Should It Stay or Should It Go Now? Replace or Repair Your System

According to the US Department of Energy, furnaces have an average lifespan of between fifteen and twenty years. If furnaces are older than fifteen years, it is often recommended that they be replaced, not repaired.

Another reason to replace a furnace is that, even when properly functioning, it has low annual fuel utilization efficiency.

Determine the efficiency of the furnace in use. If it has a low efficiency rating consider replacement.  Not only will a new model need to be repaired less often, its increased efficiency will lower future bills.  Though the initial investment is significant, the investment will save you money in the long run.

The replacement will probably cost more than the original. This is because higher efficiency is usually directly correlated to higher selling price. Consumer Reports states that a 10% increase in efficiency can equate to an initial cost increase of around one thousand dollars.

Luckily, there are ways to determine whether more money is saved by repairing or replacing an existing furnace. Energy Savers has a chart that shows the annual monetary benefits of heating system upgrades.

If money spent on replacement saves money in the long term, replacement is a good option. However, if a new furnace is too expensive, or the return on investment in the form of energy savings doesn’t justify the purchase, the original furnace should be repaired.  Ask Home Comfort about your options.

 

Home Energy Assessments Can Save You Money

A home energy assessment, also known as a home energy audit, is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. An assessment will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you significant amounts of money over time.

During the assessment, you can pinpoint where your house is losing energy. Energy assessments also determine the efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling systems. An assessment may also show you ways to conserve hot water and electricity. You can perform a simple energy assessment yourself, or have a professional energy auditor carry out a more thorough assessment.

A professional auditor uses a variety of techniques and equipment to determine the energy efficiency of a structure. Thorough assessments often use equipment such as blower doors, which measure the extent of leaks in the building envelope, and infrared cameras, which reveal hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation.

Professional energy assessments generally go into great detail. The energy auditor should do a room-by-room examination of the residence, as well as a thorough examination of past utility bills.

Many professional energy assessments will include a blower door test. Most will also include a thermographic scan. There’s also another type of test—the PFT air infiltration measurement technique—but it is rarely offered.

There are several places where you can locate professional energy assessment or auditing services. Your state or local government energy or weatherization office may help you identify a local company or organization that performs audits. They may also have information on how to do your own assessment. Your electric or gas utility may conduct residential energy assessments or recommend local auditors. Also check your telephone directory under headings beginning with the word “Energy” for companies that perform residential energy assesments.

Home Comfort can help you every step of the way.  Once your energy assessment is complete, we can make the corrections necessary to make your home a warmer, more economic place to live.

References:

http://energy.gov/public-services/homes

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/energy_audits/index.cfm/mytopic=11160

Get in the Zone!

Conventional heating systems are designed to heat a general area of your home and it is not uncommon to find yourself chilly at the opposite side of the house from the heat source.  Zone systems are a very effective way to control the temperature in your home using your existing HVAC unit.

Dampers and thermostats placed in each room, or zone, work together to customize each living space. The automatic dampers direct the heated or cooled air to those areas of your home that require heating or cooling.  Based on your existing ductwork, and with help from Home Comfort, you select the zones in your home, generally two to four.  Each zone will be serviced by one or more branches of your existing ductwork.   Zones can be entire floors or they can be areas of your home, like bedrooms, that require more heat at night and less during the day when they are not being used.

A thermostat is then installed in each zone of your home.  The thermostat in each zone will tell the HVAC system when it needs to be heated or cooled.  The HVAC system will open the damper to that area of the house, start the system and ignore the remaining zones that do not require any change to their temperature.

Installing a zone system in your home can reduce your energy bills because you won’t be spending as much to heat or cool areas of your home that you are not using.  Convenience and comfort are also an added benefit of the zone system.

Whether you are remodeling your home, adding an addition or building a brand new home, for all of your needs related to zoning systems, call Home Comfort.  We can help you get better performance and efficiency from your HVAC system, with zoning solutions that enhance home comfort and keep your energy bills under control.

Replacing Your Water Heater? Let us Help You!

Choosing the source of your hot water in your home may seem simple but there are many choices on the market thanks to advances in technology.  Should you choose a conventional, tank heater or go with a tankless?  Is initial investment an important factor or are you interested in a long term savings strategy?  Home Comfort sells and services water heaters regularly, so we are happy to share some of our choosing strategy with you.

