May 2022

In This Issue Need a New System? Now Is the Time to Buy! DIY: Readying Your System for Warmer Weather Rodents, Retiles & Ants, Oh My! Mother’s Day May Celebrations The Beco Club The Beco Referral Program Beco’s Kitchen Just for Fun Don’t wait until it gets hot! Now is the perfect time to get your AC ready for summer! Schedule your AC cleaning and tune-up today! 817-921-3724 [email protected] becoairandheat.com   Need a new HVAC system? Now is the time to buy! If you are in need of replacing your current HVAC system, now is the time to do so. With tax incentives, utility rebates, and a promotional deal from American Standard, you could save up to $6,800 overall. If that isn’t incentive enough, we also offer several financing options for qualifying buyers.   2023 Tax Credits Upgrading your home or property with energy-efficient appliances comes with a number of tax credits. The Inflation Reduction Act notably expanded or extended the available tax credits for taxpayers. Energy tax credits are benefits from the government when taxpayers make energy-efficient upgrades to their property. These improvements may include installing solar panels, heat pumps, windows, or insulation, among many others. Taxpayers don’t get an immediate discount on purchasing green-energy items, but they may be eligible for a tax credit. For every qualifying HVAC system purchased and installed between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, the tax credit is up to $2,000 on qualifying systems. The equipment must meet the required standards. New-construction homes and rentals are not eligible for this home tax credit. Utility Rebates For every qualifying HVAC system purchased and installed this year you can receive up to $2,400 in rebates. This offer is only available until funds are exhausted. American Standard Promotion Since Beco Air & Heat is a top seller of American Standard HVAC equipment, we are able to offer a special promotion to all our valued customers. For every complete American Standard system purchased, the coil is FREE! An approximate $2,400 in savings! Why Choose American Standard American Standard has been committed to innovation and home comfort since the 1880s.  All HVAC systems are tested for durability and efficiency, so you can enjoy comfortable air for many years. In 2021, a National Product Testing and Research Magazine rated American Standard heat pumps 5 out of 5, or Excellent, in both Predicted Reliability and Owner Satisfaction categories. Financing Options At Beco Air & Heat, we are happy to offer financing options to our valued customers.  Currently, our most popular options are 18 months at 0% or 60 months at 6.99%. Spring is the perfect time to get your HVAC system ready for warmer weather. Tackle the following HVAC home maintenance tasks this spring to make your home more comfortable and ready to take on the Texas heat! CHECK AND CHANGE THE AIR FILTER Your HVAC system’s air filter traps contaminants in the air like dust, pet dander and pollen. Replacing the filter regularly is an important part of HVAC home maintenance that can improve the quality of your indoor air while also protecting your HVAC system. Dust and other particulates can hinder the efficiency of HVAC components and cause the system to fail. In fact, dust and debris are among the most common causes of HVAC system failures. To ensure healthy indoor air and a optimal HVAC system, check the air filter monthly and replace it as soon as buildup is visible. GET A PROFESSIONAL INSPECTION AND TUNE-UP Having your heating and cooling system checked and maintained by Beco Air & Heat is one of the best ways to ensure it continues to function efficiently. Our experienced HVAC technicians have the skills, tools and experience to spot and fix potential problems with your system. Inspections and tune-ups can also help keep energy costs down and prevent the need for expensive repairs. SEAL AND INSULATE DUCTS If you have leaky ductwork, you could be losing as much as 35 percent of your energy. Additionally, leaking ducts can make your home feel overly hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. During an HVAC inspection, a Beco professional can look for duct leaks, seal those that are found, and install ductwork insulation where needed. INSTALL A PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTAT Keeping your home cool during the summer can be extremely expensive, especially in Texas. You may be tempted to lower the temperature on your thermostat and keep it down all day, every day. This isn’t smart or feasible. A programmable thermostat can help you keep your home cool without causing your energy bills to spike. It allows you to set the thermostat according to your family’s schedule. Some programmable thermostats even offer you the ability to set temperatures in your home remotely from a PC or smartphone. You can keep the temperature high in the middle part of the day when there’s no one home and lower it to a comfortable level right before you return. THINK ABOUT REPLACING AN OLD HVAC SYSTEM You should consider replacing an HVAC system with a more energy efficient model. This is especially important if it’s more than 10 years old. Newer systems are considerably more efficient than older ones — as much as 50 percent in some cases — which means that your unit could wind up paying for itself in a relatively short time. Newer