In our previous blog post, we discussed some of the common misconceptions associated with furnace systems—misconceptions, which if believed, would impact the efficiency of your heating system. For instance, things like only changing your air filter once a year or closing vents in unoccupied rooms to try to save energy will actually hurt your heater’s performance rather than help it.
But we don’t want to just tell you what not to do with your Norman, OK HVAC systems. Keep reading for some tips how to improve how efficiently you live, by taking some fairly simple steps throughout your home.
Use Your Ceiling Fans
We all know that ceiling fans help keep homes cool. But they do more than just this. When used in combination with your cooling system, they can help to evenly distribute air, and therefore enable you to set the thermostat a little higher. Therefore, your air conditioner doesn’t have to work as hard and thus works more efficiently.
The same concept applies to your heater. There is a switch on your ceiling fans that allows the blades to run in reverse, which pulls warm air down, helping your heater to work more efficiently, too!
Schedule Maintenance Regularly
During your annual maintenance appointment (or biannual, if you’re using a heat pump), our technicians thoroughly inspect, adjust, and clean any components that need it. In doing this, we help your air conditioner and your heater to run more effectively, and therefore more efficiently.
Maintenance also helps reduce the risk of emergency repairs and catastrophic system malfunctions. Your system can run for a long time with a repair need without you even knowing it, and therefore could be costing you way more than it should to run.
Use Your Thermostat Correctly
When you aren’t home during the summer, there’s no reason to blast your air conditioner at 72 degrees. There’s also no reason to turn the thermostat down as low as it will go the moment you get home. This doesn’t help you get cooler “faster,” rather it forces your air conditioner to work harder than it should have to.
The best thing to do is use a programmable thermostat, and have it run at 78 degrees or higher when you aren’t home, and bring it to a more comfortable level when the household is occupied. This same concept applies during the winter—your heater isn’t going to warm you up any faster if you blast it right when you get home.
Install Weather Stripping
You may be surprised by how much conditioned air you may be losing out of cracks beneath your doors and around your windows. By installing some simple caulking that can be picked up at any hardware store, you can help both your air conditioner and your heater to perform much more efficiently, thus saving you energy, and money.
Keep Your Ducts in Good Shape
“Out of sight, out of mind.” This is the case for many things in life, and your air ducts are no exception. Unfortunately, because you don’t see your ducts, you may not know when you need repair, duct sealing, or even duct replacement. We’ll be happy to inspect your ductwork if you feel like you’re experiencing uneven heating or cooling, or if you think your ducts are too noisy when your systems cycle on. Without air loss from your ductwork, both of your HVAC systems can perform much better!
At Comfort Incorporated, we keep your family safe, healthy and comfortable–call today, service today!
