Savannah, Georgia, homeowners might approach HVAC and air conditioning tech upgrades with some skepticism. In reality, however, advancements in technology have made the upgrades more efficient. Investments in tech upgrades can lead to better ways of heating or cooling your home. Making heating and cooling more efficient, simpler, and, in some cases, faster, technologies such as Wi-Fi–enabled devices and smart sensors can now be part of a smart home design that boosts your home’s energy efficiency.
Wi-Fi–Enabled Fans
Built-in fans can play an important role in air circulation. Wi-Fi–enabled fans are a smart solution. Controlling air circulation from your smartphone can improve comfort in your home. How does the system work?
Fans can be used for air circulation both during the summer and winter. Air conditioning needs are at their peak during hot summers in Georgia, and during that time, you want cool air to flow freely in your home. When fans circulate cool air, this cool air movement can increase the efficiency of your air conditioner. You can also use Wi-Fi–enabled fans during the winter months to circulate heat throughout your home’s living spaces.
Even if you have standard fans in your home, you can upgrade them so that they can be operated via your smartphone for greater convenience.
Motion-Activated Air Conditioning
Motion-activated air conditioning has only recently become available to homeowners. This technology makes using your home air conditioner much more efficient. The technology involves installing motion sensors in your home. When these sensors detect movement, they signal the air conditioner to cool the living spaces if necessary. When no motion is detected, the air conditioning system adjusts accordingly. Many people can now install these systems in their homes fairly easily with the help of a professional.
Overall, these sensors come with several benefits such as the following:
- Reduced energy costs
- Greener approach with energy-saving technologies
- Automated air conditioner operations
- Reduced strain on your home’s HVAC equipment
Indoor Air Quality Sensors
Among the tech innovations now popular in smart homes, indoor air quality sensors represent a leading solution. If you want to make sure you live in a healthy environment, you’ll need to consider various options for overall indoor air quality. Air quality sensors can provide you with data about different types of pollutants in your home’s air. They provide readings in parts per million for particulates such as allergens. By reviewing this data, you can get insights into when you need to change your HVAC system’s air filters, for example. Many indoor air quality sensors also include a tracking feature that allows you to monitor changes in your air quality over time.
The data itself can be useful when you have children in your family. When homes suffer from poor indoor air quality, they can contribute to a number of respiratory problems in children. Compact air quality sensors can be a great upgrade for your home when you’re concerned about keeping asthma and allergies under control.
Indoor air quality sensors can point to a range of issues in your home. They can help you control issues with dust in the home, but they can also work to help you detect bacteria, pollen, or viruses.
Smart Home Technologies
Aside from air conditioning and heating, you can control other areas of your home with a smartphone, as well. Integrating these systems into a single control panel can save you time during your day. You can connect heating and cooling systems, lighting, security systems, and entertainment systems directly to your smartphone. For example, with a simple touch of a button through a dedicated smartphone app, you can adjust your home’s smart thermostat settings.
Automation technology plays another key role in promoting your home’s heating and cooling efficiency. With zoned heating and cooling, you can easily adjust temperature settings in different parts of your home throughout the day via your smart thermostat. Consider a situation where you work all day but you want to come home to a cool house. In the past, you would have had to leave the air conditioner running throughout the day to ensure that your home was cool by the time you arrived home. With home automation technology and a smart thermostat, you can set the air conditioner to turn on before you arrive so that it can cool your home in time for your arrival.
Geothermal Heat Pumps
The geothermal heat pump is becoming more recognizable for its use in heating and cooling systems. The technology has been around for a few decades, but it is gaining attention among those who want to make their homes more sustainable. So how does the system work? It essentially draws heat from the earth’s underground heat reserves and brings it into your home.
Since the earth has a consistent underground temperature, the system uses this thermal energy as a resource for heating and cooling the home by drawing heat from or releasing heat to the reserve. This heat can be used without depleting the earth’s thermal energy reserve — a consistent supply that can heat a home efficiently.
Collecting the heat from underneath the ground is an involved process, but a few systems can do the job well. Geothermal heat pumps use a system of underground looped pipes along with a pump that can bring water from these underground reserves into your home. The benefit of geothermal heat pumps isn’t limited to winter heating. The system can also work to push hot air from the indoors to the ground via a heat exchanger.
Since the effectiveness of geothermal heating systems can vary, they are usually supported by a gas or electric heating and cooling system to provide additional heating and cooling power. However, geothermal heat pumps can be worth the investment to install because they can help offset your energy bills. The technology is only improving as more consumers take an interest in setting up their own geothermal heating systems.
Whole-Home Dehumidifiers
Living in a humid climate can have a negative impact on the indoor air quality of your home. Finding the right solutions for dealing with humidity in the home can help you improve the comfort of your living spaces. Many people invest in standalone dehumidifiers that help control indoor air quality in a limited space. These devices can help you not feel limited to keeping your home open to the natural changes in humidity throughout the seasons. For large homes, these traditional solutions may need to be supplemented.
An integrated home humidity solution can help. Dehumidifiers are essential for controlling humidity in the home, and the good news is that you can install dehumidifiers that can help regulate humidity levels for an entire home. You can connect them to a home’s HVAC system and use them to achieve consistent indoor air quality in every room of your home. No longer will you experience a change in your comfort level as you move from room to room.
In some cases, you will be able to set your desired humidity level through your thermostat. In other situations, you can integrate the system with a smart device. As a result, you can control the humidity in all the essential areas of your home simply by choosing a dedicated system with smartphone control.
You can use the system during the winter, as well. It is often during this time of the year that you have to battle lower indoor air quality in general. Having the ability to control the humidity level in your home is a year-round benefit that can come at a reasonable price tag.
We can recommend any of these systems for better efficiency in your HVAC setup. At the same time, every home is different. Naturally, you’ll want to find the most practical solutions to save energy and still get the results you need while working with the unique arrangement and design of your home.
Take time to discuss your HVAC and air conditioning upgrades with a home specialist. At Byrd Heating and Air Conditioning, we take pride in being your home heating and cooling service specialists. Give us a call today at 912-373-8447 so that we can discuss your home comfort needs.
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