The typical home cooling and heating system is made up of three main components that work together to keep your home comfortable year-round. These components are:

• The thermostat, which tells the system when to turn on and off.
• The heat pump, furnace or air conditioner, which is responsible for producing warm or cool air.
• The ductwork, which distributes the conditioned air throughout the home.

The key to improving the energy efficiency of your home cooling and heating system is to first improve the efficiency of each individual component. Try using the following tips to impact energy savings:

• Invest in a programmable thermostat to automatically raise or lower the temperature while you are away from home or sleeping. This helps you avoid wasting money on heating or cooling your home when no one is up or around.
• One easy way to boost the efficiency of your home cooling and heating system is to regularly replace the air filter on your furnace, air conditioner or heat pump. This improves airflow to the system, which in turn helps it consume less energy during normal operation. Additionally, you should schedule regular service visits with a qualified HVAC company to keep your equipment operating as efficiently as possible.
• Leaky ductwork is a leading cause of residential energy loss. Locating and sealing air leaks in your duct system can dramatically improve energy efficiency. In addition to duct sealing, you should consider insulating your ductwork in areas where it runs through unconditioned spaces, such as your attic or garage.

Taking the time to improve the efficiency of each component of your HVAC system is a great way to ensure that the entire system operates more efficiently. If you live in Southwest Florida and would like to learn more about the benefits of programmable thermostats, duct sealing or regular service visits, contact the professionals at Conditioned Air.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Programmable thermostat image via Shutterstock

A household’s heating and cooling “load” is another way of saying how much heating and cooling the home actually uses. That’s useful information, because it’s directly related to your energy consumption — and your utility bills.

So how do you determine your heating and cooling load, and how can you use your findings to help you? When calculating your HVAC load, it’s helpful to know several things:

• Total square footage of the home’s living areas, including individual room sizes.
• Attic and basement sizes, including insulation.
• How many rooms are occupied regularly, and at what times of the day.
• Lighting and appliances used throughout the home (some lights and appliances add heat to rooms).
• Surface areas of windows and skylights.
• Your local climate data.

There are computer programs available that help you use this information to calculate the heating and cooling load in your home. You also can engage a trained HVAC professional to calculate your home’s heating and cooling load — a smart idea especially when it’s time to replace your HVAC system. But you don’t need the exact calculation to get to work on reducing your home’s load. A few tips:

• Close off areas of your home that aren’t regularly occupied, and don’t need as much temperature control.
• Weatherize and insulate so you don’t lose warm or cold air to the outside.
• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs, which give out much less heat than incandescent.
• Install window treatments that reflect sunlight in the summer and retain heat in the winter.

The heating and cooling professionals at Conditioned Air have been serving Southwest Florida residents since 1962. Please contact us anytime if you’d like help calculating your heating and cooling needs — or with any other questions. We’re happy to do our part in helping our neighbors reduce their energy costs.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about your home’s heating and cooling load and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Conditioned Air services Southwest Florida including cities Marco Island, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

When building a new home or doing a comprehensive remodel of your existing home, you should keep in mind from the start that your house is a functional, engineered system, not just a collection of rooms that need to look nice on the inside. It’s why you should take care when choosing a heating and air conditioning contractor, and make sure to involve the company early in the process.

Otherwise, you may find that you’ll have to stop work and reconfigure your plans or have to spend time, effort, energy and a whole lot of extra money to fix what your HVAC expert could have caught early on.

However, all experts aren’t cut from the same cloth. Here are a few tips you should consider when choosing a heating and air conditioning contractor before you start your work:

• Ask your neighbors and friends. Good word-of-mouth referrals from people you trust will tell you a lot about the companies you are looking at. Once you start narrowing your options down, don’t hesitate to call the companies’ references.
• Be ready for the companies to do home evaluations and look to see how comprehensive the evaluations are when comparing their written estimates.
• Once you do select a contractor, make sure they are involved as early in the construction process as possible. Also, get a signed proposal. It will detail the scope and the costs of the work before it begins.

Choosing a heating and air conditioning contractor when you remodel or build a new house doesn’t have to be a hassle. Don’t hesitate to read up on what work you might need and how it will be done, and keep asking questions.

Speaking of questions, do you have some more? If you’re in the Naples and Ft. Myers area, or anywhere in Southwest Florida, we can give you answers. Contact us at Conditioned Air today. We’ve been the Comfort People since 1962.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about choosing a HVAC contractor and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Conditioned Air services Southwest Florida including cities Marco Island, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

When it comes to HVAC know-how, there are a lot of terms and information out there. That’s why technicians receive years of training! For the average Florida homeowner, it’s not possible or practical to retain all this knowledge. There are, however, some terms consumers can greatly benefit from understanding. Conditioned Air has three HVAC terms that can help every Florida homeowner get the best equipment, the best service, and the best savings: SEER, MERV and NATE.

SEER

SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. It measures the efficiency of air conditioners based on how much energy they consume and how much cool air they produce. Units with a high SEER get more “miles per gallon” than units with a low SEER. A low SEER would be around the number 8 or 12. High efficiency units can get up to 19.5 SEER or even higher, meaning that the air conditioner uses very little electricity to produce a high quantity of cooled air.