First, there is always the traditional tank-style water heater. Here, the water stored in this tank is ready for use throughout the house, but will always lose heat while just sitting in its tank. Installation is cheap, but it typically uses more energy than other methods. Installing a well insulated tank can make a world of difference here.  Look for R-12 through R-15 classifications.

If long term energy savings is a priority, a demand water heater is a better option. These use the same energy sources as the storage tank heaters, but instead of storing hot water, they heat the water on demand and send it throughout the house. There is no energy being lost from a storage tank, but it also means that there is a limit to the amount of hot water that can be used at once.

Other types of efficient systems are available, such as solar or geothermal heating.  It is always important to choose an Energy Star approved system and a certified contractor such as Home Comfort to install it.

Radiantly Warm, Radiant Floor Heat

Warming the floor with radiant floors is not only physically pleasing to your peds, it will make the rooms in your home feel warmer than they actually are.  This allows for lower temperature settings and fuel conservation, in turn saving you money every single day.

Radiant floor heating works with a computerized boiler that senses the indoor and outdoor temperatures and adjusts the operating temperature to meet the demand, instead of maintaining a constant high temperature setting.  By adjusting automatically, the overall efficiency of the system is increased.  Hot water in the system acts as the median for radiant heat so domestic hot water can be produced by the boiler or water heater, allowing one appliance to do double duty.

Radiant tubing can be installed under an existing floor with staples, by drilling holes across the floor joists, or by just about any means the installer can design to place the tubing as close to the bottom of the sub floor as possible. Foil faced fiberglass insulation should be positioned with a 2″ air gap between the foil and the bottom of the sub floor.

Home Comfort can come to your home free of charge and determine if it will be possible to install radiant flooring in your existing structure.  Of course, if you are building a new construction, you may want to consult with Home Comfort early on in the planning stages to accommodate the addition of radiant floor heat.

Reference:

http://www.warmair.com/html/radiant_floor.htm

 

Heat Loss = Money Loss

You can upgrade your heating and air conditioning system, buy the highest efficiency windows and add insulation to your home but even the smallest crack and cranny can suck heat right out of your home.  Sometimes no matter what you do, when it is 68° F inside your house, and 0 degrees outside your house; the cold will suck the heat out of your house. Heat transfer will pull at a certain rate through the exposed walls and ceilings, through the windows and floors.

Cold air tries in infiltrate your house whereas your heat is trying to escape.  The total of all this leaking and losing is known as the heat loss. This total is calculated in btu’s per hour. The heating system will need to produce and distribute this same amount of btu’s per hour to maintain your 68° F room temperature. As most rooms differ from one another, each room’s heat loss must be determined. The total loss of all rooms added together will determine the size and design of the heating system.

In simple structures, the mere replacement of this lost heat is sufficient; but in complex houses with open floor plans and multiple levels, the flow of heat within the building becomes a factor. Heat rising from the first floor to the second, increases the demand on the first floor while decreasing the demand on the second.

Get in touch with a qualified contractor, such as Home Comfort, to see what you can do about decreasing the heat loss in your home and increasing the amount of money in your pocket.

Reference:

http://www.warmair.com/html/heatloss.htm

Put Your HVAC Repair in the Hands of a NATE Certified Technician

Home Comfort has expert technicians to solve all your heating and air conditioning problems.  But don’t just take our word for it:  our technicians are NATE certified!

Founded in 1997, North American Technician Excellence (NATE) is the nation’s largest non-profit certification organization for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration technicians. NATE is the certification organization governed, owned, operated, developed and supported by the entire HVAC/R industry.

All of the NATE tests are rigorous, multiple-choice, knowledge-based tests and validate a technician’s knowledge. NATE candidates may earn Installation and/or Service certification in one or more SPECIALTY areas, allowing Home Comfort to send NATE technicians to meet our diverse customer needs.

NATE training uses a principle called “The GOODS.”  The benefit of The GOODS Principle is a better-trained, more knowledgeable and professional HVAC workforce that provides improved service and reliability for customers.

Governed by the Industry to assure all parties have a voice in the operation and structure of the programs that make better technicians

Owned by the Industry to ensure no one party reaps financial benefit from the actual programs

Operated by the Industry so there is inclusive open consensus of the programs

Developed by the Industry to enhance and raise the skills of the technician

Supported by the Industry to maintain the financial stability of the technician programs

The standards set by NATE certification are reflected in the technicians at Home Comfort and the benefits are passed on to you, our customer.  Call us today if you are in need of service to your heating and air conditioning system.

Reference:

http://www.natex.org/