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Cold Weather Pet Care

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When the weather outside turns frightfully cold and filled with winter precipitation, it’s no walk in the park. Not for you, and not for your cat or dog. In fact, your pets can be far more vulnerable to wintertime maladies than you might even realize.

So take just a couple of minutes to read and perhaps even print these tried and true techniques for wintertime pet care:

  • Have your pet examined by a vet at least once a year, especially during the winter months as the cold weather can exacerbate medical conditions such as arthritis.
  • Know your pet’s limits. If it’s too cold for you to be out for an extended period of time, it’s probably too cold for your pet as well.
  • Give your pets safe and warm sleeping options, as their preferences may change depending on the season.
  • Before starting your car, honk the horn or bang on the hood to encourage felines to flee their hiding spot. Also, check under your car for any pets seeking shelter before pulling out of your driveway.
  • Check your pet’s paws frequently for signs of cold-weather injury, such as cracked paw pads or bleeding. Also, wash and wipe down their feet and belly to remove anything that might have accumulated during an outdoor frolic.
  • Snow and ice can disguise recognizable scents that would normally help a pet find its way home. Make sure your pet has an up-to-date microchip or well-fitting collar with correct identification and contact info.
  • Be prepared for severe winter weather by having a well-stocked disaster/emergency kit for your pet. Have enough clean drinking water, food, plus any medications your pet might need to get through at least 5 days.

Another way to protect your pets and family at the same time is by calling DiBiase Heating & Cooling to request our heating system cleaning and inspection service. It’s a great way to stop home heating problems before they start, and to make sure that everyone stays nice and warm and cozy – at least indoors – all winter long.

5 House Plants That Can Help Clean Up Your Indoor Air

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The cold, dreary days of winter are fast approaching. And what’s left of our green lawns and colorful leaves will soon be covered by a white blanket of snow. But that doesn’t mean you have to wait until next spring to enjoy the beauty of bright and colorful blooms.

Here are 6 hardy varieties of houseplants that are sure to brighten up even the greyest of days. And because they are so easy to care for, they’ll survive even the brownest of thumbs.

But there’s more to these and other varieties of houseplants than good looks. Each one is a known tool, if you will, in the fight against polluted indoor air. Bacteria, formaldehyde, and other airborne pollutants are drawn into the plants’ root systems which the plants hungrily feed on and help keep them out of your lungs.

  • Chrysanthemum – Besides adding brilliant, florid color to your home or office, this air cleaning plant filters out benzene, a chemical commonly found in glue, paint, plastics, and detergent. Chrysanthemums prosper in bright light and, for maximum flowering potential, place your near a window where it can get direct sunlight.
  • Bamboo Palm – This small palm loves the shade and often sports flowers and berries. In terms of improving air quality, it’s your number one defense against benzene and trichloroethylene. It has a taste for off-gassing formaldehyde, which makes it a nice companion to furniture and new carpeting.
  • Chinese Evergreen – So easy to care for, and so effortless as it removes a number of toxins from – more and more so over time. While it enjoys moderate sunlight, it will still produce blooms and red berries in low-light conditions.
  • English Ivy – The houseplant variety thrives in bright but filtered light, but also does well in low light conditions. Keep the soil moist without over-watering, and it will reward your efforts by reducing the amount of fecal-matter particles in your air. Plus, it’s more plant fighting the good fight against the formaldehyde found in some household cleaning products.
  • The Tranquil Snake Plant – The snake plant, with its green leaves outlined in gold trim, may just be the easiest houseplant to care forever. It can survive droughts, thrives in low light, and can pretty much avoid most insect problems. Caring for it is simple is as simple as providing proper drainage for the soil.

Then again, houseplants do their best air-cleaning work when they have help from their friends – friends like the indoor air quality specialists at DiBiase Heating & Cooling. By installing a whole-house air purification system, for example, we can eliminate more than 99% of dust, dirt, bacteria, mold, household chemicals, and much more from your indoor air while your heating or cooling system fan is engaged. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you and your family feel better by eliminating the source of colds, flus, plus allergy and asthma irritants.

How to Reduce Your Home Heating Costs

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In a dream world, it wouldn’t cost you anything to heat your home. The warm air would just be “there”, and life would go on with couple hundred extra bucks in your pocket every month.

