Whether you’re preparing for the summer humidity or the cooler winter weather, you want an efficient HVAC system. Without much notice, your Wheaton, IL system may start losing that efficiency, driving up your operating costs. Watch out for these common signs you have an inefficient HVAC system.
Excessive Dust Around Your Vents
As you’re cleaning your home, keep an eye open for dust around your supply vents. Excessive dust around these vents indicates a buildup of contaminants in both your system and your ducts. This buildup prevents air from flowing through the system and out into your home, reducing your system’s efficiency.
Widely Differing Temperatures
Is there a particular room or area in your home that always feels cooler or warmer? A properly functioning system will evenly heat and cool your home. Temperature imbalance indicates several possible problems, all resulting in system inefficiency.
Differing temperatures can indicate an airflow restriction or a failing circulating fan. This usually leads to unusually long heating and cooling cycles, a key indicator of an efficiency issue.
Short-Cycling and Long Cycles
A normal furnace heating cycle should last 10 to 15 minutes and an air conditioning cycle 15 to 20 minutes. Short cycling is when the system runs extremely short and frequent cycles. Long cycles last more than the expected cycle length.
In either case, the system fails to adjust the temperature of the air in your home to your desired level. This dramatically raises your heating and cooling costs, as well as the wear on your system, leading to more repairs.
You don’t have to time your cycles to see if they’re running the appropriate length. Rather, keep an eye on how the length seems. If you hear the system cycling frequently, or it seems to run long cycles, call to have it evaluated.
Inexplicably High Energy Bills
Keep an eye on your energy bills from month to month and year over year. You’ll notice an increase in unit cost, but an unexplained increase in unit consumption should raise flags. An inefficient system will inherently consume more energy because it isn’t adjusting your home’s temperature as expected.
Constant Calls for Repairs
Inefficient systems add excessive strain as they run longer and experience additional electrical resistance. This added strain can lead to premature component failure and a shortened service life.
Watch for how often you’re calling for repairs. Increased HVAC repairs are a function of a system age over 10 years. However, less than 10 years indicates you have an efficiency issue that needs addressing before it drains your wallet.
Low Airflow From Your Vents
Every HVAC system depends on circulating air through the system and into your home to adjust the temperature. When you stand with bare feet in front of a supply vent, you should easily feel the air flowing out. Less air moving through the system means the system isn’t conditioning your home as expected, reducing the efficiency.
When you can’t feel the air, you have some kind of airflow restriction. To restore efficiency, find that restriction and resolve it.
Start with checking your air filter to ensure that it’s clean. Next, call for professional maintenance to clean the circulating fan, evaporator coil, and heat exchanger. During maintenance, a technician will also check the circulating fan to ensure that it’s operating optimally.
Banging, Clanging, Screeching, or Buzzing
Keep an ear open for unusual sounds, especially loud noises you can easily hear as the system runs. These often indicate a mechanical or electrical failure at one of the components. Any components operating less than optimally will reduce the entire system’s efficiency and cause additional strain.
Keep your system working effectively throughout the year by doing the work to keep it working efficiently. Call to schedule your HVAC maintenance with a technician from Oncourse Heating, Cooling, Plumbing.
