Heating And Cooling

by Don Ames

Heating and Cooling

To Save Energy, Choosing the Right Heating Contractor

Don Ames

To Save Energy is going to become a battle cry for the ever developing and expanding world. Energy Efficiency will determine the choice of every sought after appliance, car, and home.  Every question will be considered from an energy efficiency view point before a final decision is made. Freedom nor food will encompass our lives as much as the need for energy. To save energy will be equal to the very ability to produce clean energy in the first place.

Let’s continue to meet up at Detect Energy

Hopefully you will receive a fair helping of energy saving tips, world energy news, and renewable energy forecasts to keep you coming back to Detect Energy. Don’t forget to register for my free email newsletter so you can follow this home energy auditor everyday as I look for more ways to save energy. If you would like have additional resources to save energy, become a Detect Energy Member and enjoy the additional information and opportunities available.

Send me an article or leave a comment

I would love to hear from you, on the home page, up on the ribbon over on the right side it says “Contribute.” Please feel free to get involved here at Detect Energy and leave me, and everybody else, some of your own energy saving wisdom. It would be a great way to share your interest in conservation.

Today’s Power Trip

I have the opportunity to work with clients on their home energy improvement projects in other States. Projects that I facilitate by phone and email in a situation where I never actually meet the homeowners or visit the home. It’s one of those times where you talk to people enough to get acquainted but you have to guess what they look like. I will confess that I usually make people look better by their voice than they would be in person.

Couple things I do not like about long distant work. One is the hyphenated name and the other is the first name that could either be male or female. Try this, “Hello, this is Don Ames, is this Anelis Williams-Anderson?” First of all, no clue what an Anelis is, and secondly, Williams-Anderson won’t fit on a form or work sheet without writing so small you can’t read it – and how do you file it alphabetically? Does the file go with the A’s for Anderson or the W’s for Williams? Folks do yourself, your kid, and everybody else a favor – Name the kid Andy and pick one last name. Yes, it’s an energy efficiency thing – which is more efficient – Anelis Williams-Anderson or Andy Anderson.

Look at it this way, Williams-Anderson won’t fit on the back of a jersey and Andy Anderson is always at the front of the line. Put as much consideration into picking a name as you would a refrigerator and the Anelis’s of the world won’t come along so soon or so often.

How to advise people on selecting the best heating equipment for their home? It is getting more difficult  all the time.

It’s difficult to sort it all out.

Incentives and tax credits can be difficult to work into a project that includes a heating system upgrade. Recently, a household in Washington State needed to replace an old heat pump. A Contractor had informed them that he had repaired the unit for the last time – they needed a new heat pump.

The homeowner requested bids from three heating contractors. The three contractors bid different brand names, different sizes, different efficiency ratings, different incentives, and different prices. So, which one is best? Which Contractor should you choose for the project?

Here’s a couple things to keep in mind

  • Presentation and professionalism is important. Which contractors presentation did you like the best? Which Contractor would you want to work with?
  • Pay more attention to the equipment warranty and less to the brand name. That furnace you have not heard of before is probably made by the big brand name you have heard of.
  • Be careful not to choose high efficiency just to get a small tax credit. If the next step up in efficiency will get you a $300 tax credit, but cost you an additional $900 for the equipment, it might be more cost effective to pass on the tax credit. How long will it take the higher efficiency unit to pay you back the $600 difference?
  • Don’t over-size the equipment. If the contractor has a special on a larger heat pump than you need, pass on the larger one and get a unit sized right for your home. The sized-right unit will actually be more energy efficient.
  • Don’t spend several thousands of dollars on a new heating system when what you really need is $500 dollars worth of air sealing and insulation in your attic. Give the new heating system a fighting chance to be energy efficient by taking care of your insulation and air sealing needs first.

Some heat pumps offer a lifetime warranty on the compressors. All in all, a pretty good deal to use as part of your decision on which Contractor and equipment to choose. Before you hand the Contractor the final payment, be sure to get all the necessary paperwork from them concerning warranties, incentives, tax credits, etc. It’s a pain to have to look up the Contractor six months later and try to get the documents you need.

Thanks for stopping by Detect Energy, I hope this article will help you save energy, come back soon, but I won’t leave a light on for you…