Importance of Good Lighting For Your Commercial Office In Waterloo

Why Lighting Matters in Your Commercial Waterloo Office

People often take electricity for granted. Think about it, how often do you consider the engineering that goes into your lamps? While residential lighting is important, it doesn’t necessarily take priority over commercial lighting. Electrical services in Waterloo know full well how lighting can affect business profits.

As a commercial property or business owner, the effects of lighting need consideration. If you are a property owner, poor lighting can affect tenant turnover. As a business owner, lighting affects your profits and worker performance.

When considering the effects of lights, think about the people using the space. Different lighting can produce different feelings, affecting worker motivation and drive. As you prepare a plan for your property, consider the importance of good lighting.

1. Reduces Headaches

Most office spaces require workers to use computers. If the lighting in the office is too dim, the workers can suffer headaches. The headaches are a result of eyestrain.

While computers alone can cause headaches and eyestrain, poor lighting can cause it. When properties force workers or clients to operate in the dark, the eyes must work harder to focus.

Quality lighting should illuminate a workspace. A worker should not have to squint or strain to do their job. When space is well-lit, the eyes can relax, reducing potential headaches.

Unfortunately, appropriate lighting depends on the facility and the occupation. For example, a facility with plenty of natural light may not need as much manufactured light, especially when most active in the day.

2. Improves Work Activity

Dull and dim lighting work against the body’s natural rhythms. The human body sleeps at night and wakes during the day. The evening creates a surge of melatonin to prepare for a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, when an office is dimly lit, the body becomes confused. The low light creates sleepy conditions, potentially affecting productivity.

Mood lighting is okay for residential electrical services, but it is counterproductive for business. Bright lights tell your body that it is time to be awake and alert. Well-lit office space can promote improved energy and productivity. It is not uncommon for a well-lit commercial area to encourage better performance and increase consumer activity. Therefore, better light can mean greater profits.

3. Brightens the Mood

Think about how you felt the last time you sat in a low-light living room, watching TV. How long did it take for your eyes to get heavy or for you to fall asleep? While most people will blame the lack of energy on comfy furniture or a busy day, lighting plays a significant role.

Sit an office worker at their desk with paperwork to complete and turn down the lights. You will see them slowly nodding off, rubbing their eyes, or making mistakes. Additionally, you will see a worker that does not want to work, who possibly gets easily flustered and annoyed.

Bright light mimics the sun. It makes people happy and gives them an energy boost.

When was the last time you reviewed your building’s lighting situation? Is your facility still using incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lighting? If so, it might be time to consider an update. LED lights are more efficient and are better for employees. Additionally, the new bulbs are better for your business’s pocketbook.

Are you ready to upgrade your facility’s lighting, or at least entertain the idea? Contact CJ Brubacher Ltd. to discuss its commercial electrical services. The company will send out a licensed electrician to inspect your current system. After reviewing your specific needs, the electrician will create a custom estimate with their recommendations for critical upgrades. As always, the final decision is up to you.

Ensure Your AC Is Running Efficiently in Waterloo With These Tips

4 Tips to Ensure Your A/C Is Ready for Summer

The best way to avoid the heat in the summer is to step into the air conditioning. Unfortunately, too many people fail to check their A/C units before the hot weather. You do not want to be stuck sweltering in the heat of the summer without a working A/C. Air conditioning services in Waterloo can help assess your system, but there are a few things you can do as well.

You can kick your system on before you need it to ensure it is running smoothly. Additionally, you can clean the unit off from the winter muck. There are four more things you can do, but they are best left to professionals if you do not feel comfortable.

1. Check the Filter

Air conditioning filters are not lifetime warranty parts. A filter will get dirty and need replacement. Most manufacturers and service technicians recommend replacing filters once every three months. However, you should replace them more often if you have allergies or other conditions.

A dirty filter is one of the leading causes of a faulty air conditioning unit. A clogged filter can affect blowing pressure and so much more. If you just realize that you do not remember the last time you replaced the filter, go get yourself a replacement. Filters are among the most straightforward components to replace. You can usually find the location of the access panel in the owner’s manual.

