Posts Tagged ‘energy efficiency’

Why Propane Fireplaces Could Be Just About The Most Interesting Subjects Personally.

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Depending on the situation you may be able to repair your furnace or you may need to purchase a new furnace. Improving your homes’ energy efficiency is a common reason to purchase a new furnace. Not only do inefficient furnaces waste energy and hurt the environment, they also waste money and cost you unnecessary heating costs. If your furnace is noisy it is a good indicator that it is malfunctioning, which could be because of the age of the furnace. Depending on what is wrong with your furnace it might make more financial sense to purchase a new furnace rather than replace one.More information about propane fireplaces can be found on this website. Try to Check them out if you can.

Finding the right furnace can be difficult considering the many options you have. It is critical that your furnace functions well because it is such a large part of your home and such a big investment. If you are shopping for a new furnace consider the AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) of the furnace. A high efficiency furnace has an AFUE of 94%, much higher than a conventional furnace, which has an AFUE of 60-65%. With a conventional furnace for every dollar spent on gas, 35-40% is wasted. Mid efficiency furnaces are in between high efficiency furnaces and conventional furnaces when it comes to performance. When compared to a conventional furnace a mid efficiency furnace performs significantly better, with an AFUE rating of 80% you will save 20-23% in gas heating costs. You can save 30-38% in heating costs with a high efficiency furnace in comparison to a conventional furnace. Contribute to the environment while saving money by switching to a high efficiency furnace. A high efficiency furnace is a great purchase for your home.

There are three basic types of mid and high efficiency furnaces including single stage, two stage and modulating. A single stage furnace runs at full capacity all the time, whenever heat is required. The downside to a single stage furnace is that it will run at full capacity even if your home only needs the furnace to run at 50%, making it not a very energy efficient option. Ultimately, with the single stage furnace once you turn it on it runs at full capacity until you turn it off again. The single stage furnace is not ideal for you if you only need to heat your house to a certain point. A two stage furnace is better than a single stage furnace when it comes to energy efficiency. A two stage furnace runs in the first stage at 65% capacity and only kicks into full capacity when needed. Two stage furnaces are more efficient when it comes to heating your home. Eliminating problems with jumps in temperature, a two stage furnace will make your home more comfortable. When you heat your home at a constant temperature you will conserve more energy..

With up to 65 stages of heat output a modulating furnace is a great energy efficient option. Modulating furnaces work using variable speed through an electronically commutated motor (ECM). As a result of the variable speed and ECM (electronically commutated motor) modulating furnaces are longer lasting, quieter and operate for a fraction of the costs of a standard furnace, saving you money on heating and hydro. There are a number of benefits to using an electronically commutated motor (ECM) variable speed blower furnace. You can reduce electrical consumption by 80% with an ECM variable speed blower furnace. Up to 24 times quieter, a variable speed blower furnace is a good option compared to conventional furnaces. A variable speed blower furnace will help you save up to 16% on central air conditioning costs. A really neat benefit of variable speed blower furnaces are that they offer more humidity control over your home throughout the year, reducing any adverse effects of dryness.Use an ECM blower motor within your modulating furnace to improve temperature stability in your home. An ECM blower motor provides longer operating cycles by modulating heat. Running your furnace continuously helps prevent air satification in your home which causes hot air to rise to the ceiling and cold air to drop to the lowest levels of your home, reducing energy efficiency and increasing heating costs. Jumps in temperature cost you more money because they cause your furnace to work harder, therefore it is better to maintain one constant temperature at all times in your home so that if you have a two stage or modulating furnace the furnace will never need to run at 100% in order to heat your home..

