We’re a proud provider of quality residential andcommercial HVAC services to the Madison area. Our reputation for excellence in HVAC maintenance and customer service is no secret – with our years of experience, word gets around.Your satisfaction is a huge priority for us, so we make sure to do the job right the first time. We pay attention to all the little things, like making sure our workers are courteous and professional, equipping them with the tools they need and putting safety first.With a free quote, we offer you the benefit of knowing exactly what work we’ll be doing and an accurate estimate of how much it will cost. If we’re in the middle of a job and notice additional repair issues, we will always notify you before proceeding. Surprises aren’t all bad – just the ones on your final bill.Call us today for your free quote! ...read more

Have all of your drains unclogged, your pipes repaired, and grease traps cleaned out by a company who has over 15 years of experience. Whether you have problems at your place of business or your home, you'll appreciate our 60 minute emergency service and low rates on all jobs. You have our promise that we will get to the reason that your drains are clogging up. After we get to the bottom of the problem, we will prevent them from happening again! You don't have to get dirty when you have problems with your sewer pipes. Let us help you with your burst or damaged sewer pipes. Call at the first sign of trouble! Your restaurant's grease traps need to be kept clean and allowed to flow for free with our efficient drain line jetting and repair service. Call today and schedule your grease trap cleaning! When you have frozen pipes on your property, you need to make sure that they are properly thawed so that they don't burst or get damaged when they unthaw. Make sure you are prepared for your upcoming even with our portable toilet service. You'll receive quality and clean portable toilets that are great for a number of occasions. You'll have clean and sanitized portable toilets to use for your big day. Deliver and pick up service is always available. You can choose from daily, weekly, or monthly rental options. Locally owned and operated and ready to serve your drain and plumbing problems. ...read more

 Brought to you by Sustain Jefferson, there is sure to be something for everyone to hone their natural-living skills.  Learn more at their Facebook page.  See you there! ...read more

Join hundreds of exhibitors and presenters and thousands of attendees who will Make Green Happen for three days of education, exploration and inspirationEco Fair 360 Website ...read more

With the slow-down in the housing market, many homeowners are opting to upgrade their homes rather than trying to sell and move to a new location. If you are thinking an upgrade is in your future, you should consider having a home performance evaluation before beginning the process. No matter what type of work you are planning, whether it be a simple bathroom upgrade, room addition, basement remodel or anything that changes the function of your house, the information you get from a home performance test will help you to take advantage of energy-saving and performance enhancing opportunities that might otherwise be missed. I have been called out to many homes to investigate problems that have arisen after remodeling work had been completed, problems that could easily have been remedied while the work was being done. While most reputable, established contractors can provide you with high-quality work, experience has shown me that they can often be somewhat lacking in overall building science knowledge. This (building science) refers to how a building “performs” as a combination of many individual components: changing one part of a building can have unintended consequences on other areas. For example, simply adding on to existing duct-work to supply heat to an addition can result in the whole house being less comfortable and the furnace having to run much longer than before. Another common problem is where old and new meet. I’ve tested many homes where the new area is tight and well insulated, the old areas are reasonable, but the junction between the addition and the original house ends up having many open connections up into the attic space(s). This can lead to big problems beyond simple energy waste, including condensation and mold growth. Remodeling can be a disruptive and messy business so it makes sense to take advantage of this reality to address issues that would normally not be very cost-effective to do by themselves. Often the performance testing reveals features in a house that can easily be accessed while other work is being done. Insulation materials and techniques have advanced greatly in the last 10 to 15 years, so even if your house is relatively new, it’s a good bet that your house can benefit from this work. The insulating and air sealing that gets done during a remodeling job will be a very small part of the overall cost. Yes, a professional builder will “insulate” as a normal part of the job, however my job as a building performance professional is to design appropriate insulation measures as dictated by the findings of the tests and how the building is put together. Doing it right does not cost much more up front, but will have a big effect on how much you will save and how comfortable you’ll feel years after the mess is cleaned up and the builders are gone. ...read more

