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26Jan

Smart Home Sense: 6 Helpful Ways to Optimize Your Smart Heating System

One of the best ways to make your home more comfortable is by using a smart heating system. It allows you to automatically control the temperature in your space at any time of the day. Installing it also enables you to monitor and change your temperature settings remotely via an app.

Apart from that, optimizing your heating system can also help improve your home’s energy efficiency and save you more money. It can make your space feel warm and cozy while making it more convenient. Using it can also help automatically adjust the temperature on your house whenever and wherever you are.

Optimizing your heating system can be a cost-effective way to help you get the most out of its benefits. That being said, check out these six helpful ways to optimize your smart home heating.

Start on Fixing the Basics

A drafty house or an air leakage can waste you a significant amount of money and energy. Other than making your space uncomfortable, it can also increase your energy bills. It can also reduce the air quality inside your home while letting water in that may create a potential mold problem.

Regularly checking your external doors and windows can help reduce your energy costs more effectively. You need to replace the seals around them since they may be detached over time. Doing so can be the best way to make them drought proof, watertight, and secure while helping optimize your heating system and make the area more comfortable.

The use of draught excluder can help block the air from traveling around your windows or doors. It can also eliminate drought and help reduce heat loss. Just like a clean energy company like Astral Energy LLC, it can also help save you energy while making your space warmer, especially during the winter.

Upgrade Your Boiler Connection

One of the ways to optimize your smart home heating is by upgrading your boiler connection with the help of OpenTherm. It’s a standard communications protocol used in a central heating system to allow communication between a thermostatic controller and the boiler. This technology can also help you get the full energy savings at home.

Instead of turning your boiler on or off, you can use the OpenTherm to help your smart heating system modulate its temperature more effectively. In that way, you can save more energy while keeping your space at a more comfortable temperature.

Adjust Your Boiler Temperature

A regular boiler service will ensure that it’s operating and running efficiently. An engineer can visit your house and perform a series of efficiency and safety checks on your heating system. Doing so can help keep your utility bills low by keeping all its components in good condition and provide your space with optimum temperature.

Your condenser boilers may perform efficiently when in condensing mode. But before that, you need first to set a separate water temperature for your heating system. Some of these boilers may have an eco-mode on its dial or screen. You can adjust the temperature at this level or below to help keep your boiler running in a condensing mode.

A hot water temperature of around 70 degrees Celcius can see a return of 55 degrees Celsius or lower. With that, you can put your radiator temperature low. But if you see that your house isn’t heating up to the desired level, then you can put it high. You also need to turn the temperature up, especially during the cold months.

Use the Multi-Zone Heating

Installing multi-zone heating like Honeywell Evohome or Tado can help you remotely heat only those rooms you use. It’s an air distribution system that allows you to have greater control over heat distribution to multiple zones in your home. It also enables you to turn it on remotely just when and where you need it, which can help you save on energy bills.

You can apply completely separate temperatures for each of those zones. For instance, you may get your kids’ rooms warm for bedtime before keeping them at a comfortable 18 degrees Celcius all night.

Utilizing zone heating also allows you to make use of other heat sources such as oven, dishwasher, and other appliances at home. You can run them in an hour before turning on your system. In that way, you can heat the space while helping reduce your system’s workload.

Create a Smart Schedule

Utilizing smart heating can help you save a significant amount of money every year. Systems such as Tado and Nest can learn how quickly your space heats. With that, you can set suitable temperatures whenever you want them any time of the day. It would also be helpful to create schedules for the week and during the weekend.

Most people prefer a cold temperature in the morning. But your house may naturally get warm during the day, so you may turn off your system, especially when you’re not home. When you rely on your phone for geofencing, you need to make sure that everyone would install the app so that anyone can use it when needed.

Use the Reports

One of the advantages of smart heating is that it can tell you more about how your space heats and how your system is performing as well. It has an energy saving report built into its app that can provide you some insights about how much energy and money you’re saving for the month.

If something isn’t working as you expect, you can check this report so that you can get the necessary information to help you solve the problem. It can also provide you with a lot of information about your electricity costs, tariff, billing and more. Thus, you may adjust your schedule from time to time to help get the best results.

Your smart heating system can provide you with a new report each month. It includes how many hours of weather adaptation for the month, how much you save through manual control, how many hours of ‘away mode’ occurred, etc.

Takeaway

Optimizing your heating system can make your home more comfortable while reducing your energy use. You can do that by utilizing cost-effective ways such as those listed above to help keep it running at its highest efficiency level. Thus, they won’t only help improve your energy efficiency, but they can also help you save money while lowering your carbon emission.

