5 Signs Your Home’s HVAC System is Operating Inefficiently
Your home’s HVAC system is instrumental in keeping your family comfortable during the year. But how do you know if it’s running efficiently? These five signs may indicate that your HVAC system in Greenville, NC, is operating inefficiently:
High Electric Bills
High electric bills are one of the first signs that your home’s HVAC system isn’t operating efficiently. If you have been using your HVAC system consistently for the past year, yet you’re seeing an increase in your utility bills, something is wrong.
If your HVAC system isn’t efficient, it’ll take twice the time required to cool or warm your home. As a result, your electricity bill will go up.
A typical family of four uses about half of their total utility bill on heating and cooling. So, if that amount goes up dramatically without any reason, have a service technician take a look at your system. A professional service technician can quickly diagnose the problem and give you tips on what to do.
Not As Cold As It Should Be
One of the best ways to tell if your home’s AC system needs some work is that it doesn’t cool your home as effectively as it once did. If you have central air, raise its thermostat temperature setting and see how much colder it gets before turning off. If it cycles frequently, there’s a problem.
Air Blowing Through the Vents Smells Bad
You’re probably used to ignoring that smell coming from your HVAC system. It seems like an unavoidable feature of your home, just like how your nose wrinkles when you walk into a stuffy room. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
If there’s a constant odor coming from your vents, it could mean that your system needs some attention. When you ignore certain problems with your home’s HVAC system, like biological contaminants, they can snowball into bigger issues down the road. And none of those problems will come cheap to fix.
Dirty or Leaky HVAC Coils
Over time, AC coils can become dirty. Dirty coils not only make your AC unit less efficient, but they also make you more susceptible to airborne illnesses due to viruses and bacteria. Leaky coils are another sign of an inefficient AC system.
To check for these leaks yourself, turn off your AC unit, turn off all registers and close doors leading into rooms with air registers. Then step outside. If you notice a temperature difference between the inside and outside of your home, that’s a good sign there may be a leak in your system.
Malfunctioning Thermostat
Your thermostat controls how much your system works, and most models allow you to program them to specific times of the day. If your thermostat isn’t set properly, it could cost you big time. Imagine if your home cools down when it’s supposed to be warming up and vice versa.
Over time, an inefficient thermostat could lead to higher heating bills or wasteful cooling. Consider replacing an older model with a new digital one that you can remotely program so that you can adjust temperatures on the go from any location.
It’s important that you watch out for these signs to ensure that your HVAC system is efficient. If the signs persist, you may need to contact a service technician.
Contact J & J Mechanical, Inc. for all your HVAC system needs. We offer comprehensive heating and cooling repair, installation and maintenance services.
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