Make Life Easier With A Programmable Thermostat
If your home isn’t outfitted with a programmable thermostat, you’re missing out on many key advantages that can make your life easier and more comfortable.
How To Give Your Furnace A Boost
Like your car or any other machine, your furnace is subject to wear and tear, and the less it gets the longer it will last. Using your furnace efficiently not only saves money on your monthly gas bill but also reduces wear and tear. If your furnace lasts longer, you won’t have to replace it as often. By following the tips below, you’ll save money twice!
None of these tips are hard, but just like getting exercise or flossing, the key thing is to do them.
1. Make Sure the Filter is Clean
The purpose of the furnace filter is to prevent dust and hair from clogging your furnace. But after the filter has been in place for a while, it gets full of debris. Your furnace then has to work harder to pull air through the densely packed filter, which places extra stress on the furnace.
How often you need to change the filter depends on a variety of things. How often you clean, whether or not you have pets, and recent renovations can all make a difference. A good rule of thumb is to check the filter monthly for debris. If you can see hair and dust on the surface, then replace the filter or wash it if it’s the reusable kind.
2. Use a Programmable Thermostat
It’s still amazing how many Americans still don’t have a programmable thermostat. They are one of the best ways of reducing your monthly gas bill, and they often pay for themselves in one year. They also reduce wear and tear on your furnace.
A simple 5-day/2-day programmable thermostat is not expensive, and it will allow you to set up a schedule for weekdays and weekends that will lower the temperature when you’re away from home or sleeping.
3. Make Sure all Registers are Open and Free of Debris
In order to work efficiently a furnace needs to be able to freely circulate air around your home. Make sure none of your registers are blocked by furniture or have trapped dust in the cover. Be careful when purchasing decorative registers they look great but can restrict as much as 50% of the airflow.
4. Keep the Area Around the Furnace Clear
Most furnaces are kept in the basement, where we also love to store extra belongings. It’s really important to keep a three to the five-foot area around your furnace completely clear of stored items. This is a safety issue because there is burning gas in the furnace. But it also helps the furnace run smoother because air can circulate freely.
5. Curtains are a Great Way to Save Energy
Strategically using your curtains can make a noticeable difference in your energy bill. By closing them at night, you can prevent heat loss in the cold outdoors.
Opening them in the day on the south or west-facing windows allows warm sunshine to enter and heat the inside of your home, just like with a car left in a parking lot. On any north windows, try to keep them closed, even during the day.
6. Get Regular Furnace Tune-Ups
Make sure you have your furnace inspected and tuned up every year to ensure it’s running at peak efficiency. One faulty part can place strain on the rest of the system and can lead to sudden breakdowns.
7. Use Ceiling Fans
It may sound odd to use a fan in the winter, but they can help even out the overall warmth of your air. Heat naturally rises, and tends to collect near the ceiling. Running your ceiling fan on low to push the hot air down to the floor works especially well in rooms with vaulted ceilings.
8. Bake More in the Winter Months
Give your furnace a break by using the oven more. It will heat the entire kitchen area and may help heat your entire ground floor. There are other benefits too: not only will you feel better with a nice home-cooked meal, but your house will also smell great.
9. Decorative Insulation
Carpeting and area rugs on floors help insulate against drafts. They also feel great underfoot, help with soundproofing, and make us feel warmer because they’re so cozy looking.
10. Keep a Good Humidity Level
Most people notice that the air in our homes tends to be really dry in winter. It’s not only drying on skin and throats, but it can make us feel colder than we really are. Using a humidifier to bring your humidity level up to about 40% will help transfer heat better. You can lower the setting on the thermostat and not notice it. More humidity is also better for wood floors and furniture and can help prevent asthma and allergy attacks.
11. Make Sure your Garage Door is Sealed
The garage is one of the biggest culprits of energy loss in the modern home. Make sure the garage door is touching all the way down and there aren’t any drafts around the sides are top.
By following these tips, you’ll keep your furnace running smoothly all winter long. You’ll also stay cozy and warm for less money.
Green Apple Mechanical NJ are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the New Jersey area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priorities. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC needs call today toll-free at 888-611-7191
A New Home Thermostat Can Be Incredibly Versatile
In the colder months, a winter thermostat setting of 68 °F should be comfortable for you, your children, and your pets when you are at home and awake.
“A Stitch In Time Saves Nine”
Regular maintenance helps your system produce and distribute the warm or cool air more evenly and steadily.
Heat And Cool Your Home By Zones
Programming zones in your home gives you the flexibility to maintain a comfortable temperature in the spaces that are occupied while keeping the spaces that tend to stay unoccupied at a moderate temperature.
How Long Can I Expect My HVAC System To Last?
If you’re in a home long enough, you’ll need to eventually replace the furnace and air conditioner.
How Long Should I Wait Before Replacing My HVAC System?
Keep in mind that sometimes the age of your system and how long it has been working hard may necessitate a replacement.
Improve The Air Quality In Your Home With These Simple Tips
Air filters trap pet hair, dust, and other irritating particles so that your air conditioning system delivers fresh, clean air back into your home.
