Not only do we offer the highest efficiency equipment for your home, but we also try very hard to be green ourselves. We recycle almost everything we use including paper, cardboard, metal, batteries, refrigerant, and Mercury thermostats.
As much as half of the energy used in your home goes to heating and cooling. Make smart decisions about your home’s HVAC system and you can make a huge impact on your monthly utility bills, and your comfort.
Check your filter every month, especially during times where your HVAC system is used heavier such as the coldest months of the winter and hottest months of the summer. If your filter looks dirty after a month, change it. You should change your filter every 3 months at a minimum. A filter that’s dirty will slow down the airflow to your system, thus making it work harder. This wastes more energy, raising your electric bill. Plus it makes your system work, even more, to get you to your comfort level.
Just as a tune-up for your car can improve your fuel consumption, an annual tune-up of your HVAC system can improve efficiency and comfort.
A programmable thermostat is perfect for people who are away from their home for set periods of time throughout the week or month. Through proper use of pre-programmed settings, a programmable thermostat can save you an average of $180 a year in energy costs.
Ducts that move air to and from a forced-air furnace, central air conditioner, or heat pump are often big energy wasters. If you seal and insulate your ducts, you can improve the efficiency of your HVAC system by as much as 20% and even much more.
Focus on sealing ducts that run through the attic, crawlspace, unheated basement, or garage. Use mastic duct sealant or metal-backed foil tape to seal the seams and connections of ducts. After sealing the ducts in those spaces, wrap them in insulation to keep them from getting hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Next, look to seal any other ducts that you can access in the heated or cooled part of your home.
Cleaning your ducts can also greatly help the efficiency of your airflow. See our duct cleaning page for more information on duct cleaning.
If your HVAC equipment is more than 10 years old or not keeping your house at your comfort level, have it evaluated by Baker. If it is not performing efficiently or needs upgrading, consider replacing it with a newer, Energy Star system. Depending on where you live, replacing your old HVAC system with Energy Star qualified equipment can cut your annual energy bill by more than $115. But before you invest in a new HVAC system, make sure that you have addressed the big air leaks in your house and the duct system. Sometimes these are the real sources of problems, rather than your equipment.
Source: EnergyStar.gov