systems are also much less likely to fail, so you’ll be saving on repair costs as well. PERFORM A TEST RUN Let your HVAC system run for a short time at the start of the season. A test run can help you to spot any problems before temperatures really rise in the middle of spring and in the summer. Contact a Beco professional to resolve any issues that you spot. Pests are everywhere. When we think about pests, we tend to think of common household nuisances like cockroaches, ants or mice. However, when it comes to your AC system, your outdoor unit or condenser is prone to all kinds of critters of nature that can do some serious damage. From rodents to reptiles to ants and more, your outdoor condenser unit is exposed to the elements of nature and to the curious creatures that might come near it or even inside it. Rodents Rodents like to nest in ductwork. They will chew on whatever they can find. When they begin to feast on HVAC electrical wiring, your home’s safety is compromised. Chewing through a wire can lead to an electrical fire and a damaged HVAC system. When rodents find their way into your ductwork and make nests or leave droppings behind, tiny fecal spores are swept along by the force of heated and cooled air moving through the ducts. These spores make their way into your home and contaminate the air quality. Gaps, cracks, and larger disconnections in the duct system create points of access for pests to enter your HVAC system as well as your home or building’s interiors. Insects, mice, and larger vermin may enter the duct system, depending on the size of air leaks. Ductwork should be professionally sealed. Rodents and other small animals can cause great damage to your exterior air conditioning condenser. They can damage components by chewing, scratching, urinating, and more – even their presence can harm the system, should you happen to turn the air conditioning system on when they are inside. Your best line of defense in protecting your condenser is preventing rodents from coming near it, to begin with. Keep the area surrounding your condenser clear by cleaning around it on a regular basis. Cutaway vegetation and clean excrement, which can attract rodents to the area initially. Reptiles Snakes and lizards can nest in ductwork or sometimes find their way into the outdoor condenser. A snake that is coiled up inside the A/C unit when it turns on up will likely be killed by the motion of the fan blades, but that interaction can also damage the blades or other components. Geckos may look cute, but they may cause serious damage to your air conditioner. If you leave geckos in your air conditioner, they can potentially ruin the printed circuit board and fry themselves by short-circuiting it. Ants Ants can present a problem by taking up residence in your air conditioning unit and growing in number. As the weather gets warmer, ants may seek shelter in your home’s AC units. This problem is more prevalent after it rains . Ants seem to be attracted to the electronic components of your AC unit, and often become stuck in between electrical contact points on the unit. When the ants burrow themselves in these tiny spaces and touch the contacts, it can cause malfunction and even permanent damage to the unit if the pests are never removed. Specifically, ants can cause your AC unit to short-circuit. If an ant is electrocuted, it can release an alarm pheromone in dying, which attracts other ants. Once a large number of ants enter the unit, they are more likely to cause the electronics to short-circuit. Overheating, corrosion, and mechanical failures can also result from the accumulation of dead ants and their nest material in electrical devices. Fortunately, there are some simple measures you can take to prevent these little pests from invading your AC unit: First, you should avoid keeping mulch or leaf piles near your AC unit, as these are prime habitats for ants. The decomposing layers of organic material in piles of mulch or leaves are where ants often live and reproduce, and if your AC unit is nearby, the ants may soon discover it and begin to move in. Second, try to clean out your gutters at the beginning of the spring or summer to get rid of leaves and dirt that may attract ants. If you have leaves around your yard and home left over from the fall, try to rake these up as well. Lastly, if you see a significant ant presence near your AC unit, you can purchase ant baits/killers to place around the unit to deter and eventually eradicate the ants in the area. As the summer approaches, be sure to regularly check your home AC unit for ants. If you do discover the beginnings of an infestation, it’s important to take action right away to avoid damage to the unit. Mother’s Day is celebrated every year on the second Sunday of May. This year it will be on May 14th. More calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. Approximately 122 million calls. Mother’s Day is the third highest selling holiday for flowers and plants. After Christmas and Hanukkah, more people buy flowers and plants for their moms on Mother’s Day than any other holiday. Around approximately one quarter of all the flowers purchased throughout the year are bought for Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for restaurants. According to the National Restaurant Association, about 87 million adults make plans to go to a restaurant for Mother’s Day. The