A little routine maintenance and thoughtfulness about how you use your HVAC system can keep it running smoothly. On the other hand, failure to properly look after your HVAC system can lead to it operating inefficiently and causing your energy bills to climb, or even the system breaking down altogether!
Fear not; here are five methods to get your HVAC perfect for winter.
5 Methods For Keeping Your HVAC In Good Working Order
Before we dive into our five tips, it’s worth stressing that we are not recommending you personally do anything you are not qualified or comfortable doing, especially if it involves working on an HVAC system. Always use professionals.
1. Schedule Your HVAC Maintenance
“Offense is the best defense”, as they say. Perhaps maintenance isn’t exactly an offensive move, but it’s certainly a proactive one. Rather than wait for your HVAC system to break down, schedule a maintenance appointment and let the professionals make sure your system is in tip-top shape. Not only will this significantly reduce the risk of there being a problem further down the line, but you may also catch a developing problem before it becomes a more serious, more expensive one.
2. Insulate Your Home
As with any machine with moving parts, the harder it has to work, the shorter its life expectancy will be, and the more often it will need maintenance work carried out on it to keep it working at peak efficiency. The less well-insulated your home is, the harder your HVAC machine will have to work to keep your home warm, and the more it will burn through its operational time. Ensuring your home holds onto its heat (or cool air in the warmer months) will make life just that little bit easier for your HVAC system.
3. Replace the Air Filter
Your HVAC system will have an air filter in it to trap contaminants, such as dust and dirt. This is important for your quality of life, as contaminants trapped by this filter are not being recirculated through your home for you to breathe in. As mentioned above, however, the harder your HVAC system has to work, the worse it is for the system and your energy bills. As the system has to push air through the filter, ensuring that the filter is not old and clogged up with too much dust and dirt will make it easier to move that air.
4. Insulate Exposed Pipes
If your HVAC system has pipes on the outside of your property—as it almost certainly will if you have an external unit—ensure those pipes are adequately insulated. You may also want to cover your HVAC unit if it is located outside of your property and you won’t be using it during the colder months. This protects the internal workings of the system from some of the extremes of cold weather.
5. Install a Smart Thermostat
If your HVAC system is going to be running the heating during the winter, consider installing a smart thermostat. These thermostats adjust the schedule through which your heating is turned on and off to the optimal times, giving you the best of all worlds—lower energy bills, better heating efficiency, and less wear and tear on your HVAC system.
Following these methods should help you keep your HVAC system in good working order as winter descends, keeping your home warm during the cold months and ready to keep it cool during the warmer months when they come. When in doubt contact Hoot heating & air, we give a hoot!
