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Tips for Saving Money
5 Tips for Saving Money on Your Utility Bill
By Hannah West
From solar energy to efficient washers and LED bulbs, there are more and more ways to save money on your monthly energy bill. Unfortunately, those solutions require an up-front investment that isn’t practical for many people. Here are a few ways to save on your bill today without having to dish out first.
Wash Your Clothes in Cold Water
Heating water accounts for most of the energy that your washing machine uses. You can buy cold-water detergents that will get your clothes just as clean, and you don’t even have to separate into lights and darks like you do when you plan on using the warm setting. The heating rule is also true of the dryer, but that one’s a little harder to get around. However, if you’re truly determined to save, of course there’s a solution: get old-fashioned and hang them up to air dry.
Adjust Your Thermostat
Turn off the air conditioner or heat in a room that you don’t plan to use for a while and shut the door on your way out. Make sure to raise the temperature when you leave the house (or if it’s cold outside, lower it) to preserve the energy you normally would use making everyone comfortable. It may not feel great for the first few minutes when you return, but you can always adjust and get cozy or cool again within no time. If you live in a cooler climate, try using standing fans, which don’t require nearly as much energy as air conditioning systems.
Make sure to set your winter and summer thermostat accordingly. On the heat setting, it should be around 72 but on the cool setting, 76 can be perfectly comfortable. Always keep your vents clean for best results and savings.
Take Advantage of Off-Peak Hours
Learn about your utility company’s time of use rates. Usually, energy use is highest in the few hours after work and in the morning while people are getting ready for the day. Because it’s more in demand at those times, the rates are higher than in off-peak hours. If you can significantly reduce your energy use in peak hours, you could end up slashing down your bill.
Don’t Forget the Windows
With effortless air conditioning at our fingertips, sometimes we forget the difference it can make to open the windows and let a breeze blow through on a mild day. If this isn’t an option for you, don’t forget the many other roles that windows play in your indoor air temperature. For one thing, they allow heat from the sunlight in. In the winter, the sunshine can help you heat up your house. But in the summer, you may want to close window coverings in the area that the sun shines brightest into your home.
Make sure to properly weather strip your windows and doors to seal air leaks in your home. This will stop cool air from leaking in during winter, which can help you save on your heating bill.
Turn off Devices
With the number of electronic devices we use every day, it’s easy to overlook the ones we leave plugged in or turned on when they’re not in use. You could buy a smart power strip that will save you money in the long run, but the cheapest way to take care of this is just to make a habit of turning off and unplugging devices when you’re finished with them for the next few hours.
Appliances account for only a small percentage of our energy use at home, but TVs, at-home gaming devices, and desktop computers are the biggest energy-suckers, so be particularly mindful of those. If you don’t want to run around unplugging individual devices, use the extra regular power strips you have lying around your house so that you can turn off several devices with one action.
To learn more about cutting down on your utility bill, head to Modernize.com.
Sedro Woolley Air Conditioner
Simple Sedro Woolley Air Conditioner.
This year we have sold and installed record numbers of air conditioners. In this case we actually replaced the existing gas furnace with a new American Standard furnace at the same time. Seeing how the home was fairly small the customer decided against a high efficiency furnace. In reality the difference would have only been about a 15% savings on a very small gas bill.
American Standard Furnace
As you can see the new furnace installed right next to the washer and dryer in the utility room, nice tight fit. Seeing how it was the same efficiency there was no need for redoing the venting. We did have to cut down the existing base can to make the coil fit, everything else just got reconnected.
Air Conditioner Location
When it comes down to it there is a compromise when I look at the Air Conditioners location. I have to think about the refrigeration lines from the indoor coil and the high voltage lines coming from the panel. I also have to think about cosmetics, no one wants an air conditioner located in the front of their home. Overall this Sedro Woolley Air Conditioner turned out great.
York and American Standard
York and American Standard combination
Once in awhile you mix and match the equipment, meaning the indoor coil and furnace, like this York and American Standard match up. And usually its because the existing furnace is fairly new like this York 80% gas furnace that's only 9 months old. As long you have the proper airflow and your equipment can match up physically without causing improper air flow it will work just fine. Keep in mind you should still match up your indoor coil and air conditioner.
American Standard Color
I have to admit that somehow the folks down at American Standard have picked the perfect colors for their equipment. I have yet to see one of their air conditioners or heat pumps stick out, they seem to always match up to the home. I wish the refer pipe cover would come in the same color, well at least its paintable.
American Standard Air Conditioner
I can not tell people enough how much I prefer American Standard over any other brand, usually I will install a less expensive piece of equipment IF the customer is on a budget, its a manufactured home and or American Standard simply will not match up to the existing furnace. I feel American Standard is a better built piece of equipment, that's just not my experience talking but also consumer reports over the last 6 or so years.
