Gas fireplaces are all the rage. As little as fifteen sixteen years ago, gas fireplaces in the home were almost an oddity, but today, they are one of the most sought-after home features. In fact, since the mid-1990s, gas fireplace installations have been more popular than cord-wood fireplace installations, reports Don Johnson, director [...]
Stay warm and cozy during winter without wasting energy and saving your energy bill.
Your home energy checklist for Winter:
Turn down the temperature of your hot water heater to the most comfortable setting.
Install a hot water heater jacket if you don’t already have one. This will save energy and keep your water heater from losing more [...]
The selection and design of air-conditioning ducts plays an important role in providing good indoor air quality. For years, conscientious HVAC contractors have been insulating the insides of galvanized ducts with rough fiberglass insulation. They had good reasons, too: The rough surfaces reduce air noise, and the insulation isn’t as easily damaged as external insulation [...]
There are many products on the market that claim to reduce or cure allergies due to indoor-air-quality problems. We see commercials on TV and ads in magazine touting household appliances that use electricity to clean the air in small areas of rooms. However, these devices are very expensive and they do in fact only clean [...]
Jump ducts are an increasingly popular method for improving the energy efficiency of homes with forced-air heating and cooling systems. They address the critical issues of equalizing air pressure in various parts of the home and of handling return air.
When managing the heating and cooling flow within any building, it is challenging to ensure that [...]
In some parts of the country, where temperature and humidity levels permit, natural ventilation through operable windows can be an effective and energy-efficient way to supplement HVAC systems to provide outside air ventilation, cooling, and thermal comfort when conditions permit (e.g., temperature, humidity, outdoor air pollution levels, precipitation). Windows that open and close can enhance [...]
The most important step in filter improvement is to make sure that all the air that goes through the electric air handler or gas furnace is filtered. If your HVAC system is pulling air through cracks in the duct system or return air chase, it pulls the contaminates along with it. Have your service technician [...]
Summer is here and now it’s not to late to seal up those cracks and save money on your air conditioning costs!
The following Sealing jobs to be done now:-
First of all every care to be taken to seal the air leakages through the ducting.
1. Seal around windows, doors, electrical [...]
In USA, radiant heating only commands about 6 percent of the home heating market, but homeowners who have it rave about its comfort and efficiency, despite the fact that the up-front costs are usually higher than other systems. These homeowners are taking a long-range view, says Dave Yates, president of F.W. Behler plumbing and heating [...]
General
1. Keep an ongoing record of daily energy consumption. Recordkeeping will increase energy awareness, help identify high usage periods and allow measuring the effectiveness of any energy conservation procedures that are implemented.
2. Assign a facility operating staff person the responsibility of reviewing and approving monthly utility bills.
3. Involve building tenants in energy conservation efforts. Ask [...]
Out with the bad, in with the fresh. Simply put, those are the purposes of the recently introduced standards for creating acceptable indoor air quality. The standards, published as ASHRAE standard 62.2 for Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, suggest requirements for new and existing [...]
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is a current buzzword in the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Industry.
We hear about Legionnaire’s disease outbreaks traced to the air conditioning system. Buildings are highlighted on the news as making their tenants sick and it’s referred to as sick building syndrome. Individual homes are linked to increases in allergies [...]
Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems in homes.
Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the home. High temperature and [...]
Although older forced-air and hot water boiler systems had efficiencies in the range of 56% to 70%, modern heating systems can achieve efficiencies as high as 97%, converting nearly all the fuel to useful heat for the home.
Conservation efforts and a new high-efficiency heating system can often cut your fuel bills [...]
If too little outdoor air enters a home, pollutants can accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems.
Unless they are built with special mechanical means of ventilation, homes that are designed and constructed to minimize the amount of outdoor air that can “leak” into and out of the home may have higher pollutant [...]
