Maintaining Air Conditioning Systems: What You Can Do To Increase Their Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency has never been more important. In addition to businesses and offices, households are also looking for ways to conserve energy and minimize their carbon emissions. Air conditioning systems consume huge amounts of energy and can add to the energy bills if not maintained at regular intervals. While manufacturers have started producing energy efficient air conditioning units, there is still a lot you can do to save energy.
So, use the following low-cost, simple ways to make the most efficient use of your home’s air conditioning system and improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Clean the Air Ducts
Good air distribution is the key to an efficient air conditioning system. If your home’s air duct network is clogged with dust and other particulates, it will result in improper air distribution and lead to formation of dead zones in your home. Therefore, it is important to get the air ducts cleaned, not only to improve indoor air quality, but also to ensure proper air distribution.

Seal and Insulate the Air Ducts
An enormous waste of energy occurs when cooled air escapes from the air ducts. There are some studies that suggest that poor insulation of air ducts can increase energy consumption by as much as 30%. In order to ensure that your air ducts are not leaking any cool air, it is important that you hire a professional who can detect and correct duct leaks.

Regular Maintenance of Air Conditioning Systems
Energy consumption can increase by as much as 60% if air conditioning systems are not properly maintained. It is important that you get your home’s air conditioning system checked by a reliable service provider to replace or maintain worn out components and make sure that your air conditioning system is operating at its full potential.
Using these three simple ways, you can achieve more efficiency from your home’s air conditioning system. If you would like to know more about maintaining air conditioning systems, you may contact Harrell Home Services – the air conditioning maintenance experts.

A Home Cooling Strategy for Lower Energy Bills

Info from energy.gov - http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/home-cooling-strategy-lower-energy-bills

Hot weather has arrived, and you've likely used your air conditioner at least a few times already (if not more). But have you spent the time to ensure that it's running as it should? And have you considered an overall cooling strategy that could help you run your air conditioner less, save money, and stay cool and comfortable? If you answered no to both of those questions, the tips below can help you get on track to a comfortable, efficient cooling season.

Maintain Your Air Conditioner

The tips below can help keep your air conditioner running efficiently and prolong the life of the unit.

• Replace filters every one to two months during the cooling season. You can lower energy use by 5%-15% by replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one.
• Check the evaporator coil every year and clean it as needed.
• Clean the area around outdoor condenser coils by removing debris and trimming foliage so there are at least two feet around the condenser for airflow. Also be aware of debris build up from dryer vents, falling leaves, and trimming and mowing the lawn; clean away this debris as needed throughout the cooling season.
• Are the fins on your evaporator or condenser coils bent? If so, they may be blocking airflow. Look for a "fin comb" at an air conditioning wholesaler to get them bent back into shape.
• Pass a stiff wire through the unit's drain channels. When they are clogged, the unit can't reduce humidity and excess moisture could cause discoloration in the walls or carpet.
• If you live in an extremely humid climate and your air conditioner has difficulty achieving low humidity, consider adding a dehumidifying heat pipe as a retrofit to your system.
• For room or window air conditioners, inspect the seal between the air conditioner and the frame to ensure the frame makes contact with the unit's metal case. Damage to the seal can cause leaks and waste energy.
• Read more about air conditioner maintenance and common air conditioner problems. For more than basic maintenance, be sure to contact a certified professional.

Plan Your Home Cooling Strategy

Once you have your air conditioner in tip-top shape, work on your overall strategy for using it along with other methods for cooling your home, such as natural ventilation and ceiling fans. In addition, consider your cooking habits and appliance usage; these can add extra heat to your home. The following tips can be part of your strategy:

• Set your thermostat to at least 78°F when you're at home and need cooling. Use a programmable thermostat to increase the temperature when you're away and return it to a comfortable level before you're home.
• Use natural ventilation when possible. Open windows and turn off your cooling system if it's cool at night and in the mornings.
• Use energy-efficient window treatments and close them during the day to block sunlight and radiated heat from outdoors.
• Using ceiling fans when you're in the room. You can raise thermostat setting 4 degrees without affecting comfort. But remember to turn off fans when you leave the room—fans cool people, not rooms, by creating a wind chill effect.
• Find air leaks and seal them with caulk or weatherstripping to prevent warm air from leaking in.
• Limit the heat from your appliances. Cook outside on a grill, and try not to use the washer, dryer, and dishwasher during the heat of the day. Use a fan when showering and range hood when cooking to remove heat and humidity from the home.
• Move lamps, TVs, and other appliances away from your thermostat. The extra heat can cause the air conditioner to run longer.
• When landscaping, consider adding shade to block solar heat during the hot summer months.

