The 2 Types of Sump Pumps

March 28th, 2014

A sump pump is often a necessary tool for homes that suffer from moisture entering the basement due to a high water table. They are also invaluable during heavy rains when additional water can flood into the lower parts of a home. An effective sump pump will protect your basement from the growth of mold, mildew, wood rot, and prevent other kinds of damage that water and humidity can cause to building material.

A sump pump must have professional installation to make sure that it works correctly, has an adequate sump (water collection pit) excavated, and connects to a waste line for water removal. You also need to have professionals help you decide on the type and size of sump pump you need. There are two basic sump pump types: the pedestal sump pump and the submersible sump pump. They both have advantages and disadvantages, so you will need the assistance of a plumbing professional to help you choose the right one for your home.

For sump pump installation, repairs, and maintenance, call on the company with 21 years of experience working on plumbing in New Hampshire, HB Energy Solutions.

Pedestal sump pumps

The first type of sump pump sits above the sump on a specially-constructed pedestal. A hose from the pump runs down into the sump, and an impeller motor in the pump draws the water up and removes it. These kinds of sump pumps are easier to repair because they’re exposed, and they also cost less than submersible pumps and endure longer. However, pedestal pumps need to work harder to overcome gravity when drawing water, and they are less effective at dealing with the large amounts of water that can come from rain flooding.

Submersible sump pumps

As the name implies, submersible sump pumps sit down inside the sump itself beneath the surface of the water. They draw water directly into intake valves. To prevent water damage, the motor is sealed inside a water-proof container. Submersible pumps are less obtrusive and take up less space in your basement, and they operate more quietly because they are submerged underwater. They pump faster than pedestal pumps and will do a better job for basements that encounter more serious flooding. However, they cost more than pedestal pumps and will require more repair work because of their exposure to water.

You will not only need professionals to help you choose and install the proper sump pump for your basement, you will also need them to regularly maintain the pump (especially a submersible pump). Call HB Energy Solutions for the skilled plumbing service in New Hampshire that will keep your basement dry with the right sump pump.

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Why Install a Wood Stove

March 19th, 2014

Wood stoves are centuries old and continue to provide reliable heating for communities all over the world. Installation isn’t expensive and can provide an excellent auxiliary form of heating as well as a number of other advantages. Why install a wood stove? We have several answers that we think you’ll agree with.

  • Efficient. Wood stoves provide an excellent and inexpensive form of heat. They require nothing more than wood to run, which means you can use them when the power goes out, and because of their nature, they are much more efficient at distributing heat than traditional fireplaces. That makes them a quick, cheap and easy way to keep warm during the winter.
  • Environmentally friendly. Wood stoves produce up to 70% less particle pollution than fireplaces according to the EPA, as well as dropping CO2 and methane emissions to a minimum. All of that comes on top of the fact that they consume no fossil fuels and don’t require electricity. That makes them a very eco-friendly option to warm your home.
  • Safer. Wood stoves cut down on the build-up of creosote in the chimney, making them a safer option for heating than fireplaces.
  • Cozy and romantic. The aesthetic value of a wood stove cannot be underestimated, especially in a snug cabin or home on a cold winter’s night. Wood stoves provide an easy gathering place for the family, as well as a spot for a romantic dinner. All of that helps improve the resale value of your home, providing an easy selling point when the time comes to sell the house.

For more information on why you should install a wood stove, or to schedule installation in Southern Vermont or New Hampshire, contact the experts at HB Energy Solutions. We have years of experience and we’re dedicated to your complete satisfaction throughout every step of your wood stove installation. Pick up the phone and give us a call to set up a consultation today. You’ll be glad you did!

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It’s Not Just Lightning! Causes of Power Surges

March 12th, 2014

Power surges are both inconvenient and potentially damaging to your house and possessions. They can cause a loss of power in your home, and will inflict injury on appliances—particularly complex devices like computers and home entertainment systems. You want to do as much as you can to protect your home and possession from surges along the power lines.

