Spring 2015

PERSONALLY SPEAKING

Erinn Woodcock

WIN a $1,500

fi nally, a spring break!Dear Friends,

What a historic winter we all just struggled through! Boston and Needham recorded their snowiest winters on record — more than 100 inches — with almost all of the fl akes coming in February.

This massive amount of snow, coupled with extreme tempera-tures that fell below zero degrees at times, created major challenges for everyone’s personal comfort. I can’t tell you the number of calls we received from noncustomers who just couldn’t get fuel, particularly from the discount companies. Throughout this diffi cult time, our service and delivery teams worked tirelessly to take care of our customers.

We are so proud of our team for how they kept going — not just for one or two days, but week after crazy week. Absolutely amazing!

The one silver lining in all of this turned out to be heating oil prices, which fell sharply in the fall and early winter,

reaching their lowest point in six years. Meanwhile, heading into last winter, natural gas prices reached their highest point in more than a decade because of

concerns that pipelines might not be able to distribute enough fuel.*

With winter fi nally in the past, remember that we can help you this season, too. Whether it’s a repair, a tune-up, a new equipment installation

or improving your indoor air quality, our team can take care of virtually any issue that affects your home comfort.

We hope you will talk to us about some of the

ways we can keep you more comfortable and save you money while we all enjoy our “spring break.”

Warmly,

Erinn Woodcock

*Bloomberg News, 10/6/14.

HSPR

15-1

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stay in control of heating costs

Heating costs can really add up during a long, cold winter; that’s why we offer

programs to make it a lot easier to manage your household budget.

Our most popular program is SmartPay. This monthly payment plan lets you spread your fuel payments out for as many as 12 months (depending on when you enroll). That way your heating costs will always be manageable and predictable. You’ll have one set payment each month — and you will cut your winter fuel payments virtually in half!

We estimate your fuel needs based on your past annual usage, and we set your bill based on the anticipated average price for the upcoming season.

This is the time to make next winter a little easier! You will get your lowest monthly payments if you contact us now. Please call us or visit NeedhamOil.com for more details.

gift cardEveryone loves a shopping spree, and here’s your chance to win a big one — for any place you want to go! Read this newsletter and answer the questions on

our website at NeedhamOil.com/contest.All entries received by 7/10/15 with

the correct answers will be entered into a drawing.

No purchase necessary. A purchase will not improve chance of winning. For details go to NeedhamOil.com/contest.

© Copyright 2015 Warm Thoughts Communications, Inc. Reproduced with permission of Warm Thoughts Communications.

Staying comfortable in 1985 and 2015

How will home comfort evolve?

Life may seem more complicated today than 30 years ago, but there’s no question that technological advances have made

it easier to stay comfortable and safe in your home while conserving energy. Here’s a look at how far we’ve come.

Environmentally friendly air conditioning More energy efficient than ever

Healthier homes

In the 1980s, an international treaty emerged to eliminate numerous substances that were deemed harmful to our ozone, including R-22 refrigerant (Freon). Freon is considered a green-house gas and harms the environment when released into the air. That’s why it is slowly being phased out and will no longer

be manufactured after 2020.

Because of the impending phase-out, less Freon is being made. This has resulted in rapidly dwindling supplies — and skyrocketing prices.

Are you losing Freon?Some people need to add more Freon because the contractor

who installed their system did not properly charge it with refrigerant (about 7 out of 10 systems in the United States are not charged properly).

In older systems, Freon can start leaking due to years of wear and tear, which causes valves, seals or metal components in the air conditioning coil to fail. Even a small leak can reduce efficiency dramatically and shorten equipment life. If you lose too much Freon, your system cannot generate cool air.

If you’re not sure what type of refrigerant your air conditioning system has or you have not had maintenance done recently, please contact us. We’ll tell you about your options in new systems. All a /c systems we install use an economical and environmentally friendly refrigerant instead of expensive and scarce Freon.

Decades ago, builders started constructing homes that were more air tight so cooled and heated air wouldn’t escape because of gaps and other defects, like poor insulation. But a side effect of this was that ventilation was limited and stale air got trapped inside. More problems were caused by the products people were bringing into their homes. Carpeting, disinfectants, fragrances, cosmetics and other common household items all were found to emit harmful toxins.

Since that time, there has been a troubling rise in the rates of respiratory illnesses like asthma. At one point, it was believed that a primary cause was outdoor air pollution. But more studies confirmed that the real problem was indoor air pollution.