Summer doesn't have to mean high cooling bills. Proper air conditioner maintenance coupled with an overall strategy for efficiently cooling your home can help you stay comfortable while saving money. For more tips, check out our infographic Energy Saver 101: Everything You Need to Know About Home Cooling, as well as our spring and summer energy-saving tips.

Air Conditioning

Article Source: http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/air-conditioning
Air conditioners cost U.S. homeowners more than $11 billion each year, and regular maintenance can keep your air conditioner running efficiently.
Two-thirds of all homes in the United States have air conditioners. Air conditioners use about 5% of all the electricity produced in the United States, at an annual cost of more than $11 billion to homeowners. As a result, roughly 100 million tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air each year -- an average of about two tons for each home with an air conditioner. To learn more about air conditions, explore our Energy Saver 101 infographic on home cooling.
Air conditioners employ the same operating principles and basic components as your home refrigerator. Refrigerators use energy (usually electricity) to transfer heat from the cool interior of the refrigerator to the relatively warm surroundings of your home; likewise, an air conditioner uses energy to transfer heat from the interior of your home to the relatively warm outside environment.
An air conditioner cools your home with a cold indoor coil called the evaporator. The condenser, a hot outdoor coil, releases the collected heat outside. The evaporator and condenser coils are serpentine tubing surrounded by aluminum fins. This tubing is usually made of copper.
A pump, called the compressor, moves a heat transfer fluid (or refrigerant) between the evaporator and the condenser. The pump forces the refrigerant through the circuit of tubing and fins in the coils.
The liquid refrigerant evaporates in the indoor evaporator coil, pulling heat out of indoor air and cooling your home. The hot refrigerant gas is pumped outdoors into the condenser where it reverts back to a liquid, giving up its heat to the outside air flowing over the condenser's metal tubing and fins.
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, nearly all air conditioners used chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as their refrigerant, but because these chemicals are damaging to Earth's ozone layer, CFC production stopped in the United States in 1995. Nearly all air conditioning systems now employ halogenated chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as a refrigerant, but these are also being gradually phased out, with most production and importing stopped by 2020 and all production and importing stopped by 2030.
Production and importing of today's main refrigerant for home air conditioners, HCFC-22 (also called R-22), began to be phased out in 2010 and will stop entirely by 2020. However, HCFC-22 is expected to be available for many years as it is recovered from old systems that are taken out of service. As these refrigerants are phased out, ozone-safe hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are expected to dominate the market, as well as alternative refrigerants such as ammonia.
Switching to high-efficiency air conditioners and taking other actions to keep your home cool could reduce energy use for air conditioning by 20% to 50%. For general information on air conditioners and how best to maintain them, see:

• Maintaining Your Air Conditioner
• Common Problems with Air Conditioners

The two most common types of air conditioners are room air conditioners and central air conditioners. A compromise between the two types of systems is provided by ductless, mini-split air conditioners.

If you need air conditioning Services in the Tampa or Orlando Florida area, call the pro's Harrell Home Services. www.fixmyacfast.com

Listen to our first Podcast - "How to Tell if You Need Your A/C Replaced"

According to the US Energy Information Administration, 87 percent of all US households have air conditioning units. Surprisingly, many homeowners do not know when it is time to replace their old but still working A/C. So, here are three factors that you need to consider in order to determine whether you need to retire that old A/C and buy a new one.

 http://fixmyacfast.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-01T11_28_17-07_00

Heating and Cooling Tips

Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and costs more money than any other system in your home -- typically making up about 48% of your utility bill.

No matter what kind of heating and cooling system you have in your house, you can save money and increase your comfort by properly maintaining and upgrading your equipment. But remember, an energy-efficient furnace alone will not have as great an impact on your energy bills as using the whole-house approach. By combining proper equipment maintenance and upgrades with recommended insulation, air sealing, and thermostat settings, you can save about 30% on your energy bill while reducing environmental emissions.

Heating and Cooling Tips

• Set your programmable thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer, and -- depending on the season -- raise or lower the setpoint when you're sleeping or away from home.
• Clean or replace filters on furnaces and air conditioners once a month or as recommended.
• Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
• Eliminate trapped air from hot-water radiators once or twice a season; if unsure about how to perform this task, contact a professional.
• Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiators.
• Turn off kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing; when replacing exhaust fans, consider installing high-efficiency, low-noise models.
• During winter, keep the draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.
• During summer, keep the window coverings closed during the day to block the sun's heat.
  

