10 HVAC Mistakes that Waste Energy

 

Central heating and air conditioning have made our lives much more comfortable. However, a consistent, even flow of heat or air conditioning in your home isn’t something you should ignore. Don’t make energy-wasting blunders with the system like skipping regular HVAC maintenance in California, closing or blocking vents in your home, and inaccurately placing your thermostat. 

 

  1. SKIPPING REGULAR HVAC SYSTEM MAINTENANCE 

 

Before the beginning of the warm- and cool-weather seasons, get your home’s HVAC system checked by professionals. Skipping frequent HVAC system maintenance could allow problems like malfunctioning parts inside your system to go undetected. With damaged parts, your HVAC system could be working harder than it should heat and cool your home, which, in turn, can affect your system’s energy use. 

 

  1. CLOSING OR BLOCKING VENTS 

 

If your rooms have grates or grilles in the floors or walls, then your house is possibly heated through a forced-air heating system. In this system, the air gets heated in a furnace, blown through ducts into each room to displace cold air, and accumulated into return ducts to go back to the furnace. 

Blocking vents with furniture or other objects prevents the free movement of heated air from the furnace into the rooms of your home. Keep furniture, curtains, and houseplants away from all vents so that the air can flow freely. 

 

  1. SHUTTING DOORS TO ROOMS INSIDE YOUR HOME 

 

In rooms without return vents, a situation that’s more common in older houses, closing doors don’t allow air a chance to return to the furnace. 

 

If air can’t re-enter the furnace, the return supply cycle gets affected, leading to your furnace work overtime and waste energy. This additional use of the thermostat creates undesirable hot spots in some areas and drafts in other locations. It can also affect the overall lifespan of your heating system. Hope you don’t want an earlier heating replacement in California. Even if you’re not using a room, keep the door to that room open to let air flow freely.  

 

  1. IGNORING YOUR HOME’S DUCTWORK 

 

Your home’s ductwork is the delivery system for cool and warm air to the rooms of your home. Problems with your home’s ductwork can impact the way your HVAC system does its job. Every two to five years, ask an HVAC professional to inspect your home’s ductwork. Smokers and people with multiple pets at home should have their home ductwork inspected more frequently.  

 

  1. INACCURATELY PLACING YOUR THERMOSTAT 

 

The location of your thermostat is everything. 

Avoid areas that will bring your thermostat into contact with heat sources. Thermostats can sense heat from appliances, floor lamps, or television sets. If the thermostat picks up on false sources of heat, it will cause your air conditioner to run longer than necessary to cool your home. The best spots for thermostats are in places that aren’t exposed to intense sunlight or heat sources. 

 

  1. CONTINUOUSLY ADJUSTING THE TEMPERATURE SETTINGS ON YOUR THERMOSTAT 

 

Setting the thermostat lower than the temperature you want when you first arrive home from running errands or work wastes energy and won’t cool your house any faster. 

To save energy, consider installing a programmable thermostat. This type of thermostat will allow you to tailor your home’s heating and cooling system to your daily needs, which can keep you from having to repeatedly adjust the temperature settings on your thermostat. 

Programmable thermostats can also allow you to arrange temperatures according to a preset schedule.   

 

  1. FORGETTING TO CHANGE YOUR AIR CONDITIONING FILTERS 


Dirty filters cause dirty coils in your air conditioning system. Those dirty coils will obstruct the exchange of heat, causing higher energy bills and decreased cooling efficiency, which could reduce the life of your air conditioning system. Change your filters at least once every month or two, depending on your home’s environment. Else you may have to seek an HVAC repair in California. 

 

  1. INACCURATELY SIZING AN AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR YOUR HOME 

 

Central-air systems, which collaborate with a home’s heating system, use parts of the furnace and ducts for the heating system. Ensure that any air conditioner you choose gets sized perfectly for your home. A unit that’s too small won’t remove enough heat and humidity from the air, especially during the peak of the summer. One that’s too large for your home will cycle on and off too often. When this short-cycling happens, you’ll not only feel uncomfortable inside your home, but you’ll also be wasting energy continually cycling the system on and off. 

 

  1. OPERATING AN OUTDATED AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM 

 

In older houses, you may see an air conditioning system that may be more than 20 years old. Age on a system not only impacts the number of repairs that you may need to makeover time, but also the amount of energy that the system expends to cool your home properly.  

With the help of services professionals, you can ascertain if your air conditioning system is at the end of its operating life and needs replacement.  

 

  1. LETTING YOUR LANDSCAPING COMPETE WITH YOUR OUTDOOR HVAC UNIT 

 

Central air systems feature both an evaporator often found in the furnace and a condenser located outdoors. Both of these parts can also be seen in a single outdoor unit too. 

When your air conditioning system is operating, the system expels heat to the outdoors through the condenser unit. If you’ve planted shrubs or ornamental grasses around the condenser, you’ll want to ensure you keep an area around the unit free of interference from landscaping, leaves, weeds, and other debris to allow air circulation. When warm air isn’t expelled properly, your system will employ more energy as it works harder to keep your home cool. 

Comprehending the operating requirements of your home’s HVAC system and dedicating time to a simple regimen of preventive care and professional HVAC system maintenance can help keep your home inviting and reducing your energy bills. 

Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 5 Guidelines for Maintaining Air Conditioner Units

Image
  Air conditioner units need to be maintained regularly for their best performance. For that, you need to service your air conditioners as per the schedule. In  California, air conditioning maintenance  services are widely available, so you can contact them for your HVAC maintenance. Also, you can take care of your AC units by yourself. Follow these 5 important steps and service your AC units flawlessly.  Clean the air filters: Dirty air filters usually require more energy and that leads to increased electricity bills. So if you don’t clean the air filters then can collect dust, bacteria, grime, mildew, and mold and that will corrupt the indoor air quality. So cleaning air filters is very important as that affects the electric bills and makes the air harmful for breath in.  How to clean the air filters? Turn off the AC unit and then open the unit safely with a screwdriver. Take out the filter from the AC unit to clean it properly. First, use a vacuum cleaner to ...
Read more

10 Common Heater Problems

Image
  It is quite difficult to   forecast  when  we will witness a  heater problem .   However,   mostly  there are  revelatory symptom s that  alert  of p roba ble  challeng es and  let you sufficient  time to  address  them  in the form of heating maintenance  before the unit n e c e ssitates total  replace ment .  It isn’t mandatory to be an expert  to  feel  them  either .   Y ou  need  to know what to  seek .    Accordingly, through this article, ten  common est  heater problems  have been identified  that indicate  whethe r  you need the services of heating repair in California or not .     1.  Weir d  Sound     If you hear unusual  noise s from  the  heater, th en it is most likely that your heater needs  repair.  Crack s and squeaks  are  in...
Read more

10 Most Common HVAC Problems

Image
  Few HVAC issues are only about cleaning coils and filters, something that you can DIY (do-it-yourself). Many of the 10 most common heating and cooling system problems will become much bigger concerns if not addressed early. Most of these can be prevented with regular heating maintenance in California . It is better to get your system checked annually to avoid outages during extreme weather. No/ Less Maintenance Frequently scheduled maintenance by a licensed service contractor is mandatory to keep your system in perfect working condition. During heating repair in California , it has been seen that the most common furnace problems can be prevented by proper maintenance by a certified service contractor. You may invest thousands of dollars in your home heating system. Secure that investment. Do not neglect to conduct regular maintenance, else you will most probably witness unforeseen expensive breakdowns, higher energy cost, poor performance and frustration. Pilot or Combustion Issu...
Read more