2. Check the Blower

Residential air conditioning unit installations are usually on the outside of the home. Some professionals install units on the roof, but many are along the perimeter of the house. Every unit has a blower, which contains a fan and motor. The blower does make some noise, but the noise should not excel a specific level.

If your blower is loud or producing strange noises, there might be something wrong. Because of the components, the problem could be a belt or other mechanical part. You should be able to see the fan through a vent on top of the unit. If the fan seems inconsistent, contact a professional to assess the internal components.

3. Check the Evaporator Coils

Evaporator coils are crucial parts of your A/C unit. The coils absorb the heat from inside your home, replacing the hot air with cold or cool air. However, for the coils to work correctly, they need to be clean. Dirty coils can cost you up to 30% more on your utility bills. Additionally, poorly maintained coils can affect system performance.

You can prevent dirty evaporator coils by remembering to replace your air filter once every three months. Additionally, you should have your unit maintained by a professional at least once per year. Having the unit inspected at the beginning and end of the season is even better.

4. Check the Thermostat

Many people get themselves anxious over nothing. Sometimes, the problem with your system is not the air conditioning unit, but the thermostat in the house. Thermostats are sensitive devices, and because they live on a wall, it is possible for damage to occur. Before you blame your A/C unit for a problem, check your household thermostat.

If the thermostat is okay, check your unit’s temperature. Set a thermometer on the register supplying your home with cool air. Let it sit there for five minutes. Record the temperature reading. Move the thermometer to the return vent. There should be a 15° discrepancy between the two readings.

Whether you are worried about a residential or commercial air conditioning unit, you need to make sure everything is operational come summer. Contact the experts with CJ Brubacher Ltd. and schedule an inspection.

How CJ Brubacher Can Help With Commercial Electrical Maintenance In Kitchener

When you work in a commercial building, maintaining your electrical system is vital for the success of your company. Your employees can’t be productive if they can’t work due to malfunctioning electrical sockets. If you live in Kitchener and need assistance maintaining your electrical system in a commercial building, CJ Brubacher is here to help. You should never attempt to perform commercial electrical services yourself because you likely do not have the tools and experience necessary to take care of any issues. Here’s why you should call us for help with electrical services in Kitchener.

Maintenance Keeps Your Power Running

Losing power is never good for a business. You may not even think about how much your company relies on electricity for day-to-day tasks, but even a power outage that lasts only a few hours can cost you a lot of productivity and profit. The best way to prevent this from happening is to keep your electrical system in good shape.

Regular maintenance is the best way to make sure your system is functioning properly. During a maintenance visit, the technicians from CJ Brubacher will complete the following steps to check your electrical system:

Ask about any potential issues you may be aware of
Check connections and secure them when necessary
Clean wires and connections
Replace any components that aren’t working properly

Maintenance Ensures Safety

Electrical systems can be dangerous if they are not maintained properly. If your system malfunctions, it can catch fire and calls significant damage to your company building. Some electrical fires are so bad that they completely destroy business buildings.

Electrical systems are also dangerous to the people who service them. Is never a good idea to mess with electricity if you don’t know what you were doing. If you touch an exposed wire accidentally or make connections improperly, you could cause the entire system to crash. You could also cause significant harm to yourself. It’s always best to leave any type of electrical work, including maintenance, to professionals.

Add a maintenance visit, your technician can chat to make sure your electrical system poses no fire hazards. Keeping up with regular maintenance is important for ensuring the safety of your system as well as keeping it in top performance.

Maintenance Can Reduce Major Problems

Minor electrical issues can turn into major problems quickly. It is always more cost-efficient to catch issues and resolve them when they are still small. However, if you don’t keep up with routine maintenance, you probably won’t know that there is a problem until it needs major repairs that are significantly expensive.

Scheduling appointments for regular maintenance allows technicians to examine your electrical system several times each year to check for bad components. When we can replace aging parts before they start causing problems, we can save you a lot of money on major repairs.

