Sunset Air Blog: Archive for January, 2015

New Job Opportunity at Sunset Air

Thursday, January 15th, 2015

Sunset Air, INC is the leading HVAC & Energy Services contractor in the South Puget Sound area. Sunset Air, INC is a second generation family owned business that was established in 1976 and has been growing strong for nearly 40 years. At Sunset Air, INC we operate in a culture that values our employees, our customers and our community. We provide our employees with continuous industry training & education, career development & planning and excellent pay and benefits.

Sunset Air, INC’s business is currently growing rapidly. We are looking for customer service oriented Service and Maintenance Technicians to join our team in the Residential Department.

General Job Description: The essential function of the Service Technician or Maintenance Technician is to provide quality HVAC repair and maintenance services to our customers.

Skills / Requirements:

  • 4+ years of experience in Residential HVAC Service or Maintenance
  • Excellent Customer Service skills and Communication skills
  • Strong troubleshooting & diagnostic skills and knowledge of gas furnaces, heat pumps and electric furnaces
  • Experience with change out / installation of parts in furnaces & heat pumps
  • Must be able to successfully pass a driving record, background check & drug test
  • Ethical business practices and a high regard for company safety policies
  • Must be able to drive a company vehicle and lift or move 25 lbs. frequently and up to 50 lbs. occasionally
  • Must be able to climb and work off ladders occasionally, and squat, crawl, crouch, kneel and bend frequently.

Additional Qualifications

  •   EPA Certified
  •   06A Electrical License or training card
  •   NATE Certification (preferred – not required)
  •   Certificate of training from technical school a plus (not required)

Additional Compensation: Included with the excellent pay, we also offer excellent benefits, including company paid healthcare insurance (medical, dental & vision) for employees and their qualifying dependents. Employees also receive disability and life insurance benefits paid by the company. The company also provides employees in this position with a company vehicle, fuel card, smart phone, power tools, uniforms and full-time year around work.

If you are interested in this position please apply in one of the following ways:

E-mail your resume to hr@sunsetair.com

Complete an application at our main office: 5210 Lacey Blvd SE Lacey, WA 98503

Complete the submission form on our website: www.sunsetair.com/contact/careers

Contact our Human Resources Department for additional information or with questions at 360-923-1244 Ext: 155

 

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Common Electrical Problems

Friday, January 9th, 2015

The electrical system is one of the most complex of any home’s infrastructure. It can also be the most dangerous. Electrical problems can burn out appliances, start fires, and even cause death under the worst circumstances. A lot of electrical problems are subtle, evidenced only by small signs that are easily missed. In this article, we’ll examine some of these signs, what they mean, and when you should call an electrician.

Flickering Lights

No, your house is likely not haunted. Flickering lights is a sign that there is a short or a bad connection somewhere along the circuit. Depending on where this flickering occurs, it could be located in one outlet or the entire house. Bad connections in the circuit are only a minor annoyance in and off themselves. However, a short can get progressively worse over time depending on where it is. It’s best to call an electrician if you notice this happening.

Switches Getting Hot

This is not a problem if you’re using dimmer switches. A dimmer switch controls the level of light a bulb gives off by increasing or decreasing the resistance to the electric current. The energy that doesn’t make it to the bulb is given off as heat, causing the dimmer switch to feel warm. If you aren’t using a dimmer switch, however, this is a big problem.

Normal switches are supposed to allow the electrical current to travel more or less unfettered. When a normal switch heats up, it’s a sign that the current is meeting unusual resistance. If whatever is causing the resistance is not fixed, the extra heat can melt the switch and even cause a fire. Call an electrician immediately if you notice a normal switch getting hot.

Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping

A circuit breaker is designed to trip if the system is threatening to be overwhelmed. However, a circuit breaker that won’t reset is a problem. If your circuit breaker refuses to reset, it is likely still detecting whatever is threatening the grid. If you can’t find the item that’s overloading the circuit, call an electrician to help you.

If you’re experiencing electrical problems in your home, call Sunset Air. We provide electrical services throughout Puyallup.

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What is System Zoning?

Tuesday, January 6th, 2015

What is System Zoning?

