The Non Stop Travel Blog

My family used to do a road trip every year to Tampa.

We live in Jacksonville, Florida so the drive was around three hours.

It was nice seeing a different city. We would stay at a swanky hotel, eat some good food, and see a professional hockey game. We did it every year for Christmas. It was pretty fun since we all were hockey fans. Then everyone got married and had kids. Suddenly driving three hours to Tampa to see a game isn’t possible. I kind of thought our days in Tampa were over. Then my sister started researching and found that Tampa offers all sorts of kid friendly attractions. There are Busch Gardens, the Tampa Zoo, the Florida Aquarium, and Adventure Island. Suddenly the trip to Tampa for Christmas was happening again. The hotel we stay in is kid friendly. There is a pool, tons of other kids, and it is a mess. We don’t eat at fine restaurants or get drunk anymore. It is all local food that is cheap, easy, and hopefully healthy. No more hockey games but amusement and water parks. Animals, fish, and parks are all great. It is a lot of work and effort to make Tampa happen every year. I still enjoy the trip. Instead of coming home relaxed I do come home feeling like I need a vacation. I am glad that the kids enjoy our Florida road trip every year though. It makes the holidays a little more special. Tampa offers quite a bit for a diverse crowd.

Tampa Florida a/c repair

From May until September my cooling system is going full power in Birmingham, Alabama.

The AC is necessary to combat that horrible heat.

I hate being overheated. I would rather be cold. I do look forward to the winter eason. I have a brief point where I can turn off the HVAC and just enjoy fresh air. It is about a month and I love it. When the heating system turns on, that is okay too. I enjoy wearing pants and a jacket every now and then. It is nice not sweating to death. I hated changing my clothing and constantly wearing a swim top. The ocld i almost more comfortable. That is why in the summer I invested in a good cooling device. I am not messing around. I own a high velocity cooling device. This unit uses ductwork but it is half the size and flexible. It bends into the sltas of my older home and quickly whips around the air in my house. I get to lower the whole home temperature in a matter of minutes. It is the most powerful cooling device on the market. Since I live in a major city, I do get the perks of neat HVAC innovations and quality service. The HVAC dealership in Birmingham, Alabama that I use is great. I know that my cooling system will run reliably all summer as long as I don’t forget to have service done to it. A good cooling system and a well working heater are both must haves when you live in Birmingham, Alabama.

Cooling expert in Birmingham Alabama

The best decision I ever made was getting heated flooring put in my home.

When I moved to Texas my family was all shocked.

They told me it was going to be so hot there that it would drive me out. Yes it gets hot, but not that bad. There is a distinct winter season. It gets cold but there is no snow or ice. That sounds like a win to me. When I told my family I was going to get radiant flooring they thought I was crazy. They didn’t believe that it gets to be in the 30s at night living in Fort Worth, TX. It really does get cold for about three months out of the year. Investing in an expensive heating system for only three months seems dumb, but I was at the perfect time in my life. I moved into my house and didn’t have major furniture. I also remodeled the flooring. I removed the carpet and got my floors down to the cement board. This was the moment I was able to set up electric heated mats on the cement. Then I laid a fresh tile overtop. This seals in the heating system and keeps it safe. A tile floor is way better than carpet for heated flooring. I can actually feel the heat better. I love having radiant heating in Fort Worth, TX. Sure, I don’t use it more than around 30% of the year, but when I do use it, It is fantastic. I love that the heating system is silent. It also doesn’t stir up dust and affect my air quality due to it being eclectic based. It also is a space saver since it is hidden under my flooring.

Fort Worth Texas Cooling install

My Sioux Falls house deals with a lot of ice, snow, and below freezing temperatures.

It is just something I have to deal with.

I am not a fan of the cold. What I do to combat it is have an optimal heating device. I recently upgraded to a boiler system and it was a game changer. A furnace just can’t get the job done. It seemed like I was constantly calling a Sioux Falls HVAC contractor to come and perform a furnace repair or service. A boiler is a tank. It doesn’t need the amount of maintenance, repairs, and updates. It can just keep going and doesn’t require cleaning. It can heat my entire household without a hitch. I decided that the way I wanted it to heat was through piping within my floorboards. I got the floors redone. I now have tile throughout most of the house and a few pieces of carpet in the bedrooms. The pipes have hot water from the boiler that flows all throughout the home. That hot water creates a heating effect. Hydronic heating is the way to go in South Dakota. It is powerful enough to combat the severe chill. It is quiet in operation since it isn’t forced air. It also doesn’t stir up dust or create hot and cold spots because of it being water based. Anything that touches my heated flooring feels warm as a result. It doesn’t need a lot of care and has a long lifespan. I am so glad I made this upgrade.

