I hate that long walk to the mailbox when I know that the utility bill is due to arrive.
- This is a piece of mail that I truly hate bringing in the house.
But, it’s not all year that I feel this way. Only during the summer period does the utility bill scare me and keep me up at night. This is because we have very mild winters in this region. The HVAC does run much during the winter so the utility bill is at its lowest. However, that all goes out the window as soon as the real summer heat kicks in about June. While the HVAC cooling is on from March through October to some extent. It is running nearly continuously in the summer time. That is due to the temperature staying near triple digits for months at a time. This year, I am walking a bit more confidently to the mailbox. This is because I came into this heat season with a bit of a strategy. I got proactive instead of just wringing my hands about the high price of HVAC comfort. I made sure that all the weather stripping around the doors and window was new and tight. I also sealed up all the gaps and cracks anywhere I could find them. Then, in went the solar shades that help to stop the direct sun heating. However, my big feat was to finally stay on top of the thermostat. It is fully programmable so, I have done just that. During the summer, the house is allowed to heat up to withing 15 degrees of the outside temps during the peak heating hours of the day. I’m still waiting for the first electric bill of the summer. But this year, I know it’s going to be far less than before.
HVAC duct