James Gerdsen: Tips on Making Your Home Energy Efficient

Many older homes are not the most energy efficient.  James Gerdsen is a home heating and cooling specialist. He has some inexpensive and beneficial tips for making your home energy efficient, whether it’s the winter or summer.

Excessive heating bills are killer in the winter time. Consider setting the thermostat at 68 degrees. Have your insulation checked. Over the years insulation can deteriorate, and James Gerdsen recommends having it checked and reinsulated every so often. If funds are limited, focus on insulating the attic. Heat rises, so insulating the attic will keep heat in the main area of the home. Also cover windows with thick currents to prevent heat loss through windows. Heat also escapes under doors. James Gerdsen suggests rolling up a towel and placing it against the cracks for a quick, cheap, and easy solution.

When the weather heats up it is easy to creep the thermostat down.  With the rising prices of electricity, this is costly. Install ceiling fans in every room. A fan kit from the hardware store can run as little as $30. It will circulate the air and reduce the need for the air conditioner (AC), says James Gerdsen. When the AC is running listen to make sure it shuts off and that is actually cooling. The units can leak Freon, which is normal, but if it gets too low then the air isn’t cooled and the AC unit runs constantly. If the fan in the AC unit runs continuously, that will definitely increase the electric bill. 

James Gerdsen’s last tip is applicable for summer or winter time. Make sure to change the air filters in your heating and cooling system. Clean air filters means the equipment doesn’t have to work as hard. Older homes are gorgeous, but they can require a little extra TLC.  Ask a local specialist to help determine how to better increase the energy efficiency of your home.