I get many calls from concerned homeowners asking if I "test for mold". I've also had many companies offer me mold testing training and support services. In both cases I've said no. Not because I'm not doubting that there is an issue if there is mold in a home, but because "testing" for it is not the right approach to a mold issue**. If you can see it or smell it, then you have a mold issue. What kind of mold it is is not particularly important. Mold is all around us, or, more accurately, the potential for mold is all around us. There are millions of mold spores floating around us in the air, both inside and out, all of them in search of the right conditions to thrive. Mold needs three things to grow and spread: food, water and the right temperatures. In a home, there is "food" all around: carpets, drywall, wood, paint, dust (stuck to surfaces), cardboard, clothes etc etc. Pretty much anything can be a good substrate for some kind of mold growth - but not without the other factors being right. In reality, we can't do much about these things. We have them and live with them.  The following two items we can, however, control: The temperature of a home is something we regularly alter. Turn up the heat in winter, turn it down in summer. The problem with mold is that it will find those places where we don't have full control of the temperature, such as in closed off areas with no HVAC supplies (closets etc), poorly performing windows, uninsulated wall cavities, attics that connect to the interior living space, leaky ductwork in attic spaces and many more. What happens in these areas is that, under certain conditions, condensation can occur, leading to the last requirement for mold growth, moisture: However moisture occurs, either by condensation on cold surfaces or by actual leakage into the home through the walls or basement, if it is persistent (i.e. never dries out) then it is guaranteed to facilitate mold growth. If you can eliminate the water source then you will curtail any further mold growth. That said, if you've had widespread growth then it is prudent to seek professional mold remediation to clean up the affected area using techniques that won't spread the spores around the home unnecessarily. Bottom line: Fix the water problem, stop the mold issue. A home performance evaluation addresses the conditions that can cause mold problems and gives you options for fixing them. Please don't be tempted to "kill the mold" with bleach. Doing this can be much more hazardous to your health than the mold itself. Bleach is a very strong chemical that can damage your lungs very quickly. Besides that, if  you didn't fix the water problem the mold growth will resume once conditions are right. **There are no  EPA guidelines for "mold exposures" unlike those for Carbon Monoxide or other toxins. This is because every individual reacts differently to mold exposure; some are very sensitive, others are not affected very much at all. For this reason there is no measure that mold testing can give you to say whether you are "safe" or "not safe". Testing is available but it is very expensive and is not going to tell you very much about how the mold will affect you, only what you have. More information is available at: http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldresources.html ...read more

Cold rooms, mold, condensation, ice dams, odors, water intrusion. These are all symptoms of a house that's performing badly. Until recently, homes were being built without knowledge of how interconnected the systems of a house are. Failure to think "system-wide" has led to a multitude of problems in houses ranging from inconvenient to destructive. General contractors generally hire individual sub-contractors to do various portions of  a construction project, however these subs rarely co-ordinate their installations. Holes are cut, ducts are run, mechanicals are chosen based on price alone rather than suitability. On top of that, insulating is usually relegated to the bottom of the list as it's out of sight and not terribly sexy. EXISTING HOMES Existing homes often have performance problems built right into them. The age and style of the home has a lot to do with what types of problems the home may have, however occupant habits and activities also play a part. A comprehensive home performance test and analysis is the most reliable way you can get the information you need to improve your home's performance. In Wisconsin we have the support of Focus on Energy, a state agency tasked with helping home owners make informed energy upgrade decisions. Cash back rewards are available through their Home Performance with Energy Star program. Part of the home performance service I provide is checking the work you have done and then filing for these rewards. NEW HOMES Nowadays, when building a new home, it's easier than ever before to end up with a very efficient home for a negligible increase in cost over a "to code" home. Codes have come up to meet consumer's expectations but builders are now taking pride in pushing past the codes and delivering better and better performing homes. The "Focus New Homes Program" is now being offered by Focus on Energy to help builders achieve the higher efficiency that homeowners are demanding. ...read more

Is Madison tap water safe to drink? Yes.   Madison water is routinely tested for more than 130 potential contaminants, including both regulated and unregulated substances.  The Madison Water Utility does extensive testing and confirms that we meet all current federal and state drinking water standards. To read more and get on a city mailing list, go to:  http://www.cityofmadison.com/water/waterQuality/ChromiuminWater.cfm United States EPA – Chromium in Drinking Water California EPA – Public Health Goal for Hexavalent Chromium ...read more

Watch for ripple effects coming to products, homes and building codes near you.  Shower heads arm now available at 1.75 gpm.  Lavatory faucets will be 1.5 gpm.Tip of a nationwide trend  While stricter and more comprehensive than other state codes, CalGreen is part of a nationwide trend. Reffner believes states and municipalities will continue to adopt ever-more stringent water conservation practices, as droughts test water reserves and the cost of supplying fresh water rises. "By July 2012, Georgia will set a flow rate of 2.0 for kitchen faucets," he points out. Other states are considering similar laws. CalGreen ...read more

A typical bathtub holds 40 gallons or so of water. That is 330 pounds. A cubic yard of it, filling what at first glance seems a modest volume of 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet, weighs nearly 1,700 pounds, as much as the Smart micro car. And when water is moving at 30 or 40 miles an hour, like the tsunami that inundated northern Japan on Friday, the heaviness of water turns deadly. Imagine 1,700 pounds hitting you at that speed, and each cubic yard of water as another 1,700 pounds bearing down on you. The destructiveness of a tsunami is not just one runaway car, but a fleet of them.  More ...read more

The Jefferson County Home show is being held next week 25th to the 27th. This is a great opportunity to talk in person to us to find out in detail about home performance testing and evaluation. We'll have the blower door set up and the infra red camera on hand to play with. There are door prizes given away every hour during the show that the merchants have donated; ours will be a handy indoor/outdoor thermometer, perfect for monitoring your environment. Come and see us! For more information, go to the County Fair site: http://www.jeffersoncountyfairpark.com/ ...read more