The temperature in your house can vary depending on the different qualities of your rooms and layout. For instance, if a room has a lot of windows that allow sun to come in, it can be harder to keep cool during the sunny season. Or if a room has a vaulted ceiling, it can be harder to retain heat. There is a long list of reasons why rooms differ in heating and cooling efficiency and one way to even the whole house out is to use a process called system zoning.

zoning

System zoning is the placement of multiple thermostats throughout the home. The thermostats operate dampers in the ductwork that modify the output of heating or cooling in specific zones of the house by opening and closing airways. The thermostats read the separate temperatures of each zone and distribute heat accordingly. Systems like this are extremely useful if you have certain rooms that have a hard time maintaining heat and they also may save you money by increasing the efficiency by optimizing your heating and cooling distribution.

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No Heat in the House? Things to Check and Do

Monday, January 5th, 2015

If you schedule regular maintenance for your home’s heating system and always make sure to call for repairs at the first sign that something is amiss with it, you should expect the heater to work dependably through the winter. But there is no way to avoid all malfunctions that might crop up in a heater; should you discover that your house isn’t receiving heat or that some rooms are colder than they should be, there are a few steps you should take to attempt to remedy the problem.

Never think of professionals as a “last resort” when it comes to finding out what is wrong with a central heater. In most cases, you will need experts to diagnose the problem and find the solution. When in doubt, schedule your heating repairs in Olympia, WA with Sunset Air. We have 24-hour emergency service available so you won’t have to wait long to have your home comfort restored.

Steps To Take When the Heat Stops

  • Examine the thermostat: An incorrect setting on a thermostat is often the simple answer to why the heat isn’t turning on. If you have a heat pump, the system may still be set in cooling mode. For a programmable thermostat, an error in setting the time and temperature limits may be responsible. If the thermostat appears broken, call for professional assistance.
  • Check the circuit breaker panel: A heating system can sometimes overload a circuit panel and trip a breaker. Even gas-powered heaters must rely on electricity to run their motors and electronic igniters. A tripped breaker will keep the heater from turning on. If the heating system continues to trip circuit breakers after you re-set them, then the malfunction may be more serious and you should call for repair technicians.
  • See that the vents are unblocked: Moving furniture and rugs in a room could end up blocking the vents, resulting in cold spots. Check to see that all the vents have open access and the airflow from them feels warm.
  • Call for repair technicians: If none of the above steps helps the situation, then you shouldn’t attempt anything more on your own. Call a 24-hour repair service to come to your home and analyze the problem to discover the best way to remedy it.

At Sunset Air, we handle many types of heaters: furnaces, boilers, wood stoves, radiant heaters, heat pumps, dual fuel systems, geothermal heat pumps, and ductless heaters. No matter the type of heater you use to provide comfort for your household, you can trust to our experts at heating to keep it running.

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When New Year’s Day Was Not on January 1st

Thursday, January 1st, 2015

Some holidays fall on shifting calendar days for every year, such as Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November) and Easter (the first Sunday after the first full moon to occur on or after March 21). Other holidays, such as Valentine’s Day and Halloween, are fixed. No holiday has a more solid calendar date attached to it than New Year’s Day. It has to fall on January 1st because it celebrates the first day of a new year. That only makes sense…

…except that, like most things that at first appear obvious, there is a bit more to the story. The beginning of the year was not always on the first of January. As with an enormous numbers of traditions in the Western World, the establishment of January 1st as the inaugural day of a new year goes back to the ancient Romans.

The modern solar calendar is derived from the Roman model, but the earliest Roman calendars did not have 365 days in a year spread over 12 months. Instead, there were 304 days spread over 10 months. The Romans believed this calendar originated with the mythical founder of the city, Romulus. If Romulus were a real person, we can credit him with a poor understanding of the seasons, as this abbreviated calendar soon got out of sync with Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Numa, one of the Kings of Rome (probably also fictional) receives credit for creating a longer year with two added months, Ianuarius and Februarius, bringing the number of days in the year to 355. The new month of Ianuarius, named after Ianus (Janus in contemporary spelling), the god of beginnings, would eventually be known in English as January. But when this new calendar was instituted, January was not the first month. March, named after the god of war, remained the first month, and March 1st was New Year’s Day.

This extended calendar still did not keep in synch with the seasons. In 45 BCE, Julius Caesar instituted reforms to align the calendar correctly according to calculations of astronomers, with an additional 10 days distributed across the year. January also became set as the first month, and offerings to the god Janus on this day started the tradition we now know as New Year’s. The date still fluctuated during the ensuing centuries, with a number of Western European holy days treated as the beginning of the year instead. It wasn’t until the next calendar reform in 1582, the Gregorian Calendar, that the date of the New Year was fixed at January 1st.

However you choose to celebrate the beginning of the current calendar, everyone here at Sunset Air you have a wonderful 2015!

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