Plumbing involves fixing and maintenance of pipes and tubes for water or gas distribution and drainage system. If there is any problem with plumbing in your house, it is important to hire an expert plumber who is experienced enough to do the job correctly. Not all of them in the business are pros so make sure you get the right individual or company.

Any damage done by a plumbing company’s carelessness during the repair should be covered by him. Professional plumbing companies have liability insurance to take care of such situations. Make it a point to ask for a copy of the insurance policy before you let the person start work.

It is a rule in many states that plumbers must have a license. To make sure that the license is valid, you can call the respective agency and check for the same. Before the repair, ask how much it would cost, if there is a guarantee, and what other service is included in the package. Prepare a written document of the terms and get a signature on it.

If the job being done involves expensive equipment, you can also find out how many years of experience the plumber has and get contact numbers of a few references. Call and find out from them about the plumbing company’s service level.

Keep these tips in mind so that you are not in for a surprise when things go wrong. Go ahead with the plumbing work only if you get a positive response for all your queries from the plumber.

President Kyle Lumsden was recently interviewed by Mechanical Business and was featured on the cover page. It was a candid Q&A session with a focus on Kyle’s personal interests and views. He spoke about his early days in the business (it’s been twenty years since he first started) when he would travel at least three hours a day with his best companions – audio books.

Kyle said that he loved interacting with people and solving their technical issues – a perfect combination for the job he is so passionate about. He also briefly talked about the level of service provided by Clearview. He also mentioned how all Clearview service vehicles come with custom shelves and several hundred parts. He said that all customers are treated equally and get similar levels of service.

Recounting one of his fondest memories on the job, he narrated the incident where Clearview helped out a single mother and her kids with a broken heat exchanger in winter. With some help from the city of Calgary and the supplier, Clearview supplied a free furnace to the woman, who could not afford to buy a new one. He said that this was what was important to him and to the company.

Kyle also told Mechanical Business about Clearview’s charity program, which awards one charity $1000 through a draw held every month. He said he wished that they could write out a check to all the charities and help them out with all the money they need.

On a lighter note, he spoke about his favorite food (lots of steak!), movie (The Hurt Locker), sports (bike racing and weight lifting) and favorite business websites. The hard core Metallica fan also said that the one place in the world that he would most like to visit is China and the one person that he would like to meet is Lance Armstrong. He signed off with a few words of motivation for all – “make everyday your absolute best”.

HomeStars Awards ClearView With Best of Calgary Contractor Award

Thanks to our loyal customers, we were rated the top plumber in Calgary on HomeStars.

HomeStars is new to Calgary, having just launched in 2009. This online community of homeowners and home improvement companies offers reviews of contractors in various categories. Using these reviews, customers can find reputable contractors and tradespeople. You can visit the site and see the reviews at Homestars.

In 2009, ClearView had the most reviews for the city of Calgary, with 20. We also received a stellar customer rating of 9.8 out of 10.

On behalf of everyone here at ClearView, I would like to thank the satisfied customers who took the time to write a review about our service. We can’t thank you enough for your kind words and recommendations.

We have always prided ourselves on our responsiveness to customer needs and concerns. We are happy to be part of the HomeStars community and we look forward to connecting with our customers there.

When dealing with a furnace, you don’t want to take any chances. Ease your mind by hiring experts who will clean and check your natural gas furnace.

We only use fully certified Service Technicians who are continually upgrading their training and are qualified to work on your natural gas equipment.

Whether you have questions about your filter or your heating system in it’s entirety, your Service Technician will be able to answer you during your service call.

Your satisfaction is guaranteed by CLEARVIEW PLUMBING & HEATING.

Your questions on insulation answered

Do you ever wonder why insulation is important in your home? Without insulation, there is no continuous thermal barrier that diminishes the heat flow through your home. It’s important to have the proper kind of insulation, as well as the correct type, placed within your floor, walls, and ceilings.

With the correct insulation, you have fewer bills for heat in the winter and cool air in the summer, and your home is snug when it needs to be and cool when it’s hot outside. Insulation needs to be installed properly and be the correct type to avoid the pitfalls of spaces and holes allowing unwanted air to blow into your home.

