Heating and cooling costs can put a real damper on your budget, especially on chilly winter nights or blistering hot summer days. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, heating and cooling eats up more energy and money than any other utility in your home, often comprising almost 50 percent of your monthly bill. Every HVAC system can be optimize and regularly maintained to ensure it’s as efficient as possible. However, homeowners can do more to help their HVAC system save energy.

Before you start putting energy-saving best practices to use, make sure to schedule an inspection for all your appliances, including your HVAC system. This can ensure signs of trouble are spotted and addressed before they get out of control. Plus, it’s often easier and cheaper to repair an appliance rather than replace it (especially if it’s relatively new). You can always splurge on a more energy-efficient model next time, but for now it’s wiser to work with what you’ve got. If you mix HVAC maintenance with a “whole-house approach to saving,” you can shrink your utility bill so that it eats up just 30 percent of your bill instead of 48.

Challenge Accepted

If you’re comfortable with a thermostat set at 75 in the winter, you’ll probably be just as comfortable at 73. You don’t need to suffer and shake from chills, but you also probably don’t need to be wearing shorts and a tank top indoors in the winter (unless you’re in the tropics, of course). Be reasonable with your thermostat, and challenge yourself to turn it down a few degrees. Also make sure that filters are cleaned or replaced in a timely manner, which is usually every month. This is one HVAC maintenance task you can do yourself — just schedule a pop-up reminder and have a stockpile ordered and ready.

Make sure that baseboard heaters, radiators and warm-air registers are clean and not blocked by items like drapes or furniture. During your bi-annual inspection, ask the contractor to remove air that can get trapped in radiators (they can even show you how to do it yourself). Pick up some heat-resistant reflectors and put them in between your radiator and the wall. These little changes add up to big change that you’ll notice in just a couple utility billing cycles.

Forget Lazy Tendencies

Exhaust fans don’t need to be left on more than 20 minutes after bathing or cooking. When it’s time to replace exhaust fans, opt for high-efficiency models. In cooler months, make sure drapes and shades are open on south-end walls to bring in the sun (and warmth), then closed at night to minimize the cold from entering. Summer months call for window coverings to all be closed in the day to keep heat out.

Start saving now on heating and cooling costs and call Sandy Heating & Air Conditioning to schedule your HVAC inspection.

Air conditioning installation is no small matter, and one of the biggest considerations should be saving money — and energy. Air conditioners can use a lot of power and natural resources. Depending on the insulation in a home, the region, the size of the house and your cooling preferences, it’s easy to spend a pretty penny just to stay cool and comfortable in the summer. Ductless air conditioning is a great way to cool a room or a home that doesn’t feature classic HVAC ductwork. Also known as a “mini split” for its size and lack of window units, ductless A/C is just what it sounds like: An A/C system that is split into two sections.

You’ll have an outdoor compressor, which is traditionally the noisy part of an air conditioner. Of course, since it’s outside you won’t have to deal with the hum and disturbance that old-school window units sometimes feature. The other part includes indoor evaporators, also known as air handlers. A very small hole is made in the home’s exterior wall in order to install this ductless, mini-split system. This makes for a quick, simple setup. Ductless A/C systems are energy efficient while keeping even large homes cool. However, for many homeowners, the biggest perk of all is a reasonable utility bill.

Feeling Energized?

Saving energy is a big bonus for eco-minded homeowners. However, you might notice that both ducted and ductless systems look similar in terms of energy efficiency when shopping around. Just because it looks that way on paper doesn’t make it true. Central air systems waste quite a bit of energy. In fact, they can lose up to 30 percent of their cool air, thanks to extensive ductwork that requires the air to travel in the ducts for such long distances. Cool air might leak if the system isn’t flawlessly sealed and maintained. The conduction might not have perfect insulation, particularly if the ductwork travels via unconditioned areas of the home like the attic. These two sources of energy waste make ducted systems far less efficient — or at least require homeowners to really stay on top of maintenance.

Plus, a ductless A/C system can cool by zones while central A/C can’t. You may have a number of air handlers, and each one is controlled individually via a thermostat. This makes it simple to customize the temperature in every room. You can keep your bedroom a mildly cool 68 degrees, while your hot-blooded kid down the hall can dip down to 62 degrees in his or her room. However, the real perk is that you only need to cool the rooms being used. Why pay to cool the guest room that’s only used when the in-laws stay over?

Ducted or not, there’s a solution for every home. Contact Sandy Heating & Air Conditioning, and work with the experts in air conditioning installation to find the best cooling solution for you.

Homeowners considering a furnace installation, either to replace an outdated system or for a new construction, may be pleased to find out that a high-efficiency furnace comes with a myriad of benefits. Compared to inefficient and/or older systems, today’s furnaces use about 30 percent less fuel and instantly save you on consumption and monthly bills. However, the average new heating system is only around 75 percent efficient, and you can easily choose a high-efficiency system for an even lighter carbon footprint and more savings in the long haul.

Regardless of the model you choose, bear in mind that natural gas and oil prices will continue to rise. Think about your future consumption and costs to figure out how a high-efficiency furnace becomes an investment that pays off potentially for decades. It is not unusual for some regions to experience over a 40 percent increase in energy costs, particularly if propane or fuel oil is used in the home. However, new furnaces provide many more benefits than simply efficiency.

Keeping Quiet

Homeowners who have nightmares from growing up with an old furnace know how loud they can be. That is no longer the case, since the new models feature a much quieter operation. Additionally, heat is more evenly distributed and newer models can sustain their heat with ease. However, even the most efficient new furnaces still require proper installation to ensure optimal heating capacity. Correct installation means a furnace with a lower BTU rating can still perform well if it is ranked as highly efficient.

Don’t forget to look for tax credits and perks for choosing a high-efficiency model, but be aware that they change each year. Check with your accountant or the IRS for the latest information on credits for high-efficiency models. Also keep in mind that the best way to protect your investment is with routine cleanings and inspections. This is the only way to make sure fuel consumption and utility bills remain as low as possible. Plus, these inspections ensure carbon monoxide is not leaking, although a carbon monoxide alarm is also highly recommended.

Insulation First

To make the most of your new furnace, be sure that your home has solid insulation. This works in tandem with a high-efficiency furnace to get the most savings. An audit that includes checking overall insulation, ductwork integrity, window/door heat loss tendencies and passive solar energy should be included in a thorough inspection. Once complete, homeowners know exactly what to do to make the most of their new furnace.

Neither all furnaces nor installation contractors are created equally. Get in touch with Sandy Heating & Air Conditioning today to get on the fast track to installing a furnace that will serve you well for years to come.