Optimizing the HVAC System in your Home or Office

You should be comfortable in your own home without breaking the bank! Whether we're experiencing a frigid cold snap or a heat wave, there are ways to optimize the heating and cooling system in your home to help avoid unnecessary spikes in utility bills. The friendly technicians at Tallon Services have some suggestions to help your heating and cooling system work more efficiently and effectively. Heat or Cool What You Need, Not What You Don’t. Your energy bills are directly related to the size of your house and the efficiency of your system. If you aren’t home during the day, make sure you turn the heat down or the air conditioning up a few degrees. Even a few degrees really adds up in the long run. Also consider turning the heat down at night too during the winter months when everyone is snug in their beds. Using a programmable thermostat makes it easy to maintain temperatures that maximize comfort and efficiency at the same time. And some of these can even be controlled remotely from a smart phone or tablet. Insulate, Insulate, Insulate. Newer homes have some insulation, but there is always room for improvement, and some insulation can shift and thin out, leaving some areas vulnerable. You don’t want the heated or cooled air escaping through the windows, roof, walls, electrical outlets, etc., so trap it inside by making improvements. Some improvements are easy and relatively inexpensive, while others can be more costly and require a professional. Placing sheets of insulation in the attic and the ceiling of the basement can help a lot. For even better heat and cool retention, consider having insulation blown down into the walls of your home. You might even want to invest in double-paned windows, or seal your existing windows with weather stripping. Other small and very affordable improvements you can do yourself include ensuring that window caulking is well maintained, weather stripping on exterior doors is performing as it should, installing foam insulation panels into electrical outlets, and even something as simple as applying door draft guards to the bottoms of doors to ensure drafts are blocked as much as possible. All of these efforts will pay off in the summer too, keeping your house cool and comfortable. Make Sure You Have Routine Maintenance. A clean furnace or A/C unit runs much more efficiently than a dirty one. Doing an annual furnace checkup each fall and A/C checkup in the spring will help ensure that your systems are clean and running as efficiently as possible. Annual maintenance not only helps your systems run more efficiently, but it also helps those units last longer because when they run efficiently there isn't as much wear and tear on them. The skilled and friendly technicians at Tallon Services are here to help ensure your home or office environment is as comfortable as possible for you, and that your HVAC systems are running as efficiently as possible. Our technicians keep up to date on all manufacturer's training so we can service all systems. Give us a call at (970) 381-4493 to schedule your annual checkup, repair a system that is not working properly, or if you are ready for a new and more efficient HVAC system install.