What is this one thing, you ask? A dirty air filter!
Are you surprised by our answer? If you’re like most homeowners, you might think the only reason you should care about your HVAC system’s air filter is due to the allergens and particles in your air. But you’re only partially correct.
It’s often assumed that a dirty air filter is a problem because it keeps the air dirty, and this is why HVAC technicians tell you to change yours every 1-3 months. If you aren’t suffering from allergies, you may think your air filter is doing just fine.
But here’s the thing—helping your indoor air quality is only a very small fraction of what this air filter does. The true purpose of your standard air filter is to protect the interior components of your HVAC system. Read on to learn more about this, and to discover just how a dirty air filter can impact your HVAC efficiency and quality of life.
Your household’s electrical grid is easily one of the most important components in the living space. Each of your appliances requires this system to work—even gas-powered heaters use an electric starter. If your electrical system is malfunctioning, you can experience all kinds of problems.
If that heatwave last week was any indication, springtime is here to remind us that soon enough, we will need our air conditioners on a daily basis. Is your cooling system ready for a full season of work though?
Also called the circuit breaker panel, the electrical panel of your home serves as the central hub for your entire electrical system. It’s where the incoming electricity is routed to the different circuits. The breakers are designed to shut off circuits in case of a voltage overload. If you have an aging circuit breaker panel, it’s wise to ensure you aren’t overdue for an upgrade, given the higher electrical demands we have all put on our homes in recent years.
Ceiling fans don’t seem like that complicated of an appliance right? When you want your home to be cool, you turn your ceiling fans on, and that’s that, right?
With how much we use our heating systems during the winter, it’s no secret that homeowners would like to do everything they can to avoid costly utility bills. Sure, your energy bills are going to raise in the wintertime (as well as the summer time) as your HVAC systems take up about half of all your energy use. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t steps you can take to increase their efficiency and thereby lower the costs a bit.
Ceiling fans are often talked about this time of year—and we’ll get to why we’re talking about them now later in this post—but something that a lot of homeowners don’t really realize is that celing fans do not actually cool the air in the room where they’re running.
Electricity is one of those home comforts that is pretty easy for any of us to take for granted nowadays. After all, we’ve had it available to us in our households throughout our entire lives—it’s always there! But… taking things for granted often means we can forget about the dangers involved if we don’t properly care for them. And electricity can certainly pose such a danger.
Wintertime is the time of year when our heating systems are truly put to the test. Because of the strain they go through this time of year versus in milder weather, it tends to be when problems arise. Since you need your system to function at its best this time of year, this is obviously not ideal. It pays to ensure you schedule routine maintenance each year, and to keep a watch for signs of trouble with your heater.