Keep Your Electrical System Maintained

Electrical systems are complex, so you never want to maintain them yourself. You need to hire a professional technician to keep your system working properly. The experts at CJ Brubacher have all of the knowledge and tools necessary to keep your electrical system running at peak performance and reduce the risk of any issues arising.

Trust CJ Brubacher To Help With Electrical Maintenance

Any time you lose power to your commercial building, it causes you to lose productivity and can cost you a significant amount of money in profits. You may not be able to prevent power outages due to sudden storms, but you can prevent most other electrical problems by keeping up with regular maintenance. CJ Brubacher offers both commercial and residential electrical services in Kitchener. Contact us today to schedule an appointment for electrical maintenance.

Waterloo HVAC Services: When to Change the Air Conditioning Filter

Your air conditioning system can run more efficiently if you regularly change the filter. Filters help improve your indoor air quality by keeping your HVAC system’s components functioning the way they should be. Our contractors and technicians at CJ Brubacher can help with an HVAC inspection so you can get recommendations about when to change your filter and which kind would be best for your system. Our air conditioning services in Waterloo can help keep you cool this summer.

How Often To Change Your Filter

Homeowners should ask their HVAC technicians about how often to change their residential air conditioning filter. Your filter changing frequency will be dependent on several factors including your lifestyle, habits, household residents and HVAC system specifications.

If you have a system that uses a standard-sized filter, you should change it every 30 to 60 days. If there are people with allergies in your house, you should change the filter more often. Pet owners may also have to change their filters more often than usual, sometimes as frequently as every 20 days.

Signs You Need To Change Your Filter

If you aren’t sure if your filter needs changing, there are some clear signs that you need to replace it with a new one. First, check your air filter. If it looks dirty and dusty, it may need to be changed. If your home is also dusty, you should change the filter.

Another reason to change your air filter for your air conditioning unit is if you notice an increase in allergy symptoms. A dirty HVAC filter can also emit a strange smell from your air conditioning unit and cause it to leak. Additionally, if you aren’t sure when you changed your filter, you should probably replace it.

Picking the Right Filter for Your HVAC

It’s also important to understand which air filter works with your air conditioning system. Our team can give you suggestions on filter brands and sizes that will fit in your HVAC system. First, you’ll need to determine the filter size for your unit. The most common sizes are filters that are from one to four inches wide.

You also need to choose a filter that has an appropriate MERV rating for your unit. MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value. Residential customers should choose filters with a MERV rating of less than 16. Higher MERV ratings are for filters in a commercial air conditioning system.

How To Replace the Filter

When you’re ready to change your filter, the first thing you should do is turn the air conditioning and fan off. Locate where the filter slides into your HVAC unit and check to make sure your replacement filter is the correct size. Your old filter should be labelled with the specifications for size.

Then, remove the access panel to your HVAC unit and take out the old filter. Place the new filter and use the arrows on the packaging to make sure it is positioned correctly. Then you can turn your HVAC system back on.

Air Conditioning Services in Waterloo

After changing your air conditioning filter in your HVAC unit, your system should run smoothly. If you still notice problems, such as a leaky unit, temperatures that aren’t cold or a weird smell, you may need service from the HVAC experts at CJ Brubacher.

Before your air conditioning system starts working hard this spring and summer, make sure you schedule a yearly tune-up and inspection with CJ Brubacher. Regular filter changes, tune-ups and HVAC maintenance can help keep your residential or commercial system working great. Let us handle your HVAC installation, repair and maintenance so you can relax in the cool air this season.

Why Turn Off Your Furnace When the Warmer Weather Appears in Kitchener?

One of the best things about spring is the warmer temperatures during the day. It’s not only more pleasant outside, but inside as well. You can open up your windows and let the fresh air in. Of course, spring weather is unpredictable. One day it might be sunny and bright, but the next day it could be rainy and cold. Turning off your furnace may seem like a gamble. Here’s what to know about turning off your furnace in the spring and who to call for residential furnace repair.

Why Should You Turn Your Furnace Off in the Spring?

Your heater won’t cycle on if you’ve set the thermostat lower than the inside temperature, so you might be wondering why it’s worth turning your heater off.

