With energy prices staying high, some simple tactics can help you control the cost of cooling and heating your San Joaquin Valley home. Taking some time before extreme temperatures hit can help reduce costs by not allowing warm air to enter your home’s exterior shell (or escape in the winter).
Your first steps should be around the outside of your home. Look for gaps, holes and cracks where leakage can occur. You may want to spend extra time around window frames, ports for utility lines such as phone or cable, vents for ventilation or laundry, corners of the house structure, and the foundation and roof junctions. If you discover trouble areas, make a note of these and visit your local home improvement store to get the right repair products. A couple of tubes of caulk may be able to save you much more in energy dollars.
Next, take a look inside. The U.S. Department of Energy has some great ideas for controlling your energy loss, including using a lighted incense stick to identify leaky spots. As you carry around the incense stick, note any areas that cause the smoke to waver. Windows, vents and doors might be obvious sources. A common problem area might surprise you: Light switches and outlets. You can purchase foam insulation sheets to fix this at your local home improvement store, though don’t work around electrical wiring without turning off the power. Again, this is a relatively inexpensive fix that can save energy dollars.
Finally, take a trip to the attic to check your insulation. You may find that the insulation has compacted over the years and is no longer doing its job. There are many new options for insulation products these days, so don’t hesitate to talk to a professional on this one.
With a little effort and some cost-effective fixes, you can save energy dollars by the handful. For more great energy-saving advice or to arrange a consultation, please contact us at Donald P. Dick Air Conditioning. We’ve been providing award-winning service to the greater Fresno area for more than 40 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about energy savings and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Donald P Dick Air Conditioning services the greater Fresno area in California. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!