Maintaining your thermostat is important for energy efficiency.

One of the most important things you can do to keep your heating and cooling systems working efficiently is to make sure they are regularly maintained. Some maintenance practices are basic and can be performed by the average do-it-yourselfer.

Among the top heating supplies you can use to maintain your heating equipment are fresh furnace filters. Furnace filters are easy to replace, and a clean filter ensures proper air flow through the furnace or air conditioner.

Filters are readily available at various HVAC parts supply stores and heating supply stores. They can even be found at department stores. A low-end, average furnace filter can cost as little as $1.00, while better filters, such as HEPA filters, can cost $10.00 or more. A HEPA filter removes more particles, cigarette smoke, and pet dander from the air than a regular filter.

Another piece of HVAC equipment that is helpful in maintaining your heating system can be found in most homes and businesses: a shop vac. A regular vacuum will work just as well, provided it has a hose that can be used to vacuum debris from the blower wheel, the flue, and the motor. All of the air in the house flows through the blower, and if too much debris builds up in the blower, the motor may seize up and burn out. Regular vacuuming will help the blower to continue to work smoothly.

While the above maintenance practices are easy and essential to the life and efficiency of your heating equipment, there are maintenance tasks that should not be attempted by the average do-it-yourselfer.

In order to tune up a furnace properly, the furnace must be shut off so that there is no electric current running through it, and gas burners must be removed and cleaned. Only a certified HVAC technician should perform this task, and it should be done annually.

Additional annual service tasks that a tech performs are checks of the many HVAC controls (safety controls) that are present in heating equipment. These controls must be working properly to prevent fires, gas leaks, and other potential hazards.

HVAC technicians also test for carbon monoxide emissions. Average store-bought carbon monoxide detectors do not read low levels of carbon monoxide. Many of these detectors will not go off until emissions of carbon monoxide are at dangerous levels. One of the HVAC supplies a professional technician uses is a carbon monoxide sniffer that detects low levels of emissions.

Maintenance and service on any kind of radiant heat system should never be attempted by the average do-it-yourselfer. Radiant system maintenance involves many specific components and should always be performed by a certified HVAC technician who has been properly trained in radiant system service and in the use of radiant heating supplies.

When it comes to maintaining air conditioning equipment, the average do-it-yourselfer is limited in what he can do. A broom may be used to remove grass clippings, cobwebs, and other debris from the back of the air conditioner. All other cooling equipment maintenance and cleaning should be performed annually by a certified professional.

Air conditioning supplies consist of different kinds of acid cleaning solutions and hydrochloric and sulfuric acids that are only available to legally certified technicians or professionals licensed to use them.

Another HVAC supply a technician uses is a certain guage that he plugs into the cooling system to check refrigerant levels. You must be EPA certified to plug gauges into the cooling system.

R22 refrigerant is made of a chemical which is detrimental to the ozone layer. It is illegal to open the air conditioner and attempt cleaning or maintenance unless you are legally certified.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you can perform basic tasks to help keep your furnace and air conditioner working properly: replace your furnace filter once a month, vacuum your furnace flue, blower wheel, and motor, and sweep debris from the back of your air conditioner. But for your safety and the safety of your home and family, and to get the highest efficiency from your heating and cooling systems, you should keep an annual appointment with your professional HVAC service tech to have your heating and cooling systems cleaned and tested.

For more articles by this author, go to Helium.

Since there are many different sizes, styles, and types of architecture that we habitat, I can only tell you where, within your home, is the best place to install a thermostat that will then properly regulate the temperature, and maybe save you a whole lot of money.

First of all, the equipment that produces heat and/or cools your home must be in complete harmony with the thermostat that measures the indoor temperature. So too, that thermostat activates the heating or cooling equipment until the desired temperature within the area where your thermostat is located is achieved. As a result, the temperature within your dining room could be several degrees higher or less than the temperature within your bedroom or any other room in your home.

Do you have multi-zone temperature regulation for your home? If not, you have only one thermostat, so you must regulate the amount of heat or cold that is sent to or produced within each room in order to properly balance the temperature within the entire space of your home. That can be accomplished by increasing or reducing the amount of hot or cold air that enters each room. For a hot water system, you must reduce or increase the flow of hot water that flows through the radiators within your home.

The truth is, the rooms next to the exterior walls of your home usually cool faster or warm faster than any of the interior rooms of your home. As an example, during the winter it can be 20 degrees outside and, in spite of the best insulation available, that cold will be transmitted to the interior room directly behind that wall. That is known as an exterior wall. All of the other walls within your home are known as interior walls.

If you haven’t already guessed, your thermostat should be mounted on an interior wall that will be as far away from an exterior wall as possible. That being, the only influence that will cause your thermostat to activate your heating and/or cooling equipment will mainly be determined by the current air temperature, rather than the temperature of the wall.

With the above in mind, if your utility bill is higher than expected after doing all of the above you must seek the services of a professional who might discover the problem that you didn’t discover. So too, I sincerely hope that your efforts prove to be successful.

Article by Joseph Malek. For more articles by this author, visit Helium.

