Derek Cole explains that modern HVAC units need cleaning every six months because just 1/20 inch of dirt reduces efficiency by over 20%. Raising your thermostat won't heat faster unless you have a heat pump with electric strips or a multi-stage furnace. Single-stage systems simply run longer.
Hey, on this episode we're talking about should I do maintenance on my unit, and if I change my thermostat a few degrees, will it heat the home faster? You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Hey, this is Derrick Cole. Welcome to episode 63 of the Ask Derrick Cole Show, answering your home and energy questions. And I hope you are getting in the Christmas spirit, even though it's 75 degrees here in Laurinburg. Makes it a little difficult. I have to volunteer tomorrow at the Optimist Tree Lot, and I'll be surprised if we sell a couple of trees. It's just too hot. Anyway, let's get into this show.
"Do I need to do a maintenance twice a year and do I really need to service a new unit?" Maintenance twice a year is very important.
As far as servicing a new unit, and we get this question a lot and there's some misinformation and we've gotten the comment quite a few times of, "Hey, the unit's brand new. Why do we need to service it 6 months in, 1 year in?" Why do I need to keep doing that? Well, the units today are so efficient. I mean, you're at that 14 SEER minimum you have to install today, or they can make today, and you got 15, 16 SEER going on. So what that translates to is the aluminum or the copper, depending on the brand, is so thin. According to the EPA, 1/20th of an inch of dirt can drop your efficiency by over 20%. So if you just bought a 14 SEER unit 6 months ago and you don't have it cleaned out, you know, at 6 months or at a year, you don't have it done, well, you don't have a 14 SEER unit anymore. That's not me saying it, that's the EPA saying it. So if you take an inch, slice it up 20 times, And that is how a little bit of dirt can affect your efficiency. So it's very important to keep it maintained, keep it clean, and to keep it checked. You do it twice a year because you do— you want to do it for the— and check the heating and check the cooling. Now, as long as you get it done every 6 months, it doesn't matter when in that aspect it happens, but it does need to happen because in this part of the country, a lot of things that go wrong A lot of things that happen in the summertime were things that could have been prevented with maintenance. Changing filters, dirty coils, dirty blower wheels, which is causing the blower motor to go out or causing the capacitor to overheat and then it goes out. All these things can be checked on maintenance and it can save you a lot of time and it's going to save you time and money on top of that because your unit's not breaking down when it's 95 degrees outside or when it's 20 degrees outside. Your unit's not breaking down. Now, the maintenance is a preventive measure. It's not saying it's never going to happen, but at least you're catching— it's like changing the oil in your car. At least you're checking things as you go versus not changing the oil, not getting a checkup, and then 5 years later you have a breakdown and you're on the side of the road. So same kind of situation. So yes, very important. That was a long answer to this question, but it's very important to keep it maintained. This— your unit runs a lot more than your vehicle does. Your unit takes up over half of the energy in your home. So keeping it maintained and efficient and checked is very critical to make sure you're not wasting money and you're not having an unexpected breakdown when it happens. Again, a lot of things we saw this summer— capacitors. I mean, we changed out a lot of weak capacitors. Capacitor is kind of like if you're spinning a ball on your finger. You've all done that before. You have this hand here making the ball rotate. Okay, well, that's kind of like a capacitor. It's still making the motor go. So once that goes out, the ball falls down. So once your capacitor goes out, your unit's not working. So all these things can be checked, can be read ahead of time to make sure you're good to go.
All right.
That was a long answer. How long was that? Okay.
If I turn my thermostat up a few degrees, will it help heat my home faster?
It kind of depends on your system. If you have backup heat, you know, if you have a heat pump and you have heat strips as a backup source, once you turn that thermostat up a couple degrees, it's going to activate those heat strips. So yes, in that situation, it will make it heat faster. Now obviously it's going to cost more money because you're using the heat strips to supplement the heat pump. That's going to cost more money, but it is going to heat a little faster. The problem we've seen before is really on cooling season, people will call in and say, "Hey, it's 80 degrees in my house, my thermostat's set on 60, still not cooling down." Well, it doesn't work that way. When you get into two-speed systems or two-stage systems or multi-stage systems that does work better for you, but the average consumer has a single-stage system. So no matter how far you go down or how far you go up, it's not going to make a big deal. I set my thermostat on 60 and it's not getting below 75 and it's 95 degrees outside. Well, it's not going to get below that number because the best it can do is 20 degrees difference. Than outside. So if it's at 75 and it's 95 outside, it's doing awesome. Now in heating season, like I said, when you have a heat pump, the heat strips will make it activate faster, therefore heating your home faster. But I would encourage you not to do that and just gradually go up on temperature. So I'm not sure if you're sitting it back and then coming home and going up or what's happening there, but yes, it will activate the heat strips. Now, if you have a gas furnace, if it's multi-stage, then it'll go to high. If it's a single-stage furnace, then it's just going to run until it satisfies. So in that situation, it's not going to make it speed up unless you have, you know, more than one speed on your furnace. That make sense?
Awesome.
That's it. That is it. Episode 63 in the books. Hey, make sure you hashtag all your questions #AskDerekCole, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and we'll get them on the show. Enjoy the nice Christmas weather.
How to Prevent Mold and Odor in Your Air Conditioning System with UV Light #shorts