Roth 1050 controller
Roth 1050 Controller to Honeywell AQ25244B
Boiler Controllers
Boiler controllers can be very intimidating, especially if you do not deal with the same controller all the time. To make matters worse we had a burnt out Roth 1050 controller (Tekmar) that provided zero information on the installers custom settings. The Roth #1050 was manufactured by Tekmar, Tekmar was a leading manufacture and provider of boiler controllers. That was until the industry they provided controllers to caught up to their technology and started to produce their own controllers at a much more reasonable cost.
Burnt Controller
After removing the circuit board from the housing you can see under the blue capacitor a burnt spot, now in some cases you can have these boards repaired, unfortunately this board was beyond repair. And the very sad part is these boards are becoming scarce and very expensive. Our solution was to move to a Honeywell AQ25244B controller with a AQ25744B expansion panel. Honeywell is less expensive and readily available.
Honeywell AQ25244B controller
Not only would the Honeywell controller replace the the boilers Roth 1050 controller it would also replace the 2 Taco zone controllers that where on the system as well.
We installed the Honeywell AQ25244B controller in a more accessible area for the home owner as well as for the service technician. Because the new controller did the task of 3 components all the wiring had to come back to this location.
Boiler System Back Up And Running
Once the new Honeywell controller is installed we still have a few hours left configuring the system and to make sure the system is working correctly.
FREE Bubba Sudz Car Wash Promotion
Every year we try to do this promotion with Bubba Sudz car wash. Its a great way to get a FREE car wash and keeping your air conditioner or furnace in tip top shape. This is a limited time offer.
Monster to Weil McLAIN boiler
The Weil McLAIN Boiler
This Monster had to go
I do not know any other way to describe it, the older American Standard boiler was originally an oil fired boiler that had been converted to natural gas. Just to let you know one of the worst efficient systems out there are oil systems that have been converted over to gas...bad bad bad. This particular boiler I am guessing at 40% efficiency at best... and I'm being nice. The boiler weighed well over 800lbs and took 2 vans, 3 men and a block and tackle to get it out of the basement and into a van.
Weil McLAIN Boiler have come along way
As you can see the new Weil McLAIN Boiler #CGA is not only half its size, its 83% Efficient, more BTU's, quieter and 2 men can carry it. How is that for technology!
Carrier Heat Pump Replacement
Carrier Heat Pump Replaced
The Carrier Heat Pump never worked right
Sometimes things are not always as they appear, at first glance this looked like a straight forward Carrier Heat pump change out. The ducting is there, the line sets and the electrical. So I took some measurements, took some pictures and went back to the office to work up a bid.
What caught my eye
What caught my eye is what changed everything for me on this project. I noticed the motor HP and amp draw had been changed on the manufactures label. There is only one reason a technician would change motor HP ... duct issues, specifically return duct issues. After talking to the home owner and listening to all the problems they where having It had become perfectly clear ... the unit has never moved enough air.
Just not enough ducting
Unfortunately in this older farm house increasing the return duct work would prove to be impossible, and I am sure that is what the original installation company faced as well. Fortunately American Standard makes a variable speed air handler that can overcome duct issues such as these.
After replacing the indoor unit, outdoor unit and the line set we where ready to test our theory out .. and sure enough the new American Standard air handler performed perfectly.
Conclusion
When you are faced with ducting issues in a situation where increasing the ducting is impossible but you need the air volume? Use a variable speed piece of equipment. Of course there are limits to what these variable speed units can do, BUT they will help dramatically in cases like these.
Honeywell 4 Filter
Cutting In The Honeywell 4 Filter
Sometimes I really feel the need to pat myself on the back for doing this blog, meaning I have no real writing talent, I struggle to get my words out to my fingers. But I do feel a sense of accomplishment when I post my tidbits of information and a customer mentions my blog, so here we go.
Best Bang For The Buck
I truly feel a Honeywell 4" pleated filter bank is the the best bang for you buck in filtration. Lets face it...we all hate changing filters and this filter setup allows you to go 6 months to a full year without changing filters and have a quality filtering system that is easy to change.
Fitting In The Honeywell Filter
To the side you see the Honeywell Filter Bank with the 4" pleated filter next to it. You can see where I took 2 pieces of ducting that I made, both with 1" flange folded inward creating a 6.5" gap in the ducting. The Honeywell filter bank will slide into this space and get screwed internally into the 1" flange. The filter bank MUST be at least 7" above the furnace for clearance on venting.
As you can see in the picture of the filter bank installed. It slides into the gap, screwed and then sealed. Quick and easy if done at the same time of the furnace installation.
