HVAC Facts You Need to Know

Home HVAC has become a necessity that we can’t live without, but do you know the full story when it comes to heating and cooling your home?

Almost every house, apartment, condo, townhouse or office building has some form of HVAC system. Staying warm in the winter and cool in the summer isn’t just an advantage of living in the 21st century; it’s a fact of life. Here are a few facts about your HVAC system that you may not know.

1. Home HVAC helps us Live Longer and Healthier Lives
Did you know home HVAC is one of the contributing factors to living longer lives? Heating and cooling systems reduce the spread of once-common diseases. Life expectancy increases when there are fewer threats to human health. Climate control also has improved our quality of life and improved the national economy by allowing people to work year round and maintain productivity in extreme weather conditions.

2. Changing Filters Regularly
Changing your filter regularly will not only help keep allergens and dust down in your home, but it also helps save your electric bill and costly repairs on your system. We recommend changing your filter once a month (or washing it, if it is a washable filter). When your filter is dirty and clogged up, your HVAC system has to work a lot harder to push the air through your home. This makes your system run longer and it puts more strain on your system, which will start to make the internal parts fail sooner than they should.

3. Ducts Matter!
One reason your AC system may appear not to be producing enough cold air is because of duct leakage. Duct leakage can drain 20 to 40% of the energy out of even a top performing air conditioner, if the ducts pass outside the cooled space (this includes attics, crawlspaces and garages). Ducts outside need to be well insulated. Various products exist specifically for insulating ducts that can be installed by a keen home owner or a professional contractor.

You might be able to get an extra half ton of air conditioner capacity for free, if you seal your leaky ducts. If the ducts are accessible, handy consumers can seal ducts with mastic—that white sticky stuff you can paint on the ducts. Otherwise you would need a professional to seal the ducts.

4. Humidity
Humidity plays a huge factor when cooling your home. One of the main functions of your HVAC system is to remove the humidity. If your air conditioning system is working efficiently, it will remove the proper amount of heat and moisture from your living area, resulting in the comfortable environment you want. If not, you may not achieve the comfort level you desire for your home, regardless of the temperature setting you are using. Leaving doors and windows open when living in a high humidity area will add to the difficulty your system has when removing the humidity also, because you are allowing more humidity in.

The more you learn about your HVAC system, the better. For more information, please contact a trained specialist at Cool Cats Heating and Cooling.