Month: December 2019

Is your energy bill too high in the winter? Are you looking for ways to cut costs? There are a number of simple things you can do at home to save money. Some of them are bigger projects, but most are simple things you can do in your day-to-day life to help reduce your heat cost this winter.

At ACS Air Conditioning Services, we want to help you achieve the highest comfort in your Tucson home at an affordable price.

Air Seal Your Home

Air leaks are where outside air enters your home or where the inside air can escape your home. Reducing this leakage is a very cost-effective way to save money on your home energy bill. Two simple-and-effective techniques are caulking and weatherstripping. If you are building new construction, talk to us about air sealing for your new home.

Adjust Your Temperature

Most of us keep our thermostats up a few degrees higher than we need during the colder months. Turn your thermostat as low as you can while still feeling comfortable. When you are not going to be home, turn it town another 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can also invest in a programmable or smart thermostat to have more direct control over your home’s temperature at different times of the day. These thermostats can be a little more expensive up front, but often you will recoup the cost within the season from saved energy.

Insulate Your Attic

We all know that heat rises, and it’s no secret that heat is lost through the roof of your Arizona home. Check the insulation levels in your attic. Be sure you have adequate depth and fill coverage of insulation. You can also have one of our professionals come out for a home-energy test and evaluate your insulation needs.

Cover Your Drafty Windows

You can get plastic window-covering kits at any hardware store. They are relatively inexpensive and will save you quite a bit of energy consumption while increasing your overall comfort level. This is a fairly cheap-and-easy way to save quite a bit of money on your bill.

Use Space Heaters

Depending on how much time you spend in your entire home versus just a few rooms, you may want to invest in a space heater. If your time is spent mainly in one or two rooms, you can turn your thermostat down quite a bit and heat the rooms with an electric space heater. It’s cheaper to heat a small room than to heat an entire house. As always, follow all safety precautions with a space heater.

Dress Warmly Inside

Turn down the thermostat a few degrees and layer up. It can be nice to snuggle in blankets and sweaters on a cold winter’s night. In addition to all this coziness, you’ll save money at the end of the month.

Change Your Furnace Filter

A clean filter is essential to being sure your furnace is running as efficiently as possible. It’s also crucial to maintaining healthy indoor air quality. You should follow your furnace-industry recommendations, but we recommend changing your filter at a minimum of every three to six months. A dirty filter restricts airflow and causes your furnace to work harder than it should to maintain a constant temperature.

Have Your Furnace Cleaned and Checked According to the Manufacturer’s Recommendation

This isn’t just about safety—it’s about preventative maintenance. You can catch a problem before your furnace stops working in the middle of the night or on the weekend. This will also ensure your furnace is working at its optimum efficiency, providing you with the most heat for the least cost. Another advantage to regular maintenance is an increased system life span.

Close Your Fireplace Flue

Of course you should always keep your flue open if you are using your fireplace, but be sure you close it when it’s not in use. An open flue is like an open window, and great amounts of heat can escape. According to Indiana Michigan Power, investing in a fireplace flue sealer may be an inexpensive way to prevent air from escaping through the chimney when your fireplace isn’t in use.

Turn Down the Temperature on Your Water Heater

Most water heaters are set by default to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Check your heater’s temperature, and turn it down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep in mind the less heat required to heat your water, the less you are paying for energy costs. This can slow mineral buildup and corrosion as well.

Contact Us Today

Call our professional ACS Air Conditioning Services team today at 520-230-5668 or request service online. We have the needed expertise here in the Tucson, Arizona, area to help you with all your heating needs.

Most of us tend to take our heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for granted. As long as they are working, it’s easy to go on day after day without thinking about them. But, like most other things, taking care of your HVAC system through regular maintenance is critical to keeping it in good working order.

Many Tucson homeowners today have installed a heat pump to handle their heating and cooling needs. If you have a heat pump, you’ll want to be aware of some special considerations when it comes to regular maintenance issues. Our team at ACS Air Conditioning Services offers the following information and tips to help.

Heat Pump Basics

Let’s start with understanding a little bit about how a heat pump operates. Heat pumps are typically more popular in areas with milder temperatures. They operate by essentially moving heat from outside to inside in the winter and inside to outside in the summer.

Since heat pumps do not have to generate heat by consuming electricity, natural gas, propane, or another fuel, they are more energy efficient. According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), heat pumps may reduce your electricity usage by nearly 50 percent when compared with furnaces or baseboard heating units.

Heat pump technology continues to develop, and high-efficiency units can now operate reasonably well in climates with more extreme temperatures.

Air Filter Changes

One of the easiest maintenance tasks you can perform is to change your air filter regularly. Just like in all HVAC systems, the air filter in a heat pump is responsible for cleaning the heated or cooled air before it’s delivered to the rooms of your Arizona home.

Basic air filters will remove larger particles of dust or dirt that float through the air. Choosing a high-efficiency filter like a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter will remove most of the smallest particles including pet dander, pollen, and dust mites.

Clean air filters not only result in better air quality but also help your heat pump operate more efficiently. That means lower energy bills and a longer equipment life span.

Proper Installation

Hopefully your heat pump was installed properly originally, but it’s not a bad idea to double check some important requirements. First, your heat pump should be at least four to six inches off the ground. This helps ensure the unit is not obstructed by the ground itself and allows for proper drainage.

Second, your heat pump should not sit under a leaking gutter. If your gutter began to leak after your heat pump was installed, you may want to prioritize that repair for the sake of both your gutter and heat pump.

Provide Plenty of Room

If your heat pump gets covered in snow, ice, overgrown plants, or yard debris, it will malfunction. It’s a good idea to spend some time inspecting the area around your unit during every season.

During the winter, snow or ice that accumulates on the heat pump must be removed. If a normal thaw or a simple brushing is not enough, you’ll want to turn off your unit and allow it to completely power down.

At that point, you can pour warm (not hot) water over the unit to melt the snow and ice. Be sure not to try to chip off the snow or ice using any type of tool, because you can easily damage the heat pump. Once the unit is clear of snow and ice, turn it back on.

In the other seasons, be sure to keep weeds, grass, and other nearby growth trimmed and out of the way. You’ll also want to clean things like fallen leaves, stray branches, or other yard debris that may gather on top of or under your heat pump.

Be Gentle During Cleaning

If you want to wash off your heat pump in the warmer weather, be sure to use your garden hose, not a power washer. The fins on the heat pump coil are delicate, and a jet of water can easily damage them. At the same time, it’s important to keep the outside of your unit clean and free of dirt, cut grass, or other debris.

Rely on the Professionals Annually

Since heat pumps operate on a 240-volt circuit, they are extremely dangerous for amateurs to work on. It’s a good idea to have your unit inspected, professionally cleaned, and tuned up annually by one of our trained and certified HVAC professionals.

Our experienced technicians will inspect your entire heat pump system including ductwork, airflow, refrigerant charge, electric terminals, thermostat, and more. A regular maintenance call will go a long way in helping to keep your unit operating well all year long.

Contact Us for Your Heat Pump Needs

Our team at ACS Air Conditioning Services in Tucson, Arizona, is ready and waiting to help you with heat pump maintenance. Call us at 520-230-5668 or request service online today.