Green Christmas Present for Your Home

Now that Summer is gone and Fall is quickly turning into Winter. We are all getting ready for the Holidays.

So with the Holidays being just around the corner, I’m working on my ‘Winter Check List’. Now many would think that this list would include hanging Christmas lights, looking for the decorations, etc. No, my list is concerned with preparing my home for the harsh Winter weather that comes every year. So my list serves two purposes. The first is to insure that the major appliances are in good working order. The second is to make sure my home is as Energy Efficient and therefore as Environmentally-Friendly as possible. So...

· It’s time to have the furnace checked by a certified Heating Contractor.
· The Hot Water Heater needs to be flushed out, which cleans out the mineral deposits.
· And to check the Weather-stripping and weather-proofing around the house.

So starting at the bottom, Weather-proofing means checking the blanket that your house wears. Our homes are built with an insulating blanket that is designed to prevent the exchange of air from outside to inside. So you’re looking for areas where this blanket has been compromised. So basically you’re checking for Drafts. And the easiest way I’ve found to check for drafts around interior openings is by using incense or a candle, where the flickering flame or incense smoke shows you where the drafts are. Once these areas are located, and then it's time to repair or replace the damaged or missing weather-stripping.

Now why is the Hot Water Heater on my list? This appliance is heavily used and generally ignored, until there is a problem. Did you know that the main reason this appliance fails is because of the build-up of mineral deposits in the tank itself. This causes the heater element to work harder than it has to, therefore shorten its life span.

So for me it just makes sense to group the Furnish and the Hot Water Heater together. So if you aren’t comfortable with flushing out the Hot Water Heater, than the Heating Contractor can service both appliances at the same time. (Oh! By the way this will save you some $$$, because there is only one service call, too)

How does all this save the Environment? My ‘Winter Check list’ is designed to reduce ‘Greenhouse Gases’. The Hot water Heater produces CO2 gases year-round and the Furnace during the winter months. These appliances work more efficiently (and cost less too run) if they are tuned-up on a regular basis.

In the Hot Water Heater, the heating element(s) need to be heating the water in the tank and not trying to heat the water through a layer of mineral deposits. This would be like you trying to boil a kettle of water for tea and lifting the kettle off the burner. It’ll take much looonger to boil the water. Essentially, this is what is happening inside the hot water tank. Also, there is another bonus to flushing out the Hot Water Heater … more Hot Water!!!

So on to the Furnace, as the nights start getting colder we’ll turn up the thermostat. Around this time, we’ll clean or change the air filter(s) and that’s usually all. There are many parts and systems to a Furnace. Any one of these could be malfunctioning and we would never know it, until the Furnace stops working. A Heating Contractor will inspect each component and insure that each system is functioning properly. He/she will inform you if something needs attention and also give you some pointers that will keep your Furnace running efficiently.

In review, my ‘Winter Check List’ goes through and checks to see how Environmentally-Friendly the house is. I’m checking to see how the weather-proofing is. So that the cold air is staying outside and the warm air inside. I’m going to clean out the Hot Water Heater, so that it’s only heating the water and running as efficiently as possible. And I’m having the Furnace inspected by a qualified professional to keep it functioning at peak capacity.

Here's to having a Greener Holiday season.