How To Keep Your HVAC In Optimal Condition
If you want your air conditioner to be able to provide reliable and efficient service over many summers, there are some things that you need to do to help it stay in good working order. At Green Apple Mechanical, we know a thing or two about keeping air conditioners working at their best. To help you to keep your New Jersey home cool, we are drawing on our experience to provide these eight tips that will keep your AC system in optimal condition throughout the year.
1. KEEP IT CLEAN
One of the greatest enemies of your air conditioner is the dust and dirt that is common throughout a home. A buildup of contaminants on the evaporator coil can lead to less-efficient cooling and longer run cycles, resulting in higher utility bills. By removing the main access panel to your AC unit, you can easily see if dust has accumulated on these coils. If you notice any dust at all, it is a good idea to call Green Apple Mechanical to have the coils professionally cleaned.
2. KEEP IT VENTILATED
The best way to prevent dust from accumulating in your air conditioner is to keep a good air filter in place at all times. To ensure the optimal operation of your AC system, that filter needs to be cleaned regularly. A good filter that is trapping dust as it should typically require replacement at least once a month, especially during the summer. If you have not been in the habit of replacing your filter in the past, it is a good idea to check a new filter at least once a week so that you can see how fast the dust accumulates. With this knowledge, you can decide if you need to change your filter more often than once a month.
3. DO NOT STOP THE FLOW
Your air conditioner’s job is to deliver cool air throughout your house. If it cannot do that job because of some type of blockage, then it could cause damage to your AC unit. It is important to pay attention to how many vents you have closed at any given time. Though it is perfectly fine to close a few vents to help control where the cool air goes, Green Apple Mechanical recommends that you do not close more than half of your vents at a time. This will help to prevent excess pressure from building in your ducts and air conditioner components, which could result in air leaks down the road.
4. USE DISCIPLINE
Though an AC unit does a great job of keeping your house cool, too much of a good thing can lead to less-than-optimal operation. That is why it is important to utilize discipline in your air conditioner use to ensure you do not wear it out prematurely. A great resource to help with this is a smart thermostat. These devices sense when you are home and when you are away and automatically adjust the temperature to reduce your AC usage. In addition to protecting your cooling system, this will help to reduce your dreaded summer utility bills.
5. USE A DEHUMIDIFIER
Though the air conditioners installed by Green Apple Mechanical do a great job of removing humidity from the air in your residence, they do need a little assistance from time to time. This is especially true if you struggle with high humidity levels in a certain area of your home. A dehumidifier removes excess humidity, automatically turning off when it reaches a pre-set humidity level. With the extra humidity gone, your AC system will have less humidity to remove, which will allow it to be more efficient at removing the heat from the air in your house. This results in shorter cooling cycles.
6. CHECK YOUR DUCTS
An often-overlooked aspect of optimal air conditioner operation is good ducting. Once the cool air leaves your unit, the ducts are entirely responsible for routing that cold air to where it needs to be. Therefore, if your ducts are dirty or improperly routed, your cooling system will have to work harder to keep your property cool. One aspect of good duct health is ensuring your ducts are clean.
Over time, dust and other debris can collect in your ducts. This typically happens in sharp turns and at the end of duct runs. If you have your ducts professionally cleaned, you can restore the proper airflow to all areas of your home. Another component of good duct health is proper duct routing. It is best to have a Green Apple Mechanical professional inspect your system to ensure that there are no pinch points in your network of ducts and that none of your ducts has developed leaks.
7. PERFORM ROUTINE MAINTENANCE REGULARLY
As much as you can do on your own to maintain the efficient operation of your air conditioner, there are some things that need to be left to a Green Apple Mechanical professional. By allowing Green Apple Mechanical to perform routine maintenance on your system every year, you can be sure that your AC unit will be ready to go when the hottest weather strikes. Routine maintenance consists of checking refrigerant levels, inspecting electrical connections, lubricating moving parts, and performing an overall system check.
8. INCREASE INSULATION
Even if you have an efficient air conditioner, you do not want it to have to work harder than it needs to. One great way to prevent overworking your air conditioner is to increase the insulation in your home. Adequate insulation will help to prevent cold air from escaping too quickly and keep the hot air outside where it belongs. Another aspect of improved insulation is taking the time to fill in all of the gaps and cracks around windows, doors, and along your home’s foundation to ensure that your house is as airtight as possible. This is a project that will benefit you just as much in the winter as it does in the summer.
KNOWLEDGE AND SERVICE
At Green Apple Mechanical, we strive to be much more than an HVAC service company. We want to be a trusted source that you can reach out to when you have questions about your home comfort systems. That is why we maintain a large knowledge base and only hire the most experienced technicians to work for us. Whether we are installing, repairing, or maintaining your air conditioner or furnace we can do it all with confidence that comes from decades of accumulated experience.
Green Apple Mechanical are the experts you can trust. We have been serving the New Jersey area for years with professionalism and expertise. Customer service and care are always our number one priorities. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of your HVAC needs call us today toll-free at 888-611-7191
Is Your Thermostat On Its Last Legs?
You may be able to still get some service out of a failing thermostat but if the device doesn’t work properly, you should consider immediate thermostat replacement.