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	Department of Energy Raising The Minimum Requirements On New Gas Furnaces In 2007, the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Security and Independence Act (the “2007 Energy Bill”). This bill sets a new precedent by allowing the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop regional standards regarding the minimum efficiency allowed for new heating and cooling equipment. In Pennsylvania, the installation of high-efficiency furnaces is required after May 1, 2013. How Will This Effect You? Those who will be impacted most by the new regional standards are people living in either Bucks or Montgomery County and currently have a non-condensing gas furnace that needs to be replaced. The upcoming regional standards will require that gas furnaces installed in Pennsylvania have at least 90% Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) rating, compared to the current 78% AFUE, effectively excluding the use of non-condensing furnaces and requiring the installation of condensing furnaces in our area. What Can You Do? The new regional standards will require the installation of condensing furnaces in Bucks and Montgomery County starting on May 1, 2013. For those looking to save on a new gas furnace, It would be wise to upgrade your current, older non-condensing gas furnace NOW for a new non-condensing gas furnace before that date. Otherwise, you will be required to install a condensing furnace and deal with the added expenses and possible complications. Our Comfort Advisors can provide you with a free estimate that includes both furnace options. How Will This Impact You If You Wait Until After May 1, 2013? If you live in Bucks or Montgomery County and wait until after the deadline, you may be looking at costly issues when it comes time to replace your existing furnace. The three main issues likely to arise when replacing a non-condensing furnace with a condensing furnace: 1. Equipment space constraints 2. Exhaust venting requirements 3. Condensate disposal Many homes have limited space for furnaces, and condensing furnaces and their different space requirements may not fit in your furnace’s current location. This could require costly renovations, knocking down walls, and losing living space. An alternative would be to relocate the equipment if you have the space available, but this brings other issues. Requirements for venting the exhaust for condensing furnaces differ from those for noncondensing units. What if the best new venting path for the condensing furnace runs through space that belongs to a neighbor? Also, if the non-condensing unit used a common vent with other appliances, it may be necessary to resize the vent if one of the appliances is removed. Finally, the exiting exhaust is designed to be an appropriate distance dictated by the building code from features like windows, doors, dryers, vented gas regulators, etc. The new furnace must also comply with code, and its venting path may require the unit to be moved, even if there is enough room at the current location! The third major technical issue would be how to dispose of the water condensate produced by the new furnace. If the current unit is a non-condensing furnace, there was no condensate. A condensing furnace, however, will require attention to collecting and disposing of condensate before it can freeze and lead to water overflow, which can damage the building. A solution to some of these issues would be to ‘simply’ move the equipment. Unfortunately, that would necessitate re-designing and re-sizing the duct system, as well as installing new components. Additionally, moving the furnace would also require re-routing the gas piping and electrical power. Are you prepared for all these possible (and likely) issues? Is your wallet?
	Apple Comfort Announces Dublin's 100th Anniversery Giveaway Winners! First a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by to visit our booth and participate in our giveaway this past Saturday. We hope you enjoyed the Decades of Dublin Parade, entertainment and other vendors on Saturday and returned on Sunday to participate in the Dublin Art Festival and 11th Annual Cystic Fibrosis Car Show. We also want to take a moment to Thank all the Police, Community Leaders and Volunteers who helped coordinate the weekends events, vendor support etc. Events like this could not happenen without your dedication and support. Thank you all for your help! We are proud to annouce the following winners of our Dublin 100th Celebration Giveaway. To those who didn't win, we encourage you to sign up for our mailing list to learn of upcoming events and promotions. We frequently offer special "web only" discounts on Heating and Cooling Solutions, Indoor Air Quality products and Tune-ups and Maintenance plans. Third Prize - Fantastic Filter Package - $99 Value 4 or our Exclusive MERV12 rated filters, unavailable in retail stores Congratulations N. Stash Second Prize - Comfort Club for (1) System for (1) Year - Up to $350 Value Includes 1 Tune Up, 1 Safety Inspection 15% off parts Front of the Line Priority Service Congratulations M. Arinsberg First Prize - Micro PowerGuard - $695 Value Electrostatic Filtration device that captures 97% of Airborne Particles Helps reduce allergy and asthma symptoms Congratulations L. Bergen Special thanks again to all who participated in our contest. We hope you had a wonderful weekend!
