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Dear Friends,
Since our founding — more than 100 years ago — we have helped thousands of customers through the worst of times, restoring their heat, resolving fuel or water leaks, and handling other complex situations.
Our highly trained service technicians have the skills to handle all repairs, as well as tune-ups and installations. You can feel confident that we will get the job done right the first time—and we will stand behind all our products and service work.
Most important, as a Swezey customer, you will get the fastest heating emergency service in Suffolk County—24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No matter when you call on us, we always have technicians ready to help keep your family warm and safe.
Heating emergencies know no boundaries, and they won’t wait until the weather warms up or normal business hours resume. We won’t wait, either. We remain diligent about keeping our equipment and facilities well maintained and up to date so that when you need us, nothing holds us back.
Our team looks forward to looking after you this winter. Give us a call or contact us through our website and let us know how we can help you this season.
Warmly,
Bruce, Gary, Kent and Michael
Enter our new prize drawing to win a Yale Assure touchscreen deadbolt + Amazon Cloud Cam. Enjoy keyless access for yourself and your family members and easily monitor and control your front door from anywhere by connecting with the Cloud Cam.
Read this newsletter, then answer the questions on our contest page. All entries received by 1/17/20 with the correct answers will be entered into a drawing. Three winners will be selected!
No purchase necessary. A purchase will not increase chance of winning. Visit our contest page for details.
Within the next decade or so, it’s expected that heating oil will become a carbon-neutral fuel. This means that heating oil will have a minimal carbon footprint and very low greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to a combination of higher biofuel blends, ultra-low sulfur content and the introduction of super-high-efficiency equipment.
Compare these exciting advances to the environmental impact of natural gas. Methane — the main component of natural gas — has the capacity to trap so much heat in the atmosphere that one ton of it causes 32 times as much warming as one ton of carbon dioxide over the course of a century.*
There has also been an alarming increase in natural gas explosions, sometimes caused by overpressurization. While pressure fluctuations are necessary to keep gas flowing through the pipelines, they put enormous stress on the aging infrastructure of the pipeline network.
The bottom line: If you’re looking for a safe, clean-burning heating fuel, you already have that with heating oil. Oil heat can’t be beat!
*Source: Los Angeles Times, 3/2/19.
The journey to seek out better comfort can bring you much wisdom. We hope you will find more peace after reading these answers from our home comfort wizard.
While many types of malfunctions can cause your system to operate poorly (or not operate at all), the problems outlined below are not only quite common, but relatively easy and inexpensive to fix.
Power switches turned off
If your heat stops working, these are among the first things you should check. First, it often happens that the power switches for the heating system have been turned off by mistake. Simply turn the electrical switches back to the “on” position and your problem may be solved.
Unchecked air filters or water level
If you have a furnace, change or clean the filters about once a month; a dirty filter compromises efficiency and can even result in a shutdown. If you have a steam boiler, check the water gauge periodically. Low water levels are a leading cause of boiler shutdowns. Steam boilers should also be “flushed” when the water in the sight glass looks rusty.
Tripped circuit breaker
Going to the circuit breaker box and flipping the proper switch may be all you need to get running again. However, a circuit breaker rarely ever trips for no reason. If this happens once and never happens again, consider it a fluke. But if this happens more often, arrange for service, as this could be a sign of a serious problem.
Faulty thermostat
Many instances of heating systems not working can be traced to the thermostat, which sends a signal to your boiler or furnace to generate heat. If the wiring is deteriorating, these signals may get erratic. A buildup of dust inside your thermostat is another common culprit. You may also need to change the batteries in your thermostat.
Your heating system doesn’t work like a car — there is no gas pedal to step on to make it go faster. Your furnace or boiler will produce heat at the same rate regardless of whether your thermostat is set to 68 degrees or 85 degrees. (Setting the thermostat higher just makes your system work longer.)
Hot Tip #1: For better temperature control, trade in your old manual thermostat for a digital, programmable one. This allows you to automate your home temperature settings and can help you reduce your energy use and save as much as 10%.
Hot Tip #2: Never program your thermostat below 60 degrees, even if you’ll be away from home for a period of time. When your thermostat setting is too low, you risk frozen pipes. Water pipes near outside walls or in unheated spaces are especially prone to freeze-ups. The risk increases if cracks in your foundation allow cold air to seep into your home.
Sure, you wants to save money on heating your home, but you don’t want to cause problems while you’re at it. One common mistake we see is when people drastically reduce or completely shut off the heat in different zones of their home.
While you might think you’ll save a little on heating costs, shutting off radiators or closing vents creates the possibility that pipes will freeze — especially in rooms that tend to be colder anyway. That’s a really costly problem.
If you have a furnace, closing some vents disrupts normal air flow, causing an imbalance that will just make your furnace work harder and strain your ductwork.
It’s best to keep heat flowing to all the rooms in your home.
A better idea is to keep the temperature at a comfortable level throughout your home and program your system to energy-saving settings when the house is empty or everyone is asleep.
If you have a zoned system, you can vary the temperature in different rooms, eliminating the temptation of shutting the heat off completely in some parts of your home.
A study of over 1,000 homes across the country showed that consumers are getting short-changed on energy efficiency because of a combination of poor equipment installation and lax maintenance.*
After adjustments were made to correct problems, however, efficiency improved, on average, by a phenomenal 36%! This was accomplished through the following methods:
As you can see, a few fixes could save you a lot of money on heat and keep you more comfortable.
*Source: National Comfort Institute
For veteran delivery driver Billy Marosz, October 2019 marked his 40th anniversary of employment with Swezey. Besides delivering fuel, he has also been involved in service repairs, building maintenance and truck maintenance over the years.
Billy has a true appreciation for the environment at Swezey.
“For me, it has always been a place to learn a range of skills,” he says. “This is truly a nice company to work for. If something comes up with the family and you need time off, it doesn’t matter what time of year it is, they work with you. They’re very understanding that way.”
Of all our people working in the field, Billy has been here the longest.
“I’ve been there through three generations of the bosses,” he says. “When I started, Bruce and Gary were here, but their fathers were still in charge. Now it’s their sons who are getting more involved each year so they’ll be ready when Gary and Bruce retire — if they ever do!”
Our third-party-notification program ensures that family members and friends you care about never lose heat due to unpaid bills. If someone does not respond to a fuel bill, we’ll contact their designated third party to make sure everything is OK.
There is no financial responsibility for the third party, but this program ensures that vital fuel deliveries are not interrupted, and you can feel good about protecting loved ones from an unnecessary loss of heat. Call us today to enroll.
Sometimes less is more. That’s certainly true when it comes to the time and clutter generated by paper bills. Here are a few ways we can help you simplify — and save you money too.
*Valid for new enrollees only, please.
From minor repairs to major projects, Swezey Fuel can be your go-to company for anything related to plumbing. We have full-time licensed plumbers on staff and give you affordable pricing — with no surprises. Please visit our plumbing page to see all we can do for you.
Schedule plumbing service by 12/31/19 and get a 15% discount.*
*Maximum discount is $75.