Read The HVAC Advice That Should Not Be Missed

Not much is more stressful than having a broken system in winter or summer. Learning about the topic means being able to make decisions down the road. Keep reading to start doing just that.

What system do you have? You need this information to tell your contractor. Get information on the make and model, plus if you have information on the history of maintenance, that will help, too. This information will be helpful to any contractor you hire to repair it.

Know what work you want done before you select an HVAC contractor. They won't be able to offer you a quote if they haven't seen your system. They need to come look at the unit. Thus, it is worthwhile to have this knowledge ahead of time.

Keeping the outside condenser clean of debris and leaves will improve the system's efficiency. Before you clean the unit, be sure to turn off the power. Remove leaves and debris from the condenser outside.

Many homeowners forget to oil their condenser at least once per year, but it is required. Most of these ports have some sort of protective cap covering them. Put 10 drops of lightweight, non-detergent SAE oil in each port. Be careful not to use too much.

If you want to know where you should put an outdoor compressor, you should place it somewhere where there is a lot of shade. If it sucks in cool air, it will need to work less to coll the air inside, which can make it last longer.

If you own your own home or have permission from your landlord, replace your single pane windows with double paned versions. To keep your home cool, investing in double pane windows is a must. It also facilitates heat retention in winter.

One way to save some money with A/C is by having a programmable thermostat installed. In fact, you can save as much as 10 percent on both heating and cooling when you turn your thermostat by by 10-15 percent for at least 8 hours daily. You can often control it from your mobile phone!

To help keep your energy costs down, have your heating and cooling system serviced at least once a year. When it's checked out, the motor will be inspected, moving parts well oiled and the level of freon adjusted if necessary. Small problems can occur in any of these areas and lead to serious issues if ignored for too long.

When everyone is gone, turn your AC off. By raising the temperature from, for example 78 to 80, your house will be warmer, but only up to 80 before your AC kicks in. If you decide to set the temperature to 82 or 83 or so on, your AC won't go on until it reaches that temperature. If will be constantly fighting the heat and using lots of electricity if it is left on all day.

Don't allow your home to become dangerously hot. Your average AC unit can only reduce the temperature in your home by about 20 degrees in a normal span of time. So, if your home temp reaches 100 degrees, your air conditioning will only bring that temp down to about 80 degrees. Depending on how humid it is, this isn't really that safe for a person to sleep in when it's really hot.

You can get ice in your air conditioner. You may even mistake the frozen drains as an issue for a plumber. Use the fan-only setting to allow the system time to thaw. You should still call a professional to help regardless.

Ask for helpful information when you are looking for a HVAC contractor. People that have gotten great work done in the past generally love to share the information they know about it. This will also provide you with good information on which contractors you should avoid hiring.

If your current system isn't working well enough, test out the ducts for leaks. Your local energy company may do such testing at a reduced cost or maybe even for free. If you do end up paying, you'll find that fixed leaks are worth the money.

Determine which way your home faces in order to establish efficient HVAC operation. Trees in certain areas can provide shade, which means your house will stay cooler. If there is less heat in the home from sunlight, then the HVAC will require less work to actually cool the home.

Measuring the space you want to cool is the first step to figure how large of an air conditioner you need. Typically, 20 BTUs are required per square foot. If you have a lot of rooms to keep cool, get their square footage added together.

Engaging in HVAC professional services may be overwhelming without proper information. But, it's not so difficult with good advice. Hopefully you are now prepared to take all of this on so that you can work on this if you have problems in the future.