It’s a popular misconception that power surges are only catastrophic events that occur because of storms and downed power lines. These will indeed cause surges—but there are other, more common causes. And power surges don’t have to be major events; they can occur numerous times during a day without you noticing them. To help guard against these surges, contact our technicians in all things electrical in Southern Vermont at HB Energy Solutions.

What causes power surges?

  • Catastrophic events: We’ll start with the most obvious ones. Lightning storms can cause massive overloads when a bolt strikes near a power line. A lightning bolt can boost electrical pressure by millions of volts, and that’s enough to overpower almost any system—as well as local plug-in surge protectors.
  • Electrical demand from high-powered appliances: Lightning is one of the less common causes of power surges. The most common is from sudden demands on your power from a large system like an air conditioner or a refrigerator. When one of these appliances makes a large power demand, it upsets the steady voltage flow of the system. You may barely notice this (a slight dimming of lights), but it will cause cumulative damage to other appliances throughout your home.
  • Faulty wiring: When you experience a more severe power surge (one not due to a storm) leading to an outage, the cause could be trouble with the wiring somewhere in your home. This is a serious problem because of the potential for fire damage, so contact an electrician to see where the faults are and have the necessary re-wiring done.

Whole-house Surge Protection

You should definitely have power strips for your important devices, such as your computer. However, you need to have extra protection from surges, and only whole-house surge protectors in your breaker boxes and circuit panels can do the full job. You will need electricians to install this for you. For electrical services in Southern Vermont, trust to the over two decades of experience at HB Energy Solutions.

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What Type of Boiler Is Best for New Hampshire?

March 3rd, 2014

Boilers come in many different model types that can use a variety of fuel sources. Although the boilers most commonly found in homes today use natural gas power, boilers can also use electricity and oil. Even wood-powered boilers are still around, and they aren’t antiques: technological advances can make wood and wood pellet boilers efficient and attractive options for heating in New Hampshire.

If you want to know which choice of boiler will provide you with optimal heating, we can’t give you a basic answer—at least, not yet. Your home has specific needs when it comes to heating, and your plans for saving money and helping the environment and the local economy will also affect how you should heat your home. We can give you a better answer if you schedule an appointment with us to assess your home. Call HB Energy Solutions today and find out about the types of boilers available.

Here’s a short guide to some of the boilers we install:

Natural gas boilers

If you have a natural gas line into your home, a gas-powered boiler makes for a great heating option. Natural gas burns cleanly and efficiently, is domestically produced, and you’ll always have a ready supply of fuel available. Gas boilers can score extremely high AFUE (efficiency) ratings, which means you’ll receive large energy savings.

Oil-fired boilers

If you don’t have a natural gas line, you can have an oil-fired boiler installed. Older oil-burning boilers had lower efficiency ratings and created higher levels of pollution, but modern advances have made oil-fired boilers much more efficient than ever before, and many earn the U.S. Department of Energy’s ENERGY STAR label for their fuel-efficient performance and clean-burning.

Wood boilers

They sound terribly antiquated, but contemporary wood boilers have the advantage of using a renewable and locally available fuel supply, and they are one of the most environmentally friendly ways to heat a home. Wood gasification combustion technology means wood boilers have competitive efficiency ratings as well.

Pellet boilers

These boilers use compressed wood pellets to increase their efficiency and clean burning. Some models allow for bulk fuel storage so you won’t need to spend as much time maintaining the wood supply.

You have many choices when it comes to boilers, but don’t worry about having a daunting time picking a type. If you contact professionals in home heating, they can help you narrow the field to the boilers that will work best with your home and your available fuel. You will need to have professionals size and install the unit as well, so make sure you have them involved from the start.

To find your best choice for heating in New Hampshire, contact HB Energy Solutions and talk to one of our experienced specialists today.

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Is Solar Heating in New Hampshire a Good Investment?

February 24th, 2014

The technology of solar power continues to advance each year, making it easier for homeowners to take advantage of the energy from the Sun—free renewable energy—to run appliances in their house, from water heaters, to air conditioners, to heating systems.

