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Cleaning Up Your Ventilation System

Put Your Home On An Energy Diet With An Upgraded Air Conditioner

28 July 2015

Rick Wells

Energy bills in the summer are enough to bring anyone to tears. While air conditioning is technically a modern luxury, it is difficult to imagine life without it, and for many, trying to survive without air conditioning is actually unsafe. Rather than just eating those high summer cooling bills, upgrade your system to get your budget back into line.

Put In A Zone Based System

Zone based systems offer several advantages over traditional systems. 

1. They make it easy to turn off the air conditioning in parts of the house that you aren't using at the moment. While you can seal off individual rooms without a zone system, the air conditioner is still going to push the same amount of air, and if you close off too much space, you can actually start to harm your air conditioner.
2.  Not all parts of your house are going to be at the same temperature. Heat rises, so the upstairs will heat up more quickly than the downstairs, or a day of cooking can quickly cause your kitchen to get warm, and the rooms you use the most will always warm up more quickly. A zone based system will only cool the rooms that need it the most.
3. You can set the temperature differently in different rooms. You want your bedrooms to be cooler to help you sleep, but there is little reason to spend the same amount of energy to keep the rest of the house that cool. A zone based system will help you ensure you get that vitally important good night's sleep while saving energy in the rest of the house.

Make Use of Solar Power

Solar power is becoming increasingly efficient and affordable for homeowners. While adding a system to your home's main power involves a lot of additional electrical work (in the form of a large inverter and cutoff system), you can avoid some of that overhead by purchasing a simpler product that is integrated with your HVAC system.

These systems are extremely useful when they are attached to an air conditioner. One of the big challenges of solar power is that the power is not always available when you need it. However, when the sun is shining brightly is exactly when you need your air conditioner the most. You might loose some energy in the winter when the air is not in use, but this often less than the cost the battery systems you would otherwise need to store that extra energy.

Sometimes All It Takes Is A New Unit

Technology has come leaps and bounds in the past few decades, and HVAC tech has not been excluded from this revolution. While air conditioners, when properly maintained, can last 20 years or more, it isn't always the best decision to try and keep an old unit alive. 

Upgrading to a new unit, even without doing anything else, can put a big dent in your monthly bill. Talk to your HVAC professional next time they come out to do your regular maintenance. While you can get a general idea of how much energy your old unit uses according to the manual, air conditioners loose their efficiency over time. Your tech will be able to advise you on how well your old unit is running, so you can get a better idea of how much you would save by replacing your air conditioner now instead of waiting until the old one dies.

The day you get your energy bill does not have to be the worst day of the month. By making a smart investment into your HVAC system, you can create a home that is both comfortable and inexpensive to live in. If you aren't ready to upgrade today, you should at least consider putting money away, so, when the time comes, you will be able to invest in a more efficient unit. For more information, contact a local air conditioning repair company. 

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