00:35):
here. So first of all,Kelly, welcome back. Thank you,
Corey. I'm glad to be back. And before we get into all the
talk about ACAS and all that,let's just give like a quick little wrap
up of winter heating and everything.I mean, fortunately, this past winter
not as harsh as as the previouswinter. I mean Christmas time it was
definitely pretty harsh, but but butother than that, kind of went through

(00:58):
the smooth. It's been very muchmild, very mild, which can be
great for people on their utility billsas for sure, but it's hard for
us because we're taking air conditioning andheating calls in the same day. So
it's hard to really stalk your vanwhen you're doing that, and you know
when it's like seventy seven February.We actually had an air conditioning call in

(01:19):
February, so it's very strange,very strange. But those warmer months will
be coming and the humidity and stickinessthat our valleys known for will get here,
so we want to just help peoplebe prepared for that. I'll trust
me. Living out in Canonsburg thesedays. It was kind of humid a
couple days ago when we were startingto feel it here, but at the
same time still had the heat onbecause it wasn't exactly as warm as it

(01:42):
is now. So just still kindof in that transition of do we run
the heat, do we run theAC? It's the weird time of the
year it is. Plus you've gotto remember what mode you're in, because
we do end up with calls wherepeople forget, you know, oh I
turned the heat on last night,air conditioning now and they're turning in the
thermostat the wrong way and we justshow up and go, um, you

(02:04):
just need to flip the switch,and we feel bad about it, but
so we've started our protocols. Wetry to ask people, are you sure
you're in the right mode? Areyou sure you're turning in the thermostat the
right way, because because you justgot to make sure that you can prevent
any kind of unnecessary work that's that'snot only gonna that's not only gonna expand
your resources, but at the sametime just just make your run out of

(02:29):
money. Right. We like tohelp people save money. I mean we
do, whether it's a higher efficiencyfurnace or whether it's maintaining their current equipment
or giving them some tips like Iplan to today to help prevent simple you
know, having to call professional forsimple things that maybe they could take care
of themselves or watch out for sure. So as we get into these warmer
months here, it's definitely starting tofeel like spring here in the valley,

(02:50):
at least as of late. Soas we get into the summer months here,
you definitely want to be looking outfor some eight for some tips on
AC maintenance. And as Kelly said, that's what we're going to get into
here today, so kind of thefirst one I have here on my list,
and it seems so simple, butit's easy to forget sometimes the air
filter inside of your home. That'sright, whenever we get a call and

(03:15):
we always ask you, have youchecked your air filter, and they say,
what air filter. We know thatwe're in for a doozy and so
are they. Unfortunately, but youknow, especially new homeowners where they might
have lived in an apartment in alandlord took care of things in their first
time home home buyer, or youknow, sometimes it's the first time someone's

(03:36):
living on their own and unfortunately,you know, you might have a passing
of a spouse and they took careof that, or you know, unfortunately,
women don't seem to be as educatedabout these things. So I encourage
you to please do research and learnabout the mechanical systems of your house.
It can be a challenge that peopledon't remember that they have filters and they
need cleaned or changed. Yeah,and especially if you don't get them in

(04:00):
the right size here because because that'skind of been a struggle at least at
first with me and my wife tryingto make sure that the filters in good
condition and everything, just because wecouldn't find the right size. But once
we do, just gotta remember toclean it because we recently changed it about
a month ago and just I justnever knew something like that could get so
dirty. Well, we take picturessometimes in posts, post them on our

(04:23):
Facebook page because it can't get prettygross um and and pretty you can't if
you can't see daylight through it,you're you know, it's a bad thing.
But UM, and some of themdo need clean so you met have
more like a wire mesh time typeof filter and those need UM washed for
like four h nine something gentle andthen UM host off and to get that

(04:44):
out. And you're right, there'sso many sizes. I mean, it
is so frustrating to try and comeup with the sizes. I mean just
look at the filter io at umLows or you know, home depot.
It's humongous. And then they don'tcarry all filters. So some of the
UM more efficient air filters are fourand five inches thick and UM they're accordions
shaped. And the reason they're accordionsshaped is because the more surface you have,

(05:09):
the more particles you catch. Soso anyway, uh yeah, it's
it's it's hard. So we tryand stock the filters for the systems that
we install and UM and then that'sand that's plenty because the manufacturers are changing
them all the time, I'll betso. So definitely, the simpler of
the things that you can do tomake sure your AC is running and it

(05:30):
is running at full at full expectancyhere, but just moving on down the
list right here and to some ofthe more important parts of the AC system,
then the contents it trains. Sofor those that don't know what it
is, what kind of what doesit serve for the AC unit? And
why does it and why is itso important that it needs to get checked?
All right? Well, um,an air conditioner works by removing heat.