The Relative Humidity (RH) is the amount of water vapour in the air at any particular temperature compared with the maximum amount that it will hold at that temperature, i.e., when saturated, and is stated as a percentage, e.g., air at 10°C and 100% RH (i.e., saturated) if heated to 21°C would then be at [...]
With energy costs increasing, more and more houses are being insulated to conserve heat.
Draught proofing, double glazing, high levels of insulation and intermittent thermostatically controlled heating systems are sensible ways of conserving heat and energy. However, the air quality in such sealed dwellings can rapidly fall to an unacceptable level, leading to health hazards through [...]
Beware of Carbon Monoxide
If you have a natural gas furnace, or any type of fuel-burning appliance, regular professional maintenance can literally save your life.
A properly functioning gas appliance produces harmless water vapor and carbon dioxide, which are vented out of the house. But if a heat exchanger is cracked, a flue pipe is plugged or [...]
Body Heat Balance
Why does anyone feel limp in hot surroundings? Why is a breeze refreshing? These sensations relate very much to the efforts the body has to make to maintain its temperature. The less the effort the more comfortable we feel. Man is a warm blooded animal and must maintain the temperature of his [...]
You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to 68°F (20°C) when you’re at home and awake, and lowering it when you’re asleep or away.
This strategy is effective and inexpensive if you are willing to adjust the thermostat by hand and wake up in a chilly house. In [...]
Alternative heating for your home can include more than adding a fireplace or two or some space heaters, you now can consider even more unique innovations such as radiant floor heating.Radiant floor heating is a wonderfully efficient heat-distribution system that takes advantage of the whole floor to heat the home, [...]
If you get “sticker-shock” when you open your monthly utility bill, then the projects and information contained in DIY’s Home Energy Savings workshop may provide you with some valuable help. Starting with a home energy audit, host Paul Ryan shows how to identify potential problem areas that may be continuously draining energy from your home [...]
Acid Rain – Rain that has become acidic due to the emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. To learn more, see the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Acid Rain Home Page.
Air Leakage Rating – The air leakage rating is a measure of how much air leaks through the crack between the window [...]
A central furnace or boiler’s efficiency is measured by annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE).
AFUE is a measure of how efficient the appliance is in using electricity or fossil fuels (oil or gas) over the course of a typical year.
AFUE Ratings
An all-electric furnace or boiler has no flue loss through a chimney. The AFUE rating [...]
Routine Maintenance of your furnace will definitely save lot of money and botherations.
When was the last time you changed or cleaned your furnace filter? Failing to replace or clean the filter regularly can be costly!
Dust and dirt can work their way into the blower and coil assemblies, reducing the furnace’s operating efficiency and eventually [...]
A few simple tips can save you dollars…
Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable. Keep the temperature fairly constant, as frequent changes will utilize more energy by causing unnecessary cycling on and off. Setting back the temperature at night, however, is recommended.
Clean or replace furnace filters once a month or as [...]
A good ventilation system is designed to keep the temperature and humidity at comfortable levels, to create enough air movement of acceptable velocity and direction to produce a feeling of freshness and comfort, and to maintain the purity of the air reducing the concentrations of dust, bacteria, odours and carbon dioxide [...]
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Here are some good tips for saving energy and avoiding high heating bills:
Before purchasing a furnace for your new home, check it’s A.F.U.E. rating, which stands for the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. Each furnace has this rating on it from the factory (figure A). The standard is about 80 [...]
Another consideration for heating your home is where you want the warmed air to go. Heating systems can be grouped into one of two categories: central and zoned.
Central Heating Systems
Central heating systems, which include furnaces, boilers and electric heat pumps, use a blower and ductwork to circulate air throughout your entire home. Every room in [...]
When you cozy up next to a crackling fire on a cold winter day, you probably don’t realize that your fireplace is one of the most inefficient heat sources you can possibly use. It literally sends your energy dollars right up the chimney along with volumes of warm air.
A roaring fire can [...]