The best way to ensure your furnace will run smoothly and have a long life span is to conduct regular maintenance on it. Waiting until your furnace breaks is not a good idea because not only will it cost more money to fix than regular maintenance would have cost it can also compromise the life of your furnace. Consider your furnace a key house investment and protect it with regular maintenance. The additional risk of a broken furnace is that other parts of your home can be affected, like your pipes which can freeze and burst. Conducting regular furnace maintenance will help keep your home safe and comfortable as well as reduce your heating bills and decrease your energy usage. Maintenance on your furnace will ensure that your filters are not dirty and your coils are not clogged, common problems that make your furnace work harder. Ensure your furnace`s fans, burners and pumps perform well in addition to checking that filters and coils are clean.Some maintenance plans will save you money in the long run by providing additional warranty coverage. Pre-season is the best time to conduct regular furnace maintenance. Regular maintenance will ensure that your furnace performs to your manufacturers specifications for efficiency.

Precisely How Wind And Solar Power Support An Energy Efficient House

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

With every single day of sun, our planet is provided with enough potential energy to power the world for 27 years. The wind is constantly blowing, and will be blowing for the remainder of your lifetime. Within the planet, its core generates incalculable quantities of heat. These green energy sources could be drawn on for making a power efficient residence.

Solar technology is a wonderful choice for the power efficient household. Simply by using the energy put off from the sun, it is not at all hard for you to warm up and also power your home. Basically, solar technology functions by directly changing rays of the sun via a photovoltaic system. Also, solar warm water and also solar water purification models fit underneath the umbrella of solar energy.

An up to date poll showed that approximately 200,thousand houses in the US utilize solar technology as their primary kind of electric power. The technology is becoming less expensive, and lots of individuals are recognizing that it is a great alternative for saving cash in the long term, as well as reducing your own carbon footprint.

Any person showing an interest in creating a far more power efficient household should truly consider wind energy also. Although a lot of people consider this a newer type of power, it’s actually been around for a long time. The earliest recorded usage of wind power with regard to generated electricity extends back to 1890. The industry has been developing since then!

It’s really a common fable that you need to get constant wind flow just for this system in order to power your home. This is simply false – wind does not have to be always blowing in order to use its power. The same as solar energy, wind power is environmentally friendly and clean, and may also be obtained in the backyard. Of the many common renewable energy sources out there, wind power offers the biggest probability to increase.

If you are living at a out of the way place and have a little bit of land, you will certainly find that wind energy is a really enticing and practical choice. In these kinds of locations, conventional electrical power may well not even be around, however wind power will be reliable and consistent. Even price conscious energy-efficient property contractors are generally recognizing that the start-up cost to get wind power is pretty minimal. These types of systems work excellent if wind is available, and can certainly use battery powered systems as a backup for when the wind isn’t blowing.

People who don’t stay in out of the way areas need to take a close look at wind energy. The advantages happen to be indisputable – even small backyard wind turbines make approximately 20 kilowatts of electricity. This can be sufficient to power the common Us household!

There are a few other alternative renewable energy resources on the market besides solar power and wind turbines. Nonetheless, these types of systems are only suitable in certain areas and truly aren’t as effective. Many individuals know of hydroelectricity, which makes use of high pressure water flow to get electricity. At present, less than 10% of generated electricity is in the form of hydro electricity. A number of these dams are present across the country – most of them are out west.

It is possible for normal water to help with making an power efficient house. If perhaps you happen to have a tiny river or stream in your backyard, you could place a smallish hydropower electrical generator in it.

Leaky Ducts Costs Especially in Jacksonville

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Correcting leaky air ducts may be the most important single thing you can do to improve the energy performance of your house. Air duct leakage, especially in Jacksonville’s brutal summers, could be costing you up to 25% of the energy efficiency of your system. Combine this with an oversized unit and it could be costing you up to 40%-50% of the energy efficency of your system.

Sealing the ducts can be a big project and it is messy requiring you to crawl into some difficult spots and get dirty. There may be some DIY books at Home Depot or Lowes that explains how to do it yourself. This project is one of the HVAC projects we do in Jacksonville, Fl and surrounding area by the hour instead of by the job.

If you do not want to tackle the job yourself give us a call at 904 714-3857 or submit a form in right hand column of Croft Air Conditioning web site.