Tips

Did You Know Replacing Your Air Filter Regularly Can Not Only Keep The Air You Breath Clean, But can Also, Reduce Energy Costs, And Prolong The Life Of Your Equipment?

Removing Over-grown Vegetation From Around Your Outdoor Condenser Can Increase Airflow and Decrease Energy Consumption.But before you go cutting down all of your vegetation, know that some vegetation such as small to medium sized trees can drastically help your A/C. Strategically placed bushes and trees which cast a shadow over your air conditioning condenser, can actually help the overall efficiency by as much as 10%. Now 10 % may not sound like much but remember, if you current air conditioning condenser consumes 2300 Watts per hour and runs for 45min per hour on a 90 degree day in the summer, savings could average $15 per month. It all adds up. Now before you go planting trees, bushes, and shrubbery around your A/C, remember to pick out a plant that will not drop sap, needles, leaves, or flowers into the condensing unit, and be sure to leave plenty of room for the condenser to breath (minimum of 24″), and room for the service man to work.

Have Your Ductwork Inspected. The ductwork running throughout your building is vital in keeping all rooms at the desired temperature and humidity helping you stay comfortable. Leaking ductwork can waste 20-40% of your furnace or air conditioners energy. If ducts in your building pass through unconditioned areas such as attics, basements, or garages, the ductwork must be insulated. On top of that if your ductwork has dirt and dust build-up on the internal walls, this will defiantly cause the indoor blower to work much harder than it needs to. This will cause increased energy consumption and shorter motor life.

Turn Off The Lights In The Summer. Not only will this save you energy costs to start with, but remember, those old light bulbs are hot. Any heat load in the building must be accounted for when a calculation is completed, and lights are one of those loads. An average 60W light bulb can get as warm as 200 degrees and furthermore can create over 200 BTU/hr to the building. These additional loads add up and must be counteracted by the Air Conditioner. A light bulb is a simple source of sensible heat that is added to a building. Other sources could be candles, ovens, and even fan motors. Remember there is also the latent heat in the building that the Air Conditioner is fighting as well. These are sources that can cause humidity levels to become higher in a building. A big source of latent heat that is often overlooked are house plants. So remember to turn off the lights when not needed and reduce the usage of anything that can add heat energy to your home. But one of the largest heat loads which are almost never taken into account when sizing AC equipment, has to be Televisions. Simply leave it on for a period of time then put your hand on the screen. I hope you will think twice before leaving that TV run all day