(05:55):
It doesn't cool air, it removesheat. And in the process of
removing heat, it also removes humidityand so that condensate is coming from removing
that and condensate drains are moist anddark, and mold loves to grow in
the condensate drain and so to keepit's good to keep that clean or else

(06:15):
you'll get a backup and then yourdrain pan underneath your coil will flood,
and then that water will run downinto your furnace and then that will cause
components to you know, water andelectrical don't mix very well, So keeping
that condensate drain clean. And theway you do that is, I know
it sounds kind of gross, butsometimes you can just take it apart and

(06:36):
clean the end and blow on itright and it'll clean it out. And
then you might want to wash itwith some bleach water and then that helps
kill the mold, clean it outand then hopefully prevent some growth. So
then it may be something a littlemore simple as we move to the outside
part here, removing obstructions from theexterior system because if something grows a little

(07:00):
bit too close to the unit,that can spell some problems. Well,
what needs to happen there is it'sif it's removed, the air conditioner removes
heat, it's putting it somewhere,so it's being expelled from your outdoor unit.
And that outdoor unit needs to remainclear on all of its sides so
that it can get rid of thatheat. Otherwise it's it's retaining that heat,

(07:23):
and again the components are stressed andit can cause definite problems. So
you don't want to mow grass towardsyour outdoor unit and plug that up.
Just the nature of being outside,it collects dirt and so that needs cleaned.
You don't want to have trees orshrubs or because those things can grow

(07:44):
like crazy and then pretty soon it'sengulfed, right, and you don't want
that. And what we've run toin a lot more frequently is that people
are, you know, putting decks. They want to enjoy the great outdoors,
but then they cover their outdoor unitwith their deck and then you can't
work on it. Yeah, soum, that's a big no no.
You think the contractor would know better. But sometimes if people do it themselves,

(08:07):
right, and they don't even thinkabout it, So you need to
don't do that. And if there'sno way to avoid having to mow around
that outside, you know, justbe as careful as humanly possible. Right,
So you want to have so it'sblowing in grass away and if you're
weed eating, stay away from manywires or refrigerent lines. We've had to

(08:28):
repair those again numerous times this summerwhere people nicked it or or they've hit
it with their lawn mower or andwe have to go repair wires and or
repair the refrigerent lines, and ithead leaked all the free on out,
which is a very bad thing becauseif there's no refrigerent in it, there's
no oil in it. It's compressors, not the compressoral seas, and you'll

(08:50):
be in big trouble. Then again, Kelly Louden over rou of Rumor Loudon
joining me here on Experts on Demandto talk about some spring ac maintenance tips
as we get ready for the summermonths ahead of us here and just going
back to those refrigerant lines here,Kelly, also checking the refrigerant levels very
important as well, right, andthat's not something that the homeowner could really

(09:13):
do. You need a professional todo that. There's gauges and then there's
charts that we use to see,Okay, this is the temperature outside,
this is the temperature in the house. Your return errors is coming in at
this or you know, your supplyerrors coming in at this temperature. And
we have charts and so on thatwe use to make sure that your refrigerant
is and your pressures are correct.And so, first of all, your

(09:37):
average homeowners an't supposed to be handlingrefrigerant at all, and usually they don't
have these types of gauges and soon to measure that. So you know,
just like you invest maintenance in yourcar, you need to invest maintenance
in your heating and air conditioning system. I mean, there's small things that
people would could do, but evenif it's just once a year, you
know, or even try and planevery other year. Just don't ignore it.

(10:01):
Don't ignore the filters. Don't ignorethem, you know, keeping things
clean and so on a car,you know, you wouldn't go two hundred
and fourteen thousand miles without servicing yourcar. Well, a furnace or air
conditioning system runs about thirty three hundredhours a year, So if you take

(10:22):
thirty three hundred hours a year timessixty five miles an hour, you're looking
at two hundred and fourteen thousand miles. So you know, you wouldn't ignore
your car that long, not ifyou want it to last anyway. And
so the same thing goes with yourheating. An air conditioning system just one
of those things that you don't reallythink about and you and you don't necessarily
think you don't use it that much. But when you break it down like

(10:43):
that, it just it just hitsall these It just hits the importance of
this and just all the more.Well you remember the Got Milk commercials,
and you know they kind of pointedout that you don't realize how important it
is till you don't have it.And that's the same thing with heating and
air condition you don't realize how importantit is, so you don't have it.