You end up wasting money by running the pilot light when your furnace is on.
You won’t inadvertently heat your home if the thermostat isn’t set right.
You save money on furnace repair in Kitchener because your furnace takes the season off.

Shutting the pilot light off during the summer reduces your energy consumption and avoids putting stress on the components of your heater during the warmer months when you don’t need it.

How Do You Know When to Turn Off Your Furnace?

Don’t go by daytime temperatures to turn off your heater. Look at nighttime temps, when the air gets the coldest. Your home retains the daytime heat into the night, so it’s those early mornings where you may need the most heat. You want the outside temperature to be consistently above 7 to 10 degrees before turning off your furnace. If you have many north-facing windows or have a tendency to be cold-natured, you may need to wait until late May before you turn your furnace off for the season. Conversely, if you want to save on energy costs and don’t mind putting an extra blanket on your bed and wearing a warm sweater in the morning, you may be able to turn off your furnace earlier in the season.

How to Turn Your Furnace Off in the Winter

It’s not enough to switch off the thermostat. You need to turn off the pilot light to the furnace. You may also want to cut the main gas supply to the furnace. Don’t cut your gas supply to the water heater and stove. If you can turn off electricity to your furnace without shutting down the AC, do so. A professional technician can help you shut your furnace off safely.

Maintenance Tips to Keep Your Home Safer

Turning your furnace off is a personal choice. You don’t have to, but you should spend some time in the spring checking out your furnace and AC.

Check your furnace and AC filters. Replace them if warranted. Make a note on the filter to remember the date you changed it.
Check your carbon monoxide detector. If it uses batteries, put fresh ones in. Check the age of your CO monitor. Most should be replaced after 10 years. D
Check the area around the furnace. Remove any debris.
It’s also a good time to make sure your AC is ready for the warmer days. Have a service tech do an inspection of your furnace and AC to make your system last longer.

The biggest drawback to shutting off your furnace in the summer is remembering to relight the pilot in the fall. Fortunately, you can call the professionals to handle that job. While they’re lighting the pilot light, they can do a quick inspection to make sure your heater is ready to tackle the winter.

Contact CJ Brubacher Ltd. for residential and commercial furnace repair. We’ll make sure your furnace is operating at peak performance when you need it and doesn’t give you problems when you don’t.

4 Common Air Conditioning Problems You May Experience In Kitchener

People outside of Canada may assume that it is cold and snowy here all the time. However, if you live in Kitchener, you know that summers can become quite warm. If there is something wrong with your air conditioner, you want to identify it right away so you can call for air conditioning services in Kitchener. Here are some common problems you may encounter and what may be causing them.

1. Condenser Coil Freezing

It takes energy to cool your home or office during the summer. The hotter the outside temperature, the harder your AC has to work. This is normal and expected. However, if your unit has to work too hard, it could cause the condenser coil to freeze, which is not normal.

Air conditioners work harder when they are dirty or when their parts are obstructed. You can prevent the condenser coil from freezing by having frequent maintenance to check the ducts, condenser, and blower fan for obstructions and by changing the air filters frequently.

2. Hot Air Blowing Instead of Cold

One of the most obvious types of residential air conditioning problems, as well as one of the most frustrating, is when the unit blows hot air when it is supposed to be blowing cold. You turned on the AC in the first place because you were too warm, and now this just compounds the problem.

Assuming that you have checked to make sure that you switched the central HVAC unit over to air conditioning, there are two reasons for hot air blowing when you want cold. The refrigerant level may be low, or the compressor may be overheating due to an obstruction in the ducts or a dirty air filter. You may be able to prevent such issues by having regular duct cleanings and changing the filter frequently. Once the problems occur, however, they require professional air conditioning services in Kitchener to correct.

3. Air Conditioner Not Turning On

It’s bad enough when your air conditioner blows hot air on you, but it is even worse when it doesn’t turn on at all. If it doesn’t help to set the thermostat to a lower temperature, this is probably a sign of an electrical problem. The wiring may be loose or the thermostat may be faulty. Commercial air conditioning may stop working because a circuit breaker has tripped, meaning that the demand on the circuit is greater than its supply. Attempting to fix electrical issues yourself is dangerous if you do not know what you are doing, so bring in a professional.

