There’s a good reason natural gas furnaces are common for heating in Burlington, VT: they have immense heat output that can overcome even the deepest cold days. And we have quite a few super-cold days in Vermont and New York! A gas furnace not only effectively warms up a house, it also saves money since natural gas costs less to use than electricity.
Natural gas, however, isn’t available to all homes in our area. Some homeowners prefer not to use it even if it is available because of safety concerns. For those homes, the electric furnace is always an option—and it can be an effective option as well.
But this winter, are you finding your house is colder than normal, even when you have the furnace turned up all the way? The electric furnace may not be up to its job. Let’s find out why.
Furnaces have a long history as residential heating systems. After all, the first fireplaces were basically the original furnaces, and ever since people started to construct pipes connected to stoves to distribute heat to other parts of a building, furnaces have been the most common kind of central heating system.
We aren’t quite at the true heating season yet—the time of the year when home heaters turn on to provide warmth. Temperatures are still hovering in the cool-to-warm region. But it’s October, which means fall is here and just over the ridge is winter. If you use a boiler system to heat up your house in winter, you want to ensure that it’s in the best shape possible before the cold weather hits. You can do this by arranging for a heating tune-up and inspection through one of our 
It may not seem like it, but the kitchen is not the area of your home that contains the most plumbing. That’s actually the bathrooms, which can account for more than 50% of all freshwater use in a house and contain vital fixtures compressed into a small space.
This is something we can’t repeat enough: when it comes to your home’s plumbing system, whether you need a simple fix to stop a leak or a full new appliance installation, always hire a professional plumber from the start. We understand it’s tempting to try to tackle some jobs on your own—after all, you did get that great set of wrenches as a birthday present last year. Or you may want to save some money by going with a local “handyman” or some other non-professional who says something like, “Hey, I can fix that for you totally cheap!”
Central heating and air conditioning is one of the greatest inventions in the modern home (maybe not at the level of indoor plumbing, but we’re not here to debate old sayings). One comfort system can distribute cooled and heated air to rooms throughout a house.
We’ve written posts before about toilet plumbing emergencies, 
We know an overflowing toilet is one of the more alarming events that can occur with home plumbing, right up there with a burst pipe. However, there are steps to take to stop the flow and have it corrected. If you do some planning ahead to prepare for an event like this—and it can happen to any toilet, no matter its age or how well it’s cared for—you can prevent serious water damage and dangers from an overflow of sewage.
An important part of providing air conditioning service for our residential customers is helping them avoid air conditioning service as much as possible. Yes, this sounds like a self-defeating goal, but the aim of our company is to make sure our customers have the finest in comfort. Finding ways to help our customers’ air conditioning systems work at their best and without the need to call us for emergencies is something we’re glad to do.
Nobody wants to encounter a slow or clogged drain in their home. It’s an annoyance and can bring simple tasks in the household to an indefinite halt until it can be remedied. Fortunately, clearing out a clog isn’t a tough job. If you can’t manage it using a basic drain plunger or with a hand-cranked drain snake (don’t use chemical cleaners, please!), you can 
