Alber Service Company

This homeowner had lived in this house for 8-years when we first met her. For 8-years she had experienced an uncomfortable 2nd floor in the summer time. The back of the house was ok but the front of the house where her children slept was always much hotter than her bedroom in the back. Her air conditioning company would come every year and tell her her system was running fine and they couldn't help her. But she was lucky enough to get referred to Alber Service Company by friend.   Our inspection revealed the air conditioning equipment was properly sized and was in fact working correctly. But her duct system was a nightmare! The sheet metal ducts had no insulation around them and only 1-in of fiberglass insulation inside the duct. Attic temperatures can easily exceed 130-degrees in the heat of summer. That heat teals the "coolness" from the ductwork before it ever gets into the rooms below. The air coming out of the ceiling registers in the room at the end of the long duct run was 12-degrees warmer than the air coming out the closest ceiling register! And the poorly sealed return air ducts were drawing in hot attic air that then needed to cooled before it leaked back out into the attic thru the supply duct leaks. That will never work.   The solution was to first install balancing dampers so air flow can be adjusted between rooms. And most importantly, the ductwork was encapsulated with high density closed cell spray foam. This raised the insulation value from R-4 to R-19 while at the same time it sealed the ducts air tight. The losses thru this ductwork were reduced by over 70%!   The second floor is now cool everywhere regardless of how hot it gets outside. And the utility bills will be much lower during the cooling season. A Big Winner!

The homeowner in this house wanted to upgrade the gas furnace in his house. Because the house was built on a slab, the furnace and duct system were in the attic. The furnace was only 12-years old, but the client really hated it. It was noisy enough that it would wake him in the night. And the gas bills in the dead of winter were more than he wanted to pay.   The solution was an American Standard 97% efficient gas furnace that features a variable speed blower and two-stage operation. The blower uses 66% less electricity than the old furnace blower so there are electrical power savings all year since the blower also delivers the air conditioning. The two-stage operation means the furnace can deliver either 1005 heating capacity or 50% heating capacity. For the majority of the winter, it will operate at 50% providing ling "ON" cycles that really improve comfort.   We also properly sealed and insulated the attic ductwork so it no long leaks conditioned air into the space nor does it draw harsh attic air into the system. Efficient, healthy and a beautiful installation!

This old house needed some love. The attic was a mess of 100-years worth of attemps to insulate it. Despite those efforts, the homeowner had high energy bills and an uncomfortable second floor in the summer. Rather than try to fix all the air leaks under the old flooring and walls, the client elected to encapsulate the attic. Alber service Company sprayed high density closed cell spray foam under the roof deck and rafters to provide an air tight R-39 insulation. No more leaks from outside. No more hot second floor. And no more killer utility bills!

After 20-years it was time to replace this electric water heater. But the homeowner wanted to fix a nagging problem as well: long waits in the kitchen for hot water to reach the sink. The house was built on a concrete slab floor and the water pipes were buried in the concrete. This meant that every time the hot water was turned off, the hot water pipe lost it's heat to the concrete. Getting hot water to the kitchen sink meant draining all the cold water out of the pipe in the slab before the kitchen tap would run hot. Very frustrating!   So when we installed a high efficiency Bradford-White water heater we also installed a Taco Hot-Link recirculation system. This system includes a pump at the water heater and a special valve installed under the kitchen sink. The pump circulates hot water thru the Hot-Link valve under the sink where it returns to the water heater tank via the cold water line. When the valve sensing hot water has arrived, it closes so the hot water does not fill the cold water line. It's a simple solution. The homeowner now gets hot water instantly at the kitchen tap. Frustration is defeated!   Photos of the under the sink valve are available in our Photo Gallery.