quick tips to conserve energy
with the rising cost of energy, it is very important and practical to conserve electritown as much as we can. conserving energy not only assists us lower our electric bills, but it also assists protect our natural resources as well. there are a lot of method s to conserve energy. most of them are so simple, even your kids can do it. here are just some to get you begined:
5 tips to begin saving energy
1. turn off the lights when leaving a area at night. electrical lights consume a large quantity of energy especially if you are using incandescent lights which are energy inefficient kind of lights. create it a habit to turn the lights off and see how much you could conserve on your electritown bills.
2. unplug your appliances when you’re not using them. appliances that are plugged still consume energy even if they are turned off so to avoid this from occur ing, unplug everything that is not in utilize .
3. avoid opening your refrigerator if you’re not getting anything. if you open your refrigerator constantly, the refrigerator will work difficult er to cool it again. and of course this process of re-cooling consumes a lot of energy.
4. avoid using space warmthers if you can. if you are going to be running the warmther, space warmthers may offer a bit additional warmth, but if they are inefficient, the cost of the electritown will outweigh the advantage.
5. utilize solar panels in your houtilize . solar panels utilize energy from the sun and convert it to electritown that can be utilized by your appliances and additional electronic gadgets. it could cost you a lot to set up one in your houtilize but it will assist you conserve a lot of cash on your electric bills in the long run.
these are only some method s on how to conserve electritown. these tips would assist you bring down your electritown bills by around 10-40%. not bad right? so what are you waiting for? begin conserving electritown right now.
weed out the scam artists
hiring a correction technician for any house correction effort can be a challenging process. if you hire the first person you come across without doing any research, you may end up with major problems on your hands. house repairs small and grand can be very costly, and the last thing you want to do it loose your hard earned cash or cause damage to your house. so, how do you sort out the good guys from the bad guys? the bad guys can put on a pretty convincing act, but if you know what to look out for you will be able to easily tell the difference.
buisnesses who are looking to take your coin and run are not much different from con artists. they play the part of a legitimate business up until it’s time to get paid. when choosing a correction technician, you cannot choose based on your perception of someone’s character. the buisnesses that are the most successful are the charismatic type of people who can convince anyone to believe nearly anything they say. there is a way to see through this mask. here are a few tests that you can give your correction technician to see if he is worth hiring:
review the phonebook and ask around town: most people have old phone book lying around. the best buisnesses are usually the ones that have been in business for several years. if a business claims to have been in business for several years, there should be evidence of this in the phone book. if you cannot find a business number listed, this business should be avoided. your family and friends can also make suggestions that could help you choose a correction technician based on their knowledge.
time line an estimate: when you time line an estimate with a business, you can get a good look at how legitimate they are before they ever do any effort. many buisnesses offer free estimates, so it doesn’t hurt to review out a few different buisnesses before you sign a contract. when the man comes out to your house, take notice of the truck that he drives, the uniform he wears, and the paperwork he give you. legitimate buisnesses want to be as skilled as possible; a guy who is looking to make a quick buck couldn’t care less. the truck should bear the buisnesses name, the technician should be dressed in a business uniform, and the paperwork he provides should have the business symbol on it.
take your time: after you have an estimate done, take your time to look over all of the paperwork, and do not sign anything right away. an upstanding business will understand that you need time to review your options, but a scam artist will try and bully you into the sale right on the spot. if you are being pressured by the business, you should forget about them and start looking for someone else. as the house owner you have the power over the sale.
ask if the correction technician will get the home permits: if the correction technician you are looking at expects you or is unwilling to get the permits from the city, you could assume that they are not licensed, registered, or insured in your city. you need a business that is licensed and registered so that if a mistake is made they are held responsible. you also need them to be insured so that if a worker is injured at your house, you are not liable.
these tests should help you quickly weed out the guys who are just looking to take your coin and run. a couple other tips to keep in mind when hiring a correction technician are: never hire entryway to entryway solicitors, never pay in full upfront, pay by review of credit card, and get everything in writing. if you keep these tips in mind, you should be able to confidently choose a correction technician to handle all of your house correction needs.