Solar energy carries an upfront cost larger than that for standard heating systems. Our customers often ask us if having installation of solar heating is a worthwhile investment. What sort of returns can they expect from choosing to go solar for their home’s heating?

Let’s look at what solar power can do for you and why you should give it serious consideration. For more in-depth answers, as well as an assessment for your individual home, contact HB Energy Solutions.

Solar Energy Benefits

Yes, the installation of solar panels and a solar heating system comes with a higher price tag than that for a furnace or heat pump. However, there are two factors to consider here:

  1. The cost of solar panels has dropped significantly over the last few years, so the cost isn’t as much as you may think it is.
  2. The energy savings with solar panels can be immense, paying back the cost of installation in as little as 3–7 years according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

How much can you save with solar powered heating? If we consider a payback period of 3–7 years, and a service lifetime well over 20 years (with few moving parts, solar systems do not wear down fast), the return on investment can be enormous. Studies conducted in New York, a state with similar cloud cover patterns to New Hampshire, projected savings over 20 years at $30,000. Savings in Hawaii approached $65,000!

The efficiency of using the free power of the Sun isn’t the only way you can save money with solar heating. These systems require few repairs and have low-cost maintenance. The federal government also offers tax incentives to go solar with the Federal Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit.

Solar energy technology is far more reliable today than it once was, so you should have little concern about having sufficient power stored in your solar cells for your home’s needs.

Solar Installation with HB Energy Solutions

Solar power won’t work for every home, so consult with our New Hampshire heating experts at HB Energy Solutions to find out if you’ll receive all the benefits of installing solar heating. We have licensed electricians on staff so you won’t need to hire subcontractors for your solar installation, which will help us complete your job on time and on budget. We can help you get the most from your investment in solar power.

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Why Pinhole Leaks Are Such a Serious Problem

February 17th, 2014

The term “pinhole leaks” is a bit misleading. Although it does accurately describe the size of these leaks that can appear in your pipes, it tends to minimize them so they sound like minor problems. But nothing could be further from the truth: pinhole leaks are one of the most problematic repair needs that can crop up in plumbing. The U.S. EPA has identified pinhole leaks as a significant danger not only to plumbing systems, but also to homes in general.

Fortunately, pinhole leaks are not a difficult problem for professional plumbers to fix once they know of their existence. If you have leaks of any kind—or suspect that you do—call for assistance from experts in plumbing in Southern Vermont. HB Energy Solutions is ready around the clock and the calendar to help you!

What exactly are pinhole leaks?

Pinhole leaks are tiny holes along pipes. They usually appear close together across a single patch of pipe, and they can occur to modern copper piping. The EPA has studied the causes of pinhole leaks and determined that they are likely the result of a “localized copper corrosion called pitting corrosion.” The EPA isn’t certain, however, what causes pitting corrosion, since copper pipes are highly corrosion-resistant and have become popular as a replacement for galvanized steel pipes.

Why are pinhole leaks something to worry about?

Pinhole leaks only allow a small amount of water to drip out, but because they are tiny enough to at first escape detection, their leaks will soon build up to the point where they will cause damage to building material and promote mold and mildew growth. Water will destroy drywall and warp wood floors, and mold will increase the speed of destruction.

How can I detect pinhole leaks?

This is big obstacle with pinhole leaks: they are difficult for homeowners to detect until they start to cause extensive damage. The best way to find them is to have regular inspections done on your plumbing from a professional. Schedule an inspection once a year; your plumber will use leak detection equipment to locate problems. Keep watch for smaller indications of leaking: a drop in water pressure, an unexplained increased in water bills, or discoloration appearing on the wallpaper.

Call for repairs as soon as you can

Protect your valuable home plumbing in Southern Vermont: turn to expert plumbers for fast repairs the moment you sense anything is wrong. HB Energy Solutions can handle all your plumbing needs, and we have excellent leak detection services to find those troublesome pinhole leaks.

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Who Wrote the First Valentine’s Day Poem?

February 14th, 2014

The celebration of Valentine’s Day is often seen as a modern institution, even if the roots of the holiday go back to Late Antiquity and the figures of St. Valentine of Rome and St. Valentine of Terni. It’s difficult to separate our view of February 14th from the more recent phenomenon of greeting cards, comical cupids, and specialty treats from candy companies.

