With an efficient HVAC system, your home’s comfort and air quality will improve, and your energy bills will go down. So, the question is: How do you make your HVAC system more energy-efficient? Fortunately, there are several ways to accomplish this goal.
Regularly Change the Air Filter
Boosting your HVAC system’s efficiency is as simple as changing or cleaning the air filter on a regular basis. Your HVAC system has to work harder to move air around your house when the filter is dirty or blocked. This extra stress causes heating and cooling system to use more energy and may eventually wear down its components. Your home’s environment and filter type determine how often to clean or replace it, but most experts recommend changing it once every one to three months. More frequent changes may be necessary in homes with pets or high dust levels. Many experts agree that regular filter changes can boost HVAC efficiency by as much as 15%.
Seal Leaky Ductwork
Your HVAC system’s performance will take a serious hit if your ducts leak air. The system will have to work harder to keep the temperatures you’ve set, which will increase your energy consumption and utility bills. When checking the accessible ductwork for leaks, look for obvious holes, cracks or disconnected sections. It’s best to hire a professional HVAC technician to seal any leaks you discover. Ensuring that conditioned air reaches its intended destination through properly sealed ductwork improves system efficiency by as much as 30%.
Clean Dirty Ductwork
The buildup of dust, dirt and mold within your ductwork can eventually obstruct airflow and compromise the quality of the air in your home. Maintaining clean ductwork can enhance system performance, albeit it typically has a smaller effect on energy efficiency compared to leaking ducts. This is why you should think about getting your ducts cleaned by a professional once every three to five years. If you live in a dusty location, have pets, or have human household members who suffer from allergies or respiratory problems, you may need to do it more often.
Use a Programmable or Smart Thermostat
By automatically altering the temperature settings according to your schedule and preferences, programmable and smart thermostats provide a great chance to enhance the efficiency of your HVAC system. You can set a programmable thermostat to lower the temperature when you’re away or asleep and raise it when you’re home. A smart thermostat goes further than that by gaining insight into your routine, adjusting to your timetable, and reacting to the weather outside. With some models, you can even change the settings from anywhere using an app on your smartphone. Programmable and smart thermostats can cut your heating and cooling bills by 10%–15%.
Add Insulation
With the right insulation, you can make your house more comfortable all year. In older homes, the insulation levels may not satisfy contemporary regulations, so it’s especially important to check the attic, walls, and flooring. If you insulate your home properly, you can keep the heat in during the summer and the cold out during the winter by reducing heat transfer. This can result in energy savings of up to 15%. The attic is a great place to start when thinking about how to improve your HVAC’s energy efficiency because it’s usually the easiest place to add insulation.
Proper System Sizing
HVAC sizing is of the utmost importance when installing an HVAC system. Undersizing the system makes it difficult to keep temperatures where they should be while oversizing the system increases the likelihood of frequent on/off cycling. If you think your current HVAC might not be the correct size, it’s very important to have an expert perform a load calculation. This evaluation considers things like your home’s size, insulation, window efficiency and local temperature to find the right HVAC capacity. The right size system not only makes your home more comfortable but also reduces energy bills and improves indoor air quality.
Use a High-Efficiency HVAC Unit
Choosing a high-efficiency unit when you need to upgrade your HVAC system can result in substantial energy savings. Ideally, you should try to find HVAC systems that have high seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) ratings for cooling and AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) ratings for heating (furnaces). Compared to older, less efficient models, these units can lower energy use by 20%–40%. In addition, many modern systems come with high-tech features, such as variable-speed motors and multistage operation, that can further improve temperature management and comfort.
Add Zoned Heating and Cooling
Separately controlling the temperature in different parts of your home is possible with a zoned HVAC system. This might be particularly useful in larger houses or multistory buildings with variable heating and cooling needs. Restricting air conditioning to only the rooms that truly need it will help you save energy while also making you more comfortable. To achieve zoning, you can either install individual thermostat-controlled dampers in the ducting or use a ductless mini-split system. In addition to improving the comfort of your home, a zoned system can cut energy use by 30%.
Be Smart With Ceiling Fans
You can make it feel cooler in the summer without a lower thermostat setting by spinning your ceiling fans counterclockwise, which mimics the effect of wind chill. To gently direct warm air downward from the ceiling without making it seem cold, turn the fan clockwise and run it at a low speed in the winter. Using ceiling fans strategically can help you raise or lower the thermostat by up to 4° F without compromising your comfort. This results in massive savings on energy bills. To maintain maximum energy efficiency, remember to turn off the fan when you leave the room.
Sunlight Management
Blinds, shades or reflective window films can help reduce the cooling demand on your system by blocking the heat-generating sunlight during the summer. During the winter, allow the sun’s rays to naturally warm your home by opening the blinds and curtains on south-facing windows during the day and closing them at night. Effective sunlight management can reduce your cooling costs by up to 25%.
Schedule Regular Professional Maintenance
Get your heating system serviced once a year, in the fall, and your cooling system serviced in the spring. During these checkups, a trained professional will give your system a thorough cleaning and inspection, looking for and fixing any problems before they escalate. Regular professional maintenance can improve HVAC efficiency by as much as 30%, making maintenance visits a worthwhile investment. Many HVAC companies even offer annual maintenance plans to make these checks more affordable and convenient.
Our team at Perfect, Plumbing Heating & Air is here to help you make the HVAC system in your home more energy efficient. We also provide plumbing repairs, water heater installations, gas line maintenance, drain cleaning, air filtration services, and much more.
Call Perfect, Plumbing Heating & Air now to schedule an HVAC tune-up for your home in Garden City, ID or the surrounding area.
