As any
HVAC Contractor can tell you, the advantages of an HVAC system do not come without costs. While climate control allows you to stay in your home in relative comfort, there are several ongoing costs that are associated with owning and using such a system.
Electrical Costs
Considering that an HVAC system consumes up to 54% of your electricity, artificial climate control is definitely expensive. The components of the system must all be in optimal condition to function properly. If one part is compromised, it may affect other parts as well, leading to increased electrical consumption.
Some common issues include a broken thermostat, refrigerant leaks, filters that need replacing, and dampers that must be balanced. The good news is that each of these items is cheap to fix. Making sure these parts work ensures that your system won’t consume more energy than expected.
Maintenance Costs
Since prevention is better than cure, maintenance costs are another necessary expense for HVAC system owners. Maintenance involves tasks like cleaning it, using consistent temperature settings, replacing air filters, and tuning up components. While you can do some of these tasks on your own without having to buy replacement parts, the time investment and supplies involved would still eventually translate into monetary costs. However, if you consider the expenses in getting big problems repaired, you’ll see that proactively keeping your system in shape is the lesser of two evils.
Repair Costs
Even if you do it right, maintenance doesn’t guarantee that problems will not pop up. Sometimes the system fails in a major way, so troubleshooting and repair has to be done. Doing those tasks by yourself can be a handful, but rewarding: you can try looking into the system to find out what’s going on. Some steps include looking at the system’s motor if it needs resetting, checking if the thermostat’s working properly, and seeing if the circuit breaker has popped, in which case a fuse just needs to be replaced.
While getting the problem fixed yourself can be fulfilling, you also risk making it worse if you make a mistake or get lost in the repair process; this can lead to even bigger costs in solving the problem. For this reason, it would be safer to depend on a HVAC contractor with experience to fulfill your HVAC repair needs.
