When your spouse does the same thing over and over, year after year, season after season, you take notice. In our home, a great deal of attention is centered on five maintenance tasks. The urgency Terry projects is that “If this does not get completed, we could be in BIG trouble with an even bigger mess to clean up later”. Want to know what they are?
Be a Filter Freak!
The first obsession I noticed early on was with the dryer filter. I cleaned it regularly but that was not good enough. Even if there is a thin, almost non-removable amount of lint, Terry would still clean it.
Why the filter obsession? The filter is the lungs of the system, and when the lungs, or air flow is restricted, so is the efficiency and performance of the mechanics. Changing filters or cleaning the filters keeps the system running efficiently and optimally. Clogged filters make the motor work harder and produce less result with more energy.
Be a filter freak about your dryer, your furnace filter, your AC condensing unit, your humidifier, your water filter and any other system that has a filter.
Clean your Gutters Again & Again!
Gutters and downspouts are tasked with a grandiose job to remove all water that falls onto the roof and to keep it from soaking into the foundation and eventually into your basement. Gutters collect water plus any debris that got on the roof or into the gutters. Ensuring that the roof drainage system is not clogged takes top priority more so if there is an approaching storm. The recommendation to clean your gutters twice a year is not even a consideration at our homestead. Many times, Terry has gotten soaked cleaning the gutters during the storm since he felt that the drainage was blocked. As I watched him go out in the storm to clean the gutter, often I have thought to myself, the gutters are clean and that he’s not going to find anything, only to see later on that he pulls out handfuls of leaves and pine needles.
Where does your Water Flow?! Nothing is worse that a damp, smelly, unusable basement. Just because a house was built many years ago doesn’t mean it needs to smell and have efflorescence on the wall. Keeping water from entering a property is a job that never ends with the seasonal changes in Ohio.
On the first years of living in our home, we would use a shop vac to clean up the water that leaked into the basement after a storm or rain fall. We improved the landscaping by adding topsoil around the base of the house to create the right drainage for our yard. The first year we purchased 1 ton of top soil and added it to the yard but we still got water in the basement. The next year we purchased another ton of top soil and added it to the landscaping yet we still got some water in the basement. Frustrated, the next year, we ordered 2 tons of top soil and added it to our landscaping and it finally worked! We haven’t had to clean up water in our basement since.
Each home is unique and requires its own maintenance program which may take a few years to perfect.
Service the furnace and Ac annually
Every winter, I see a post on social media, “Help, my furnace is broken, Do you know anyone who can repair it on the cheap?”
We expect a lot from our furnaces, but how much attention do we give them? Are we setting the system up for a long successful heating season or for failure? If you are not servicing your furnace every year for Geothermal, Water Boiler, Steam Boiler, Propane Heat, Oil Heat, Wood burning heat or every two years for Forced Air Gas, you are not providing adequate care and you should expect problems to arise.
You are a homeowner now, spend the $150 to make sure your furnace works throughout the winter.
Have a Healthy Relationship with your Thermostat People seem to set their thermostat once a season and forget about it. One and done seems to be the thought of some homeowners. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Energy efficiency and personal comfort are jeopardized when you use this method.
My friend Roberta lives in a 2500 sq. ft, 1935 home. Half of the windows are double pane, the rest are original single pane with storms. When I was visiting her recently, I mentioned that it was a little hot in her house and her reply was, “my house always runs hot.”
Her house runs hot because they set the thermostat once, when they got cold, and then forgot about it! Her house has plenty of natural ventilation due to the age of the house, windows and doors. The only reason this house is hot is because the furnace made it that way. At this point, I wanted to ask what her heating bill is every month.
The math is simple, turn the furnace down 5 degrees when you leave. If it is summer, turn your AC up 5 degrees when you leave. This is enough variance that it will save energy costs, but not strains the system when you call for a temperature change.
There are three types of thermostats. The old dial with mercury, programmable and smart thermostats. If you own a programmable or smart thermostat, you can easily set your system to make these changes automatically. Saving 10% or more on your heating bill can be obtained when you have a healthy relationship with your thermostat.
