By Colin Killian, Public Communications Director
In this week's episode of "What's Up, College Station?" Marketing Coordinator Grace Hallowell and CSU Energy Coordinator Patrick McIntyre discuss the recent winter storm, electric rebates, preparing your HVAC system for the spring, and the upcoming Home and Garden Show.
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If you have a suggestion for a future topic or interview, email me at ckillian@cstx.gov.
TRANSCRIPT
Grace Hallowell:
What's up, College Station? I'm Grace Hallowell, and today I'm joined by Pat McIntyre, our Energy Coordinator over from College Station Utilities.
We have had a very cold week here in College Station. It is the winter time that we get for the short period of time that we get winter. So I hope you've been staying warm. I know we've been staying warm and busy here at the City.
Patrick McIntyre:
Yeah, we've been, the utility, we've had extra crews on because of the snow.
Back in Uri, we purchased some four-wheel drives. So we had all those gassed up. We had a second on-call crew identified. But yeah, we're back to normal on Wednesday now.
Everybody was working remotely Tuesday, but everything's back to normal. As far as the energy rebates go, I know it's hard to believe that summer's around the corner and springtime, so we recommend everybody get their system checked out going into spring. You definitely want to get your condenser cleaned, outside unit. And with service tech, you want to have them flush out your drain line once a year because that's something you don't want to have encounter, fill up your pan, and have a ceiling issue.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And now is the perfect time to do that before it gets too hot. I know personally, I would rather have to use some space heaters in the wintertime if something's wrong rather than not have AC in the summertime.
Patrick McIntyre:
Yes. Yeah, and keep in mind, if you are using those space heaters that electric heat is very on time, but it can be expensive. If there's something wrong with your central unit, now is the time to get it checked out.
Grace Hallowell:
And with the rebates, it's an opportunity to save a little bit of money.
Patrick McIntyre:
Oh, sure. If you find yourself having to replace your system, we have an energy VAC II AC replacement rebate. It starts at $600 for 16 SEER, 700 for 17, and the 18 above is 800.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. So definitely look into that. Now's the time to do it. And can we talk a little bit about, I know we mentioned it briefly, but why is it so important to stay up to date and regularly check your HVAC system?
Patrick McIntyre:
Usually, springtime is a good time to do it. You want to get a yearly tune up on it because things can change over the course of a year. We've had the hot summers and then everything cools down to the way it is now. And so you want to have that looked at before you really need your system to operate in the springtime. The tech is going to check Freon levels. They're going to look at, most people have the smart thermostats now, so they're going to look at your usage and your data on there, where most people just set it and then it learns and they don't really dig into the data. So they'll take a look at that, see if anything's been going on.
You definitely want to get that pan line blown out because you can get insulation and just dust and stuff in there, and so you want to make sure that's flowing and free. An AC system makes like five gallons of water a day in a hot, humid summer, and then the outside unit is going to get dust and stuff like that. And so people can clean it themselves just a thumb over the water hose. Most of the pans at the bottom of the unit have little drain ports where it just flushes out, but you can have your AC tech do it as well.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. Very important stuff to keep your home safe and to save you a little bit of money. And what else do we have going on?
Patrick McIntyre:
Well, so the connected thermostat, usually systems, if somebody's getting a new system, find themselves in that position, they're going to get a new thermostat. So a lot of times they forget about the thermostat rebate. That's a $30 credit on your utility bill, and that'll usually be embedded in the receipt you get from the AC contractor. LED lights, we still offer $2 a bulb up to $20 annually on LED lights. Energy audits, we're doing free energy audits. We're doing a bunch of them right now with the cold weather, because a lot of the multifamily units are heat pumps, and so when you get below 30 degrees, the auxiliary heat kicks in. That can make your bill high, so be aware of that when you're adjusting your thermostat. But we're getting a lot of energy audits right now. So it's summer in reverse currently.
But we're going to be going into the Home & Garden Show in March, I want to make sure I mention that, March 1st and 2nd in Legends. And then right after that, Monday, we're going to be doing the electric portion of CSU.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. So great opportunities to come out and meet with CSU, ask your questions.
Patrick McIntyre:
Yeah, face-to-face. We'll be at the booth both Saturday and Sunday. Usually, it's nine to five on Saturday and 11:00 to four on Sundays. But come out and meet us. We got lots of giveaways, got a nice booth, and we're going to be there with Jennifer Nations right next door, and so water and electric will be right there together.
Grace Hallowell:
Well, where can people find out more information about what we've talked about today?
Patrick McIntyre:
Of course, on the website with us. We have an energy page on the website. There's also a solar page that attaches to that, if you're interested in solar. And the Greater Brazos Valley Home Builders Association is where you can find out about the Home & Garden Show.
About the Blogger
Colin Killian has been with the City of College Station since 2010 after serving 23 years as the associate media relations director for the Texas A&M Athletics Department. He has also worked as a reporter and editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and Lewisville News. A native of Hobbs, N.M., Killian graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/political science.
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