LIGHTING
1. Switch to compact fluorescent (CF) light bulbs.
CF bulbs (the little spiral bulbs that fit in standard light sockets) generally use only a quarter of the electricity it takes to power standard light bulbs. When the average home contains around 40 light bulbs, this can add up to some serious savings. CF bulbs are a bit more expensive, but they will last up to ten times as long, and will more than make up for their initial cost in savings. If you have light fixtures where the bulb is visible, there are CF bulbs that are designed to mimic the bulb shape of standard incandescents. There are also CF bulbs to replace your outdoor floodlights, so don’t stop at the inside of your home!

2. For holiday or other decorative lighting, consider LED lights.
LEDs consume only a trickle of electricity, so you can let your lawn or patio glow like the sun without panicking about the electric bill. LED lights cost a few more bucks than standard, high quality light strings, but if you plan on using them a lot, you will reap the benefits. As the popularity of LEDs grows, more and more options of color, size, and shape are available; many mimic standard light strings, others incorporate features like color changing.

3. Use automatic timers or sensors.
If you want the lights to be on when you come home, an automatic timer may be your answer. Plug a lamp into the timer, and set it to turn on just before you are due home. Outdoor timers can be used for any plug-in outdoor lighting (there are particularly good for holiday lights). Light and motion sensors, commonly found in floodlight fixtures, can turn on outdoor lights when the light senses motion or low light levels.

WATER, HOT OR OTHERWISE
Some of you country folk might be surprised to know that many people actually pay for their water. While the city folk may be jealous of your ability to use cold water with reckless abandon, everyone pays for making that cold water hot. The following are tips for conserving water of all temperatures:

1. Install low-flow shower heads and faucets.
Water saving shower heads are fairly inexpensive, and you probably won’t even notice all that water that is not hitting you on the head. Modern low-flow faucets will help you save even more money. All new toilets are water saving by law, but if you have an older model, fill a milk jug or soda bottle with water (don’t forget the cap) and put it in your tank. The bottle will take up space formerly occupied by water, thus saving you one milk jug’s worth of water every time you flush.

2. Turn your water heater down to the lowest acceptable temperature.
Set the thermostat on your water heater to 120 degrees. Many water heaters come from the factory preset higher. If you find you are running out of hot water, slowly adjust the temperature until you find the lowest one that suits your needs.

3. Stop watering that lawn!
Seriously, dead lawns are so in right now. Okay, okay. Maybe you can’t stop watering your lawn or garden, but you can help it need less water. For gardens, mixing a spongelike material like peat moss in with the dirt will help your soil retain water. Mulch can also help keep the soil from drying out. For lawns and gardens both, water them deeply but less often, and only during particularly hot or dry spells. Brief and frequent watering encourages shallow roots, which will actually make your plants weaker and easily killed by a single dry spell that coincides with your week of vacation.

4. Turn off the water when you aren’t using it.
We all turn off the water when we are completely done with it, but how many of us leave the water running while we shave or brush our teeth? If a family of four brushes their teeth for two minutes a day, twice a day, then the faucets are running for almost two extra hours each week.

5. Take showers instead of baths.
Showers use considerably less water than baths. Unless, of course, you take hour long showers. Try to keep your showers under ten minutes, and shave afterward in the sink.

6. Fill up the washing machine.
A load of laundry uses an average of 55 gallons of water. Add in extra rinse cycles, and it can use even more. Make the most of your water usage, and only wash full loads of laundry.

HEATING AND COOLING
1. Insulate your home.
For most people, this entails sealing the drafts around windows and doors, as well as providing adequate attic insulation and ventilation. In an older house, the heat loss from drafty windows can be equal to leaving a single window open all the time, so get yourself a tube of clear caulk and some weatherstripping and seal up those gaps! If your attic could use some extra insulation on the floor, add it, and make sure that you don’t block any vents along the eaves of the roof. Exhaust fans can help keep your attic cool and dry, as well as prolonging the life of your roof.

2. Install window film.
UV blocking window film can block a good portion of the UV rays and heat that come through your windows. While tinted versions are available, window film can also be completely clear. In the winter, window film can help retain heat.

3. Use a programmable thermostat.
Programmable thermostats are relatively inexpensive, and can save you lots of money. Set the heat lower during the night (you are sleeping, you won’t notice!) and during times when no one is home. Of course, keeping your house a few degrees cooler in winter and warmer in summer will help too.

4. Use ceiling fans during the summer.
Set the ceiling fan on “suck” instead of “blow”, and you will pull cool air up from the floor. Save your air conditioner for those truly unbearable days.

5. Consider installing a whole house fan.
Whole house fans are powerful fans installed in the attic hatchway. During the evening, when the temperature cools off, you can use them to quickly replace the hot, stale air in your home with fresh, cool night air. Just make sure your windows are open if you turn on the fan, or the suction can blow out your pilot lights and suck air the wrong way down your chimney!

OTHER TIPS
1. Adjust your fridge and freezer settings, and keep your fridge full.
Appliances that heat or cool generally draw the most power. For food safety, keep your fridge at least 40 degrees or cooler. If you keep your fridge full, it will have to work less to recool things when you open the door. (If you don’t feel like having a fridge full of food, use gallons of water.)

2. Dry your clothes outside during warmer weather.

Using some or all of these tips can help save you a considerable chunk of change on your utility bills. Invest that money wisely and buy yourself a sailboat when you retire! Or you could always blow it all on new shoes and fancy haircuts…