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The Best Type of Garage Heater for Southern Vermont

Friday, December 12th, 2014

Many people use their garage as an extra space to work in, rather than as a place to park their cars. You may use your garage, shed, or alternative detached structure as a workshop for woodworking or automotive repair, crafting, or even as a play area for the children. When winter hits in Southern Vermont, these activities should not have to cease. You can find a few different options for garage heating, and we’d like to help you decide on the best choice for you.

At HB Energy Solutions, we believe one of the best units available for heating a garage or any similar space in this climate is the Hot Dawg gas-fired garage heater. This heater has many special features including a 10-year warranty, quick installation, and quiet operation. It can run on natural gas or propane and features a flexible, low-profile design. The standard version is power vented to the outdoors, but you can get additional features if you choose a separated combustion unit.

The separated combustion unit offers several added benefits so that you don’t have to breathe in stale indoor air that may contain dangerous chemicals or other contaminants. The fan in a separated combustion heater draws in air from the outdoors instead of from the space around the unit. This can help to make the air feel more comfortable and control humidity levels. Besides eliminating some toxins from the air, these units also offer an increased AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) rating and greater durability.

You can still add ventilation to your garage with a separate heat recovery ventilator, even if you choose the standard power-exhausted Hot Dawg models. When you install a heat recovery ventilator, a fan draws in air from the outside and preheats it so that the stale indoor air can vent outside.

When you need garage heaters in Southern Vermont, the people at HB Energy Solutions are here to help. We are proud to offer Hot Dawg garage heaters for installation, and we’re happy to help you come up with a good system for ventilation as well.

Give our office a call today!

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Common Repairs for Commercial Refrigerators

Monday, August 18th, 2014

If you operate a food service company, whether a restaurant, bar, bakery, or commercial kitchen, refrigeration is probably an important part of the daily routines. A commercial quality refrigerator will sometimes require repairs, and for that you will need to contact specialists with high-end equipment: this isn’t work for technicians who are only familiar with household refrigerators.

HB Energy Solutions provides commercial refrigeration services for New Hampshire. We can handle repairs and maintenance for walk-in coolers, ice machines, and refrigerators, as well as installations. We can also help update your equipment to more energy-efficient models.

Here are some of the common repairs that commercial refrigerators needs:

Door sealing/door repairs

A problem that’s common for commercial refrigerators are “sweating” doors: perspiration begins to occur along the door of the sides of the unit. This is usually the fault of insufficient sealing along the door, or a door that is shutting improperly. The cold from inside the refrigerator mingles with the warmer, moister air outside it and causes water condensation. The inside of the refrigerator will start to gain heat, leading to insufficient temperatures and spoiled food. Technicians will locate where the leaking issue is occurring on the sealing or why the door is incorrectly closing and do what is necessary to restore the heat sealing.

Compressor repairs

The heart of any refrigeration device is the compressor that circulates refrigerant through the system to absorb heat from inside the unit and exhaust it to the outside. If the compressor begins to malfunction because of bad motors, bad capacitors, or electrical issues, it will seriously impair the refrigerator’s operation and may lead to a complete breakdown. Compressor problems need to be fixed as soon as possible (pay attention to odd noises interrupting the refrigerator’s usual humming) before the compressor burns out… which will often require that the whole refrigerator be replaced.

Fixing the defrost system

Gaining heat is a problem for a refrigerator, but there is also the opposite problem of the development of frost, which can lead to freezer-burn that damages foodstuffs and liquids. The defrost system in the refrigerator is designed to prevent frost from developing along the evaporator coil. Problems with the defrost timer and defrost heater will need professional repairs before frost build-up threatens the inside of the refrigerator. Frost will usually start to develop along the back wall of the interior first, so if you notice a layer of ice on the rear wall of your refrigerator, call for repairs right away.

Make sure that you contact quality commercial repair specialists: you can’t have just anyone with some refrigeration experience come in and take care of this job.

HB Energy Solutions offers refrigeration services for New Hampshire and Southern Vermont that will handle all of your needs. You can trust to our 33 years of experience.

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Use Insulation to Keep Your Home Cool

Friday, May 30th, 2014

Here in New Hampshire, insulation is often considered a winter-only feature. Our winters are as cold as they come, and naturally you want a well-insulated home to stay cozy and warm when the snows start falling. But the same principle that keeps the warm air in during the winter can keep hot air out in the summer. You can use insulation to keep your home cool, and because insulation installation is often less expensive in the summertime, now is the perfect opportunity to add more to your home. Here’s a breakdown of the principles involved.

All insulation adheres to three specific concepts: conduction (the process by which heat passes through solids), convection (the process by which heat passes through liquids and gasses) and radiation (the process by which heat passes through air or vacuum). Insulation curtails all of those process, slowing the passage of heat out of your home. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to have insulation in your attic, since warm air rises and can escape out of the roof if you don’t take steps.

But there the process isn’t just one way: moving out of your house instead of in. Just as the heat from your home can escape in the winter, so too can hot air get into your house in the summer. If you have insulation, however, that process is severely retarded, allowing your home or retain cool air just as readily as it retains hot air.

If may be that you already have as much insulation as your home can hold. But technological advances mean the newer and better form of insulation are always arriving, and even if they don’t, most homes can use another layer or two.  We operate throughout New Hampshire, insulation is one of our primary services, and we won’t rest until the job is done right. Pick up the phone and give us a call today or schedule an appointment online. You’ll be glad you did!

If you know how to use insulation to keep your home cool, then the next step is to contact HB Energy Solutions to see about installation.

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Introducing: The HB Energy Solutions Rewards Program!

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

To thank our customers for their continued loyalty, we created a customer rewards program. Earn HB Reward Bucks simply by doing business with us. Upon final completion and payment of a project, big or small, 5% of the total cost will be added to your customer reward fund in the form of HB Bucks. HB Bucks can be used for the future purchase of any HB product or service. Every delivered gallon of fuel oil or propane will earn 2 cents for your reward fund, and every ton of wood pellets purchased will earn 2 dollars for your reward fund.

A great feature of our reward program is that HB Bucks can be transferred to another customer. For instance, you could use your HB Bucks to help a family member pay for oil, or a friend pay for a pellet stove, or a septic tank pumping, etc. You can also show your support for a local charity or religious organization by donating some or all of your HB Bucks for their benefit! To learn more about our customer Rewards Program call our office at 802-885- 2300.

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