HVAC and Insulation From a Working Tech
Dana Sorensen · July 1, 2026
Almost every homeowner pictures coil cleaning as a wash-down job — more water pressure, cleaner coil, simple as that. It’s the same logic you’d use on a dirty driveway, and it’s flat-out wrong when it comes to those paper-thin aluminum fins. I learned this the hard way as a second-year apprentice, full of confidence I … Read more
Dana Sorensen · June 27, 2026
Here’s the blunt truth: a maintenance visit that skips the one part actually causing your problem isn’t maintenance at all — it’s a wasted afternoon and a bill you shouldn’t have paid. That’s exactly what a homeowner learned last October when her furnace quit overnight, right as outdoor lows sank into the 30s, just six … Read more
Dana Sorensen · June 26, 2026
“It just quit sometime overnight” — that’s what she told me, standing in the doorway of her utility closet while I already had the air handler panel pulled off its screws. This was July, deep in a heat advisory, and her central air had gone silent sometime between midnight and morning. The blower motor shaft … Read more
Dana Sorensen · June 26, 2026
A hot compressor humming away doesn’t mean it’s dying — nine times out of ten, it’s a fifteen-dollar part standing between “system down” and “cooling again.” I proved this to myself again on a scorching Tuesday in late July, the kind of afternoon where the driveway feels soft underfoot and the phone won’t stop buzzing … Read more
Dana Sorensen · June 25, 2026
Why does the AC always seem to give out on the single hottest afternoon of the year? Because it wasn’t actually “giving out” — it was already struggling for weeks, and the heat just finished the job. Last June a homeowner near me found that out the expensive way: mid-50s, handy with tools, and still … Read more
Dana Sorensen · June 24, 2026
Nowhere on a spec sheet will you find a line item for “seasonal cottonwood buildup,” and no code inspector ever swings back by years after a permit is signed off to check whether an outdoor unit can still breathe. That blind spot is exactly what caught up with a homeowner I’ll call Greg last July. … Read more
Dana Sorensen · June 24, 2026
55°F on the supply air probe — that reading is what settled a very expensive standoff last August, inside a house that had already burned through two other contractor visits that same heat wave. The homeowner had one company tell her the system needed a fresh refrigerant charge. Another walked through, shrugged, and told her … Read more