Homeowners should be educated about R-value. An R-value measures the capability of the insulation to ward off the elements that attempt to move through it. If your insulation has a high R-value, it is less likely to allow hot air into your home.

In terms of air conditioning, blown-in insulation needs to be placed above your bedrooms so that the heat of the day does not make your sleeping quarters unbearable at night.

Effective Air Purifiers

If you do your research, you will see that as homes become more insulated, the protective barriers can work against you; keeping pollutants inside your home and not letting them escape.

Air contaminants aren’t just for those with pets or smokers; the air in your house is loaded with dust, spores, bacteria, and pollen.

You may think that the filter in your furnace works to trap these contaminants for you, but the reality is that your furnances filter only traps a small amount of the bad air in your home. If you are a person who suffers from allergies or asthma, you know that even a small amount of irritation can go a long way to making you uncomfortable.

The best air purifier for your money is the The Aprilaire® Media Air Cleaner air filtration system. It’s quiet, easy to use, and inexpensive.

Deadly airborne microorganisms are here to stay

As our heating and cooling systems have changed for the better, our homes, places of business, and educational institutions have become a haven for germs that exist solely indoors.

The answer to really attacking the germs in your area and prevent them from spreading is Ultraviolet “C”. Installed in your ducts, it sterilizes your indoor air and kills the germs before they spread.

Not only does UVC kill all of the germs it comes into contact with, you also save on duct cleaning and have an overall cleaner home environment because it keeps your heating and cooling systems free from algae, mold, and slime.

The Dryness Cure

There is nothing worse than dry air in the winter. You skin can feel dry and itchy due to the humidity that is stripped from outside air that is heated in your home. The dryness affects not only the people in the home, but your furnishings and the basic structure of your house as well.

To get back some moisture in the air, humidity is added in a vapor form to the dry air and pumped back through the home. To gain a better balance of moisture in your home, Aprilaire introduced the world’s only automatic humidifier. It produces up to 50% more moisture in your air, and with the Auto-Trac system you don’t have to spend time adjusting the humidistat. Aprilaire simply monitors the current temperatures and regulates the humidity inside the home accordingly. Easy to maintain, the free-flow design means you don’t have to spend hours checking levels or cleaning. Find a setting that makes you comfortable and let Aprilaire do the work.

The daunting task of buying a gas furnace

Finding the right type of furnace for your home is a big undertaking. The wrong choice can cause you years of discomfort.

Begin by finding the name and make of your previous furnace and do a breakdown of what you loved and disliked about it. If you disliked your furnace, ask yourself why? If your bills mounted higher and higher in the winter, you will probably be seeking a more cost efficient way to heat your home. As well, if you continually froze in the winter, you might be seeking a furnace with a higher capacity to produce heat.

A decent furnace is a great investment for your home. Not only will they provide you with the comfort and savings you are seeking, but a high-end furnace is also a good selling point for you if you plan on moving from your home. You will get to enjoy your heating system now, and be assured that you will be upping the equity in your home for the next family that will live there.

When shopping for your new furnace, ask your sales person about the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency rating or AFUE. The efficiency of your furnace will be vital to your bottom line, and you can find a number of extremely efficient gas furnaces at ABC. You can choose a two-stage or variable speed, and be sure that with either option your comfort is guaranteed.

If you choose a furnace with varying speed options, know that you will have a significant increase in power in relation to a standard furnace. You will be more comfortable in your home knowing that these variable speed furnaces are also less expensive to run, by almost 80%!

The Two-stage furnace blows at full capacity when the outside temperature is at it’s coldest. When the temps warm up, it operates at a reduced capacity to save you money. Simply by automating the consistency of heat, the two-stage furnace improves air filtration and air quality in your home.

I’ve Warned Calgary Homeowners for Years About Hiring Contractors With Low Standards… And An Accused Sexual Predator Out On Bail Just Made My Point For Me.