However, not only are some of these traditions older than we might think (mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards were an enormous success in early 19th-century England), but the earliest Valentine’s Day love poem comes from none other than the first great English author, Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote in the second half of the 14th-century.

Chaucer’s most famous work is The Canterbury Tales, an enormous collection of linked stories in poetry and prose. But his 700-line poem “Parlement of Foules” has the special distinction of being the first surviving record of a connection between Valentine’s Day and romantic love. Chaucer probably composed the poem in 1381–82. At the time, he was a member of the court of King Richard II, holding an important bureaucratic position in London. The date suggests that Chaucer wrote “Parelment of Foules” to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of the English king to Princess Anne of Bohemia.

The poem follows the dream of the narrator, where he walks through Venus’s temple and discovers a meeting of birds where they all choose their mates. This is where the mention of St. Valentine’s Day appears (English modernized):

For this was on St. Valentine’s Day,

When every bird cometh there to choose his mate.

The poem also contains a familiar Valentine’s image, Cupid with his arrows:

Under a tree, beside a well, I saw

Cupid our lord his arrows forge and file;                                                             

And at his feet his bow already lay.

When Chaucer mentions St. Valentine’s Day, is he referring specifically to February 14th? Late winter isn’t a time when birds in England would mate. However, the date for the start of spring—when some birds would have started nesting in England—was on February 23rd in the calendars of the time, certainly close enough for Chaucer to take poetic license and nudge it a bit to match with Valentine’s Day.

Love birds remain a popular symbol of Valentine’s Day even now, and for this we can thank Chaucer. In fact, he may very well have invented the link between love and Valentine’s Day, although we will probably never know for certain.

Whoever started these traditions, all of us here at HB Energy Solutions hope you have a wonderful February 14th!

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Why Would I Want a Wood Boiler Installed?

February 3rd, 2014

In the earliest days of hydronic heating, boilers used wood or coal as their fuel source. Today, the majority of boilers use either natural gas or electricity, although oil remains common as well.

But wood boilers still exist today. And not only as antiques. There are modern boilers designed to burn wood for their fuel. HB Energy Solutions offers wood boiler heating installation in New Hampshire for customers interested in this alternative to standard gas and electric models. We carry Tarm Biomass and Pro Fab Empyre wood boilers.

Of course, this begs the question: “Why would I want a wood boiler?” There are some good reasons to consider wood boiler installation for a modern home.

Here’s what a wood boiler can offer you

  • Locally available, renewable fuel: Wood boilers support local industries, and in small towns this can be extremely important. Unlike natural gas, wood is a renewable energy source, and the planting and harvesting of trees is a key regional industry.
  • More efficient than ever: Burning wood has a lower AFUE rating than natural gas or oil, but with the advances in wood gasification combustion technology, wood boilers burn much more efficiently than ever, using less wood than you would expect—and producing between 100,000 to 330,000 BTUs output of heat energy.
  • Low-cost installation: Many wood boiler models cost less to install than standard large tank boilers.
  • Energy savings: Using wood pellets instead of electricity or natural gas can save homeowners approximately 40% off their annual heating costs. Wood is also rarely affected by global market trends that cause inflation in the prices of gas and oil.

Discover if a wood boiler is right for you

Wood boilers do have disadvantages, of course, and they may not be the best choice for your home. If you are interested in a wood boiler for heating installation in New Hampshire, contact HB Energy Solutions to set up an appointment to investigate the possibilities. Our boiler experts will determine how much you can save with a wood boiler and if it will provide sufficient heat for your home. If a wood boiler is ideal, we’ll help you select the right model and install it so you’ll receive all its wonderful benefits. And if a wood boiler isn’t optimal, we’ll find and install a system that is.

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Electrical Question: How Do Smoke Detectors Work?

January 27th, 2014

Smoke detectors have been a standard part of homes for long enough now that homeowners rarely think about them. However, it’s important to make certain they receive proper installation, updates, maintenance, and repairs so they continue to keep you and your family prepared for emergencies.

