According to the Boise, Idaho office of the National Weather Service, we set some interesting weather records in 2017. This past summer marked the 4th time since 2012 our summer has gone down in the history books as one of the 10 hottest on record since 1865 and we set a new all time Thanksgiving Day record of 66 degrees this past November.
Regardless of the causes of climate trends, one thing remains certain, it will be summer again before we know it and Idaho Power isn’t offering any 50 percent off deals. So let’s take a practical look at what we can do to reduce our summer energy costs and save some cash.
Perform Annual Maintenance on your outdoor air conditioning unit. I know this ranks top of your list for summer fun, but without proper maintenance even the best of equipment breaks down. Activities include cleaning unwanted brush and debris from around the unit to improve airflow. Cleaning the evaporator coil and drain channels; these areas also need to be free of leaves, dust and debris that can collect and cause your unit to work harder and use more energy. You’ll also want to check refrigerant levels in the system to ensure there are no leaks.
Replace the Air Filter. This is one of the easiest things you can do to improve the performance of your home heating and cooling system; and yet it’s the one so often forgotten. When these filters get clogged it increases energy consumption and does down right nasty things to your indoor air quality
Install a Programmable Thermostat. Lots of them out there from simple to sophisticated. We offer Nexia Home Automation it’s over-the-top awesome and when used to regulate temp throughout the day can reduce energy costs by 10 and 20 percent. It also does a lot of other things to make life simpler and more secure.
Check and Clean those Ducts. This is a much tougher one for most people because the heating and cooling ducts in our homes are hidden away in either our attics or crawl spaces and not readily accessible. That said, literally hundreds of dollars of energy waste occur in most homes because these ducts have air leaks and or air restrictions. The also collect pounds of dust, pollen and unsavory dust mites. Have a professional inspect, seal and clean our heating and cooling ducts regularly.
Sign-up for our Ashley Heating, Air and Water Protection Plan. We’ll admit this isn’t so much a tip as an offer, but before you say no, think about this: our Protection Plan is very inexpensive, it takes care of most critical maintenance and you get significant discounts if repairs are needed. In other words, it’s really easy!!!