Making Cents of Energy - HELP Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electric

Easy Ways to Lower Your Energy Bills

The long-term trend of gas and electric prices is clear: UP. Fortunately, there are some things you can do around your house to protect your pocketbook from rising energy prices. Take control over your utility bills with the following strategies.

1. Get an HVAC inspection. Have a certified technician from your local heating & cooling provider come out and inspect your system to ensure that it’s running as efficiently as possible.
2. Insulate, insulate, insulate. Make sure your home is adequately sealed to keep the weather out. Check all potential trouble spots – including all doors, windows, basements, attics, and crawlspaces – to investigate where any air might be getting in or out.
3. Pull the shade (or close the blinds). Lowering your window shade or closing your blinds/curtains is a simple way to keep your home from becoming a greenhouse on hot, sunny days. This is especially important with southerly and westerly facing windows.
4. Do certain chores at night. When the weather is hot, using heat-generating devices such as an iron, dryer or another electrical device can make your air conditioner work overtime. Schedule heat-producing chores for the cooler part of hot summer days.
5. Clean your air filters. Get rid of the dust and dirt from your central air or window unit filters to keep your HVAC system operating at peak efficiency.

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Making Cents of Energy is written and published by Thompson Plumbing Heating & Cooling

Three Simple Ways to Save Energy

Do your energy bills skyrocket every summer and winter? Making some simple changes around the house can help you conserve expensive resources like electricity and water.

Try these three easy utility bill-cutting strategies:

• Use your dishwasher. It may seem counterintuitive, but a dishwasher actually uses significantly less water than hand-washing. To save energy, always choose the “air dry” option on your dishwasher.
• Use your microwave. Something else you may not realize – your microwave uses two-thirds less energy than your stove. Plus, it’s a lot faster!
• Keep your refrigerator and freezer full. This keeps the fridge/freezer cooler with less energy, and it helps keep the temperature stable even when the door is open. This strategy also reduces the need for frequent grocery store trips!

One more thing to think about: the average home spends nearly $2,000 a year on energy costs. Seemingly insignificant things, like using a little less electricity, heat and water here and there, add up over the long run. Start making little changes and watch your energy savings accumulate!

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Making Sense of Energy  is written and published by Thompson Plumbing Heating & Cooling. Visit our website at http://www.333Help.com

Understanding Underfloor Heating

If your home has a traditional furnace heating system in it, you might not know much about underfloor heating. While underfloor heating isn’t a brand new technology, it’s not common for houses to have it.

Underfloor heating, as you might as guessed, can come in the form of cables or mats installed underneath the floors of the home. Not only does it heat the floor you walk on, but that heat naturally rises to warm the rest of the house.

Since the warming cables or mats are installed evenly around the home, your entire house gets warm. There’s no need to worry about areas around the vents and space heaters being the only spot to warm up. You also don’t have to worry about cracks in your home’s duct system losing heat, since the floors do all of the work.

Underfloor heating does save energy, as it’s not a system working to push heated air through the home. Instead the heat naturally rises. The control panel for the floor heating will also help save energy if you utilize a schedule for it to turn off when no one is home, or at night. Although it’s small, you will save a little extra room in the house, from the old heating system.

A common myth of underfloor heating is that it can’t be used in bathrooms because of the water. It can be used in every room in the house, even steam rooms, if you’re lucky enough to have one.

Installing underfloor heating is much easier when you’re building a house, but it can be done by a professional at any time.

On the flip side, the heat from the floor makes it difficult to cool down since it is a natural  process.

As more people discover this newer way of heating homes, it might become a regular part of building a house, but it hasn’t gotten there yet.

(Flickr Photo by Bryn Pinzgauer)

What’s Wrong with My Furnace?

Have reason to believe that your furnace might be broken? Better get that fixed before the weather gets colder. Luckily, there are some things you can do yourself to investigate the problem before paying a professional to come out.

Begin by checking the thermostat, making sure it is on “heat” and that the temperature setting is sufficiently high to make the heater come on. Turn the dial a little higher to see if that turns the heat on. If you have a programmable thermostat, make sure the time and date settings are correct. Follow the thermostat wires back to the furnace, checking for breaks.

If you have a programmable thermostat, try replacing the battery. If that doesn’t fix the problem, open up the thermostat and blow out any dust or debris. Make sure it’s firmly attached to the wall and that it doesn’t have any loose wires.

Your next action should be to check the shutoff switches and breakers. Find the standard wall switch near the furnace and check whether it’s on or off. Check the circuit breaker or the fuse near the furnace as well. See that the panel in front of the blower motor is fastened securely (for the furnace to work, the switch must be completely pushed in).

Check whether the furnace filter is clogged, and if so, replace it – a clogged filter can cause the furnace to shut off completely.

You’ll also want to make sure that the gas is on by tracing the gas line from the furnace to the meter and checking that the handle is parallel to the gas pipe. Remove the front panel to the pilot light and check to see that the burner is lit.

Still not working, huh? Make sure the chimney exhaust flue is clear. To do this, turn the furnace off and the thermostat all the way down. Then, take apart the duct where the exhaust flue connects to the furnace and check for debris.

It’s also good idea to flush out the furnace drain lines, since the furnace will shut down if the drain lines are blocked by mold or sediment.

Ensure that all of the room registers are open, and then take a look at the duct work. Check for blocked ducts and seal any gaps.

Lastly, remove any debris or leaves from the intake and exhaust vents on the outside of the house to make sure nothing is obstructing them.

Well, you’ve done about all you can do! If you still haven’t found the source of the problem, it’s probably time to call in a professional.

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The Making Cents of Energy blog is written by published by Thompson Plumbing Heating & Cooling. Visit our website at http://www.333Help.com.

(Flickr Photo by jronaldlee)