The Solution for Allergies

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Ed Grady

Grady Mechanical has the solution to your allergy problems.

If you look at the video below, a significant part of allergies can come from the air quality in your home:

Our solutions are the excellent line of AprilAire Whole Home Air Cleaner and the Field Control’s UV light system. Without these filters you can have a whole host of potentially dangerous particles circulating through your home.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the air in homes can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. The air in a single room can contain hundreds of thousands of infectious bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, and contaminants, which can only be seen with a microscope.

INSTALLING A UV LIGHT CAN HELP KILL THESE CONTAMINANTS: UV disinfection has been determined to be adequate for inactivating bacteria and viruses. UV-Aire uses the energy from a specially designed, high-intensity UV-C lamp to reduce microorganisms in the entire home as they cycle through the HVAC system. The UV-Aire sterilizes or kills most contaminants as they pass the lamp.

INSTALLING A WHOLE HOME AIR CLEANER CAN HELP TRAP THESE CONTAMINANTS: Permanently traps and emoves 80% of virus-sized particles (0.01 microns) when new. Traps and permanently removes 94% of bacteria-sized particles (0.35 microns) when new.

If you find yourself suffering from seasonal allergies, have Grady Mechanical come over and show you how you can get relief immediately.

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Why We are Supporters of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Ed Grady

If you were to come in to our office and pay your bill on any Saturday a few years ago, chances were that you were served by Mike and my aunt, Sharon Grady. Sharon was one of our biggest supporters and was instrumental in helping us get off the ground in our first few years.

More importantly, she was one of our favorite people who helped raise and support us.

In 2009, Sharon was diagnosed with AML, a type of leukemia, and she died 6 months later due to complications from the excruciating chemotherapy treatments. We spent a lot of time in the hospital with her and witnessed firsthand how horrifying and painful the treatments are for this disease, both on the patient and to us – who had to watch her go through it.

In her memory, Grady Mechanical has decided to become an official supporter of the Connecticut Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We will be supporting them in their fundraising efforts and participating in their events.

Illness and disease touches every person in this world. We have all been affected by someone close to us suffering from a terrible disease. We’ve dedicated our fundraising efforts to help make sure that less people go through what our aunt, and our family, have gone through.

Sharon Grady and Ed Grady in September, 2009

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Grady Mech’s Oil Price Always Below County Average

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Ed Grady

Above is a chart showing the average price of oil for Hartford County (from data provided by the Dept of Consumer Protection) in blue and the Grady Mechanical customer oil price in red. As you can see, we are always well below the county average.

This is important for you to know because besides the fact that we are much lower than the average customer is paying, we are still a full-service HVAC and oil delivery company. We are not a discount oil company. Those operations are usually one person with little to no overhead that cannot provide you with any services other than the cheapest oil possible. Grady Mechanical works efficiently to both provide you with a good price on heating oil AND staffing a great customer service department, outstanding technicians that are available 24/7/365 and programs to protect and maintain your equipment.

With low oil prices and top notch service, Grady Mech provides the total customer experience for you. If you haven’t already experienced it, contact us today!

 

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Ask A Contractor #7

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Ed Grady
Q: When should I look into having central air conditioning installed?

A: The truth of that matter is – Whenever the weather breaks! Mid-March/early April is the best time to do it, before it gets too hot. Once the A/C season gets into swing and we get bogged down by service calls and installations that have stretched through there, it tends to delay the process, which increases your discomfort. So, if you’re thinking about doing it, you should do it as soon as you want.

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CUSTOMERS: Credit Card Breach DOES NOT Affect You

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Ed Grady

Dear Customers,

You may have seen articles like this one that describes a very large credit card data breach from a credit card payment processor.

Grady Mechanical LLC does not use the company that was breached, Global Payments Inc.

Your credit card information is stored with the highest encrypted security from Sage Payment Solutions.

You can call us with any questions.

Ed Grady, Managing Partner

 


 

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Oil Speculators Aren’t Playing Chicken

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Ed Grady

This opinion piece in the community forum of the NASDAQ really helps explain just how speculators drive up the cost of oil. It’s worth reading: it quickly touches on everything from the Keystone XL pipeline, Dodd/Frank regulations, gas prices and speculative trading.. Example:

In October 2011, when the Dodd-Frank bill was passed after the financial meltdown in 2008, the CFTC voted to adopt rules that would limit the number of futures and swap contracts that commodity speculators may hold. But even though the rules passed, the CFTC has yet to enforce those rules.

 


 

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CT Wants to Tax Heating Oil

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Ed Grady

There is a very concerning bill being debated in the Connecticut State Senate, SB 450, that has many deeply concerning provisions in it. The text of the bill is available here, but there are two sections that are most troubling in our eyes.

Section One:

(Effective from passage) (a) The Fuel Oil Conservation Board shall establish and administer a fuel oil conservation account. The account shall be a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund and shall be funded by annual revenue from the tax imposed by section 12-587 of the general statutes on the sale of petroleum products gross earnings that is in excess of the amount of such revenue collected during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, provided not more than ten million dollars of such revenue shall be allocated to said account in any year. Said funds shall be deposited into the fuel oil conservation account.

