Tag Archives: Furnace Tune-Up

Family enjoying a meal together at the dinner table | Complete Heating and Air Conditioning

HVAC Tips For The Holidays

Ensuring your HVAC is in excellent condition for the holidays is critical whether you’re hosting a big family gathering or renting out your home while you traipse off to Hawaii for an unorthodox winter getaway.

It’s the time of year when the heating and venting aspect of HVAC has a big job: Keeping you warm and toasty so you can enjoy that eggnog in comfort. The best times to schedule an HVAC inspection and maintenance check are in the autumn and spring. However, if you didn’t do it, it’s not too late — and there are some DIY tricks you can manage yourself.

Swapping out the air filter is especially important in the summer and winter. A clogged filter can overwork your HVAC, making it difficult to pump out more heat. A severely clogged filter can even be a fire hazard.

How often you change your filter depends on your home and usage, but it’s not uncommon to need a swap once per month. The more people are in a home, the greater the need, so hosting holiday guests can dirty filters faster.

Give Santa the All-Clear

Vents should never be covered, even when they’re below windows (where drapes or couches are regularly placed). When you hang new curtains or move furniture, make sure vents stay unobstructed.

This is especially important during the holidays, as this is the time when you might be stringing lights, garlands, setting out seasonal decorations and putting up a Christmas tree. Clear vents allow your HVAC to do its best job.

Also keep in mind that pine needles can make their way into just about anywhere — including inside your vents. Cleaning up daily around holiday trees if and when needles start to drop is the best way to keep your home tidy.

Find a safe place to put up your tree, as far away from heating sources as possible. Putting a tree close to a heat source is a fire risk, and also dries out the tree faster.

Diversify Your Heating Sources

If you have fireplaces, make use of them. Test out new holiday cookie recipes, and use the stovetop as much as possible to create another heat source while also filling up on hot, comforting treats.

This holiday season, you might want to add a smart home device to your wish list. A home that knows your preferred temperatures and the times you are home can help you lighten your carbon footprint and even extend the life of your heat source. For more holiday tips, contact Sandy Heating & Air Conditioning, where HVAC maintenance helps keep you cozy, even in a winter wonderland.

 

Front view of the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

The Pending 92% Furnace Law

If passed, the pending 92% furnace law could cause the price of furnaces in the United States to soar out of control.

The Department of Energy has proposed a law that all new combustion systems need to be at least 92 percent efficient, as ranked by the AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) system. AFUE measures combustion systems like furnaces and boilers, telling shoppers how efficient each system is.

Wrong Numbers

The DOE made many assumptions about installation costs, which after closer analysis, weren’t correct. That destroyed the original economic analysis of a combustion system’s life cycle. The end results looked fantastic for homeowners at first blush — but critics say that the DOE was exaggerating the benefits.

In some cases, homeowners may not be able to justify having a furnace functioning at 92 percent, with over one-quarter of southern homeowners never enjoying a payback. Only homeowners in select regions will benefit from this standard, and that has many wary of the proposal.

The installation costs of a 92 percent furnace can be staggering. No matter how much you may save in energy costs, in some situations you’ll never enjoy a true payback. Venting will also cost more for these furnaces compared to basic, non-condensing options.

The chief technical advisor of AHRI recently released figures from its own study and found that many times, the justification for 92 percent standards just aren’t there.

More Than One Type of Green

Many homeowners and HVAC professionals want greener options for heating and cooling. However, requiring homeowners across the country to only install highly energy-efficient combustion systems that are much more expensive up front might not be the best approach, particularly when over 30 percent won’t ever get a payback.

The House Subcommittee on Energy and Power drafted a law that would put off the DOE’s proposal to require the 92 percent standard, but the final ruling likely won’t be made until the end of the year.

If you already have a furnace or boiler installed that isn’t 92 percent efficient, you will not be required to replace it if the law passes.

Homeowners interested in greening up their current system can start by scheduling routine maintenance checks and adopting best practices to reduce consumption (like bundling up a little more in the winter). Call Sandy Heating & Air Conditioning for all your furnace needs, from installation to annual inspections.

 

Snow-covered brick house in winter

Heating and Cooling an Older Home

When you bought your dream home, heating and cooling might not have been at the front of your mind. Simply put, older homes aren’t as energy-efficient as newer ones, partially due to an aging HVAC system, unless a recent owner sprung for an upgrade.

Today’s air conditioners, furnaces and boilers come with energy efficiency ratings, and upgrading to an Energy Star model can drastically reduce energy consumption and utility bills. However, it’s costly. A reputable HVAC technician will tell you whether you have a lot of life left in your current system, or if it’s better to replace it.

Another issue with older homes is the architecture. Energy efficiency just wasn’t a priority years ago. The windows and doors might not offer much insulation, and the home may have air leaks and drafts. Those soaring vaulted ceilings and that ample attic space probably seemed like a bonus when you bought the home. Now that winter’s creeping in, you’re left wondering why you’re trying to heat empty attic space and a room with 20-foot ceilings.

Luckily, you can reduce energy usage in a number of ways.

This Old Home …

Don’t regret your decision to purchase your vintage charmer. It’s lovely and full of character ― it just needs a little help in the energy department. Try out these tactics to help your furnace or boiler be more efficient this winter:

  • Get a maintenance check ASAP: When’s the last time you had your HVAC system serviced? Just a few repairs or small part replacements can make a huge difference. For example, clogged vents can make your system work overtime. Schedule inspections every autumn and spring, starting right now.
  • Optimize your home’s insulation: If your home has its original windows (or cheap upgrades), you’re losing a lot of heat at these exit points. You can slowly replace windows with energy-efficient models, but in the short term, adding an insulating film or caulking around the edges (if they leak) can work wonders.
  • Adjust your thermostat: If you’re walking around in shorts and a T-shirt while decorating the holiday tree, something’s amiss. Unless you live in Hawaii, you should be bundling up a little indoors during the winter months. Your heating system isn’t supposed to make you think you’re in the tropics, but rather keep you reasonably warm while you still wear long sleeves and fuzzy socks.
  • Block off unused space: One of the bonuses with many older homes is all that space. However, if you have a sprawling five-bedroom, mid-century, modern home but only one or two people live there, why are you heating the whole house? Close off rooms that aren’t used.

To schedule your inspection and for more heating and cooling tips, call Complete Heating & Air Conditioning today.