ECI TAKES HOME COMFORT TO THE NEXT LEVEL:

Heating and air conditioning equipment is always evolving and becoming more efficient.  The problem is that most HVAC contractors are stuck doing business as usual.  A widely used term in our industry is to "replace the box".  A contractor will get a call for a heating or cooling related problem and see the opportunity to sell new equipment or "replace the box".  In some cases upgrading the equipment may be the solution but all too often the home itself can be the source of the problem.  

Many homeowners learn to live with hot or cold rooms, dusty furniture and high utility bills.  ECI has made it a priority to solve these issues by looking at the home and ductwork as well as the equipment.  In a lot of cases, a system cannot run at its full potential when a home is not properly air sealed and insulated.  

MYTH: There is no benefit to constantly adjusting your thermostats when you don’t need as much heating or cooling…such as at night or when nobody’s home.

Many people believe that while this may make sense in milder weather, it doesn't work so well in extreme cold or high heat and humidity conditions that we have in Philadelphia and throughout the Delaware Valley. The thought here is that when its very cold, the energy required to recover and reheat a space from adjusting the temperature down will negate any savings.  The same mindset believes that when trying to cool the older homes in our region, they are too inefficient to constantly let the temperature and humidity rise.  The energy to remove the humidity and return the home to a comfortable temperature isn’t worth the effort.  

If your like me, you are always trying to find ways to save money. I always do the little things, like making sure I turn the light off when I leave a room, putting my computer at the best Power Saving settings and some other simpler energy saving methods to keep my bills low.

Here is a Easy Home Efficiency Solution

However, I know that I can be, most likely, running more efficient. I found a useful tool on the Energy Star Website that allows you to, with a little bit of information about your home, find out how you measure up when it comes to efficiency. It's called the "Home Energy Yardstick"

Check out our quick video that takes you to Wyndmoor, Pa. on an install from day one until the job is complete. 

Here is the first of a series of videos that we will be showcasing every week on the ECI Comfort Website. We hope to not only show you the services that we offer, but to share great tips to help you improve the comfort of your home. This week we feature a video of a Home Assessment that ECI Comfort performed at the Morgan residence in the Parkwood section of Philadelphia.

Growing up, we were always told to put on a cap in the winter – we lose most of the heat from our bodies from our heads – same thing with your home. Protecting the top of our homes during the winter is like putting on a warm cap.

Our homes act like a big chimney, the taller the home, the greater movement of air, which is called stack effect.

Windows are a very important part of our lives - they allow us to see what is going on in the world, they let in sunshine, and they light our houses so we don’t have to use electricity during the day. We need windows.

But they are a mixed blessing. They have very low insulation values so they cost us a lot more than a plain wall would cost to heat and cool. Also, this low R-value means the surface is cold so we can feel cool standing next to them, and they have a lot of moving parts, which means they can leak air.

This winter so far has dealt us some brutally cold weather. With this comes high home heating oil usage as well as the associated high costs. There are many improvements that you can do to burn less oil and obviously save money and quite possibly increase your comfort levels.

The most obvious improvement most HVAC companies would recommend is the replacement of older inefficient boilers and furnaces with newer high efficiency equipment. This alone can save up to 30 percent of fuel usage depending on how old and inefficient your present equipment is. However, this may or may not be the best way to cut costs and improve efficiency.

In typical homes, air leaks are often found at cracks, small holes, and penetrations for plumbing, wiring, lighting, and ductwork. Together, these leaks can add up to as

much air loss as having an open window! It’s easy to imagine how this can increase a homeowner’s utility bills and reduce comfort.

Sealing a home’s envelope—its exterior walls, ceiling, and floors—is an important step in controlling the indoor environment and lowering energy bills. The goal is to reduce air leakage as much as possible, while providing ventilation as needed for fresh air. In other words, “build it tight and ventilate it right.”