What maintenance is needed for my water heater?
"Water heaters typically require minimal maintenance," said Dennis Matteson, extension mechanical engineer at Kansas State University.
If you have an older water heater and its surface temperature feels warm, you should install an insulation blanket around the heater.
When insulating a gas water heater avoid obstructing the air inlet at the bottom and do not cover the top of the water heater. If you have an electric water heater, you can insulate the sides and the top.
"If you use a gas water heater, check for sooting inside the burner area," Matteson said.
By removing the inspection cover you can look inside the water heater. If you see soot around the burner, have a service technician clean the soot out and make adjustments to reduce further soot buildup.
"Another problem is scale or sludge buildup in the bottom of the tank," Matteson said. "You can reduce this by opening the drain valve on the bottom of the water heater at least every six months."
Opening this valve will allow sediment to blow out and should help extend the life of the water heater. If the drain valve is old, it may be necessary to use a cap to stop drips from the valve.
Don't try to force this valve open yourself. If it sticks, call a service technician.
The temperature and pressure relief valve is an important safety device that should be tested twice yearly.
Do this by lifting the lever on the valve. There should be a piece of pipe installed that extends from the outlet of the valve to within six inches of the floor. This is done to route hot water down to the floor in case the valve opens when the temperature or pressure in the tank gets too high.
If the valve has not been tested for a number of years, it may be necessary to replace the temperature and pressure relief valve if it does not shut off. Under no circumstance should the valve be removed and the tank plugged.
Water heaters without safety devices have the potential to be extremely destructive and life-threatening. When the 40-year-old water heater with no relief valve in Minnesota home overheated, it exploded with enough force to blow out all the windows and rock the house off its foundation. The water heater itself shot through the floor and ceiling of the one-story home and then out through the roof 150 feet into the air.
What is an electronic air cleaner?
"Electrostatic precipitation, a technique for cleaning the air, has been used extensively in industrial and commercial processes for a number of years," said Richard B. Hayter, director of Engineering Extension at Kansas State University.
Because of their relatively high efficiency in removing contaminants from the air, electronic air cleaners have become a popular home method to control allergies.
Electronic air cleaners use an electrostatic field to draw particles to the filter media or plate.
Safety mechanisms designed into the electronic air cleaner prevent electrical shock.
"The electronic air cleaner requires periodic cleaning, and close attention should be paid to manufacturer's recommendations," Hayter said.
Some cleaners are constructed so that the elements can be removed and cleaned in an automatic dishwasher while others are self-cleaning.
How do I select a dehumidifier?
"Unlike an air conditioner which both cools and dehumidifies, a dehumidifier only reduces relative humidity," said Richard Hayter, director of Engineering Extension Programs at Kansas State University.
Energy used to drive the unit is discharged back into the home in the form of heat. Dehumidifiers ordinarily will maintain satisfactory humidity levels when the air flow rate and unit location permit the entire air volume of the space to move through the dehumidifier once an hour.
"An industry certification program sponsored by the Association of Home Appliances manufacturers covers the majority of dehumidifiers available in the United States and certifies the dehumidification capacity of the units," Hayter said.
A label on the machine will indicate the capacity of the unit in pints of moisture removed per 24-hour period. It should also denote the power required to operate the unit.
Features available on most dehumidifiers include a manual on/off switch, humidity sensing controller (humidistat), a switch to turn the unit off automatically if the receptacle holding the water (the condensate tank) is full (Some units can be drained continuously by running a hose to a drain.), and an automatic defrost controller for controlling frost on the cooling coil.
How much energy can I expect to save by installing and using a ceiling fan?
"A ceiling fan, like any fan, can save energy by creating a cooling breeze that allows you to feel comfortable at higher temperatures," said Doug Walter, extension specialist in residential energy at Kansas State University.
Moving air can compensate for an increase of about four degrees in room temperature without any loss of comfort. Each degree you raise your thermostat in the summer can result in a savings of three to four percent.
"If you raise your thermostat from 78 to 82 degrees, you could expect to save from 12 to 16 percent on your cooling costs," Walter said.