Chimneys with open fireplaces are desirable features for many homeowners but can have their own performance problems. In most situations I recommend upgrading to sealed combustion inserts to eliminate these issues but because these are quite expensive, it's not always a practical option. Here's a reply to a question put to my good friends at the Chimney Balloon company on their blog: Q&A; on how to stop a fireplace from emitting cold air and odors. Q: I have a wood burning fireplace with a heater insert. I have a top of chimney damper and a traditional damper installed. I have bad cold downdrafts on cold days and soot smell on rainy, windy days. I just received a copy of Energy Magazine and read about your Chimney Balloon fireplace damper product, and I am going to try the vinegar tip you suggested to stop fireplace smell. I need to measure my flue and I will order to try on my house.- MW A: Hi MW,  I know the top seal dampers tend to seal tighter than traditional low-in-the-firebox metal dampers, but the trouble that is often experienced with a top seal damper is you are sealing the chimney and all of its creosote and soot content into the home's interior air by bottling the chimney at the top. What further compounds the issue is the fact that the warm interior air that naturally ascends the chimney and is trapped there by the top damper tends to cool against the un-insulated brick walls of the chimney and the cold metal of the top damper and then that now-cool air drops again to the firebox. This convection process and air movement creates a draft and odor sensation at the hearth and into the room. That could be what you are experiencing by the cold fireplace drafts and odors. If you put in a chimney balloon low and tight in your fireplace flue down by the firebox you will prevent the warm air from raising up the flue and also will stop any chimney odor from making it back down into the room. The balloon acts as an air sealer-and-insulator-in-one so that it will close off the flue and the air barrier stop the cold from convecting through. This is a guest article by Jason Raddenbach from Chimney Balloon USA tech support. ...read more

A combustion safety test is conducted on any naturally drafted appliances in the home. Usually this is the water heater but it is sometimes the furnace or boiler as well. These types of appliances rely on convection up their chimney or flue to allow exhaust gasses to leave the building safely. Under some circumstances this convection may not happen which can result in a buildup of carbon monoxide in the living space which, in high enough concentrations, can be fatal. It also can greatly increase moisture inside the building as water vapor is another by-product of combustion. Proper drafting can only happen if the pressure inside the flue or chimney can allow the gasses to rise. Conditions inside the building will affect this pressure, generally from the use of exhaust fans and appliances. The test turns on all these fans to place the building in what's known as "worst-case depressurization". This creates the worst conditions for drafting. If the appliance being tested still can create a good draft then it's OK but if it fails it means that there is a possibility that it could happen under normal operating conditions. Often, this test will be fine at the initial evaluation but will fail after the house has been tightened up following energy upgrading. This is a common find and is the reason that naturally drafting appliances are not recommended for installation in high efficiency homes. If there is a failure then there are these options: Install a carbon monoxide detector on each floor including the basement (recommended even if there are no appliances that need this test)   Install a spill alarm. This is a device that measure the temperature of the metal diverter hood right at the exhaust exit on the appliance. Normally this is cool to the touch but when there is backdrafting (or spillage) occurring, then this will sound an alarm alerting you to the fact that spillage is occurring. Usually all that's needed is for you to shut off the home's strongest fan or fans.   If the condition is severe and spillage occurs often then the best thing to do is to replace your appliance with a sealed or power vented appliance. For furnaces or boilers this is usually a high efficiency sealed combustion unit which will generally save you money as well. For water heaters this is a power vented unit that is not much more efficient than what you have right now but is safer. There are more efficient water heaters as well and you should consult with a plumber for more information on these.   There are other reasons an appliance can spill such as flue design (size, material, length, height) and blockages of the flue itself. (This can be a problem with appliances that use their own chimney and are not used during the summer.) A periodic chimney inspection is a wise investment. Combustion safety testing is an integral part of the Focus on Energy Home Performance with Energy Star program. Photo shows an old boiler that has severe spillage issues. The paint has been burned off the casing of the unit. This is a potentially deadly situation especially because a larger appliance such as this can run for long periods of time and produce large amounts of carbon monoxide.  ...read more

Our new website is up and running. Please stop by and tell us what you think.Feedback is always appreciated; please to go Write a Review to, well, write a review... Thanks very much to Steve Tesmer at Tall Guy Productions for making the site design and implementation a breeze. More updates to follow soon:  Mark ...read more

Infra red scanning is a great way to see how cold air can infiltrate a house. The bigger the difference between inside and outside the better the images. When doing home performance testing, we use a blower door to draw air into the home. If the air is cold then it will cool down any surface that it comes into contact with as it is drawn into the building. The infra red camera reveals these cool areas and help us to design measures to improve efficiency and comfort. ...read more