24 hour furance repair also recommends this great site: Local Furnace Repair report
thermostat misconceptions
misconceptions are a common part of everyday longevity. we hear someone rattle off a supposed “fact,” and without finding out for ourselves, we take their “fact” as truth. in some cases it doesn’t really have any effect on us, but the misconceptions that are held about thermostats could be costing you hundreds extra every annually in wasted energy. luckily, we are going to dispel these misconceptions just in time for the winter season.
misconception #1
setting back the thermostat doesn’t conserve energy, but it wastes energy and damages the heating when the house has to heat back up.
false! turning down the thermostat when no one is present in the house or when everyone is sleeping is a great way to conserve energy and save coin! many people assumed that because the house becomes so uncomfortably cold, the heating will have to use more energy than was saved by having the temperature set low. they also think that in the process of reheating the house, the heating will become damaged. both are simply not true. the u.s. department of energy has proven this wrong.
they found that in reality the same amount of energy it takes to heat up the house is nearly equivalent to the initial amount save by turning the heating down. once the temperature becomes stabilized at a lower setting, the perational savings start rolling in. so, the longer you leave the thermostat set at the lower setting, the more coin you will save. turning the thermostat back to between 55 and 60 degrees will save you 10-15% on your energy bills if done for at least 8 hours a day.
misconception #2
the higher you set the thermostat, the faster the house will heat up.
again, false! many people assume that setting the thermostat to a ridiculously high temperature will get the house to heat up quicker. however, this is a very costly misconception. the temperature that the thermostat is set at has nothing to do with how fast the heating creates heat. the only thing this will do is make the heating run for a much longer period of time. for instance, you set the thermostat to 55 degrees while on vacation. you return house and set the thermostat to 85 degrees hoping this will get the house warmer sooner. after a few hours the house is warm, but the heating continues to run and is trying to reach the 85 degree setting. if it is cold enough outside, the heating will never hit 85 degrees.
in the end, you have wasted tons of energy using the heating more then you needed, and if this becomes a habit, you will cut the heating system lifespan down. the heating needs to cycle on and off, and if it runs for hours and hours and hours damage is done to the components of the unit. what you should do is set the thermostat between 68 and 72 degrees and wait for the house to heat up. it will take the same amount of time to get comfortable, and you will save yourself a lot of coin.
keep these energy saving thermostat tips in mind this winter and stop believing these misconceptions. if you do so, you will save yourself a lot of coin and preserve the condition of your heating.
24 hour furance also recommends this great site: Chicato Heating Cooling
keeping you in the dark
when it comes to the warmther, cooling system, or duct work, the typical houtilize owner knowadayss or understands very little about how the system should work why certain parts may stop working. this often creates anxiety and confusion when there is a system breakdown, and if you are not careful, this could be the reason why you are taken advantage of by a less than scrupulous hvac company. when you don’t knowadays what is going on, how are you going to knowadays if your machine really requirements the repairs that your serviceman says that it does? you won’t! what you need to do is locate a company that is willing to educate their customers about how the system functions, why repairs are needed, and how to get the machine to work greater than it has in the past.
a lack of consumereducation
scammers are not going to be willing to educate you. doing so would cost them time and perhaps even the sale of a particularly expensive part or substitute ment. these guys just want to get in and out of your houtilize as fast as possible, do as little work as possible, and take as much of your cash as possible. hiring one of these fools could lead you to buy a new machine prematurely or a part that is simply not needed. a mark of a great salesman or serviceman is an ability to slow down and take the houtilize owner through the steps of repair or substitute ment one by one. this method the consumercan see exactly what is going wrong with the machine and comprehendwhy it requirements to be substitute d.
don’t settle and get a second opinion!
you can prevent this kind of fraudin your houtilize by hiring a service company and asking loads of questions. go online and research the hitch your serviceman has proposed and see if he can then show you why you need this part or this system substitute d. get a second opinion and perhaps even get a third if the advice they give contradicts one a different. whatever you do, don’t let the serviceman leave you feeling uneasy and confutilize d. there are many legitimate companys out there that are willing to educate their customers and will dedicate additional time and effort to each call to create you feel as ease. don’t settle for second rate, and pick your service company wisely.
