Conserving Energy: Cooling System Checkup

Conserving Energy

This blog shares the experiences I've had implementing various solutions to saving energy, primarily in my home. Over the past few years, I've cut my yearly electric usage by over 12,000 kwh per year, natural gas by 133 ccf per year, and am saving over $700 per year even though energy prices have increased more than 250% over the same period. Many of these solutions cost less than a couple hundred dollars, some less than $10, so they're definitely worth the effort.
My home is a 2500 square foot house built in the 1970's. We live in Louisiana, so our home needs a lot more protection from the heat than the cold. However, we do have cold snaps that bring us below the freezing mark periodically, so heating is still a concern.

As with any solutions, your mileage may vary.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Cooling System Checkup

It's that time of year again. Flowers are starting to bloom, pollen is in the air, temperatures are starting to climb, and soon we'll have to wake up the air conditioner. One way to conserve energy and save money is to properly maintain the heating and cooling equipment. Here are some things to do:

Change your filters monthly (every 3 months for pleated filters)
Clear the outdoor condenser unit free from debris as needed.
Make sure no obstructions block air flow to the outdoor condenser unit.
Program your thermostat - 78ºF is the suggested setting for a thermostat in summer.
Call a trained technician to perform a tune-up.

The tune-up isn't particularly cheap, but it will make sure your system is running at peak performance. This is important, because airflow problems can lower efficiency by 15%, for example.

Conserving Energy

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Cooling System Checkup

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