Are you looking for ways to conserve energy and reduce your utility bill? Well, there are plenty of energy savers that you can employ, while remaining comfortable in your New Jersey home during the peak weather extremes. Here are just a few energy savers that can help you save a little money on your energy bills:
Leave the temperature of your home a few degrees warmer than you would normally like it during the warmer months. Make up for this additional heat and humidity by using fans. You can save up to 3 percent on your cooling costs for each degree that you’re able to turn up your air conditioning. Keep in mind, though, that fans don’t lower a room’s temperature. Rather, they provide a cooling breeze that makes you feel cooler. So, if you leave the room, turn off the fan to conserve energy.
Additionally, in the winter, reverse the direction that the fan blades travel. This will push warm air down from the ceiling.
Contact a professional contractor to have your HVAC systems tuned up. Your contractor will inspect your heating and cooling components. Additionally, he or she should clean, lubricate and tighten components, as necessary, and also can pinpoint and fix small issues before they escalate into large, and costly, problems. If you don’t keep up with preventive maintenance for your HVAC system, you could shorten your system’s lifespan, due to unnecessary wear and tear.
Check your filters every month if they are 1″ thick. A good rule of thumb is to change them every four to six weeks if your HVAC system is running full-time. If in doubt, remove your filter and hold it up to a light. If you can see the outline of the light through the filter, it’s still usable. If you can’t, it’s time to change it. Dirty filters cause your HVAC system to work harder, trying to push air through clogs, and also can cause your indoor air quality to take a nosedive, if the air your HVAC system is pushing dislodges a clog, and spews the contaminants into your air.
Install and use a programmable thermostat, so that you can set your HVAC system to turn off (or down or up, as the case may be) when no one is at home or you’re asleep. Furthermore, you can program it so that your heat (or air conditioning) comes on shortly before you’re slated to arrive home or wake up.
For more energy savers that you can employ, or if you need an HVAC system tune-up, contact the experts at Pipe Works Services, one of the most experienced and trustworthy HVAC contractors in the New Jersey area. We’ve been serving residential and commercial customers since 2000. and can help you with all of your heating and cooling needs. Our goal is to help educate our customers in Chatham, NJ, and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).