If you’ve ever been curious about how smoke detectors do their job, we have some answers for you. If you are interested in updating your smoke detector to one of the newer models, have a talk with our electricians at HB Energy Solutions. For all things electrical in Southern Vermont, they are the right people to come to.

The basics of the smoke detector

The most common kind of smoke detector in homes today is the photoelectric model. These devices use a beam of light that can determine when there is excessive smoke in a room. Smoke particles scatter light, which then deflects from the main light beam and onto a sensor. The sensor then activates the horn to signal there is too much smoke in the room. Photoelectrical sensors are excellent at detecting the most common kinds of household fires, which smolder and produce large amounts of smoke: a good example would be a mattress fire.

Another type of smoke detector is the ionization detector, which is better at detecting the smaller amount of smoke that comes from fires that are mostly flame. These detectors contain a radioactive element called americium-241 (in a small enough amount to be harmless) inside an ionization chamber, where a battery runs voltage through two metal plates. The americium produces alpha particles that ionize the oxygen and nitrogen in the chamber, and if smoke enters the chamber to interrupt the current of ions moving toward the plates, it sets off the alarm.

There are dual sensor smoke detectors that combine the features of both if you would like s wider range of options for smoke detection. In general, we recommend the photoelectric model for most homes.

Maintain your smoke detector

No matter what kind of smoke detector you have guarding your house, you need to know it is working properly. You should test your smoke detectors once a month and replace the batteries whenever the low-power warning sound comes on.

Hard-wired detectors need electricians

Many smoke detectors are hard-wired into the walls, so for proper installation or replacement you will need an electrician to handle the job. Call us at HB Energy Solutions and speak to our smoke detector experts. They can handle any installations or problems with your electrical system in Southern Vermont in order to keep your family safe.

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How Professional Plumbers Detect Leaks

January 21st, 2014

Leaks, along with clogs, are one of the main problems that can afflict your home’s plumbing. But where clogs are obvious from the moment they start, leaks can be trickier to detect. Most leaking occurs in places where the pipes are hidden from sight, and a small leak between piping joints, or “pinhole leaks” that occur along patches of corrosion, will not have immediate effects that you will be able to see. It’s often not until the leaking begins to cause more extensive damage that they become obvious—and even then, you probably won’t see all the leaking that is occurring throughout the plumbing.

This is the reason it’s important to have professional plumbers do leak detection when you suspect trouble with your plumbing. Leaking spreads rapidly if left without repairs; trust to plumbers and their leak detection services to find all the spots where leaks have started and find how to stop them.

HB Energy Solutions has helped repair plumbing in New Hampshire for 21 years, and we’re ready to help you with your leaky plumbing.

Professional Leak Detection

When you notice damp spots or discoloration on your walls, warping floorboards, or an unexpected water bill increase, you should call a plumber for leak detection.

When the plumber comes to your home, he or she will use advanced technology to locate the leak without needing to rip through wood, plaster, or stone to reach the pipes. One of the main tools that plumbers use to do this is video pipe inspection equipment. These devices have miniature cameras and lights set at the end of a long flexible cable. The cable snakes down through drains and deep into the pipes to locate where damage is occurring and allowing leaks to happen. This lets the plumber pinpoint where repairs are needed.

Another important part of the leak detection toolkit is listening devices. Listening discs work in a manner similar to a doctor’s stethoscope, except they specialize in hearing through surfaces such as drywall and wood. A deck plate can be used to listen through concrete and bricks.

For pipes that lay beneath your lawn or garden, a plumber can use soil listening devices, or place a dye into your water system that will make a much more visible mark where the leaking is occurring.

Leak detection combines these advanced tools with the skill and experience of a trained plumber to use them and properly interpret their information. Don’t trust leak detection to amateurs; it’s important that you locate all the leaks in your plumbing so you’ll prevent the problem from growing and eventually threatening to damage your house.

Call HB Energy Solutions today for expert leak detection for your plumbing in New Hampshire.

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