Alas, you can dream all you like, but free heat is probably not in the cards, unless that rich uncle of yours suddenly directs you to have all the bills sent to him. Short of that, it’s wise to look at every possible to reduce your home heating costs, especially when you recall just how cold and generally miserable the past couple of winters have been here in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Here are 5 simple ways to take a noticeable bite of your cold-weather-season utility bills:

  • Wear warmer clothing and lower the thermostat a couple of degrees. Sounds kind of primitive, right? But it’s one of the more obvious and very doable ways to save money.
  • Install one or more two-directional ceiling fans. Heat rises: no doubt you remember that from earth science class. Well, it rises in your home, too, which means it’s constantly headed toward the ceiling and your upstairs bedrooms, thus requiring greater and greater amounts of warm air to keep you comfortable. With two-way ceiling fans, however, you can push the warm air back down, thus taking a good chunk of pressure off your furnace, and a noticeable reduction in your heating costs.
  • Have preventative maintenance performed on your furnace once a year. With an annual cleaning and inspection, your furnace or boiler will run better, last longer, and run more efficiently, too – yet another way to keep more money in your pocket.
  • Check around your windows and doors for air leaks. If your windows and doors aren’t thoroughly caulked and weather-stripped, then warm air is escaping while cold air has unrestrained access to your home. Get rid of the leaks, and you’ll get rid of added home heating expense.

If your heating system runs off a single zone and thermostat, perhaps it’s time to consider adding another zone or two, especially if you tend to spend considerably more time in certain areas of your than others. Then you can feel just as comfortable as you like while reducing the temperature in rooms or areas seldom or at least not currently occupied. Plus, for every zone you have, current or future, we recommend a Wi-Fi friendly programmable thermostat, professionally installed by DiBiase Heating & Cooling. That enables you to change temperature settings remotely for the ultimate in flexibility and added energy savings. Contact us today for more information or to schedule service.

“Do I have a Furnace or a Boiler?”

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A funny thing frequently happens when we arrive at a customer’s home during the heating season. It starts with being called to come to take a look at their furnace. Nothing funny about that, right? But when we arrive, we discover that the heating system isn’t anchored by a furnace at all, but a boiler instead.

Okay, so maybe that’s not all that funny, but it does help prove one point, i.e., that the vast majority not only of our customers but people around the country call their heating system a furnace, even when it isn’t.

Are you 100% sure which type you have (unless, of course, your home is heated by a ductless air system or heat pump)?

Here’s the basic difference. A furnace heats air and distributes it through your home’s ductwork. A boiler (which can be gas or oil-fired) heats water and distributes the heated water through a network of pipes to your baseboard units, radiators, and in-floor radiant heating system.

Furnaces and boilers are actually profoundly different, so if you’re at or getting to the point of purchasing a replacement heating system, here are a few of those differences worth keeping in mind:

  • A furnace, also known as a forced-air heating system, blows more than warm air through your ductwork and into your living spaces. It also blows around dust, dirt, and other airborne particles. So if you have issues with allergies, asthma, or simply want to minimize the amount of dust that accumulates, a boiler might be your better choice.
  • Furnaces also have filters that have to be cleaned at least quarterly. Boilers often need less maintenance, especially cast iron boilers.
  • The upfront cost of a boiler is typically higher than that of a furnace, and that’s a big reason why furnaces are the more popular choice, and that includes electric furnaces, as well.
  • On the other hand, boilers tend to be more energy-efficient than furnaces, which means reduced utility costs to help compensate for the higher initial purchase price.

As you can see, it’s anything but a “no brainer” when trying to choose between a new furnace or boiler. That’s where we come in: DiBiase Heating & Cooling Company. If you’re in the market for a new heating system, we’ll sit down with you, explain your options, and answer all your questions. Once we’ve determined your individual and family priorities, we’ll recommend what we believe to be your top two or three options, and then help you make your final selection. Contact DiBiase for a free and no-obligation in-home consultation.

4 Benefits of a Whole-House Humidifier

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When winter finally gets here, most of us are happy just to have a heating system that works. Too cold outside? No worries, because it’s toasty warm indoors.

The problem is, “toasty warm” isn’t just a nice metaphor, it’s actually a pretty accurate description of climate conditions inside most homes during the winter months. You see, unless you do something with toast, it’s as dry as it can be. And so is the winter air inside your home.

But now you CAN do something about it with a whole-house humidifier from DiBiase Heating & Cooling Company. We can install one as an attachment to your furnace; that way, while the furnace is running, the humidifier is mixing in the right amount of moisture to help you feel not just warm, but completely comfortable.

