Working From Home? Use These Tips for Your HVAC

March 4, 2022

Those who work from home naturally spend more time in their houses than those who work elsewhere, and so they must maintain a comfortable environment. Your interaction with the HVAC system increases if you spend a lot of time at home and can affect the energy efficiency of your system. Below are some tips to ensure you are comfortable and your HVAC system continues to function.

Reduce Your Heating Load

If you work at home, you must run your furnace and maintain comfortable temperatures around the clock during the cold season. A continuously running furnace can cause problems for both you and the functionality of the furnace. For example:

The furnace experiences more wear and tear than it would at other times. This wear and tear might lead to frequent breakdowns and shorten the furnace's lifespan.
The furnace consumes more energy than usual. Increased energy consumption inflates your energy bills and negatively impacts the environment.

The more you want to raise your home temperature, the greater these effects. Fortunately, you can lower the heating load and minimize these issues. Below are some tips to lower the heating load.

Seal all air leaks to prevent warm air from escaping into the environment and cold air from filtering into the house.
Maintain proper insulation to trap heat inside the house.
Open the blinds and let sunlight stream in to warm your house during the day.
Keep your body warm so that you do not raise the thermostat settings. Put on multiple layers of clothes, install a warm rug in your home office, and eat warm food and drinks to keep warm.

Adopt the above tips as your daily habits to reap their maximum benefits.

Maintain High IAQ

You will breathe this air all hours of the day, which means any air impurities might affect you more than they would if you worked away from home. Some of the things that might lower the indoor air quality (IAQ) include:

Exhaust gases
Dust particles
Pollen
Mold
Uncomfortable temperatures
Extreme humidity
Pet dander
Volatile organic compounds, such as those from paint fumes

Poor IAQ affects your health in various ways. For example, some of the particles might:

Trigger allergies
Cause respiratory problems
Induce headaches

Below are actionable tips for maintaining high IAQ:

Use a filter of the right efficiency to trap as many pollutants as possible and replace the filter regularly.
Dust your home regularly to get rid of debris that might circulate in the house.
Install an air purifier to clean the indoor air.
Ensure adequate ventilation to improve air circulation.

An HVAC contractor can analyze our IAQ and suggest helpful improvements.

Embrace Zoned HVAC

Lastly, you do not have to maintain the entire home at the same temperature if alone. Deploy HVAC zoning to help you maintain your home office or work area at comfortable temperatures with the rest of the house at lower temperatures. That way, you do not have to waste heat on unoccupied parts of the house.

HVAC zoning divides the home into different zones and uses different thermostats for independent temperature control. A zoning system also uses automatic dampers to control airflow into and out of different zones. HVAC zoning investment depends on the number of zones in the house, the number of dampers, and the status of existing ductwork.

Northwest Heating & Air Conditioning Inc. has over 50 years of experience in the HVAC industry. We service and install residential and commercial HVAC systems. Contact us to evaluate your HVAC system to determine the improvements it needs according to your circumstances.

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