Here Is Simple HVAC Advice Not Found Elsewhere Online
Your HVAC system is very valuable to your home and family. It keeps the air in your home clean and at a comfortable temperature. If you do not take proper care of it, it will cost your more in energy and repair down the road. Use these helpful tips to take good care of your HVAC system.
If you do have a good experience with a HVAC product or contractor, let others know. Go online and post a review so that people can easily find out who and what brands to trust. At the same time, you can check reviews online to learn more yourself about what's available.
Let your friends and family know about the discounts that are possible via ENERGY STAR. There's a lot of savings that can be had here, so why hold this good news all to yourself! You can save those closest to you hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
Clean your permanent air filters or replace disposable ones every single month. If you have the choice, an electrostatic is the best option on the market today. Be sure to turn off your unit before you change the filter as it should never be run without a filter in place.
Clean the coils on the condenser fan from time to time. Turn it off first so you don't get hurt or break something. Then, pop off its grills, pull the blades out, and begin cleaning the unit and them gently.
When you have an outdoor unit, be sure to keep all plants, flowers, shrubs and trees at least two feet from it. Anything that grows inside it, either above the ground or even roots beneath the soil, can block it up and cause it to break. Give it some breathing room.
The correct HVAC system should have sealed air ducts to minimize heating or cooling loss as air travels to different rooms. The heating or cooling requirements of different rooms in the home should be taken into consideration. There is no reason to increase energy usage by controlling the temperature in rooms that are used very little.
Whenever possible, try to shade the compressor unit outside. The air that's in a place that is shaded is usually five to six degrees cooler than the surrounding air. Your air conditioning unit will be up to ten percent more efficient if it is properly shaded during the summer months.
In order to cheaply cool your home, turn the temperature up. If you take a few showers a day or just drink a cold ice water, you'll find that you're saving a lot of money on your utility bills by keeping the thermostat a little higher than usual in your home.
You should be sure to change the air filter of your HVAC system once every six months. Neglecting to do so can cause dust particles to clog the air ducts. In turn, your system will not work properly and you will find your bills going up. It's worth spending the time to clean the filters.
If you want to pay for less power use, consider installing an HVAC-specific solar panel system. Such an installation harnesses the power of the sun directly for your heating and air conditioning. Don't worry though; you can have a switch put in that automatically connects to the power grid the days there isn't enough sun.
Research multiple contractors before choosing one. Inquiring with the Better Business Bureau is always a good idea, as is looking for online review sites where previous customers can post their experiences. In this way, you can be more sure of getting a good HVAC company.
When you buy a new air conditioning unit, don't let the salesperson talk you into too large of a unit. This will be a waste of money and won't efficiently cool your home. The longer a system runs, the more efficient it will be when it's running, so look for one which runs 15 to 30 minutes.
Keep your condensers free of nearby obstructions. Keep plants, fencing, even bushes back and away from the unit. Two feet is a good minimum distance it should have from anything, including walls, but the more space you give it to breathe, the better it will work and the less likely it will be to fail.
Get an estimate before agreeing to have any work done on your HVAC unit. This will help keep you from being surprised by a bill at the end. Any reputable technician should be able to look at your unit, determine the problem and give you an estimate as to how much it will cost to fix it.
As stated in the introduction above, it is essential to take great care of your HVAC system. The air in your home is very important, especially to you and your family's health and comfort. Make use of the informative tips above when you are maintaining and repairing your HVAC system.