How Proper Maintenance and Insulation Can Cut Your Heating Costs
Choosing and installing the most efficient heater your budget will allow won’t necessarily cut your heating costs. If you lack a tight home envelope, even the best heater will underperform. Fortunately, you can lower your carbon footprint and limit your home energy bills with proper insulation and maintenance. Read on to learn how.
Improved Heat Retention
Insulating your roof, attic, and walls will improve your home’s heat retention. Adequate insulation plays a vital role in creating a tight and efficient home envelope. Quality insulation with a sufficiently high R-value will keep more of the heated air your HVAC system produces trapped indoors. It will also keep cold drafts out.
When you upgrade your home’s insulation, your heater can create and maintain the conditions you want with shorter heating cycles. It will also run fewer of them.
Ensure Efficient Heat Transfer
Whether you use a heat pump or a furnace for wintertime heating, your heater keeps your home warm via heat transfer. Gas-fired furnaces transfer the heat from fuel combustion, and electric furnaces leverage convection and conduction. The refrigerant in heat pumps transfers heat via their evaporator and condenser coils.
Unfortunately, built-up dirt and other debris on a heater’s heat exchangers impede this process. Without pre-season maintenance, your heater will work harder and take longer to get its job done. It can also experience stress-related performance issues, such as short-cycling, icing, or overheating.
Inefficient performance due to a lack of maintenance takes a toll on heaters. It can shorten their lifespans, set the stage for costly repairs, and cause noticeable increases in heating costs.
Optimize Airflow for Balanced Temperature Control
Routine maintenance services optimize airflow throughout heaters. During furnace and heat pump tune-up services, HVAC technicians check for and correct airflow obstructions. This optimizes operating conditions and makes it easier for heaters to create balanced, uniform temperatures throughout homes. With routine maintenance, you’ll have fewer hot and cold spots, and your heater will have shorter and more effective heating cycles.
Protect Your Indoor Air Quality
During routine maintenance, HVAC technicians complete a number of tasks that both improve efficiency and optimize airflow. These include:
- Cleaning burners and coils
- Cleaning and tuning blower motors and fans
- Opening or adjusting closed air vents
- Checking for and addressing HVAC air duct leaks
These and other measures improve indoor air quality (IAQ). High IAQ promotes longer HVAC air filter lifespans, improved heat transfer, and better air distribution.
Limit Duct-Related Energy Losses
In addition to insulating your attic, roof, and walls, you should insulate your HVAC air ducts, too. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, HVAC air ducts can lose as much as 40% of the heating energy that furnaces and heat pumps produce. Proper ductwork insulation will ensure that heated air doesn’t escape into your basement, crawlspaces, attached garage, or attic. It will also keep dirty, unfiltered air out.
Professional maintenance and quality insulation can make a world of difference in your wintertime heating costs. For expert heating repair and maintenance services in Berkeley, CA, get in touch with LJ Kruse.