Serving Round Lake & 
The hot, humid Illinois summers and cold, snowy winters can make keeping your home comfortable, challenging and expensive. In most homes, heating and cooling account for at least 40% of annual energy costs, and this is if the HVAC system is fairly efficient and works effectively.
If your HVAC system doesn’t work as efficiently as it’s supposed to, you’re usually looking at your annual energy bills increasing by at least a few hundred dollars. Luckily, there are some fairly simple ways that you can boost the efficiency of your HVAC system or at least prevent it from decreasing, as this guide will show.
Schedule Annual HVAC Tune-Ups
The factor that plays the biggest role in determining how efficiently an HVAC system can work and how much energy it consumes is whether it is properly maintained and remains in good condition. Common issues like a dirty AC condenser coil can result in significantly decreased performance, leading to a 20-30% increase in energy consumption. Similarly, dirty burners can greatly reduce the amount of heat a furnace produces and lead to it heating more slowly and using much more energy than it should.
These types of issues are why it’s important to schedule an AC tune-up each spring and a heating tune-up each fall. A tune-up service includes all of the necessary maintenance tasks, like cleaning the condenser coil or furnace burners, to ensure that the HVAC system operates as efficiently as it was designed to. Not only can annual tune-ups save you a substantial amount on your energy bills, but they can also lessen the need for repairs and protect the life of your HVAC units.
Inspect and Change Air Filter Regularly
The US Department of Energy estimates that running an HVAC system with a clogged air filter typically results in around a 15% drop in energy efficiency. As an air filter starts to clog, less and less air can flow through it. This reduction in airflow is what leads to the drop in efficiency, as it results in the HVAC system heating or cooling more slowly than it’s designed to. A clogged filter also increases the wear and tear on the HVAC system, which can lead to frequent breakdowns and shorten the system’s lifespan.
All of these issues are why you should make sure that you regularly remove and inspect the filter in your HVAC system. You typically will only need to replace the filter every two to three months. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to get into the habit of inspecting the filter monthly, as there may be times when it gets dirty and starts to clog faster.
This is most often the case during the middle of summer and the middle of winter when an HVAC system has to do much more work and runs more hours each day. If you have pets in your house, you may need to replace the filter more often as well, due to pet hair getting stuck to the filter and clogging it.
Upgrade to a Smart Thermostat
ENERGY STAR-certified smart thermostats have been independently tested and proven to provide measurable energy savings compared to standard thermostats. On average, most homeowners will save between 8% and 12% on their annual heating and cooling bills by installing a smart thermostat. This can easily add up to savings of over $100 a year, ensuring that the smart thermostat quickly pays for itself.
One reason that smart thermostats help to save energy is that you never have issues with forgetting to turn your AC or heating down before leaving for work. Even if you don’t program your smart thermostat like you should, you can always use the app on your phone to check the thermostat settings and adjust the temperature whenever needed.
The bigger reason that smart thermostats save money is that they can program the settings and adjust the temperature on their own. The motion sensor in the thermostat enables it to learn and predict when the house is unoccupied or everyone is in bed. After some time, the thermostat will start automatically switching to away mode or sleep mode at these times. When in these modes, it will adjust the temperature by a few degrees to reduce how much the HVAC system runs in order to save energy.
Keep Area Around Outside HVAC Unit Clear
Before turning your air conditioning on for the first time each year, you should always clear away any leaves and debris that’s piled around your outdoor AC unit. Taking this step is essential for ensuring that air can continually flow through the unit. Your AC system will have major issues if the airflow is obstructed, as the air flowing through the unit is what helps the refrigerant to release the heat it removed from inside the house.
If the refrigerant can’t release all of the heat, it will remain too warm when it gets pumped back inside for the AC system to cool effectively. The compressor will also have to work harder to pump refrigerant through the system, which can result in it overheating and your AC shutting down. These issues are why you should also trim back any weeds, shrubs or other vegetation growing near the unit. Ideally, you want to make sure that there’s at least 2-3 feet of open space in front of and along the sides of the unit.
Make Sure All Vents Are Open, Clean and Unobstructed
It’s a common myth that closing the vents or registers in unoccupied parts of the house helps make an HVAC system heat or cool more effectively and use less energy. It’s easy to see why some people think this is true, as the idea is that it allows the hot or cool air to only flow to certain parts of the house so that they get heated or cooled more quickly. Unfortunately, this isn’t how things actually work.
All you’re doing when you close some of the vents is making things worse and decreasing the efficiency of your HVAC system. The reason primarily has to do with something called static pressure, which is how much resistance the air flowing through a ductwork system encounters. When all vents are open and not clogged or blocked by furniture, air can smoothly flow through the entire ductwork system with very little resistance.
Closed vents result in air getting trapped in some ducts. After a short time, so much air builds up that it leads to a substantial increase in pressure throughout the ductwork system. That means the air traveling to the open vents meets increased pressure, resulting in weak airflow throughout the house and poor heating/cooling performance. This issue is why you should regularly check to make sure all of your vents are open and not clogged with dust or obstructed by furniture or other items.
When you need a reliable HVAC company in Round Lake and the surrounding areas, Duane Blanton Plumbing, Sewer, Heating & Cooling is the one to call. We’ve been in business since 1988 and are ready to assist if you need any heating or air conditioning service. Our maintenance experts can work on all brands of furnaces, boilers, central air conditioners, heat pumps, and ductless mini-splits. Let us keep your HVAC system functioning at its peak!
To schedule an appointment, contact Duane Blanton Plumbing, Sewer, Heating & Cooling today!
