Four Energy Efficient Improvements for Your Conventional HVAC System
If your home is like most others, you probably have a conventional HVAC system. These are systems with ducts and heating and cooling that are distributed throughout your home. They are affordable and easy to maintain, but not always the most energy efficient. If you want to reduce the energy consumption of your heating and cooling, you may want to consider some improvements like adding a digital thermostat or improving efficiency with an energy audit. If you want to reduce the energy consumption of your conventional HVAC system, here are four things that you may want to consider:
1. Have an Energy Audit Done to Locate Air and Heat Loss
An energy audit is a great way to find problems with your home that cause you to lose energy. This is where an energy audit professional will test your home for things like air leaks, insulation and problems with your HVAC system. It can tell you a lot about where your home loses energy, as well as help improve air quality in your home.
2. Upgrading an Old Thermostat to Digital Controls
If your home has old analog thermostats and controls, it is time for you to update them. Modern digital controls will give your HVAC system more accurate performance. They can also allow you to program your system to maximize energy efficient. You can easily program the temperature to automatically be adjusted when the system is not needed as much, such as at times when you are at work or in bed asleep.
3. Integrating Solar Energy into Your Home Heating
Some energy improvements can also include renewable energy. For your heating, a great investment is solar energy. You can use a solar water heater to help reduce the energy costs of your heating. These have become very affordable and can be integrated into your existing heating system. This improvement will be a lot more affordable than things like geothermal energy. You can also have the solar heating connected to the plumbing in your home to get more energy savings.
4. Improving and Repairing Defects in Ductwork
With old HVAC systems, ductwork can be damaged or defective. The ducts can get leaks in them over time, and they may even use old HVAC standards in their design. You may want to have your ductwork checked for leaks and defects to improve the energy efficiency of your heating and cooling. Sealing the ductwork can improve air quality in your home too, because it will help to keep outside contaminates and dust out of your system.
These are some simple improvements that you can do to your home to improve the energy efficiency of your HVAC system. Regular maintenance and repairs are also important, which you can contact a professional HVAC service to have them help you with maintenance and some of the improvements you need done to your heating and cooling.