Properly Sizing Furnaces
Properly Sizing Furnaces
When replacing a furnace you need to make sure that the replacement is sized correctly. It is all too easy to fall into the pattern of just looking at the BTU input rating of the old furnace and replace it with a new one with the same input. The key in terms of sizing is to determine the output (Btu’s – British Thermal Units) needed to heat the home not the input. As furnaces get more efficient the input rating is less in order to get the same output (Btu’s) needed to heat your home. Older furnaces range from 50% to 70% efficient and new furnaces now start at 80% and go up to 95+%.
Example:
100,000 Btu input of a 60% efficient furnace will give you 60,000 Btu output. 100,000 Btu 80% efficient furnaces will give you 80,000 Btu output.
So if you need a Btu output of 60,000 to heat your home, you would down size your input rating of the new furnace to 80,000 Btu’s. Depending on the manufacture of the new furnace, they will increase in size by 20,000 Btu’s each time.
Factors in correctly sizing your new furnace:
- Square footage of your home
- Ceiling height
- Windows
- Insulation in walls & attic
- Size of your existing duct work
Make sure your technician measures your home and does a load calculation and measures the duct work to ensure they allow enough air to move through the house for the new furnace. Newer furnace models rely on more air flow to heat your home then older models, so duct sizing is very important.
MADMAX
HVAC Companies out there
OK, so I like this company. I stumbled across the company a bit ago but dig into it to much. Now that I am digging some I keep finding useful information on there web site. Everything from savings on Energy Star Thermostats to simple every day ideas like the 2 degree pledge as they called it along with information on how to reduce your gas bill. Read More
HVAC resources
Going to steel some of these resources and the idea for this page from another blog, 24hrheatingcooling.com Similar name and some good information along with a good resource section. (flatter while borrowing info some times helps, back links usually help more)
This is intended to target some good HVAC related resources to help people out. There are a lot, but strangely enough, finding them can some times be a chore. Read More
Winter Consumer rights
From December 1st through March 31st residence of Illinois have additional rights and protections related to public utilities supplying there home heat through gas or electric. I haven’t found the original artical on the Attorney Generals web site yet. However a Chicago area company posted a good overview of these rights on there web site.
Ultimately it boils down to the following. Read More
TAX CREDITS
Who wants some of the Obama money?? I know I do! But how do we get it? Well I went on the energystar.gov website and this is what I found. You can get up to $1500 back on your taxes, real money not a deduction but cash. THAT’S GREAT!!! Here’s how it’s worded.
You get 30% of the cost up-to $1500, so that means you need to spend $5000 or more to get the full tax credit. Products that qualify are Insulation, Windows, Storm Windows-Doors, Roofing, 95% eff. Furnaces-16 seer Air Conditioners, Water Heaters 90% eff. or higher and a few more not so common products.
For the Chicago land area, I think the best bang for the buck is a 95% efficient furnace. It not only will last longer then most of the other products, but it will reduce your energy cost and make the air you breathe in your home healthier and consistent air.
I recently got estimates and purchased a high efficient Lennox furnace that qualified for the full tax credit. Lennox had 3 different models that qualified and ranged in price from $4000 to $5600. They have a 2 stage, 2 stage variable speed and variable speed with a variable capacity gas valve went with the G71 model and paid $5300 for the complete install, it’s the quietest and most efficient model out there and came with a 12 year parts & labor warranty.
Make sure your product qualifies for the tax credit before you purchase and have it installed in your home. Go to ENERGYSTAR.GOV and click on tax credits. Don’t be left out in the cold, get your piece of the Pie before it run’s out!!
- MADMAX
Webmaster note: Another great resource of unbiased information can be found on the Go Green HVAC web site. It’s another site with solid information.
Home Owners Help, Home Owners, Heating Systems, Cooling Systems, Air Purification, Duct Cleaning, Resources, Advertising, About Home Owners Help