Here are 4 benefits of having a whole-house humidifier:

  1. Your overall health will improve. When the air is overly dry, you’re more prone to experience dry and flaky skin, bloody noses, static electricity, not to mention bigger problems with your allergies or asthma. With added moisture in the air, you can set those concerns aside.
  2. Your utility costs will be lower. Just as you feel hotter in the summer when the humidity is high, you’ll feel just as warm at lower thermostat settings while simultaneously running your whole-house humidifier. And that helps keep your utility costs down.
  3. You will protect your wood floors and furniture. Dry indoor air sucks the moisture right of all wooden objects and can actually warp and ruin some of them, like musical instruments, if the problem goes unchecked. A whole-house humidifier helps protect your doors, floors, furniture, and more.
  4. You have total control of the humidity levels. Whole-house humidifiers come with the humidifier version of a thermostat, where you can raise or lower humidity levels at will. Most experts agree, however, that the ideal level of relative humidity is between 30% and 40%.

The moral of this story? Being wonderfully warm doesn’t mean having to be miserably dry indoors inside your home this or any other winter. To learn more about what a whole-house humidifier can do for you, or to schedule installation, contact DiBiase today!

4 Benefits of Heating System Preventative Maintenance

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Every year, there’s the first time you flip the switch on your home thermostat to turn on your heating system.

Here in Pennsylvania, people approach this rite of passage in three basic ways. The majority, it seems, don’t even give it a second thought: they flip the switch, the heat comes on – as if there were any other possibilities. Then there’s the eternal pessimist type, the one who espouses Murphy’s Law, i.e. when things can go wrong, they probably will. That way, if the heat doesn’t turn on, it’s to be expected. If it does, score one for the good guys.

Finally, we have the person who knows that their heating system is getting up there in years, and probably should have been looked at by a professional during the off-season just to make sure it had at least one more winter in it. This is a pragmatic way of looking at things, not necessarily expecting the best or the worst, just hoping it turns on to perhaps buying a little more time before being forced to deal with a repair problem.

Which one of those profiles most closely matches yours? Well, hold that thought for a minute as we now demonstrate one way where every personality type can approach “turning on the heating system for the first time” with confidence. And that’s with annual preventative maintenance service performed by the very capable heating pros and DiBiase HVAC.

Here are 5 benefits just waiting to be enjoyed by anyone who partakes of our service:

  1. Fewer if any repairs. While no heating system can or will last forever, preventative maintenance means just that: through annual cleanings and inspections, we can prevent most repairs from ever happening.
  2. Longer system lifespan. The better maintained your heating system – just like your car – the longer it’s going to last. Very simple logic.
  3. Lower heating utility costs. By keeping your heating system in top working order, we can also improve its energy efficiency. That, in turn, results in lower utility costs. And since your heating and cooling systems are the top two energy consumers in your home, the energy savings can be substantial.
  4. Greater safety for you and your family. Safety is always “top of mind” during one of our cleanings and inspections. We look for any signs of a gas or carbon monoxide leak. We also tighten all electrical connections as a deterrent against electrical fires.

Okay, so maybe there’s nothing we can do to make you fall in love with winter. But when it comes to turning on your heating system – and keeping it on – we can help you feel a whole lot more confident, one winter season at a time. Why not call today to schedule service for a boost of confidence all your own. (610) 596-1839

Consider a Ductless Air System for your 3-Season Room

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It’s late August, that time of year when peoples’ thoughts often turn to fall and “that other season” that follows it.

Still, you have plenty of time to continue enjoying your 3-season porch or addition until colder temperatures force you to turn back into a mudroom or snow shovel repository until next spring.

And yet, what if that 3-season room could suddenly be converted into a year-rounder, and for a lot less money than you might think? Interested? Then you might be VERY interested in a ductless air system.

Providing warm and cool air alike for 3-season rooms, in fact, is one of the inspirations behind the invention of ductless air systems. They work independently of your main heating and cooling systems and each one can be designed for as few as one room or, at the other extreme, an entire house. That’s how flexible they are. By design.

Here’s what a ductless air system consists of:

  • Outdoor condensing unit/heat pump that looks similar to your central AC condensing unit
  • An indoor wall blower that connects directly to the condensing unit and distributes the air throughout the space it was designed for
  • Each outdoor condensing unit can support up to five wall blowers
  • Ductless systems also can be designed to provide AC only, or AC and heating combined
  • Remote control operation
  • Noise-free operation
  • Amazingly high energy efficiency.

If you have a room – 3-season or otherwise – that’s not connected to your heating and/or cooling systems, and one you’d like to take greater advantage of, contact DiBiase Heating & Cooling today to learn more about ductless air systems. We’ll answer all your questions, provide you with a free quote, and show you how much you can save compared to other available options.

The Benefits of AC Preventative Maintenance, Even in August

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When you think about indoor comfort this time of year, chances are you’re thinking about the air conditioning season is starting to wind down and, as a result, how fall and winter can’t be that far behind.

