In our quest for year-round home comfort, we often face a common yet overlooked challenge: maintaining optimal indoor humidity levels. Whether it's warding off the chill with a furnace in winter or seeking respite from summer's heat with air conditioning, such efforts can unwittingly lead to an imbalance in your home’s humidity. Comfortable though they...
As summer nears and people start to feel the effects of allergies, asthma, and sinus infections, folks are trying to beat the symptoms and enjoy the warmer weather. This year, Pennsylvania is experiencing a “pollen tsunami,” which researchers attribute to delayed tree growth and development due to a late spring after extended cold winter weather....
The technicians here at Summers & Zim’s take carbon monoxide very seriously. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that may take place in many types of heating systems that exist in our homes. When not properly maintained, your furnaces, boilers and some water heaters can begin to leak this gas into the surrounding rooms...
We’re all happy to see trees in bud or blooming after the long winter. But with those buds and blooms comes the spring pollen season. For many people this is the start of a variety of allergies and increased breathing problems, sneezing, and watery eyes. (more…)
Did you know that just .04 of an inch of dust on your heating coil can reduce the efficiency of your HVAC system by 21%? And, if that amount of dust builds up on your fan the loss of efficiency is almost 50%. Heating systems have been working harder than ever this past winter, which...
For months your home has had no fresh air. Sub zero temperatures and heavy snowfalls have had us all keeping windows and doors tightly closed. During that time odors from cooking, dander from pets, and everyday dust and dirt have all been affecting the quality of your indoor air. It may be many more weeks...
As we spend more time inside our homes in the winter, with doors and windows tightly closed, we become more at-risk for carbon monoxide poisoning. Because the potentially lethal gas is colorless and odorless, you may not realize you are being exposed to it. Here are the symptoms. (more…)
Many of the early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning aren’t much different than common everyday ailments. If you get any of these, or especially if you get any combination of them, it is always better to be safe. (more…)
The number of carbon monoxide poisonings increases as the temperature decreases. Because the gas is colorless and odorless, you can be exposed without realizing it. Carbon Monoxide is the leading cause of unintentional poisoning deaths in the world, and Pennsylvania has more unintentional poisoning deaths than any other state. Don’t take chances. (more…)
As colder weather arrives and days are shorter, we keep doors and windows closed and spend more of our time indoors. If one person in the household starts coughing or sneezing, that close proximity to each other makes it much more likely everyone will be exposed to airborne germs. An Air Scrubber can make a...
