How You Can Save Money on Your Heating and Cooling Costs

Heating and cooling services are incredibly important for homeowners across the country. Although most homeowners have the number of their local HVAC services or HVAC contractor on hand in case of emergency, it’s not often that people understand how their heating and cooling systems work. This knowledge isn’t exactly the most essential thing you can learn, but it’ll really help if you’re trying to figure out how to save money on your heating and cooling costs.

Here’s a quick look at some of the ways you can save money on your HVAC system:

• First off, it’s important to remember that preventative methods are always going to be more effective and more affordable than waiting until there’s a big problem. Furnaces, for example, only last about 15 to 18 years on average. If your furnace is getting up in age, it’s probably not functioning as efficiently as it once was. And if you haven’t made it a priority to have a local HVAC technician do inspections each year, it’s possible that the furnace hasn’t been performing efficiently for a while.
• Ductwork is another major cause of high heating and cooling bills. Many homeowners forget about this detail. It’s not like a furnace or an air conditioning unit. It’s not something that actually “runs,” so it’s not as easy to detect when it’s causing your HVAC system to be inefficient. Traditional ductwork can actually cause a 40% loss of energy, and possibly even more than that if it’s not installed properly or if there are cracks.
• It’s also important to view the efficiency of your HVAC system — and the cost of this efficiency — by looking at the bigger picture. Replacing an old furnace with a high-efficiency furnace, for example, can provide a fuel utilization efficiency of anywhere from 90-98% per year. This will be a big savings after a few years, but many homeowners only focus on the upfront cost of the system (which is a bit higher than a traditional HVAC system). In reality, these high-efficiency systems can save a ton of energy and even reduce costs by 20-50%.

It’s understandable if you don’t know all the ins and outs of your heating and cooling system! Just remember to contact an experienced HVAC technician to find out how you can cut costs.