(11:03):
And then and the thing is,even a loose wire can stop you
cold. Right, So the unitsvibrate, I mean, just the nature
of what they do, vibrate,it's very easy to end up with a
loose wire and that can just youknow, stop you. And it's always
going to happen on the fourth ofJuly when you got a household of company

(11:24):
and it's like ninety degrees outside inninety five percent humidity, and everybody's in
his role and grumpy. So it'salways better to take some premreventative steps to
try and mitigate that happening exactly.And that can end the kind of hit
on one of the other tips heretightening electrical connections, just because just because
as you mentioned, the vibrations,the rattling, it's going to happen,

(11:46):
so just make sure it's just niceand tight. That's exactly right. So
then also something here, the evaporatorcoils, So what does it what purpose
does that serve, and the importanceof keeping that clean and making sure it's
tip top well. Your evaporator coilyou usually sits on an upflow system on
top of your furnace and then you'reor if it's a downflow, it's on

(12:07):
the bottom. Okay, So theevaporator coil stays clean if you keep your
filters changed and clean. And thosefiberglass throwware filters, people don't realize those
were invented mainly to keep something frombeing sucked in through the return air and
hitting the blower, all right,So that was to protect the blower.
Those fiberglass throwways are only about sevenpercent efficient, so they're not stopping a

(12:31):
lot of dirt, all right.So it's employed to keep to keep an
eye on those evaporator coils again,because that affects the efficiency of your unit,
is cooling capacity, and that keepingthat clean is staying ahead of your
filters exactly. And it is ita simple process to keep them clean or

(12:54):
is it something that a professional shouldhandle. Uh, it's really something that
professional can handle it because it dependson how it's installed and whether there was
access provided to the coil by theinstaller. Sometimes usually we'll put a door.
Sometimes we'll put a door and accesspanel on or what's called a plenum,
which is the metal box that incasesthat coil and so if there's access

(13:16):
provided, you can have a lookat it, but I would recommend a
professional take care of that. Sothen one of the more important parts of
the AC system commonly referred to asthe lungs of the home, the duct
work, right, making sure thatthat's not only clean, but also making
sure that there are no leaks throughoutthe duck work and anything like that,
because because that can definitely spell someproblems too. Well. Yeah, air

(13:41):
leakage is not desirable, and youknow, with with large air leakage is
very hard to keep everything totally youknow, sealed up, but the very
often and it's a high percentage.And I wish I had this statistic on
the top of my head, andI don't, unfortunately, but a vast
majority of air duck systems aren't designedproperly. And so you can have your

(14:03):
furnace can operate for years, fine, but if you don't have enough say
return air, or you don't haveenough supply air so it's not sucking in
enough air and it's not you know, being able to dispel enough air,
then that can cause problems for yoursystem too. And so when we go
in to look at a system.We're looking at their air ducts too,

(14:24):
because if there can be some changesmade, they'll extend the life of the
equipment. Well, yeah, that'ssomething you want to do. So and
then you want to make sure.To most people their system is their thermostat
in their registers and they forget aboutthat thing in the basement. But you
want to make sure your registers areopen and you want to make sure they're
not obstructed because it's very important.You know, you ever tried to blow

(14:46):
up one of those tiny balloons andit feels like your head's going to explode
because there's so much pressure there you'retrying to buy I'm hoping I don't have
to do that in a couple ofmonths when my son's first birthday rolls around.
I just hope I have like oneof those pumps handy. But yes,
all right, So that's kind ofwhat happens with your duck work.
Right. So you're you're you're buildingup this pressure because it can't draw in

(15:07):
enough air and it can't expel enoughair, and that stress us components horribly,
um contactors, capacitors, motors,so many things. So r your
air ducks are hugely important for yourhouse, and again the filters go a
long way to keeping those unobstructed.But um, you know, some people

(15:28):
say, oh, you know,any monkey can put in a furnace,
but it's not true because when youlook at when we go in and we
evaluate at home, Um, ifthe people aren't having any problems, they
don't have any whole cold spots,hot spots. But we're looking at things
like, you know, what sizeis the motor, what size? Um,
you know, what kind of drivedo you have? How many cfm
are you moving? How many cfmare you bringing in? Well, if