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21Jan

6 Best Ways to Save Energy and Money on Your Air Conditioner During the Summer

Summertime has a lot of exciting and fun activities. It includes pool parties, baseball games, backyard cookouts, and more. However, one thing that’s not so good about this season is the scorching heat. With that, it can be tempting to stay at home during the hot summer days.

Running your air conditioning system can account for a significant cost during the summer. Nearly half of your average electric bill is spent on cooling your space. It’s also one of the biggest energy consumers in your home. It uses about 3,500 watts or 3.5 kilowatt-hours for every hour of running the system.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to help your air conditioner run better and save money during the summer months. To get more idea, here are six cost-effective ways to save energy and money on your air conditioner during this season.

Use a Smart Thermostat

Upgrading into a smart thermostat is an excellent way to reduce your heating and cooling costs during the summer. This high-quality device can help regulate your cooling system from time to time and save money. You may also adjust its settings automatically using an app on your mobile device.

Utilizing a smart thermostat will help increase your home’s temperature when you’re asleep or out of your house. With the help of this tool, you can set your AC unit at a high temperature as possible and make your space more comfortable. Hence, you can reduce your cooling bill by about 10 percent.

The smart thermostat allows you to turn on or off your AC unit automatically. It can also help automatically keep the temperature on your house at a steady level during the day and at night. Just like a reliable electric company like Astral Energy, using this tool will also help you save up to 10 percent of your annual cooling and heating costs.

Use a Ceiling Fan

The use of a ceiling fan is a cost-effective way to make your space feel up to 10 degrees cooler. It uses only about 10 percent of energy than running a central air conditioning unit. It also allows you to raise your smart thermostat setting up to 4 degrees Celcius without reducing comfort.

A ceiling fan can help effectively circulate the air in your room and help create a draft throughout the area. It can also make your space more comfortable via its wind-chill effect. However, you also need to turn off the fan when you’re not using it, which helps promote global energy conservation initiatives.

Apart from that, you can also install a high-tech smart ceiling fan that can connect into an app. It allows you to automatically turn on and off your fan as well as controlling its speed remotely. It also has built-in radios and sensors that can help regulate the temperature in your room more efficiently.

Insulate and Seal Your Doors and Windows

Adding insulation to your home is a great way to reduce the heat that can pass through your walls. It can help keep your space cool during the summer and warm during the winter. Insulating your attic can also help prevent the sun from heating your room into oven-like temperatures.

Insulating your attic will help keep the stored heat from spreading throughout your house. Doing so can help you save up to 40 percent of your cooling bill. You can install blown-in cellulose insulation for your attic. It’s the most practical and cost-effective option to save energy on your cooling and heating costs.

Sealing your doors and windows is also a great way to help keep your house cool during the summer. It’s essential to seal the gaps around your windows and doors to avoid air from escaping, which is one of the causes of energy loss. You can utilize caulk or weatherstripping to help lower your energy use by about 10 percent.

Shade Your Windows

The direct sunlight can heat your house by entering through your windows. It may increase the temperature in your room by up to 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It may also cause your AC system to work harder to cool your space. Thus, incorporating window treatments such as shutters, roll-up shades, and curtains can help reduce solar heat gain.

You can close your blinds or curtains on the windows that face toward the direct sunlight. You may do it throughout your house if you’re out during the day. If you’re at home, you may close your curtains on windows that face in the east in the morning. You can open them in the afternoon, and close the ones that are facing in the west.

Avoid Heat Buildup During the Day

The heat in the summer can increase the temperature inside your home. With that in mind, you need to avoid activities that can generate a lot of heat, especially during the day. It includes using the dishwasher or clothes dryer and cooking on the stovetop.

Instead, you can microwave your food or grill it on the outside, hang your clothes on a clothesline, and wash your dishes by hand and let them air-dry. You may also try to do them during the night when temperatures had dropped. The use of a bathroom exhaust fan will also help remove excess heat and humidity when you bathe during the day.

Maintain Your Cooling System

Sometimes, it’s not enough to install a programmable thermostat and use an energy efficient AC unit. If you don’t properly care for your appliance, then you won’t reduce energy costs from your cooling bills. Dirty air conditioning filters may block airflow, which makes it work harder to cool your home during the summer.

Regularly cleaning your AC system and replacing its filters once a month can help lower its energy consumption by about 5 to 15 percent. For your central cooling system, make sure that your floor isn’t blocked with dust or furniture. Its evaporator and condenser coils must also be clear of debris and dirt to help keep them work at their highest efficiency level.

Takeaway

Running your air conditioner in the summer can significantly increase your electricity bill. But there are a few ways to save on energy and money on your cooling costs. You can do the cost-effective ways listed above to help your air conditioner run better while saving energy as the summer months progress.

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