4. Strange Smells Coming From the System

When an air conditioner is functioning properly, you shouldn’t be able to perceive any smells coming from it. Malfunctioning AC units, however, can produce several types of strange smells, and the type of smell may give you a clue as to what is causing it. For example, if the smell is musty, it means that there is a problem with the drainage. Water is collecting where it is not supposed to and may be facilitating mold growth.

A burning or electrical smell is a more serious problem. If you perceive it, you should turn off the air conditioner right away. The system may be overheating, probably due to clogged air filters, which should be replaced immediately. Contact professional HVAC services right away if you encounter the problem of a strange smell coming from your unit. You may also be able to prevent the problem with regular cleaning of the unit and the ducts.

Turn to Us for Air Conditioning Services in Kitchener

While air conditioning may seem less vital than heating, high temperatures are responsible for more deaths than any other weather. Therefore, your AC is anything but expendable, and you should have it serviced by the qualified technicians at CJ Brubacher.

Elmira Plumbing Services: 3 Signs You Need a New Mixer Valve

Taking a hot shower at the end of a long day is a luxury many take for granted. That spa-like moment doesn’t happen all on its own. The plumbing in your home is a complex network of pipes, valves and gaskets. When everything works in harmony, you’ll be in steamy bliss. But one glitch in the system could put a stop to your daily relaxation session. When faulty pipes ruin your self-care routine, contact plumbing services in Elmira.

One vital device, the mixer valve, lies behind the wall in your bathroom and regulates the temperature mix of hot and cold. This essential piece of equipment keeps your water comfortable and safe. A simple shower could scald you and your family when a mixer mechanism malfunctions. If you notice any of the following problems, you may need a new regulator.

1. You Notice a Change in Water Pressure

Congested or loose valves will allow less water to move through. This reduction in water will lead to low pressure. You may notice a slightly weaker flow or pressure that varies from firm to soft. The stream may slow to a trickle in more severe cases. Clogs are not always related to backed-up toilets. Several things could obstruct your device, such as:

Limescale from hard water may accumulate over time and form a hard blockage.
Corrosion from the valve or old metal lines can leave behind rust.
Debris, like hair, may travel from elsewhere in your plumbing system and form a clog.
Plastic fragments from the valve or pipes could have broken off and become lodged in the opening.

In some cases, soaking the part with distilled white vinegar may solve the issue. Before dismantling your shower, allow our plumbers at CJ Brubacher Ltd. to assess the situation. Cleaning or replacement from residential plumbing services could be necessary.

2. You Have a Leaky Shower Head

Dripping from your shower is a clear sign of a faulty mixer valve. When you turn off the water at the handle, the mechanism closes and stops the flow. If the piece is loose, it cannot close all the way, and liquid will escape. Anything that gets through will leak from the shower fixture.

Slight dripping may not seem like a big deal until you receive your next water bill. A slow, steady leak can cause a significant increase in usage. It only takes a few days of dripping for a statement to get out of hand. Many water and sewage companies will excuse one large bill for longtime customers. Yet, most will recommend saving that one pass for a more costly sewage line emergency. If left untreated, one small drip could leave you with a major unexpected expense.

3. You Have Trouble Turning the Handle

You interact with the mixer valve every day when you turn the shower’s handle. When you crank up the heat, the valve will slowly reduce the amount of cold water input. This action allows the hot water to overtake the cold gradually, preventing accidental burns. If you cannot turn the handle, it indicates a problem. Corroded metal can cause threadbare connections. When not correctly installed, valves may be loose and not connect with the handle. If your handle turns too quickly or appears stuck, you may need to repair your shower.

Mixer valves may be small, but they play a big role in your bathtime comfort. If you notice low pressure, leaks or handle trouble, a faulty mixer valve could be the root of the issue. At CJ Brubacher Ltd., we specialize in residential and commercial plumbing services. Our technicians are available 24/7, so contact us today to get to the root of your pipe problems.

Author: Cj Brubacher