(15:54):
your duck works not size properly andyou have too much CFM and you have
too much airflow, you might havewith h whistling, you might end up
with you know, not people notagain that air not making it away from
the equipment and getting where it needsto be. So if people aren't having
any issues like that, okay,we'll just take out the same size system
and put in. But if we'resizing a new home or it's the first

(16:17):
time that house has had heating andair you know, sometimes have people have
boilers but they want air conditioning.Sometimes they have those baseboard heaters, but
they want to put in air docs, so you know, when we're doing
that for the first time, welook at so many things. We look
at the type of roof, whatcolor it is, all the windows and
the sizes, which way they face, how much of the home is above

(16:41):
grade, how much is below grade, how much is going to be finished
as a basement going to be finished. We look at things like how much
insulations in there that's rated by ourfactor, what kind of our factor does
the insulation have, by the wallsinsulated. I mean, there's so many
things that go into figuring the correctsize. And the reason the size is

(17:02):
important is, of course, ifit's too small, it's not going to
keep you comfortable. But if it'stoo big. For instance, in an
air conditioner, if the air conditionersoversized, then it cools the house too
quickly and it doesn't remove enough humidity, so you're not comfortable because you're still
sticky. Yep, it might becool, the thermostat might be satisfied,
but it's still sticky and you're uncomfortable. So that's why, um people don't

(17:27):
realize. And I know it's justone of the where some of those unsung
heroes, right Corey, Yeah,exactly, but people just don't realize what
science really goes into it. Andyou have to know your stuff. And
the whole reason why not just anymonkey you can put in a system like
this, because because because there's somany components that that even I wouldn't even

(17:49):
think of here. But it's justbest to cover all the as many bases
as you possibly can. Because yourfamous quote and out to prevention is worth
a pound of protection. Yes,that's exactly right. Um, And you
know we have people say that tous, but it's kind of ironic because
then they call us for repair.So I guess any money can't repair it.

(18:12):
So um, I'm just trying tolook down through here some of my
notes. Uh, you know youcan your your outdoor coil can be clean.
You know you can attempt to cleanit yourself. Um, your outdoor
coil can you can use like fourO nine on that in a garden hose
to try and get rid of it. But it's if it's very clogged.
I mean, we we've we've takendirt and pulled off like it was carpet.

(18:36):
I mean it pulls off in onelike a sheet of gross dirty carpet.
It is it's so anyway, Um, if you're if your unit's like
that, you really need to callheating air conditioning company. And we do
have some tougher coil cleaners. Youdon't want to use sephuric acid or anything
like that, but we do havesome tough for coil cleaners that takes some

(18:56):
care when you're using the chemical.And much like not just any monkey can
put it together a system like this, not just any monkey can handle the
maintenance and cleaning of the parts.So if there is something that you don't
feel comfortable with, don't be afraidto call an act that's right. And
you know, we can tell whencomponents are approaching failure. So for instance,

(19:18):
there's capacitors that are usually in assistanceto be assisting part to boost voltage
to motors and compressors and so on. So those can swell and their imminent
failure, and we take electrical readingson them too to make sure they're operating,
you know, within certain parameters,and if they're not, then you're

(19:38):
better off to replace that before.It might be working at that second,
but you can see down the roadit's going to fail. There's a something
called a contactor and they can oftenget pitted, and that pit pit and
soil u that pitting will affect theits ability to operate. So if we
see the pitting, you yes it'soperating right now. But if you want

(20:02):
to have that cool house on thefourth of July, then then you're gonna
want to replace that again. Checkingfor loose connections, and we can see
when breakers are approaching, you know, the end of their life as well,
so that can be huge. Um. So that's why I recommend,
even if you take care of minathings yourself, that you plan and have
someone a professional come and check itout, you know, at least every

(20:26):
now and then, and at thevery least if you do have someone come
over for a check up here,just like you mentioned with checking the roofs
and the windows and everything, whenit comes to creating a system like this,
they're going to check every single nookand cranny. So that way,
not just for the fourth of July, but during the dog days in August,
your your house is going to beas cool as can be right right

(20:47):
now. One thing I wanted topoint out too is if you see ice,
we've gone to people's homes and theiroutdoor unit is a huge block of
ice. Okay, ice in thesummer sounds like it should be good,
but it's not. It's not goodto have ice on your outdoor unit,
whether it's a heat pump in thewinter or whether it's your heat pumper are
conditioner in the summer. And someof the things that cause icing is a

