Yes, oil has dropped 50% in the last year natural gas has been more than cut in half in the last year, so your electric bill will go down…right? I would not count on it and given the political situation in the world today, you must consider the impact your new home or home improvement will have on energy consumption. There is also the
LED GU-10 Lightbulb
possibility you may face large increases in your electric bill if Cap & Trade passes into law. LED lighting is fast becoming a viable option for you to consider in the design phase for your house. LED’s have a solid history of performance in commercial applications. Most traffic signals incorporate LED’s. The typical traffic light will contain 196 LED’s and will draw 10 watts. To produce the same light requirement with incandescent lights would consume 150 watts. Replacing all 260,000 U.S. traffic signals now using incandescent would reduce electrical consumption by 2.5 billion kWh annually. This is just the tip of the iceberg of savings in this one example. Maintaining the incandescent light bulbs in all these traffic signals is far more expensive than the electrical consumption. With and average life of 2,000 hours, a typical signal will have to have the bulbs changed at least 4 times a year. Some LED’s will last 15-20 years. The cost savings from the reduced replacement cycle should justify the cost of replacing the existing bulbs, even with a unit cost for LED’s which runs 50-60 times that of an incandescent bulb. But the savings do not end here. If LED’s started to replace lighting in the broader scope of lighting both residential we would see savings from the reduced need to build new power plants, reduced emission from reduced power requirements for the plants to produce, reduced recycling cost to process the burned out fluorescent and incandescent bulbs and a host of other energy and economic impacts attendant to lighting. They could also solve the dilemma of Mercury in CFL that we al face with the demise of incandescent bulbs slated to occur in 2012. The cost of LED’s is coming down as their use spreads. To date the light output and the color rendition have been the main inhibitors to seeing them spread to general lighting purposes. Both of these issues are finding solutions through research and development. There are lighting solutions for the home now available for residential applications. Quasar makes a fairly broad line of LED light solutions that will work for your home lighting needs. Even if you investigate them and decide they are not right for you, it appears that the industry is looking to make the transition easy once the light source gains greater acceptance. In the mean time, you should look at the possibility of using these in your new home. The benefits are very attractive for the investment. Just imagine if you did not have to change a light bulb for 20 years.
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HVAC Equipment
Summertime is upon us. If you are like me, you would be hard pressed to deal with a breakdown in your HVAC system. Late spring and early summer should find you doing preventative maintenance to avoid problems.
The first place to start are the evaporator coil fins in your compressor. Make sure the fins are clear of bugs, leaves and lawn mowing debris. Clogged fins will reduce the efficiency of the unit and reduce its working life. Be very careful when cleaning the fins. Do not bend them and uses a compatible tool of a soft brush to brush out the debris. You may use standard dish washing detergent to clean the fins.
Do not use any other cleaners, the chemicals can cause the fins to corrode, reducing their efficiency. Once the fins have been cleaned, rinse the fins with your hose and inspect them closely for excess corrosion. If the condition of the fins concern you, it would be a wise investment to have the unit checked out by a professional HVAC contractor. If you have bent fins, track down a fin tool to straighten them out. You use to be able to get them from Sears Industrial Tools 800/776-8666.
They can verify the functioning of the system electrical systems and test the freon levels. If the freon is low, it may indicate a leak and if the unit is over 10 years old, a leak, in all likelihood means replacing the unit.
If your compressor is an older model, your manufacturer may recommend that you lubricate the bearings. You should check the manual that came with your unit (if you still have it) or contact the help line for the manufacturer and ask for their advice in this regard they
Somewhere near the compressor on the outside, you may see a PVC pipe that just appears to be open to the air. This is probably the condensate drain from the air-handler closet into the house. Make sure this pipe is free of anything that can clog the opening. If you see algae growing on it at the opening, you may have a clog that you need to clear out. Many times, using a coat hanger pushed into the pipe a short distance and using a stirring motion will clear any clog.
Moving on to the air-handler, replace the filter and while you have it out, check the coils for accumulated dust and dirt. If you see an accumulation on them, gently brush them with a soft brush and vacuum out the excess. When this is done, inspect the drain pan underneath (if here is one) or check to see if there is a leak where the PVC condensate drain enters the air handler. If you see a leak here, you need to inspect the case or the pan to make sure it has not corroded around the entry to the pipe.
In most newer homes, they have configured the drain so that you can see down into it to check for algae or mold. If you have such a setup, pour about 1/4 cup of bleach down the pipe. Do not pour any other chemicals into he pipe. Once you have put the bleach in the pipe, pour an equal amount of water down the condensate pipe.
Replace the recommended filter and that should be good. Do not attempt to open the panel that encloses the electrical system, call a professional HVAC contractor instead if you think there is any problem with the electrical. You could be severely injured or killed. There is a capacitor inside, that stores a charge, even if you disconnect the power at the panel so be safe.
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