With nighttime temperatures dipping below 50 degrees, it’s once again time to flip on your heater to stay warm, and that means higher utility bills. You can save money this winter by optimizing your HVAC system for fluctuating temperatures. Taking a few precautionary measures will also reduce the risk of a system malfunction and extensive Katy AC repair service call.
Use a Smart or Programmable Thermostat
The majority of HVAC systems installed in the past decade have programmable thermostats, which let you schedule different temperatures throughout the day. Before programmable thermostats came along, homeowners had to manually adjust their settings multiple times each day, but what ended up happening more often was simply letting the heater run full blast during the day when nobody was home. A programmable thermostat lets you set the temperature in the low 60s during working hours before automatically cranking it back up to a comfortable 68 to 72 degrees in the evening when you are home. Smart thermostats take this concept one step further by letting you control your system from any internet-connected device such as a smartphone.
Avoid Heating Unused Spaces
Do you really need to heat that unused bedroom as much as the rest of the house? You can further reduce your utility bills by closing off vents in unoccupied spaces. A zoned HVAC system can handle this task automatically, and while zoned ductwork is becoming one of the more common Katy AC services, closing vents manually is still a cost-effective option.
Make the Most of Your Home’s Thermal Mass
Your house weighs many thousands of pounds, and that heavy material absorbs, stores, and slowly releases heat. Reduce the strain on your HVAC system to minimize major Katy AC repair services by opening up all of your south and west-facing curtains and blinds during the day to allow as much sunlight and heat in as possible.
Keep an Eye on the Forecast
Smart thermostats are upgrades in almost every sense compared to conventional thermostats, but they still have room for improvement: they are reactive rather than proactive. What we mean by that is that they don’t take into account the weather forecast, so smart thermostats only react to the current weather outside. That’s fine most of the time, but your system will waste energy if there is a big temperature shift in a short period of time. For example, a hot front might increase the temperature by 20 degrees in a single hour, and if you knew that hot front was coming ahead of time, you could turn the heat off or down before the temperature shifts with no loss of comfort.
Need a Katy air conditioning repair before we start getting cold temperatures this winter? Give AirDepot a call today to find out more regarding Katy’s AC repair services!