	Come Celebrate Dublin's 100th This Weekend September 7-9. Festivities kick off this Friday night at 6:30 with a FREE CONCERT spanning 40 years of Soul, Funk, R&B and Dance music by the Philly Funk Authority! Check out thier website www.phillyfunk.com. Come out Saturday afternoon for the block party, stop by our table and enter to win one of three valuable prizes or sign up for a FREE Home Engineering Analysis! More details to come!
	Check It Out! AMC's "The Pitch" Featuring Our New Corporate HELP Campaign SARASOTA, Fla., May 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning and Mister Sparky will be featured in this week's episode of AMC's new original unscripted series, The Pitch, airing Monday, May 7 at 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT. Click Here To View The Preview The show tracks an intense competition between two advertising agencies as they fight to win the opportunity to create the first ever tri-branded national campaign. Executives from Sarasota, FL-based Clockwork Home Services, the parent company of the three brands, challenge the agencies to develop a campaign that unites the three nationwide home service brands under one promotion. If one of the pitches is successful, it will be the first time the family of brands has been tied together in the same campaign. The electrical, HVAC and plumbing franchises are all anchored by on-time guarantees and strive to provide "legendary service" for every customer. "We have three relatively young brands," Chris Buitron, Vice President of Marketing explained. "They have started to penetrate the marketplace at a level where a national campaign will resonate with potential customers. Participating on The Pitch was a fun and exciting way to potentially find the right idea that could help us launch the campaign, with the added benefit of being featured on national TV for an hour." Leadership at Clockwork believes this is an ideal time to launch this type of campaign. After rapid growth in their early stages, the brands have arrived at a point where a national marketing campaign will make a mark on the market. "We use something called the Net Promoter Score," Buitron said. "It helps our locations measure customer sentiment, as well as helps us at the home office keep our fingers on the pulse of the business. Relative to benchmarks, all three brands score very highly on the customer service scale. We wanted to leverage that and communicate to customers that they can have the same service experience, on-time, highly professional, and safe, they may have with another one of our brands." Clockwork Home Services, the parent company of Mister Sparky, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, was founded in 1998. The company currently employs roughly 1500 in its Sarasota headquarters and company-owned locations and 2000 in its franchise locations. The organization services about three million homes a year across North America. The Pitch is executive produced by Eli Holzman, Stephen Lambert, Phil Lott, Brien Meagher and Aaron Saidman from Studio Lambert - creators of Undercover Boss. "The Pitch" chronicles the incredible lengths, intense stakes and tight deadlines top advertising agencies encounter when they take aim at a major new piece of business. The series follows the best creative shops as they prepare campaigns knowing that in the end, it all comes down to the pitch. To learn more about the series or watch a trailer visit http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-pitch. About Clockwork Home Services: Clockwork Home Services is one of the largest home services providers in North America, working across 46 states to look after the air conditioning, plumbing and electrics through its three largest customer focus brands of One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Mister Sparky. Sarasota, Florida based, Clockwork Home Services is also dedicated to sharing best practice and expertise in the home services industry, working to advise other businesses through a network of affinity partners & members including, Buymax, Plumbers' Success International, Electricians' Success International, Roofers' Success International, Airtime 500, Success Academy, Airtime Canada and Successware. Clockwork Home Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Direct Energy and Centrica plc. For more information, visit www.clockworkhomeservices.com
	Proposed EPA Ruling To Have Profound Impact On HVACR Industry The EPA has published a proposed ruling this month that will have a profound, and immediate impact on the HVACR industry. On January 4th the EPA's proposed ruling, "Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Adjustments to the Allowance System for Controlling HCFC Production, Import, and Export", laid out a proposal that would reduce the supply of R-22 by millions of pounds per year, and this is in addition to the originally scheduled reduction of 10% per year. The proposed adjustments will range from 11-47% per year beginning in 2012, and ending in 2014. Even though it will be months before the EPA publishes a final ruling, the news has ignited activity in the already volatile refrigerant market sending the price of R-22 skyward and forcing producers to reevaluate their allocation priorities. Some speculate that R-22 pricing, as well as refrigerant blends that contain any quantity of an HCFC, will increase substantially. Click Here for more information on the EPA's phaseout of HCFCs

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