Air Conditioning Service 101: How To Make Your HVAC System More Efficient | Azle, TX
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Every year, over three million HVAC units get replaced in the United States. During this time, over 14 billion dollars are spent on heating and air conditioning services and repairs.
Expert air conditioning service providers in Azle, TX, and beyond acknowledge that heating and cooling processes account for a substantial percentage of the total energy consumption in any American home, precisely 50 percent. This has made homeowners appreciate the need for efficient HVAC functionality all year round.
You can pursue many options if you want to improve your home’s heating and cooling infrastructure’s operation efficiency. Most notably, you could consult with a reputable air conditioning company for preventive HVAC maintenance solutions, which could help reduce the risk of a breakdown by approximately 95 percent. Alternatively, you can read on to discover more ways to enhance your home’s HVAC unit’s functional efficiency.
Cleaning or Replacing Air Filters
Professional air conditioning service technicians recommend cleaning or replacing air filters on a bi-monthly basis and with good reason. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, cleaning or changing clogged air filters could lower your home’s energy consumption by 5 to 15 percent.
The regular cleaning schedule may differ for specialty filters, whereby HVAC experts recommend consulting with the manufacturer for further direction. If you probably have a lot on your mind, you should consider setting a phone reminder to ensure that the air filters in your unit get changed on time. However, even though you may fancy your DIY home maintenance skills, it’s better to work with a professional air conditioning company whenever you need to change or clean the air filtration units.
The type of air filter cleaning service you receive depends on various factors, including the filter’s MERV rating. The MERV rating, also known as the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value rating, refers to an air filtration component’s ability to restrict the movement of large particles.
Ideally, the higher the rating, the better a filter is at capturing various types of particles. In that case, if your unit uses a regular air filter that leaves you struggling with the impact of pet hair, dust, and allergen accumulation, it could be time to call a reliable air conditioning service for an upgrade.
Professional heating and AC technicians may provide you with filters with a higher MERV rating, which has a higher ability to eliminate even the smallest contaminants in the air. Even though they may retail at a higher price than conventional air filters, you can rest assured that your family is protected against the harmful effects of indoor air pollutants.
Reduce Heat Gain
Another way to improve your Azle’s efficiency, TX, home’s air conditioning unit, is by reducing the heat gain. There are various ways to reduce your home’s heating and air conditioning system’s heat gaining capacity. You can start scheduling an air conditioning service to have any air leaks in the ductwork sealed, for starters.
Leaks in the duct network force the HVAC unit to strain to maintain favorable indoor air conditions, thereby using excessive energy in the process. To identify whether your unit could be having ductwork leaks, you can schedule a comprehensive duct inspection.
Alternatively, suppose you notice a significant spike in your household’s energy utility bill or irregular distribution of conditioned air throughout the home. In that case, it could mean that there’s a leak in the ductwork.
Besides that, you can improve your home’s HVAC efficiency by speaking to a professional air conditioning service technician near Azle, TX, and requesting them to help enhance the insulation in your home. The heating and AC service expert may suggest using spray foam insulation or regular fiberglass battling, depending on your household needs.
While they’re at it, they may also coordinate detailed heating and AC inspections to check for holes in the walls as well as leaks and cracks within the system. If any are spotted, you can ask them to apply sealants to prevent heat from escaping. Additionally, if your home’s attic insulation wasn’t installed uniformly, you can reduce your unit’s heat gaining capacity by requesting an experienced air conditioning service artisan to spread it out.
To reduce the heat gaining capacity of your home’s heating and AC system, you should ensure that the unit isn’t placed in the path of direct sunlight. The outdoor HVAC components should be positioned in cooler areas of the home, but at the same time, they should not be under trees or shrubs since debris such as falling leaves and twigs may end up clogging the vents with time. It’s always a good idea to speak to an air conditioning service expert so you can get informed recommendations on where the HVAC unit should be set up.
That’s not all; other household components, including the windows and light bulbs in your home, also affect the heat gaining capacity of the HVAC system. Therefore, if your home still has single-pane windows, it could be time to consider shifting to double and triple-pane windows or even storm windows, which can reduce heat loss by 25 to 50 percent. By doing this, your home’s HVAC system no longer has to work unnecessarily hard to keep your indoors comfortable. Besides helping save some cash off your monthly utility bill, installing modern window types guarantees optimum protection from burglar intrusions for a long time to come. Moreover, they feature outstanding soundproofing capabilities. However, ensure that you consult with a reliable air conditioning service company so its staff can link you to professional window service experts within your vicinity.
As predetermined, the light bulbs in your home also influence the level of heat gain an HVAC system may experience. In that case, homeowners that still rely on traditional incandescent bulbs for their lighting needs should consider purchasing Energy Star-rated Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs, which consume 75 percent less energy than incandescent products.
Regular HVAC Maintenance
You can improve the efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling apparatus by scheduling regular HVAC maintenance. Air conditioning service experts near Azle, TX, recommend routine heating and AC maintenance annually or bi-annually, once before the summer heat kicks in and before winter.
