Smart Touch Energy Blog

You need air conditioning.

Maybe the window units you've been using don’t provide enough cooling anymore or your older air conditioning system isn’t giving you the cooling power you want. Perhaps you’ve decided to equip your house with a central air conditioning system. Deciding what system to use, how much cooling power you need and how much energy efficiency can you afford are all important questions.

Come summer time, the thermometer isn’t the only thing trending upwards. The humidity levels also start to climb. While it can have an influence on your comfort level, humidity can also cause damage to your home.

We often take the air we breathe for granted. If you’re asthmatic, though, you know every breath is precious.

Buying a home is an exciting time. You often fall in love with the layout and aesthetics of the home, but it’s important to look at the mechanics of the home as well to avoid major problems. The HVAC system is an important part of keeping your home comfortable and safe. It’s an expensive system to replace, so having HVAC questions for the home seller ahead of time is a good way to find out if the system is in good shape.

Everyone wants to be healthy and keep their family healthy. However, not everyone realizes the risk that HVAC-borne germs can pose for their loved ones. Efforts to combat HVAC germs in hospitals have drawn media attention because antibiotic-resistant germs have begun to appear in the air in hospitals and because hospitals are designed to house people who are sick and thus contagious.

For most of America, air conditioning has become the summertime standard. According to the Department of Energy, 75% of all American homes have air conditioning installed and use about 6% of all energy produced in this country at the cost of $29 billion annually.

A thermostat is the main point of interface between you and your HVAC system. When your thermostat is accurate, it’s easier to make fine adjustments that will keep your home comfortable and your utility bills low. Like all components of your home HVAC system, thermostats require periodic repairs and maintenance to keep working their best over the long term. Here’s what you need to know to calibrate your thermostat.

Your home HVAC system works hard to keep the flow of fresh air moving. When dust and grime build up in your ducts, it affects your system’s ability to keep fresh air moving in an effective, efficient manner. If you think of your HVAC ducting as a highway that runs through the home, dirty ducts are like slow-moving traffic that keeps you from where you need to be.

Sometimes, the effects of dirty air ducts can be subtle. Here’s what you should watch for and why it’s important to call in a duct cleaning specialist for regular service.

For a long time, thermostats remained one of the simplest components of a home heating system. Many people who live in older buildings still rely on manual thermostats, which allow you to simply dial in the temperature of your choice. While easy to use, this type of thermostat has a number of drawbacks, including its limited accuracy and inability to perform automatic temperature changes.

In recent years, digital thermostats have largely come to replace manual units. Digital thermostats offer greater precision, more programming options and, with the introduction of “smart” technology, the ability to make temperature changes over your home’s Wi-Fi network.

It’s summer time. The mercury is rising and you’ll do just about anything to keep cool.

Luckily, modern technology has provided us with a wonderful tool for beating the summer heat: Air conditioning! Not only do AC units keep our homes cool, but they also help us combat humidity, making us even more comfortable in the sweltering heat.