MERV
MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. This measures the effectiveness of air filters. The higher the rating, the more airborne particles they trap. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends using a filter with a MERV 13, reported to trap irritants and allergens that travel through the air in our homes.

However, don’t run out for a high MERV filter without matching it to your system. Higher MERVs are more restrictive, which could lead to inhibited airflow in your system and, possibly, a system malfunctions. Check with the technician who provides your routing A/C maintenance for the best filter possible for your system.

NATE
NATE stands for North American Technician Excellence. NATE is a national non-profit organization that tests and certifies technicians in areas of the HVAC industry. Some areas of testing include air conditioning, heat pumps, air distribution. The work of NATE certified technicians is up to national standards and ensures you won’t play a guessing game with your contractor. NATE certified technicians deliver quality installation and expert service.

Knowing these three simple terms can help save you money by allowing you to make an educated choice when deciding on the right equipment and the right contractor. Call Conditioned Air for further HVAC information. We’ll be happy to answer your questions!

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Conditioned Air services Southwest Florida including cities Marco Island, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

Many of our customers come to us because they’re building a new home.  New construction gives homeowners a unique opportunity to design their HVAC systems from scratch, with future energy-efficiency and indoor air quality in mind.  So, the planning stage of the process is a good time to think about the heating and cooling systems in terms of a whole-house approach.

Designing and constructing an energy-efficient house in Southwest Florida requires careful planning and attention to details.  A whole-house systems approach can help you and your architect develop a successful strategy for incorporating energy efficiency into your home’s design.

A whole-house systems approach considers the interaction between you, your building site, your climate, and these other elements or components of your home:

• Appliances and home electronics
• Insulation and air sealing
• Lighting and daylighting
• Heating and cooling
• Water heating
• Windows, doors and skylights

Each of these elements can be designed, and materials chosen, to enhance your home’s energy-efficiency in order to reduce utility bills and improve home comfort.  We’ll cover these elements in future posts.

Builders and designers who use this approach recognize that the features of one component in the house can greatly affect other components, which ultimately affects the overall energy efficiency of the house.  Choosing a builder who believes in the whole house approach to HVAC is a smart move that pays off in reduced utility bills, lower maintenance costs and improved air quality while you live in the home.

Some benefits of using a whole-house systems approach include:

• Reduced utility and maintenance costs
• Increased comfort
• Reduced noise
• A healthier and safer indoor environment
• Improved building durability.

So, if you’re building, be sure to work with contractors who understand how to use the whole house approach to ensure your future comfort.  This approach is meant to help your home work smarter, not harder.  And, it can be used with any home design.  We can work with you and your builder to incorporate all related systems in a way that meets your specifications, so ask us about the whole house approach, and how to plan your Florida dream home with comfort and energy efficiency in mind.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about whole-house approach to HVAC systems and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Conditioned Air services Southwest Florida including cities Marco Island, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

Should you consider a maintenance contract for your heating and cooling system?  If your system could take care of itself there would be no need for regularly scheduled maintenance.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.  Like all the equipment that keeps your Southwest Florida home running smoothly, your heat pump and A/C system need regular attention.  Having a maintenance contract in place will keep them in peak condition and prevent costly repair bills down the road.

Keeping your home comfortable accounts for almost 50% of your yearly energy costs.  Scheduled maintenance is one of the best ways to save money on your energy bills.  Generally, we come out at least twice a year do a checkup on the following components:

1. Electrical- If your electrical connections are not tight and secure, it could shorten the life of your equipment and cause unnecessary repairs.   Regular maintenance checkups are the ideal opportunity to check voltage and tighten all connections.

2. Lubrication- Friction is the enemy of your system’s moving parts.  Without proper lubrication, components wear down and have to work harder. Your technician will lubricate as necessary to reduce electricity usage.

3. Thermostats- Thermostat settings can affect your energy costs.  We make sure your thermostats are set for maximum energy efficiency. If you have programmable thermostats, this can save you almost $200 per year!

4. Controls- Your technician will put the system through all of its cycles, to ensure that it starts up, operates and shuts down properly.

5. Drains- Clogged condensate drains mean higher humidity and possible water damage in your home.  Regular flushing and cleaning will catch these problems before they turn into major issues.

A maintenance contract for A/C units will include an inspection of condenser coils and refrigerant levels. Blower components are cleaned and adjusted for proper air flow.  Your heat pump is checked for dirty filters or improper settings.  Debris is removed and coils cleaned.  This improves fuel efficiency, lowers your energy costs and prevents future repairs.

The benefits of a maintenance contract for your home include:

• Reduced energy costs- When you keep your heating and cooling system properly maintained, you can save up to 20% on your energy bill.  For the average Southwest Florida homeowner this could add up to about $200 per year.
• Extended system life- A maintenance contract extends the life of your system by ensuring that all components are kept clean and operable.
• Lower repair bills- Regular maintenance prevents costly repairs to your heating and cooling system. The longer you can avoid these repairs, the less your system costs you to operate in the long run.

If you want to make sure your home comfort systems are working at peak efficiency for as long as possible, consider a maintenance contract.  When we come out, we cover all important mechanical and electrical components.  It’s all about making sure that your system is running safely and economically.