We’d like to throw one more thought into your thinking cap if you don’t mind. And it’s this: if for any reason you didn’t have preventative maintenance performed on your AC system this spring, better you should schedule it now than wait until next spring.

You see, even here in southeastern Pennsylvania, our home air conditioning system typically starts revving up no later than May and, in many homes, are still cooling things off and getting rid of excess humidity well into October. That’s a lot of time for any machine or system to be running without the TLC that comes with preventative maintenance from DiBiase Heating & Cooling.

Here, we perform a multi-point AC cleaning and inspection process that delivers these very tangible benefits:

  • More productive years of operation
  • Fewer and less costly repairs
  • Lower electricity bills
  • More consistent temperatures from room to room
  • Added safety for your home and family

What can happen in the absence of annual preventative maintenance? Cutting to the chase, your system can develop problems that cause it to fail prematurely while running up some pretty hefty repair bills around the way. A clogged AC filter, for example, can ultimately cause the coil to freeze and, if your system is far enough along in years, that could force you to replace it sooner than expected.

So for your own sake, and that of your budget, contact DiBiase now to schedule preventative maintenance service for any of the following reasons:

  • Service has not yet been performed this year
  • Your system is acting up and you’d like to find out why before things get any worse
  • Humidity levels are noticeably rising indoors
  • You notice an excessive build-up of dust on your furniture and other surfaces

DiBiase Heating & Cooling: the only company you need for your home heating, cooling, indoor air quality, and hot water needs. At your service.

The Benefits of a Water Heater Performance and Safety Inspection

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Your water heater plays a big role in your family’s household.

Not only is it responsible for supplying a steady and sufficient supply of hot water, but it also has the added burden of keeping family members safe from harm. The problem is, it can perform any of its duties without a little help from a friend – in this case, the licensed and experienced water heater specialists at DiBiase Heating & Cooling.

With an average lifespan of just 10-15 years, you can clearly see the need for ongoing preventative maintenance to keep an eye on things and prevent most if not all problems from ever occurring. It’s a service we recommend you have performed once a year, even on brand new water heaters.

Here are just some of the steps we’ll perform during our performance and safety inspection:

  • Check for signs of internal corrosion
  • Check for water leaks
  • Check the thermostat for proper temperature setting
  • Check for signs of gas or carbon monoxide leaks
  • Check the safety relief valve and emergency shutoff valve
  • Check your hot water pressure
  • Check your system’s power supply
  • And more

If we spot any issues that should be repaired sooner than later, we’ll give you a guaranteed upfront price quote and proceed only with your approval.

Bottom line, the whole purpose of our water heater performance and safety inspection is to help you enjoy uninterrupted comfort and convenience along with greater peace of mind knowing that all safety issues have been addressed and corrected as needed.

Heating & Cooling Services in Paoli and West Chester

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How much value do you place on the professionals you’ve engaged and built relationships with? Doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant, financial planner, and so on.

Well, you would do just as well to have a professional heating and cooling company on that same list. Here are just some of the reasons why:

  • You wouldn’t have to conduct new searches each time you needed the services of a heating or cooling professional.
  • You’d have a service provider who knows you and, equally important, knows your equipment.
  • You’d have a trusted professional you could call to ask for advice, just as you do other professional service providers. If, for example, you asked “Am I better off replacing my furnace now, or do you think I can get another year or two out of it?”, you can trust that the answer you receive would be in your best interests, even if not in theirs.
  • Professional HVAC companies are also indoor air quality experts. Over time, let’s say a family member develops allergies or asthma. Once again, your own professional HVAC advisors can always be counted on to recommend exactly the right indoor air quality solution to get rid of the air pollutants that may be causing or aggravating the respiratory problem.
  • By taking their advice, you’d also have your heating and AC systems cleaned and inspected once a year. That’s a service that helps to extend equipment lifespan, lower or eliminate repair bills, reduce your energy costs, and help keep your home and family that much safer.

At DiBiase Heating & Cooling, we work hard every day to be exactly that company for the many local homeowners we’re privileged to serve – to let them know we’re always on hand for expert advice, and not just to respond to service calls. For yours and their added peace of mind, we enjoy an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau – further assurance of high ethical standards and a strong record of customer satisfaction.

Yes, it’s still important to hire a company that can fix any heating or cooling problem, or designs a new or replacement system that’s just right for your home and budget. But it’s even more important to have a relationship with that company, one built on mutual trust, so you never have to second guess their advice or worry about if they stand behind their work.

Would you like to learn more about DiBiase Heating & Cooling? Then please continue browsing our website or, if you like, call us (484) 657-7006 and ask to speak with a home comfort specialist. Who knows: maybe today is the first day of a new, long-term relationship with each other.