Going solar with a heat pump option is the next step for the homeowners with solar who want to maximize the use of their solar array and heat and cool their homes. Solar arrays, along with a new variable speed inverter heat pump with 2 stage electric resistance auxiliary heat and a new humidifier powers the heating and cooling at this Lansing-area house.

This homeowner client had a solar panel array with battery backup and wanted to power their furnace with the solar array. This heat pump plus electric auxiliary heat allows them to use their solar-generated electricity to heat and cool their home! This doesn’t use a standard gas hookup, but is powered by electricity the homeowner generates from their solar panel array. From the outside, it looks just like a regular A/C unit, and on the inside, a regular furnace. But it’s not!

This is an air to air source heat pump with back up resistance heat. The heat pump is basically an air conditioner with a reversing valve. In the summer, the outdoor unit is the condenser, and the indoor unit is the evaporator, and it reverses operation in the winter. On the coldest days, the back up resistance heat gives more output when it’s needed. It uses a lot of electricity, but with solar it will offset the cost and with enough hours banked it could actually produce more than you might use. There is no gas, it’s entirely electric. The indoor unit is an air handler with a coil and the back up heat.

These types of systems come with a 30% tax credit from the federal government’s Inflation Reduction Act, passed by the Biden/Harris administration. Tax incentives help defray the cost of a new installation of solar electricity, weatherproofing, heat pump systems such as this, to help combat climate change.

Going solar with a heat pump option in Michigan:

If you have solar panel array at your home and want a great option for heating your home in the winter and cooling it in the summer, contact us for a quote on this system. You could power your heating and cooling from the sun!

There is nothing worse than realizing your furnace or air conditioner has stopped working! And worse yet, it’s always when you need it (naturally!) What do you do when you need heating and cooling repair in Lansing? Call All Star Mechanical!

You have a lot of choice when it comes to heating and cooling repair in Lansing. We’re the hometown team who has been (honestly) serving Lansing for over two decades. We will always give it to you with a solid explanation, so you are aware of how your system works (and why it’s not working) and what it will take to fix.

Why Trane? They’re simply reliable for long term performance! And, if you’re going to invite us into your home and install the biggest home system you have (heating and air conditioning), you’d better choose reliable over cheap! Trane air conditioning repair is something that we do, and we do well.

When we counsel customers about what type of air conditioning and heating system to install in their homes, it’s usually because it’s not working. And, you know, if your air conditioning isn’t working, and it’s 92 and humid, you’re probably pretty irritated about that already. On top of it, now you have this big expense. But what if we told you that expense could last you many decades? That certainly takes the ‘per-every-92-degree-day’ cost down pretty cheap. Everyone compares it to a fancy latte at a coffee shop but even if you DO forego a stop in at Strange Matter coffee, we promise you’ll be a lot happier if your home is 72 degrees tonight at 10pm!

Trane air conditioning systems work. They work reliably year over year, and decade over decade. We don’t want you to just have a few years of blissful cool indoor weather, we want you to have decades of it. And that kind of reliability works. Now, if you DO have to replace it, we might also talk to you about replacing your furnace at the same time. Why? Not so we can make a buck, but so you can SAVE some. If your furnace is also aging, you will find a whole systems replace to be far more energy efficient AND cost effective over time than replacing one over the other.

We love doing Trane air conditioning repair too – the parts are available, they’re reliable, they work. We won’t be returning again and again to fix the same problem. You’ll be happy with the cool in your house on your upper floor and your main floor at the same time (we aim for less than a 2 degree difference!) And, if you’ve spent a sweltering humid Michigan summer without it, consider what it’s going to be like as every summer seems to be getting hotter and hotter!

Give us a call to schedule a service review!

Lansing Heating and Cooling companies are by and large run by one of two kinds of companies: independently owned businesses like Lansing’s All Star Mechanical or they are owned by large companies (aka “Private Equity”) that have bought up many smaller firms. You might not know they are owned by large firms because they kept their “small town name”.

What is the difference and what does it mean for Lansing heating and cooling services? Simple. If you’re part of a big private equity firm, their goal isn’t service, it’s extracting the most amount of profit out of the company. A good company really invested in Lansing is pretty easy to spot. Do they actively work in Lansing? On their company social media do they show that they are invested in things that are happening around Lansing? That could be anything from attending local events and festivals to being involved in local initiatives, activism or even politics (yes, politics!)

If you’re invested in Lansing, then the customers you serve are your friends and neighbors – or they are friends of your friends or neighbors (it’s a small town!) And as such, you have to do the right thing by them, because your reputation will precede you!

Yes, it’s a new Trane furnace. Yes, it’s a basement. But nobody gets excited about their new furnace, except us! And yet, it’s one of the bigger expenses you might have to have in your home!

What to look for in Lansing Heating and Cooling companies?

Do they work in the Lansing area exclusively (that also includes our outlying communities like Okemos, Haslett, Bath, DeWitt, St. John’s, Holt, Delta Township, Grand Ledge.) Do they have Lansing customers? Some big companies have come in from other places with no connection to Lansing.

Have they worked on a variety of installations for heating and cooling? We’ve done some really great stuff with homeowners with all sizes of homes (and basements, crawl spaces or closets!)

Here’s our recommendation for what to look for and why.

Lansing’s All Star Mechanical Larry Kirchoff talks with WLAJ’s Susan Angel about how businesses, faced with rising costs, are responding – without gouging Lansing customers! In this segment, Larry and Susan explore how businesses are coping with their costs rising, and how having great employees (paid a living wage) reduces turnover (and cost), how working with customers on their budgets (and factoring in long term functionality of their furnace and air conditioning equipment) can pay off for both the business AND the customer.

Inflation has affected the home heating and cooling (HVAC) industry a lot. Here’s what we’re doing to help YOU, the customer, as prices everywhere go up. We’ve done that in a few ways:

Absorbing the cost of price increases, so you don’t have to pay for them (we do)

Retention of our staff – paying them a good wage means they are happy and stick around. Training is a huge cost in our industry. Happy employees love to help customers!

Check out this short video interview with Larry Kirchoff, All Star Mechanical and Susan Angel from WLAJ.

Who says HVAC can’t be funny? Not us!

Are you on YouTube today looking at how to fix your furnace? Are you SURE about that?

We’re experts, so you don’t have to be. And if you need to show this to someone in your household who really needs to stop searching YouTube for fixes, we won’t tell anyone 😉

Who says HVAC can’t be funny?

If you’re in the market for a new furnace or air conditioning system at your home, do you know that many of the companies in our area who appear to be different companies are owned by the SAME company? That’s right! That second or third quote (or fourth quote)? Same company.

Stick with an independently owned, locally owned company with Lansing-area people helping you out, no fake mustaches needed.

Who says HVAC can’t be funny? Not us!

Women, we know when you invite a home service pro into your house, you’re going to have one of the following experiences “is your husband home?” or “what does he think about this?” And we know it is YOUR house, and your spouse doesn’t know any more about furnaces than you do, or you wouldn’t have called a professional!

If you’re not feeling the respect, you need to call us. We’ll explain everything, (but we won’t mansplain) and you’ll feel confident that you have the best solution for your home.