Most HVAC appliances are now very efficient, and water heaters remain the last bastion of opportunity for energy improvement. We are seeing high efficiency water tanks and even heat pump water heaters enter the market. I have one in my home. The big challenge in this area is rental programs: owners of big water heater […]
One thing is common among just about all homeowners: the need to be more energy efficient in the face of increasing costs. There is also the obligation to conserve nonrenewable energy sources for the sake of the planet and future generations. We all have many financial responsibilities these days: mortgage, education, insurance, taxes, utilities, groceries…the […]
One of the big revolutions in the HVAC industry is around thermostats and controls in general. The old round or rectangular thermostat with two switches and a mercury bulb are real dinosaurs. In fact, they’re being changed out with such volume that we have an industry recycling program to recover the mercury from old […]
Working off the ground has always meant taking additional care, and those men and women who regularly perform this duty are diligent when it comes to safety. However, accidents still occur and the government of Ontario has recently launched new legislation that it hopes will curb the number of injuries and deaths. It governs how […]
Home energy efficiency is important to everyone and it pays to make sure that you are not wasting power. A big energy consumer in the home is the clothes dryer, and its cost to homeowners can add up. While you can take steps to prevent excessive dryer usage (e.g. wait until you have a proper […]
Over the past couple of years, it has been a rare day when I have not received a phone call at dinner time from an overseas telemarketer trying to sell me duct cleaning, despite the best efforts of our government to establish do not call lists and issuing penalties for violators. In January 2013 CBC […]
Once again AtlasCare was pleased to be the lead sponsor for what’s become a vitally important annual fund raising golf tournament for the MS Society of Canada, Peel-Dufferin Chapter. The event was held on September 13 at the Royal Ontario Golf Club. We enjoyed spectacular weather and had a great turnout of golfers. We raised […]
In our last issue of An Engineer’s Opinion, I announced that we were entering the water heater business with a new rent-to-own product. I also outlined some of the benefits of this type of product vs. renting for life. About half of the water heaters we installed over the summer were rent-to-own and the other […]
Anyone who experienced it will not be surprised to hear that the summer of 2016 was the hottest since 2005, even though old guys like me have trouble remembering back that far. Constant demand over a sustained period of time tends to expose any weaknesses within a company’s processes. In our case, over the past […]