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Residential HVAC Best Practices

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system represents a substantial capital investment for your family, so it’s critical that you get the most value from your HVAC budget. Whether you’re in the process of planning a new HVAC installation, or you’re looking for ways to optimize the performance of an existing system, following these three residential HVAC best practices to ensure your system is prepared to serve your family for years to come.

Correctly Size Equipment

HVAC equipment is designed and optimized with specific heating and cooling loads in mind. Ensuring your infrastructure is built to maintain ideal temperatures for the size of your home is critical to getting the maximum value from your system. While undersizing equipment may save you money upfront, your HVAC system will struggle to maintain an ideal temperature and end up running more frequently than it should. That ultimately leads to premature equipment failure and higher energy costs.

At the same time, oversized equipment generally costs more to purchase and operate, so while it won’t have to work as hard to maintain a specific temperature, you end up paying for more than you need. Whether you’re retrofitting existing equipment, or you’re deploying a new system, check that your residential HVAC contractor makes the necessary load calculations to size a system that’s optimized for your home.

Optimize Ductwork

Even with the latest HVAC equipment, your system will underperform if air is running through old, inefficient ducts. Taking the time to ensure air ducts are properly sealed and insulated can quickly pay for itself by saving you money on energy bills. Plus, your system won’t have to work as hard to heat and cool your home. By ensuring proper airflow throughout your home, you’re not only creating a more comfortable environment year-round; you’re also maximizing indoor air quality.

Prioritize Ongoing Maintenance

In an ideal world, you’d be able to install an HVAC system and forget it about. Unfortunately, in our less-than-ideal world, maximizing the value of your HVAC infrastructure requires a more hands-on approach. Your ongoing HVAC maintenance plan should include:

Replacing Filters

At the very minimum, you should plan on replacing HVAC air filters at least once a season (every three months). Dirty filters not only lead to poor indoor air quality; they also constrict airflow, resulting in less efficient HVAC performance.

Following Manufacturer Maintenance Schedules

Just about every manufacturer provides a recommended maintenance schedule to ensure your equipment continues running at peak performance during its serviceable life. Some manufacturers even require proof that you’ve followed the recommended maintenance schedules to honor warranties following a failure.

Make sure to understand and follow these recommended maintenance schedules. Working with a residential HVAC service partner can simplify this process because they’ll keep track of maintenance schedules for you.

Making Proactive Repairs

If your HVAC provider suspects a component is on the verge of failing, it’s always advisable to go ahead and replace the part. Choosing to wait until a component completely breaks before replacing it can lead to more critical HVAC problems, damage other components, and shorten the lifespan of your system.

How the HVAC Experts at Garrison Can Help

If your family wants to get the most value from your HVAC budget, contact the experts at Garrison today. While we understand the temptation of waiting until it breaks to spend money on your HVAC system, we’re here to show you how adopting a proactive approach can save you time, money, and frustration in the long run.