Alber Service Company Before & After Photos

It was the middle of the summer but this long term client had no air conditioning because the blower motor and circuit board in their 20-year old furnace had met an untimely end. The repair would have cost over $1000 so they wisely chose to replace the furnace and take advantage of utility incentives and tax credits.

We replaced the furnace with a 97% efficient 2-stage American Standard furnace with a variable speed blower. The 2-stage operation means the furnace runs at full output when it's really cold but at only 50% output when it's mild. This delivers long heating cycles that provide superior comfort. The variable speed blower uses 67% less electricity than the blower in the old furnace, so the client will save electricity in the summer as well as the winter. A great choice!

This homeowner had lived in this house for 8-years when we first met her. For 8-years she had experienced an uncomfortable 2nd floor in the summer time. The back of the house was ok but the front of the house where her children slept was always much hotter than her bedroom in the back. Her air conditioning company would come every year and tell her her system was running fine and they couldn't help her. But she was lucky enough to get referred to Alber Service Company by friend.

Our inspection revealed the air conditioning equipment was properly sized and was in fact working correctly. But her duct system was a nightmare! The sheet metal ducts had no insulation around them and only 1-in of fiberglass insulation inside the duct. Attic temperatures can easily exceed 130-degrees in the heat of summer. That heat teals the "coolness" from the ductwork before it ever gets into the rooms below. The air coming out of the ceiling registers in the room at the end of the long duct run was 12-degrees warmer than the air coming out the closest ceiling register! And the poorly sealed return air ducts were drawing in hot attic air that then needed to cooled before it leaked back out into the attic thru the supply duct leaks. That will never work.

The solution was to first install balancing dampers so air flow can be adjusted between rooms. And most importantly, the ductwork was encapsulated with high density closed cell spray foam. This raised the insulation value from R-4 to R-19 while at the same time it sealed the ducts air tight. The losses thru this ductwork were reduced by over 70%!

The second floor is now cool everywhere regardless of how hot it gets outside. And the utility bills will be much lower during the cooling season. A Big Winner!

this homeowner grew very tired of her 30-year old oil furnace. It was loud, dirty, and cost a small fortune to operate every winter. She decided to hire Alber Service Company to replace it with a 97% efficient American Standard two-stage gas furnace. It operates at either 100% output or 50% output depending on how cold it is outside. This results in long, even heating cycles instead of blasts of hot air followed by long "OFF" cycles like the old oil furnace delivered. The variable speed blower in this super efficient furnace uses 67% less electricity than the old blower so it saves money on the electric bill as well as the gas bill.

You can also see we sealed all the ductwork with brush-on duct sealant. This keeps the system from drawing in basement air, conditioning it, then blowing it back into the basement. It was much easier to balance the air flow to all the rooms once the ducts were sealed. Comfort and efficiency beautifully installed!

This house had a 95% efficient boiler installed by Alber Service Company in 2019. It uses copper baseboard heating elements to distribute the heat so no ductwork was available when the client decided he wanted to add air conditioning. He was tired of lugging the window units in and out every summer and fall.

He opted for a super efficient Fujitsu multi-head heat pump with an indoor unit in the dining room and the three bedrooms. The dining room is open into the kitchen and living room so they get cool whenever the dining room unit is running. And leaving the doors open on the second floor keeps the hallway and bathroom cool up there. The white enclosure on the wall is called line hide and encloses the refrigerant piping and wiring for the front bedroom unit. This system  also provides heat in four separate zones so he doesn't have to heat up the entire house by turning the boiler on.

The outdoor unit was installed along the driveway so we mounted it on the wall so the client doesn't have to worry about smacking it with his truck when he pulls in. It looks great out there when compared to window units. And there's no security issue like there is with a window unit in an open, unlocked window. Great Choice!

I bet you've never seen one of these before! It's an original coal-fired boiler from the 1880's that was converted to oil sometime in the 1930's. And it was still working when the client called about an upgrade. Of course, she was paying a fortune for heating oil while keeping the thermostat set on 58-degrees so she didn't go bankrupt.

She opted to replace it with a 95% efficient Bosch Greenstar Combi boiler. This boiler provides both hot water for her radiators and hot water to the taps in the sinks, shower, etc. Her heating costs have dropped by 50% even though she sets the thermostat for 68-degrees now. 

This is great looking installation that she is proud to have in the basement of Her Old House.