Long-Term Savings Tips

• Select energy-efficient products when you buy new heating and cooling equipment.
• For furnaces, look for high Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) ratings. The national minimum is 78% AFUE, but there are ENERGY STAR® models on the market that exceed 90% AFUE. For air conditioners, look for a high Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER). The current minimum is 13 SEER for central air conditioners. ENERGY STAR models are 14.5 SEER or more.
  

If you are still having problems, you should call a professional. You may need to have your AC replaced. It is possible that it just needs service or maintenance. Call Harrell Home Services for fast and professional service.

Tampa - 813-367-1044
Orlando - 407-287-4032
www.fixmyacfast.com 

Article Source:

http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/tips-heating-and-cooling

 

Why Should You Upgrade Your Air Conditioning System

Is your house damp or warm?  Does your air conditioner make a lot of noise or run inefficiently and cause your energy bill to skyrocket? Then, maybe it's time to change your air conditioning unit.

If you have already decided to lower your energy costs; remember that the most important thing is to hire a professional. Just buying a new air conditioner is not enough. The specific unit should be chosen with the help of a professional and correctly installed by a professional. Without the help of a professional, a wrong configuration such as installing an undersized unit in a large home might be chosen.  In this example, the unit will not be able to cool your home efficiently and the overworked unit will not last as long as the proper size. If you have any of these problems, you can call in confidence and we will gladly help you choose and install your new air conditioning system.

Properly Sized Room Air Conditioners

Many people buy an air conditioner that is too large, thinking it will provide better cooling. However, an oversized air conditioner is actually less effective — and wastes energy at the same time. Air conditioners remove both heat and humidity from the air. If the unit is too large, it will cool the room quickly, but only remove some of the humidity. This leaves the room with a damp, clammy feeling. A properly sized unit will remove humidity effectively as it cools.

To figure out which size unit is best for your cooling needs:

Using the square footage and the chart below, determine the correct cooling capacity. Cooling capacity is measured in British thermal units (BTUs) per hour.
Area To Be Cooled (square feet)
Capacity Needed (BTUs per hour)


450 up to 550             12,000
550 up to 700             14,000
700 up to 1,000          18,000
1,000 up to 1,200       21,000
1,200 up to 1,400       23,000
1,400 up to 1,500       24,000
1,500 up to 2,000       30,000
2,000 up to 2,500       34,000

Make any adjustments for the following circumstances:
    ◦    If the room is heavily shaded, reduce capacity by 10 percent.
    ◦    If the room is very sunny, increase capacity by 10 percent.
    ◦    If more than two people regularly occupy the room, add 600 BTUs for each additional person.
    ◦    If the unit is used in a kitchen, increase capacity by 4,000 BTUs.
    ◦    Consider where you install the unit. If you are mounting an air conditioner near the corner of a room, look for a unit that can send the airflow in the right direction.

Improving Your Home Cooling System

With the summer season upon us once again, it is time to consider your cooling needs. Whether your home cooling system is in need of some routine maintenance or you have moved to a new place and need to think about your heating and cooling needs, the fact is that the summer heat will not wait and you need to decide quickly what your options are.

Without the proper air circulation in your home, it can have some hazardous effects to your health. You don't want to be breathing in unfiltered air and you don't want to find yourself overheated during the hottest months of the summer, as this can cause dehydration, dizziness, sweating, and more. All of this can be easily avoided with the right purchase. You have the option of choosing either a wall air conditioning unit or central air conditioning; it depends on what is best for you and your home.

The main advantage of a central air cooling system is that every room in the home will maintain an even temperature. This way you do not have to resort to using fans in each room to make things more comfortable for you and your family on those unbearably hot days.

On the other hand, a single wall unit will afford you the option of making one room cooler than others in your home.

If you live in a humid environment you may want cooler temperatures in your bedroom at night so that you can rest better. A wall unit is ideal for this purpose.

Some other things to consider are the size of your home, the amount of people living with you and whether or not you entertain on a regular basis, as well as your energy costs on average, these factors along with the fact that you may live in milder temperatures and have less need for cooling your home. In this case, a wall unit will work for your needs.

If the home you live in is part of an attached home such as a house or condo, you may want to read over your contract to determine if window units are allowed in the home if central heating and air are not part of your rental or contract agreement.

However you decide you want to cool your home this summer, you have options to choose from that will work with your budget and your tastes. You may want to speak to an HVAC technician for some pointers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4959417