(b) The Fuel Oil Conservation Board shall allocate specific amounts from the fuel oil conservation account established pursuant to subsection (a) of this section for the purpose of (1) replacing oil heating equipment of residential, commercial or industrial fuel oil customers with oil heating equipment that has an efficiency rating of not less than eighty-five per cent efficient, (2) installing oil heating equipment in buildings with electric resistance heating, and (3) making energy efficient improvements to buildings that use oil heating. Any moneys left in the account at the end of any fiscal year shall be transferred to the General Fund.

and Section 4:

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall examine the costs and benefits of developing programs to (1) encourage conversion of buildings using heating oil to natural gas, and (2) increase the efficiency of heating oil use. On or before January 1, 2013, the department shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, the findings of such examination and recommendations concerning the implementation of such programs to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to energy.

Essentially, these sections propose several things:

  1. TAXING heating oil. Ostensibly for the purpose of creating a rebate fund.
  2. Converting State buildings (the largest real estate owner in CT) to natural gas from heating oil.

Why these things concern us:

  • 20 years ago a 1% tax on gasoline sales was suppose to fund insurance for commercial gasoline underground tanks and now the tax is 7.53% – 23 cents a gallon!!! – and the state DEEP is sitting on $100 million in backlogged claims it cannot pay because a succession of past Legislatures and Governors have diverted the revenue away from the Commercial Tank Fund to pay for other things. We don’t trust the state not to do this again.
  • For 17 out of the last 20 years heating oil was less expensive than natural gas and just because natural gas has a temporary, current price advantage the people in Hartford think everyone should convert to natural gas now? Does Hartford now believe they can see the future with certainty and somehow believe THEY know best for choices that should be made by consumers in a free market?
  • That section of the bill, by law, forcibly takes customers away from me and literally hands them to the multinational, multi-state BIG natural gas monopoly.

Remember from past blog posts:

  • Natural gas is cheaper than heating oil now, but if its allowed to be exported – like many want it to be – the price will balloon based on international demand.
  • Heating oil is sold (mostly) by small, independent retailers that hire locally and support their communities. There is fierce price competition and buying heating oil supports your local economy.
  • Natural gas is a giant conglomerate that controls its price and has 39 lobbyists in Hartford. The heating oil industry in Connecticut has one.

Contact your local senator and let them know that SB 450 is BAD for Connecticut. You can find your local representatives here.

 

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Nat Gas Prices Hit New Low, But Some Feel It Can’t Last

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Ed Grady

According to this article on CNN Money, natural gas prices have hit a ten year low. It details the many reasons why the price has plummeted.

However, this article on the Financial Post website suggests that the price can’t last and quotes an Minnesota executive believing:

However, with U.S. gas prices so low, Jeddeloh is confident the temptation to buy the commodity and export it as liquefied natural gas (LNG) will grow.

Allowing US produced oil to be exported has been named as one of the significant drivers of oil prices. Natural gas is currently not exported. If it is, what will happen to the price? Will it become comparable to heating oil, as it historically has??

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The Keystone XL Pipeline – would it help?

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Ed Grady

This article in the Christian Science Monitor looks at whether or not the contested Keystone XL Pipeline would actually help US consumers. It’s not a rosy as its proponents would have you believe. Besides the environmental concerns – which are legitimate, the article also sheds light one what the Canadians think will happen to the US with the pipeline.

One providing more oil to the US market instead of “foreign sources”:

Less obvious, however, is the fact that the Keystone XL pipeline is not actually needed to bring all that new Canadian oil to the US – a flow now projected to rise to 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030, according to the same DOE study. Often characterized by proponents as validating the need for the pipeline, that study actually found that Canadian oil import growth will go on at “almost identical” levels through 2030 using existing and new pipeline capacity as well as rail shipments – whether or not Keystone XL is built.

On the use of oil from the Keystone XL pipeline:

“Rather than providing the US with more Canadian oil, Keystone XL will simply shift oil from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, where much of it can be exported to international buyers – decreasing US energy supply and increasing the cost of oil in the American Midwest,” concludes a new study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy non-profit group, citing numerous TransCanada studies and the transcripts of Canadian federal hearings.

And the article sees sources that see the opposite of lowering oil prices:

US farmers who spent $12.4 billion on fuel in 2009 could see those costs rise to $15 billion or higher if the pipeline goes through, he projects. At least $500 million of the added cost “would come from the Canadian market manipulation,” he wrote.

“Millions of Americans will spend 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuel as tribute to our ‘friendly’ neighbors to the north,” the highly respected Dr. Verleger wrote. “The Keystone XL pipeline will move production from Canadian oil sands to a deepwater port from where it can be exported.”

But that is not merely Verleger’s opinion. It’s based on findings of the economic consultants hired by TransCanada – contained in their analyses of the pipeline’s impact on Canadian oil producers and in official testimony before Canada’s National Energy Board

This is a very interesting perspective on a very contentious national issues. We think its an important read. What do you think about the concerns the article raises?


 

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It’s Official: Highest oil prices in a long time

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Ed Grady

This article (Oil price to hit new all time-highs, average USD 123 per barrel expected until March 2013) from The Diplomat in Romania (!!) details some facts about the price of oil and the world wide economy. Choice quote:

Brent crude rose to a new all-time high of USD 111 per barrel on average in 2011. Even when adjusted for inflation, this was higher than in 2008 and even higher than during the second oil shock of 1979/1980.

When you consider how bad the mentioned periods were for us as consumers, we can only hope the situation will improve. However, the title of the article leaves little room for hope.


 

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