The Paper Just Ran An Article About An Accused Rapist Working As A Technician In Calgary

On November 21st The Calgary Sun ran a story about a man named James Alexander Parent who is suspected of committing rape. He’s now out on bail, working as a home service technician.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/11/21/11851726-sun.html

I am sure that this story is not the only case in which people that SHOULDN’T be trusted are getting hired out there by companies that don’t take your personal safety seriously.

There Have Been Many People That We Were Serious About Hiring That Ended Up Having A “Rap Sheet” Including Theft And Felonies

We knew we made the right decision to take these extra steps after we started with the process. When we started looking for new employees, we would eliminate many of them because we knew they didn’t have the ability to meet our standards. Then, with the remaining prospects, we would conduct further interviews. We would be looking for characteristics that were important to us – like:

• Are they professional and courteous?
• Are they certified plumbing/HVAC technicians?
• Will they be polite and professional?
• Do they have the desire to go the extra mile for our customers?
• Do they care about doing the job “by the book” so they can keep ClearView’s high standards?

Then, if the applicant seemed to meet all these criteria, we’d get serious about hiring them. We’d say, “We just need to perform a background check and a drug test before we move ahead” … and guess what? On many occasions, we’ve found that these applicants had legal records including theft, drug use, and even far more serious crimes.

Years ago we decided that we were gong to go ahead and perform thorough drug and background checks on all the people we were thinking of hiring. Yes, it would be more expensive for us to screen potential employees, and yes, it would require that we do a much more thorough hiring and training process than others in the plumbing and heating and industry, but we realized that we could not in good conscience send someone into your home that hadn’t passed these basic tests.

You Can’t Judge A Technician Solely On Whether Or Not They Seem Nice Or Trustworthy

We have been very surprised by some of the people we’ve turned away – we’d never have guessed that these characters wouldn’t pass our background checks. Many of them have seemed to us that they would have made great employees. They were polite and seemed professional… and only when we ran our checks did we realize the truth about them.

We Take Extra Steps To Screen Potential Employees For Your Safety

Let me say up front that there are a lot of reputable professionals in Calgary. There are several of my competitors that are honest and, as far as I know, they run their businesses with integrity and your best interest in mind.

But we know that others have hired the people that we’ve turned away. They could not pass these basic tests, and now they’re working somewhere no doubt with an employee badge and a name and logo on their shirt.

We’ve Put The Word Out… Don’t Even Try To Work At ClearView if You Can’t Pass A Background Check!

Just another reason to trust ClearView. We not only do the job right…. We send the right people for the job!

We get togther as a company, on a social basis several times a year at Clearview Plumbing & Heating. It´s nice to take break from time to time from all those plumbing and heating repairs!

I recently had the pleasure of taking my staff out for a bowling night. I enjoy our get–togethers and meeting my staff’s significant others. It probably sounds corny, but I just have to say how proud I am of my staff.

These events provide a great opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better, and wow, I sure do have the nicest people working for me! Thank you to all of you who were able to join us that night. I wouldn´t be surprised if my staff view me as the uncool dad who doesn’t get out much, but it sure was an entertaining evening.

Tami said it was an all around fun night "shakin´ the work, gettin´ down and having fun." (a direct quote). For Coral and other staff, it was the face to face interaction with other staff that doesn´t happen on a daily basis that made it memorable for her. Garnett said the best part of the evening for him, was "the ribbing and the competition with each other."

Patryk was our "sleeper bowler." With no real technique he really wowed us in the first round with a high score of 178! He wouldn’t admit it, but we think he’s bowling regularly. Unfortunately, as we went into the final round competition was stiff with the chance to win an Ipod, and he wasn´t able to come up with the winning score.

Matt was our comeback kid… going from a low score of 78 to a high score of 150 before the night was done. How did he do that?

Hats off to Garnett our Master Organizer of all things Fun and Social. He’s the one that organizes all our events like this and tells us when to show up. Never one for forgetting any details. So a big thank you to Garnett for organizing this event.

We´re looking forward to our next social night…perhaps paintball or something (I’d better get practicing this time!)