Are you enjoying learning more about the heating system in your home? Right now, you may be more concerned about your AC than your heat. That’s why some time ago the friendly staff here GAMA Air brought to you “AC 101” with helpful tips about your cooling system. But now we are helping you get ready for winter with “Home Heating 101”. Here’s a link to Part 1 if you’re just starting these online lessons. In our last post Part 8 we started talking about how you benefit from understanding how your heat pump works. Let’s move on with some more benefits.
Now that you understand the important role that refrigerant plays in your heat pump system to your house, you know it is important to be sure the refrigerant level be correct. In an ideal world, a central heating and air system should never lose refrigerant. But we don’t live in an ideal world. Imperfections happen in the manufacturing plant, or you’re a kid in the neighborhood might accidentally hit your outdoor unit with a soccer ball, loosening a fitting.
Part of a yearly seasonal check-up should be to also check the refrigerant level. We can help you with this. We perform system tune-up and safety checks and we guarantee 100% satisfaction on our work. So please call us at (310) 651-6936 to schedule an appointment or click here to use our online request form.
So, what about getting the most out of what you spend on energy costs? Here are some tips on how to use your heat pump as efficiently as possible.
Do you remember in Part 7 that we mentioned your heat pump has electrical heating elements? Let’s see how knowing that helps you. Although heat pumps are a very economical way to heat your home, they don’t have a reputation for blowing really hot air. Let’s say you were away for a few days so you turned your system off, and you come home to find your home really cold. It would take a long time for the heat pump to make it comfortable. However, because it is so cold, the electrical heating elements will kick in to give it a boost. Your thermostat controls this. Any time the temperature in your home is around 4 degrees lower than what you want it to be, the thermostat turns on the electrical heating elements as a second stage of heat source.
Sounds good so far, right? The thing is... electric heating elements are an expensive way to heat your home. You should only want them on when absolutely necessary. This means that to get the most out of your energy costs you shouldn’t raise or lower the temperature on your thermostat too much or too often. Doing so will raise your electric bill since the heating elements will be on more than you really need. Lower the temperature only 2 or 3 degrees at night or while everyone is out of the house for the day. If you will be away for a few days then lowering it more is fine, but in that case here’s a tip: If you’re willing to deal with a cool home for a few hours, then try slowly heating up your home by raising the thermostat only 2 degrees at a time. This will avoid using the more expensive electric heater kit in the indoor unit. It will take longer, but it will get your home comfortable using less energy.
And here’s one more related point, bringing us back to the importance of regular maintenance. If your heat pump has a problem that prevents it from running efficiently then it will be struggling to keep the temperature in your home where you want it. But now you know what your thermostat will do, right? It will see that the heat pump can’t keep up and turn on the electrical heating elements. What does that mean for you? By neglecting maintenance on your heat pump, you could see electric bills that are twice or three times more than what you are used to seeing.
There’s more to come with Home Heating 101. Come back soon for more!
Need immediate help with your home’s central heat and air? The skilled technicians here at GAMA Air will be happy to help. Call us at (310) 651-6936 or use our online form to schedule a visit at a time convenient to you for a service call. We 100% guarantee your happiness with our work.
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