Heating and Cooling

Space Heating & Cooling

Heating and Cooling your home uses more energy that any other component in your home, it is also the largest contributer to your utility bills (on average around 50% of the bill). You can save money on your bills by properly maintaining your equipment and, when it's time to upgrade, get high efficiency replacement equipment (ENERGY STAR® recommends furnaces to exceed 90% AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) and air conditioners and heat pumps to exceed 14 SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio)).

Upgrading your equipment alone will NOT have as great an impact on energy bills as looking at the whole home. You must combine proper maintenance or upgrades with insulation, air sealing, and thermostat settins in order to get the most out of your HVAC equipment. The best equipment you can buy will still sap your energy bills as badly as older, less efficient equipment if your home is poorly insulated and extremely leaky. All that energy put into conditioning and heating your home will just be lost and your equipment will work way harder to maintain your prefered home temps.

Heating and Cooling Tips

Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer.
Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed.
Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
Bleed trapped air from hot-water radiators once or twice a season; if in doubt about how to perform this task, call a professional.
Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiators.
Turn off kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing; when replacing exhaust fans, consider installing high-efficiency, low-noise models.
During the heating season, keep the draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.
During the cooling season, keep the window coverings closed during the day to prevent solar gain.