Today, the home comfort industry has techniques for analyzing indoor air quality, including the collection of air samples and computer modeling of airflow inside a home. This allows companies like us to understand

the reasons the air inside a home is unhealthy and helps us to offer strategies for improvement, including air cleaning systems, air purifiers and humidification systems. Stale indoor air can also be replaced with fresh, clean air from outdoors by a device called an air-to-air exchanger. Please contact us if you would like us to analyze your home’s indoor air.

Improvements and innovations will continue in the home comfort industry! Here’s what we think will be among the hottest trends.

➤ Home Performance services will continue to rise in demand because homeowners want to make their homes as energy efficient as possible. (Making recommended improvements after a home performance audit saves the average homeowner 30 % on annual energy costs.)

➤ The emphasis on “green design” will continue with a strong focus on indoor air quality throughout the design and construction of new homes. This includes a technique known as demand controlled ventilation, which reduces energy consumption while maintaining proper indoor air quality.

➤ Mobile wireless programmable thermostats will become a common feature in homes. Many homeowners are already using their smartphones to program their thermostat when they’re away from home.

➤ What’s old is new again! Thousands of years after the Romans used geothermal energy to produce heat and hot baths, more homeowners are installing energy-saving, earth-friendly geothermal heat pumps.

➤ Integrated controls — combining heating, cooling and indoor air quality with electronic air filters and zoning — will be another common feature in the home of the future.

Bigger and louder is definitely not better in 2015. Today’s technology has enabled manufacturers to produce furnaces, air conditioners and heat pumps that are not only smaller and exceptionally quiet, but highly efficient as well.

The high-efficiency heating and cooling systems of today use substantially less energy — 30% or more — than the less efficient models from the 1980s. These modern systems have gone a long way to making a home more energy efficient and, as a result, more environmentally friendly.

ask the expert

Randy Goldencomfort consultant

An affordable way to keep

her playroom comfortable this

summer.

Fuel Oil ● Oil and Gas Heating Equipment ● Water Heaters

Air Conditioning Sales & Service ● Humidifiers ● Air Cleaners

Call Us! 781-444-3600 • Visit Us! NeedhamOil.com

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355R Chestnut Street P.O. Box 920352

Needham, MA 02492

put a/c exactly where you need itDo you have rooms in your home that are hard to cool? A mini-split ductless air conditioning system from Mitsubishi lets you create your own zone of comfort, allowing you to cool individual rooms or even your entire home. Ductless cooling units are quiet and energy effi cient and blend with any decor.

No complicated installation is required, with minimal drilling for refrigerant lines to the outdoor unit. The system is designed to work virtually anywhere to provide extremely effi cient cooling, thanks to advanced technology.

Contact us today for more information!

In this issue: • win a $1,500 gift card • save up to $4,000 on a boiler

trade in your old boiler, save up to $4,000!

T hrough the Mass Save program, you may be eligible to receive a rebate of up to $4,000 for replacing a boiler

30 years old or more. Rebates of up to $1,000 are also available when you replace a furnace or cooling system 12 years old or more. Don’t miss out on these BIG savings! The rebates are only valid through August 31. Contact us today for details.

Make this the year to replace your old a/c system, furnace or boiler! Not only will your new system save you 30% or more on annual heating and cooling bills, it will do a better job of keeping your home comfortable.

Our experts can help you assess your needs and choose the right size and type of system for your home — and will install it properly usually in a day or two.

Call us today to request a free estimate.

can you cut your heating and cooling costs by 30%?

Q: Why is the price of Freon getting so high?

A: The Environmental Protection Agency

has accelerated its phaseout of R-22, commonly known as Freon. As a result, only 22 million pounds of this refrigerant will be produced this year. That number will dwindle to just four million pounds by 2019. No new or imported Freon will be allowed as of January 1, 2020. As you can imagine, the vanishing supply has caused the price of Freon to skyrocket.

Q: My central air conditioning system uses Freon. What can I do?

A: If your system is older and beginning to wear out, replace it with a new, high-effi ciency system that uses envi-ronmentally friendly refrigerants. If it’s under 8 years old, keep repairs costs to a minimum with an a/c maintenance plan.

Please contact us and we’ll be glad to evaluate your system and discuss your options for eliminating your worries about the high cost of Freon. (Read more about this issue on page 2.)