(21:11):
dirty filter. It can't breathe.It's causing pressure and it'll ic up.
Another thing that will cause that islow refrigerant, and so you want to
have that checked in, the pressuresand everything weighed in. Some people have
teeny tiny leaks and they might onlyneed refrigerent in every couple of years.
Some have larger leaks, and youknow, we can find the leak and

(21:34):
repair it. And then there's thosesneaky little leaks that are hidden in all
that wrapping, you know, uh, piping, that you just you can't
find. So it's really tough andyou need to have a discussion with a
technician, you know, what's goingto be your best bet on how to
handle that. And what happens isthat icing starts at your your evaporator coil

(22:00):
where you can't see it typically,and then it works its way out of
the coil and along the refrigerent linesand it keeps icing and icing and icing
till it gets to the outdoor unit. And when that's a block of ice,
we can't work on it. Soyou need to shut it off,
but you want to turn your fanedon because then they'll help melt all that
ice on that evaporator quatchet. Allright, So we can't work on it

(22:21):
until it's deced. And that isdisheartening to people, I know, but
it's good to know because if yousee that happening, then you can shut
it off, turn the fan andschedule your your service. Got so and
so any other things that we needto look out for here as we get
the ac ready for the summer months, I think about covers, it,

(22:41):
filters, registers are open and ableto operate. One thing I will say,
some people have what they call umwinter dampers or summer dampers. They're
on their duck work and they whenthey were originally put in, they were
these dampers that needed to be switchedbetween seasons because they needed to damper down
the airflower a little bit or andso just remember those if you have them,

(23:07):
and then you know you might wantto check your schedule changing of your
batteries. If you have batteries inyour thermostats. Some have batteries, some
are direct wired. But if youhave batteries, you want to make sure
and have plenty on hand and makesure you change them correctly, because if
you put them them wrong, it'llsapp the thermostat and you'll need a new
one. So you want to makesure and put those batteries incorrectly when you're

(23:29):
changing them, So take note ofhow you're removing them and how they'll go
in, and then keeping your outdoorcoil clean, so you know those those
things will go a long way topreserving your life, your unit. And
one thing's for sure, the expertsat Rumor Louden will do everything and anything
they possibly can to make sure yourAC system isn't tiptop shape. They'll be

(23:51):
checking every nook and cranny that therepossibly is. That way, your home
this summer is as cool as humanlypossible. So if people want to get
in touch with you, schedule aservice or a check up or anything like
that, Kelly, how can theyget ahold of you? Guys? Actually,
um, we have modernized and youcan go to our website and schedule
service really yes, yes, so, or you can call um. We're

(24:11):
open Monday through Friday eight to fourthirty and we do not close for lunch,
so you should be able to reacha person by phone. It won't
it shouldn't be a recording. Ifit is, it just means we're slammed
and we'll get back to you soon. And then, or like I said,
you could go online. Now,we do keep people on call for
emergencies, so even if it's afterhours, you can leave a message.

(24:34):
We keep check on call and hewill call you back shortly, usually within
an hour and a half to two. I know people get anxious, you
know, they're calling like every fiveminutes I have back from you. I
haven't heard from you. Well,he might have his head in someone else's
furnace. He hasn't been able tocall or or check the recorder because he's
in someone's basement. We don't haveself service there but anyway, but we

(24:56):
are diligent about that and we will. You know, we do provide on
call. So so the website,phone number and everything that that people keep
in mind, right, So,um, the website is www dot rumor
loudin dot com. And then onthat website. We do have our Saint
Clair zeal office is seven four hsix ninety five two four eighty seven and

(25:19):
Barnesville is seven four zero four twofive thirty one thirty four. So six
nine five two four eighty seven andfour two five thirty one thirty four.
Good deal. Well, Kelly,always some great information every time you stop
by right here, So thank youso much for stopping in again here,
have yourself a good summer and keepeverything cool you as well. So that
puts an end to this episode ofExperts on Demand, and don't forget you

(25:41):
can catch up on past episodes aswell with the iHeartRadio app if you just
search Experts on Demand wheeling and ifyou check out news Radio eleven seventy dot
com, just go to the podcasttab and you can check out Experts on
Demand and the drop down menu.So qurey clude, thank you so much
for tuning in and listening to andspurt on manh