November 2019 - One Source Home Service

5 Tips to Extend the Life of Your HVAC System

Your home’s HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition) system runs ’round the clock, 24/7, all year long. You can’t expect it to last forever, but you can expect your furnace to last for about several years—depending on the model, you may get 15-20 years out of your furnace and 10-15 years out of your air conditioner. It’s a big investment to replace your furnace or air conditioner, so we have five tips for you to try to extend the life of your HVAC system.

Schedule two HVAC tune-ups per year: Contact a home services company to give your furnace a tune-up in the fall and your air conditioner a tune-up in the spring. This preventative maintenance usually includes a good inspection, cleaning, lubrication and any necessary adjustments.
Change the air filter regularly: Disposable fiberglass filters should be replaced every 30 days, but check your filter and furnace manual to see how often you should be replacing the filter. A dirty filer will make your HVAC system work harder to circulate air and that can cause extra wear on the system.
Clean your ducts: Be sure to keep the return air vents clean and prevent the build-up of dust and debris. You might also want to have your ducts professionally cleaned so that your system is delivering the cleanest air possible.
Give the HVAC system a break sometimes: Does your HVAC system really need to be running almost 24/7? Can you give it a break when you’re on vacation? On a cool evening could you open the windows and give the a/c the night off? You’ll be saving energy and giving the system a break.
Upgrade your insulation: The better your home is insulated, the less your HVAC system will need to run to maintain the temperature. The first place to check for sufficient insulation is your attic.

When to Replace Your HVAC System

Even if you follow these tips and take good care of your HVAC system, eventually it will need to be replaced, but when? If you’re approaching the projected end of life for the unit, you can’t go wrong replacing it because you will be saving money with the new, more energy efficient replacement. But if you want to prolong the system as long as possible, contract with a reliable home services company for your annual tune-ups and then ask the HVAC tech for their input on when to replace. Be honest with them about the maintenance you’ve carried out on the unit—even if that means confessing that sometimes you didn’t replace the air filter for a season or two. Hopefully you can get to know the techs from the home services company and get to where you can trust their input on when to replace your furnace or air conditioner.

Summary

Take good care of your HVAC system and it may well last longer than the average lifespan, but also know when to replace it before it becomes unreliable or so inefficient that it’s costly to keep it running.

Here’s 7 Quick Tips To Save Money And Use Less Water…

You already know how important it is that we all try to reduce our use of water. Our planet’s future depends on it! And, there are so many practical and surprisingly easy ways for us to do that.

So, here are seven really practical ways for you to conserve water in your home…

Monitor your water bills
Check your water bill each month and if it goes up try to figure out if there’s a good reason (filling the swimming pool). If it spikes and you don’t know why, you probably have a leak somewhere. Seriously, the average home wastes more than 10,000 gallons of water a year from easily fixable plumbing leaks. It’s worth it to bring in a plumber if you suspect you have a leak but cannot find
it.
Use the water meter to check for hidden water leaks
Go read your water meter and write down the number. Stop using water for two hours. Then go back to the meter. If it’s not at the exact same number, there’s a water leak in your house. If you can’t find it, call your home services company to send out a plumber.
Use every drop
Find ways to repurpose water so it doesn’t just go down the drain. For example, when you boil potatoes or pasta, pour that water through a colander and into another pot to capture the hot water. After it’s cooled, this water can be used for your household plants. You can do something similar whenever you run the tap and wait for hot water.
Use your dishwasher more
You might be surprised, but as it turns out washing dishes by hand uses a lot more water than running the dishwasher, and even more so if you have a newer more water-efficient model. Newer dishwashers will also adjust to use less water for smaller loads. (If you don’t have a newer dishwasher, see #7.)
Run full loads in your washing machine
You can adjust water levels to match the size of your load, but it’s even more water-efficient to run larger loads in your washing machine.
Cover your swimming pool
It takes a lot of water to fill your swimming pool and to keep it filled. In the summer sun, pools can lose an inch or more of water each week to evaporation. Getting a cover for your pool can save thousands of gallons of water each season. Make it a solar blanket and you can also reduce your heating cost. But this only works if you’re diligent about covering the pool when it’s not in use.
Install a new dishwasher
Newer dishwashers use as little as four to seven gallons per load—again that’s a lot less than
washing by hand and much less than older dishwashers.

Summary

If we all work on conserving water, we can make a big difference. While taking these practical steps, be sure to contact a home services company if you need help finding a water leak or installing a new dishwasher.

Make Your House Look Great At Low Cost with Outdoor Lighting

Lighting up your outdoor spaces can increase your security, enhance your enjoyment of your property, and help raise the value of your home. Here are five tips to think about regarding your outdoor lighting.

#1. Entryways

You need the brightest lights on your entryways, any places into your house or garage. While spotlights or pot-lights will be the best here, you can have bright lights while still maintaining low power usage and costs. If you have lights by your windows, especially bedroom windows, consider putting them on a timer or turning them off at night. While this isn’t the greatest for security purposes, you still need a good night’s sleep. You could get blackout curtains, instead, which could help you sleep. Your doorways and other easy access points are the most important to be lit brightly.

#2. Entertainment Spaces

The lighting you have by your fire-pit, on your patio, at the BBQ, or in your dining area should be different than the lighting at your entryways. You don’t have to have glaring lights and bright spotlights where you hang out with friends and family. The lighting should be more subtle and gentle, and because of this, you will not need to use as much energy to light up these beautiful locations. Sometimes solar lights can work well in these areas, as string lights, lanterns, or more, which will reduce your costs significantly. Focus on relaxing illumination for your entertaining and garden spaces.

#3. LED Bulbs

You don’t need to get halogen bulbs that burn through energy and ramp up your power bill to light your property well. There are numerous options of LED bulbs for outdoor lighting that can stay on throughout the night and use 90% less energy than traditional or older lights. Many LED lights are also maintenance free, and so you won’t have to spend time and money replacing any bulbs.

#4. Outdoor Certified

When hanging lights outside or when buying new bulbs for your outdoor fixtures, make sure you pay attention to whether your new lights are certified for outdoor use. Our exterior lights take a lot more of a beating than our interior ones what with rain, wind, dirt, and bugs. Ensuring that your outdoor lights and cords are designed for outdoor use will save you some headaches and money in the future.

#5. Hanging

If you are hanging lights or attaching strings of light to your home or to other structures outside of your house, consider the methods you use to do this. For one, stay away from nails or staples which can penetrate wires and cause damage to your cords or lights which can result in shorts and other dangers. Using clips or installing hooks around your home or an archway is a great way to save your string lights. Hooks can also help to speed up the installation if you want to change lights depending on the seasons or events.

Summary

There you have it! 5 simple tips to help you light your outdoors with great, safe lights for a safer, more beautiful home!

When to Replace Your HVAC System

Summary

Summary

Summary

Subscribe