This ensures that the system’s always in tip-top condition to reduce the amount of energy it consumes to keep your home comfortable and increases its heating and cooling efficiency. The heating and AC maintenance service may entail any or all of the wide-ranging activities discussed below.
Upon arrival, your air conditioning service provider starts by conducting a comprehensive visual inspection to identify components that are out of shape due to typical wear and tear. Their solutions also entail filter cleaning or replacement to prevent a reduction in the supply of hot or cold air due to the excessive accumulation of germs, dust, and debris over time.
This buildup of materials significantly affects the performance of the entire unit.
Besides that, your home’s HVAC maintenance service may involve the air conditioning service technician implementing condensate drain fixes. Most heating and cooling systems feature a condensate drain, which must remain free of any debris or obstruction to guarantee top-notch HVAC performance.
When clogs start appearing, they create a hurdle that prevents condensed water from passing through them, resulting in excessive moisture accumulation. Excessive moisture buildup should have you worried since heating and AC professionals believe that it can trigger more serious issues such as water damage, high humidity levels, and mold growth, which pose serious health risks to you and your family. Moisture accumulation also causes the improper regulation of indoor temperatures, ultimately affecting your home’s indoor air quality.
During HVAC maintenance, air conditioning service technicians focus on debris removal. You’d be mistaken to assume that dust and debris accumulation only affect the air filters in your Azle, TX, home’s heating and cooling equipment. Besides the aforementioned condensing units, debris buildup is also a matter of concern in moving parts and blowers.
Under normal situations, some amount of dust particles is bound to settle inside the HVAC system. This phenomenon becomes catastrophic to the system’s wellbeing if it occurs excessively. Some components may get corroded while others may begin to malfunction, thereby reducing the unit’s efficiency in keeping you and your family comfortable.
Moreover, regular HVAC maintenance ensures that you don’t have to worry about ever experiencing electrical mishaps with your home’s heating and cooling equipment. An HVAC unit’s internal electrical connections can become loose or malfunction due to good old wear and tear. That’s why your professional heating and AC maintenance technician will assess those connections and the system’s performance during routine furnace and AC maintenance. This way, they can stay abreast of and remedy any issues that affect efficient HVAC functionality.
Normalize Pre-Season Checkups
Most air conditioning service providers recommend a full-scale HVAC service before winter or summer as the best way to ensure that the system operates at optimum efficiency all year round. They also believe that it’s a good way to ensure it functions efficiently while avoiding unexpected breakdowns that result in significant heating and AC repair costs down the line. Regular pre-season furnace and AC tune-ups also help detect and fix minor issues before they’ve triggered much more serious HVAC problems.
Retrofitting May Work Too
Retrofitting your home’s heating and cooling unit often involves your trusted heating and AC service professional adding some new technologies or features to your older or existing system, and it’s a great way to boost its overall operational efficiency.
There are many reasons why you would consider getting the HVAC unit in your home retrofitted. Firstly, you may be tired of constantly repairing the old equipment, or you could be considering relocating to another area and planning to buy a new unit isn’t a priority. You may also consider retrofitting the unit if you need more time to raise the cash to buy a new one or when you need to improve the level of comfort in your Azle, TX, home.
Regardless, furnace and air conditioning service professionals recommend a retrofitting service for well-maintained, energy-intensive, and large systems frequently used. According to the Department of Energy, you can save up to 35 percent in energy costs by adding or replacing components to improve your equipment’s heating and cooling efficiency.
Retrofitting the unit also allows you to bypass the high cost of replacing the entire system. During a retrofitting service, your technician may replace the compressor, add condenser fan controls, integrate demand-controlled ventilation features, and mount AC-side air economizers, which take advantage of external air temperatures to keep your home comfortable.
Consider Installing Fans
Since hot air rises during the summer, heat accumulates and remains stagnant within your living space, causing the heating and cooling unit to consume more energy to dial down the high temperatures.
On the other hand, during winter, most of the energy spent by the heating and cooling equipment in your home goes toward heating a part of your home that nobody’s using, such as the attic. However, there’s a solution to this issue, a ceiling fan or even a portable plug-in fan can help distribute the heated air, eventually saving you from high energy bills and excessive heating and cooling costs.
With the fans installed, you should have a working knowledge of a few unspoken rules regarding fans’ use. For starters, fans help create a cooling sensation on human skin, but they don’t necessarily cool down rooms. In that regard, running a fan in an empty room is just a waste of energy. Besides that, ceiling fans must rotate counterclockwise to generate the cooling downdraft. During winter, air conditioning service experts recommend reversing the fan direction and reducing their rotating speed to effectively redistribute heated air that may accumulate in the attic.
One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Fort Worth – Azle, TX: An Air Conditioning Service Company You Can Trust
Suppose you require a professional air conditioning service technician to enhance your home’s heating and cooling system’s operational efficiency. In that case, you can trust our HVAC experts at One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Fort Worth.
Our technicians have been offering top-notch heating and cooling solutions in the Fort Worth area since 1988. We have the tools and training to handle all aspects of a comprehensive air conditioning service, including new unit installations and heating and AC inspections as well as HVAC maintenance, repair, and replacement.