name ‘Mom’ comes from babies. The first thing a baby can vocalize is the ‘ma’ sound, which is why in almost every language the word for mother begins with the letter ‘M’ or is some iteration of the ‘ma’ sound. The history of American Mother’s Day starts with peacemaker Ann Jarvis. During and following the Civil War, Ann Jarvis made a concerted effort to foster friendship and community between the mothers on both sides of the war. She started a committee in 1868 which established the first glimmer of today’s holiday: “Mother’s Friendship Day.” Ann’s daughter Anna continued her legacy by creating the official holiday. Anna Reeves Jarvis sought to honor her own mother by establishing an intimate day of observance that is very obviously the basis of today’s holiday. The very first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1908. Woodrow Wilson signed Mother’s Day into law in 1914. After Anna Jarvis created the Mother’s Day International Association in order to streamline the intimate day of observance to the second Sunday in May, Woodrow Wilson legitimized the celebration as a nationwide holiday. On average, shoppers spend $180 on gifts for their mothers. A nationwide total of approximately $4.6 billion is spent on jewelry and $4.4 billion on dinners or brunches. The most popular gift for Mother’s Day is the greeting card. Every Mother’s Day there are approximately 152 million Mother’s Day cards sent. In addition to the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, Costa Rica, Samoa, Georgia, Australia, and Thailand all have designated celebrations to honor their country’s mothers. Tator Tot Nachos Ingredients 1 32-ounce bag of frozen tater tots 1 lb lean ground beef 1 package of taco seasoning 1 15-ounce jar of queso 1/4 cup sour cream 1/4 cup guacamole 1/3 cup diced tomatoes 1/3 cup sliced black olives 1 sliced jalapeno 1 diced green onion 1/2 tablespoon lime juice Instructions Bake tater tots according to the package instructions. In a medium skillet, brown ground beef with taco seasoning. Set aside. Remove the lid from the queso jar. Place queso in the microwave and cover with a paper towel. Heat queso in a microwave 30 seconds at a time until heated through. Placed cooked tater tots on a large platter. Top with ground beef and queso. Add sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, black olives, jalapeno, and onion. Drizzle with lime juice and serve. SPICY BLACK BEAN SOUP WITH COCONUT AVOCADO “CREAM”   Ingredients: Coconut Avocado “Cream” 1 avocado 1 tbsp Virgin Coconut Oil 1 tsp lime juice Pinch salt and pepper 2 tbsp water ¼ tsp chopped cilantro (optional) Black Bean Soup: 1 tbsp Liquid Coconut Oil 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 225g mushrooms, sliced 1 tsp cumin 3 cans (15oz) black beans, drained and rinsed well 1 chipotle, finely chopped with 1 tsp adobo sauce (add more for a spicier soup) 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 14.5oz diced tomatoes 3 cups reduced sodium chicken or vegetable stock 1 tsp lime juice salt and pepper, to taste Instructions: Coconut Avocado “Cream” Combine all ingredients for the Coconut Avocado “Cream” in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to an airtight container and put in the fridge. Black Bean Soup: Heat oil on medium heat in a large stockpot. Add the onion and garlic and cook, occasionally stirring, until the onions are translucent. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until the mushrooms have released their liquid and reduced in size, about 6 minutes. Stir in cumin and continue to cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add black beans, chipotle, adobo sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, and stock. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and continue cooking for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Transfer about half the soup to a blender and puree. Combine the puree with the remaining soup. Serve immediately with a generous dollop of Coconut Avocado “Cream.” Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes   Ingredients: Cream Cheese Filling 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened 1 egg 1/3 cup granular sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips Cupcake batter 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup granular sugar 1/4 cup sweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup water 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Cream Cheese Frosting 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1/2 cup cocoa powder Instructions: Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare muffin tins with liners, spraying lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Filling Beat cream cheese, egg, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Add chocolate chips. Batter In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla, stirring until well blended. Spoon batter into muffin tins until each cup is 1/3 full. Top each with a spoonful of the cream cheese filling. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Frosting While the cupcakes bake, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat until smooth and creamy. Stir in vanilla and salt. Gradually add powdered sugar, combining well. Add cocoa powder, stirring and scraping sides until the cocoa is thoroughly incorporated. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.