A programmable thermostat is a useful tool that can help homeowners decrease their energy consumption and utility bills while improving home comfort. Gone are the days of making a trip to the thermostat for every adjustment – that is, if you remember! Now you can simply program your thermostat around your schedule. By knowing the right way to set your thermostat, you can reduce energy use while staying comfortable.

If you had a toothache, you wouldn’t go visit just anyone who called himself a dentist. You would take the proper measures to ensure the person you trusted with your dental issue had the proper education and experience to back his or her supposed title. So, if your cooling or heating system was in need of service, or you wanted to discuss an upgrade, why would you hire an HVAC technician who wasn’t specially certified?

Most Twin Cities homeowners are not A/C experts, and should probably rely on the professionals for most aspects of air conditioning service and repair. Before calling an expert, though, you may be able to narrow down the source of a problem by doing a little A/C troubleshooting.

Although zoning systems do offer substantial benefits to your home’s comfort levels and overall energy usage, their effectiveness can sometimes be hampered because of poor zoning system design. To get the maximum benefits from zoning, you should be aware of several zoning system design principles before having one installed.

Are you running your air conditioner at its optimal performance level? If not, this could easily result in high energy bills and reduced efficiency. It’s important to have your cooling equipment regularly serviced by an experienced technician or contractor who will know exactly how to diagnose and fix efficiency issues. However, there are some basic procedures you can do yourself to prevent high energy bills and ensure your system is running effectively.

As you probably remember from grade school science class, where damp conditions exist, there’s also the potential for fungus growth. This is why mushrooms may spring up in your yard after a spring shower or mold spores begin to dot sealed containers of old food in the back of the refrigerator. These types of fungus may not pose you any sort of immediate threat, but mold growth in other areas in your home can become a health hazard to you and your family.

Improving home energy efficiency is one of the best things you can do with your spare time this summer. Temperatures are moderate, and it’s a good time to work in the attic or outdoors, undertaking projects that will help lower your energy bills year-round. Three of these projects include adding insulation, sealing air leaks and tending to your HVAC equipment. 

During the hottest and coldest months of the year, increased utility bills are not uncommon. While paying more for additional energy usage sounds fair, paying for wasted energy is not. Luckily, there are ways to reduce energy consumption, and one of the most effective is to seal air leaks.

Although the Twin Cities area is typically known for its relatively mild summers, the high rates of humidity can make an 80 degree day feel much hotter. If you’re lucky enough to own property in this beautiful region of the country, then you know that after a long, sweaty afternoon on the lake, there’s nothing quite as wonderful as the feeling of stepping inside your well air conditioned home. However, if your air conditioning system is on the brink of failure, reprieve from the humidity may be long hours – or days – away.

One of the more important pieces of information you should know when searching for a new air conditioner is the cooling load of your home. This is the amount of cooling that’s required to keep your indoor environment at the temperature you prefer. The industry accepted method of determining your home’s cooling load is set forth in Manual J, “Residential Load Calculation.” This manual, published by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), provides all the procedures and technical details your HVAC professional needs to assess your home’s thermal characteristics and perform accurate cooling load calculations.