I’m really pleased that I went ahead and got with it this spring. Honestly, it’s something that I had wanted to do for the last several year but just didn’t get around to it. However, having done just the basics when it comes to preparing for heat season this year, I’m already seeing the results. It’s July now and I’ve gotten my first utility bill that would cover the beginning of the summer. This is when the air conditioning was on consistently. During the spring, we do our best in order to leave the air conditioning off as much as possible. This helps us in a few ways. First, we’re not using so much HVAC cooling that it helps with costs. But perhaps more importantly, not going right for the thermostat allows us to acclimate more naturally to the heat. That’s a very important part of living where we do. The heat and humidity are indeed quite high during the summer. It’s a fact that no amount of air conditioning is going to change. Just trying to go from one place with HVAC cooling to the next is to deny so much of the experience of living here. There is just so much to offer outside that staying in the air conditioning is a non starter for us. However, I did do the sealing up of the house and have added solar shades to stop the direct sunlight heating. It’s all paid off as this utility bill is close to 20 percent cheaper than that of last year with very little effort or hassle.
Keeping up with the HVAC chores around the house
If I learned anything from the pandemic it was to just slow down. I’d been living my life, prior to the pandemic, in a way that just wasn’t sustainable. There was no way that I could get everything done that I thought I needed to do. For one, I spent at least 50 and sometimes 60 hours a week inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office. That’s a lot of time working. And my job is not exactly a cakewalk either. So when I got out of that zone controlled HVAC, I was already spent. But then, it was on to the other things that I had agreed to do. I was stretched really thin by the time that we were sent home to work in our own air conditioning when the pandemic hit. I wasn’t thrilled to not be working inside the zone controlled HVAC of the office. But I adjusted to the online meetings and found myself the privacy to get my work done. Yet, I also noticed that so many time sucks sort of fell away because we were stuck inside the air conditioning of home. And I started paying more attention to the real priorities of home and family. Part of that was getting consistent when it came to caring for the heating and cooling equipment. I haven’t been all that consistent when it comes to my HVAC responsibilities. But that changed as I was now on top of taking care of things like the air filter changes. I even signed us up for the HVAC service plan so I don’t have to remember to call for HVAC maintenance any longer.
First home gets the ductless HVAC treatment
I went the ductless heat pump route when I found out that the ductwork was as worthless as the old central air conditioning
I wasn’t so sure that I’d ever be able to have my own place. That’s because the more I saved for a downpayment, the more the prices soared in this market. This led to more years living in apartments where the HVAC equipment was old and not very good. The thought of having updated HVAC technology in my own house kept me going though. And now, I’m a homeowner who gives thanks, on a daily basis, for the residential HVAC I now enjoy. It’s such a change from what I have experienced my entire adult life. Living in apartments that I could afford in order to save money, meant that I had to live with subpar heating and cooling. But there were also plenty of noisy neighbors and other drawbacks to living in apartments. Still, I stayed the course and kept saving every dime that I could. And finally, I was able to purchase my own place. Since it’s just me and my dog, it wasn’t like we needed a great deal of space. This house is a small three bedroom and is just perfect for me. I work from home now as a technology consultant so I turned one of the bedrooms into my home office. With the addition of the ductless heat pumps in my new house, the air conditioning rivals the zone controlled HVAC of my old office. I went the ductless heat pump route when I found out that the ductwork was as worthless as the old central air conditioning. I love the ductless heat pumps in my house as they are so efficient while delivering such great heating and cooling comfort.
Rolling the dice on the heat pump this summer
It’s only July and I feel as though I’ve been on pins and needles for a year already.
Of course, there is nobody to blame but me when it comes to this anxiety.
It’s not like I just forgot how long we’ve owned this house. This has been where we’ve lived for more than two decades. So that meant that the residential HVAC was also more than 20 years old. Yet, I never even thought about starting a savings account in order to be ready for a residential HVAC upgrade. It was inevitable but I think I was just lulled into believing that the heating and cooling equipment would last forever. We’ve always gotten consistent, seasonal HVAC maintenance since the very beginning. It’s heating maintenance in the fall followed by an air conditioning tune-up in the spring. This resulted in having zero heating and cooling issues for more than twenty years. So when the HVAC technician told me that the heat pump might not make it through the summer, I was caught off guard. I hadn’t saved a dime and the heat pump’s demise just wasn’t no my radar at all. Since we hadn’t saved the money, we are trying to limp this heat pump through one more summer. That means great reducing the load on the heat pump with far less thermostat demand. Plus, we’re pulling all the shades and I sealed up the house tight in order to add to the HVAC equipment efficiency. But every time the air conditioning kicks on, I notice and wonder if this will be the last time.