Around here, most of us really love the winter.
- And that has absolutely nothing to do with skiing or any other cold weather activities.
No, we love winter because it’s such a perfect time of year when it comes to the weather. You see, our big weather challenges are heat related. So it’s really nice when the HVAC cooling isn’t simply running non stop. Plus, I really like opening the utility bill during the winter. If the HVAC heating comes on more than a dozen times during the winter, that’s been a cool one for us. Mostly, the temps are really mild and I get to live in shorts. However, there is the other side of that coin and it is coming up. As the grass is greening and the leaves are coming out, it’s also time to prep for the coming heat. That means I make an appointment with the HVAC folks to have the come perform the necessary HVAC inspection and service. That makes it so I know that the heat pump will be operating a peak efficiency and that really saves on the cooling costs. Then, I simply turn to making sure the house is ready. It’s really just making sure the seal on the house is still really good. That includes weather stripping and any sealing of gaps on the exterior. After that, once the heat settles in, it’s all about making sure direct sun heating is mitigated with drapes. And making sure the HVAC thermostat is kept at a reasonable level. We try to keep the thermostat around 80 degrees during the worst of the peak heating hours. Then bring it to a comfortable 74 to sleep.