Sioux Falls South Dakota heating provider

I wanted to own a heat pump system for a long time. When I moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota I figured those dreams were over. Have you ever looked at the weather report there? The weather basically is freezing cold all year long. Winters in the single digits and snow all the time. The summer season barely needs a cooling system. So owning a heat pump seems stupid. I liked the stats though. I liked the idea of not having ductwork in my home. I wanted to do HVAC zone control. I liked that a heat pump does green heating. It uses existing heat energy to transfer it room to room in the house. The snag is that when the temperatures drop below freezing, you’re screwed. The heat pump can’t do its job anymore. More modern, high efficiency heat pumps are better at it, but not great. It is better to own a boiler or a furnace. I then found online that you can do a dual fuel system or a hybrid heater it is called. This is where you pair a heat pump with a furnace. So for most of the year I can rely on a heat pump to provide energy smart heating and cooling. It uses clean, renewable energy that saves me money. On colder nights the device automatically changes settings to gas heating. Then the furnace tags in and I never experience a cold burst. So I save as much as my Minneapolis, Minnesota home will let me. It is not the device’s fault that I live in a cold location.

boiler installation in Minneapolis Minnesota

When I moved into my Lowell, Massachusetts home I got kind of crazy with remodeling.

I immediately felt I had to modernize the home before I moved my stuff in.

The first thing I did was have the floors redone. I paid a ton of money to remove all the carpets and put down tile instead. I am so glad that a buddy of mine mentioned heated flooring. I live in Massachusetts. It is cold 90% of the time. Having a supplemental heater is never a dumb idea. I checked the home’s HVAC unit and saw it was over 15 years old. How long would it last? I could be potentially saving my butt with another heater. So I dumped even more money into that project to get heated flooring. Everyone said I was crazy but I was excited. Every space got new floors with a heating system underneath. I then painted, cleaned, and redid one bathroom. Because of the electric heated flooring I wasn’t able to redo the kitchen like I wanted. At first I thought I made a mistake. After one winter in Lowell, Massachusetts, I was so happy I did radiant heating. It is amazing having the heat at my feet. No heated air rises to the top and gets wasted. No noise, dust being stirred and anything that touches the system feels warm as a result. My cat certainly enjoys the heating system. I don’t cook that much, so the heated flooring was the better choice. My current HVAC is threatening to quit and I am not even worried.

 

Lowell Massachusetts Central heating

I moved to Lakeland, FL not too long ago.

I used to live in Jacksonville and I wasn’t a fan. There seemed to be more danger, homelessness, and garbage. Lakeland is much cleaner, friendly, and a wealthy area. The sights are gorgeous and there is so much to do. It is definitely a better location to raise a family in. I right now am a single woman and I just enjoy where I live. I love biking through Bonnet Springs Park and seeing a film at Polk Theatre. There is the food truck rally every Thursday that is a highlight of mine as well. The Florida Air Museum is quite cool too. Even if there was nothing to do, the weather can’t be beat. I won’t live anywhere but Florida from now on. The summer season is long, brutal and tough. But if you have a great cooling unit, you are set for the summer. I really enjoy the winter honestly. That is when I really start going outside and enjoying some of the more tourist friendly things Lakeland has to offer. I like when the weather is in the 60s and I can wear pants. Wearing a jacket is almost like a treat. My heating system hardly gets to be in use. I mainly focus on cooling maintenance, repair, and upkeep. The times my heating equipment gets tagged in, I am downright delighted. I like that the winter season never brings snow or below freezing temperatures. It is just a really great place to live and I can’t recommend it more.

Lakeland Florida Air conditioning repair

I used to live in a major city down south.

It was kind of a nightmare raising kids in it.

The heat was a constant fight. I had to make sure my fair skinned babies were blocked, wearing hats and out of the sun. When my kids started expressing interest in hockey, I realized I was in the wrong area. Why was I fighting to stay down south? I took a promotion at work and moved us to Illinois. Now we live in a colder state where hockey is much easier to get to and there are more teams. I settled in Elgin since it is a 45 minute drive to the city. We can do the big city teams or a local Elgin team if we want. The professional team is the Chicago Blackhawks and we can always get tickets. The cold weather means that hockey season is basically all year. I like the snow and the cold. My kids are way happier with it too. I don’t have to worry about them playing outside as much. With some good snow gear we are good to go. What is nice is that living in Elgin means that I can afford a bigger place. We went from a small apartment with neighbors on each side to a huge house, a big plot of land and privacy. I can’t believe I waited so long to move to Illionios. This state has offered everything we could possibly want and more. No way would I ever move back to the south.

 

 

gas furnace in Elgin IL