A ceiling fan is only one of many types of fans that can create a cooling breeze. Often chosen for aesthetic and nostalgic reasons, a ceiling fan is usually more expensive than other types of fans and benefits only the room it is in.
How can I keep my attic cooler in the summer? I don't have any shade trees near my house.
"Although shade trees are probably the most effective way to keep an attic cool, ventilation and insulation also are important." said Doug Walter, extension specialist in residential energy at Kansas State University.
A well ventilated attic should have an equal number of vents located high and low. Vent area totaling one square inch per square foot of attic floor area is recommended.
Attic insulation will significantly reduce the heat transferred from your attic into your house. A minimum of six inches is recommended, but 12 inches is optimum for the Kansas climate.
"If your roof has dark shingles and is exposed to full sunlight, you might want to consider installing a radiant barrier under the roof." Walter said.
A dark roof becomes extremely hot when exposed to sunlight and radiates heat down to the ceiling, causing the ceiling to heat up your home. A radiant barrier is a reflective foil installed under the roof to reflect radiant heat back to the roof and away from the ceiling. It must be open at the top and bottom, however, to allow heat buildup to escape through the attic vents. The next time your roof requires reshingling, consider using light color shingles.
"Because the best way to keep your attic cool is to keep the sun from striking it, you might want to consider planting shade trees as an effective long-term strategy," Walter said.
Why do incandescent light fixtures often have warnings about the wattage of bulb to be used?
"The wattage limitation is usually due to the heat generated by the bulb," said Richard B. Hayter, director of Engineering Extension at Kansas State University.
Installing bulbs larger than recommended will produce more heat that the fixture was designed to handle, which may either damage the fixture or be a fire hazard.
"You can, however, replace multiple bulbs in a fixture with a single bulb if the single bulb doesn't have a wattage greater than the total wattage recommended for the multiple bulbs," Hayter said.
For example, replacing two 60-watt bulbs in a fixture with a single 100-watt bulb will produce more light and yet will use 20 fewer watts.
The efficiency of an incandescent bulb typically increases as its wattage increases. You can determine the efficiency by reading the bulb package to find the lumen (light output) rating of the bulb size. The more lumens per watt, the more efficient the bulb.
I am considering installing a ground-coupled heat pump. What is the difference between an open-loop and closed-loop system?
"A ground-coupled heat pump uses water as a heat source in winter and a heat sink in summer," explained Doug Walter, extension specialist in residential energy at Kansas State University.
In an open-loop system, the water is pumped out of a well, through the heat pump, and back into the ground through a discharge well.
A closed-loop system does not use ground water directly. Instead, water or an antifreeze solution is circulated through a coil buried in the ground.
"Open-loop systems are less expensive to install than closed-loop systems, particularly if a well is already available," Walter said. "They work best when ground water is relatively close to the surface of the earth."
Open-loop systems are efficient because the water supply is always at a stable temperature.
"Disadvantages of an open-loop system include scaling in the heat exchanger if the water is hard and lowering of the water table during a dry year," Walter said.
Closed-loop systems are more costly to install because they use a heat exchanger in the soil. The heat exchanger usually consists of a plastic pipe buried in a trench six to eight feet deep or in a series of deep vertical holes. Because the closed-loop system has only a limited surface area for exchanging heat with the soil, its efficiency is somewhat lower than an open-loop system's.
"If the water table is very low or the ground water has a high mineral content, a closed-loop system offers the best long-term system efficiency," Walter said.
When should I clean the coils on my air conditioner?
"You should clean your condenser's coils at the beginning of the air conditioning season," said Dennis Matteson, extension specialist in small business energy at Kansas State University.
"Unless you are experienced in air conditioning repair, it's best to have a service technician clean the coils, check the refrigerant level and oil the fan and motor bearings," he said.
During the cooling season, you should check the condenser periodically, according to Matteson. The condenser coils are the coils located outside the house.
"Be sure to check both sides of the coil," he said. "The air inlet side of the coil is most likely to foul first. If cleaning is necessary, either call your service technician or read the instructions and clean the coils with a soap-based, coil cleaning solvent.
"Never blast the coils with water from a garden hose," Matteson said. "The pressure could damage the coils."