Residential Heating and Air Energy Saving Tips
Energy Saving Tips

Did you know that 44 – 50% of your utility costs come from heating and cooling your home? To achieve the maximum in total home comfort and energy savings, McElroy’s suggests trying these helpful energy saving tips:

 
  • Insist on an annual furnace safety check and regular maintenance on your air conditioner.   
  • Consider upgrading to a more efficient heating and/or air conditioning unit.
  • Combining proper equipment maintenance and upgrades with appropriate insulation, weatherization and thermostat setting can reduce your energy bills overall.
  • In the winter, set your thermostat as low as possible and as high as possible during the summer. By maintaining a minimum difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures, you’ll lower overall heating and cooling expenses.
  • Clean or replace filters each month.
  • Clean baseboard heaters, warm-air registers and radiators as needed. Make sure they are not being blocked by draperies, carpeting or furniture.
  • During colder months, take advantage of “passive solar” by opening draperies and blinds on the south side of your home. The sun will assist in warming your home – free of charge! Be sure to close them at night to keep heat in. And in warmer months, close all shades and blinds, except on the north side of the house, to decrease the electricity needed to efficiently cool your home.
  • Close any unoccupied rooms that are isolated from the rest of eh house and close the vents, if possible.
  • Install a new digital thermostat. This convenient technology eliminates the necessity of remembering to turn down the heat or air conditioning at night or at other times when nobody is home. Just program the thermostat to “set back” at the appropriate times.
  • Using house fans help cool your home by circulating cool air throughout the house. They are most effective when the outside air temperature is cooler than the inside air and when they are operated at night.
  • Shade air conditioning units, yet be sure to not block the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses up to 10% less electricity than one operating in the sun.
  • Make sure your equipment is properly sized. Bigger is not necessarily better. A larger unit will most likely perform less efficiently and less effectively than a smaller, properly sized system.
 

There are all sorts of ways to save money on your home energy expenses. Some cost next to nothing, while others are investments you can make now to save significant amounts of money over time. Contact us for more information on how to use these tips to trim costs on your energy bill.