Heating and Cooling Tips: How to Achieve Energy Efficient Comfort by First Choice Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning
Choosing the right heating and air conditioning products for your home and lifestyle can get tricky!
Thankfully, our Comfort Tips will help guide you through the purchasing process, from hiring a qualified dealer to exploring financing options. Designed for consumers like you, Comfort Tips will help you get the most out of your system, including how to improve your home’s indoor air quality and energy efficiency.
You want your home or business to be a comfortable temperature year-round. You also want a utility bill that you can manage and do your part to conserve energy whenever possible. You may believe that setting your thermostat is the only way to control heating and energy costs, and it is true that maintaining a temperature of 70 when heating and 78 when cooling is one way to reduce your energy consumption. However, there are several other steps you can take to reduce your energy usage, even if you want to keep your house a little warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
- Keep Your Air Filters Clean. The cleaner the air filter, the more efficiently the system can run. What you may not realize is that optimum replacement times vary tremendously depending on usage conditions. A single-person home with no pets may require filter replacement every few months, while a multi-person family with multiple pets may need to replace their filters every month or even every few weeks.
- Optimize Your Vents and Grilles. Make sure that your vents and grilles are not blocked or otherwise obstructed by things like curtains or furniture. Adjust them so that unused rooms do not get as much heating and cooling.
- Shut the Doors. Remember your Mom reminding you that you were not raised in a barn? Turns out she did not just want to keep bugs from getting into the house; keeping your doors and windows closed when you are running your air conditioning or cooling keeps your heated or cooled air in the house.
- Let the Sunshine In. The sun is our most efficient source of heat, so let the sunshine in during the wintertime by opening drapes and other window coverings. Likewise, in the summer, avoid heating your home by using drapes, blinds, shades, and awnings to help block direct sunlight.
- Make Sure Your Home is Well-Insulated. Whether you need additional insulation in your roof and walls or to seal up any cracks or leaks by windows or doors, you should know that you can lose up to 30% of your home’s climate controlled-air from a poorly insulated home.
